^- 0^.a^^^Jf ai><^^^^>-^ /^ ^ c^ u^A^^^ -^ ^2i.«*vW^e^ /f5^ ECHOES IKOM THE PULPIT AND PLATFORM OR LURING TRUTHS FOR HEAD AND HEART IIJ.LSrRAlEl) HY UF'WAKUS OF FIVE HUNDRED THRILLING ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS, PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. TOUCHING HOME SCENES, AND STORIES OF TENDER PATHOS DRAWN FROM €^e ^rigl)t anti J^ljatip M^t^ of Eife AS RELATED BV / DWIGHT L. MOODY DURING HIS FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE AS AN EVANGELIST INCLUDING THE STORY OF MR. MOODY'S LIFE AND WORK By REV. CHARLES F. GOSS, D.D. Pastor 0/ Mr. Hlooiiy's Chicago Church for Five I'ears INTRODUCTION By REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D. D. ^npcrblp 3fHu6tratrt WITH STEEL-PLATE AND OTHER PORTRAITS, AND MANY FINE ENG,RAVINGS FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY EMINENT ARTISTS SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION ^^^^>( OF mm JAN 29 1981 ^fOLOGICALSt^ A. D. WORTHINGTON & CO., PUBLISHERS HARTFORD. CONN. [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED] Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, Ev A. D. WORTHINGTON & COM^AN^■, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, U. C. THIS volume has been in course of preparation for several years. and nearly every line of it was in type when ^Ir. Moody died. His death neither hastened nor delayed its publication. All of the pictorial illustrations were in the artists' hands and were nearly completed; Dr. Abbott's Introduction was in type: the story of Mr. Moody's life, by Dr. Goss, was well along; and the steel-plate portrait of the great evangelist was finished, when he passed away. These facts are mentioned as evidence that this volume has not been hastily brought out simply to meet a demand caused by Mr. Moody's death. All that pertains to it had received the most painstaking care that ample time could give, long before his public career closed. It presents the story of Mr. Moody's life and work not only through the pen of one who was intimately associated with him for years — Rev. Dr. Goss. whose name was suggested to the Publishers by Mr. Moody's son — Mr. William R. Moody — to whom they had been referred by Mr. bloody himself. — but also through the medium of Mr. Moody's recorded speech, thus making it largely autobiographical. His best thoughts, jiis most touching stories, his most thrilling anec- dotes and incidents, together with the many personal experiences and reminiscences he so often and eflfectively told on the platform, are here preserved in permanent form. In 1896-7 Mr. Moody conducted a series of revival meetings in New England, the last great series which he ever conducted in the East. A month in Providence, another in Low-ell, and two months in Boston, were among the notable meetings of that time. The preparation of this book may be said to date from that period. The Publishers employed an expert stenographer to report Mr. Moody's sermons zrrbatim ct literatim. The Rev. W. D. Bridge was chosen for this important work. Of his skill. Bishop John H. Vincent said: " I take great pleasure in commending my old and honored friend, the Rev. W D. Bridge, my stenographic secretary for more than nine years. His college training and long experience have made him a thorough expert in evervthing that pertains to shorthand writing, re- (3) . I'KKFACK. porting, etc." It is believed •hat Professor Bridge's reports ol' Mr. Moody's sermons are tlie most accurate tliat liavc been made. They form tlie basis of this volume. The aim has been to present, in con- nected form, tile stories, illustrations, and personal exi)eriences tliat Mr. Moody so effectively used, together with their application. When- ever he told a story, or related a personal experience, it was invariably to illustrate a great and living trutli. and in this volume these truths stand out as beacon lights. Although Mr. Moody had an almost in- exhaustible fund of stories and apt illustrations, he drew very largely from his own experience. He never repeated them in precisely the same way. nor in the same words, nor did he always use them under the same head. Some of those told in his earlier years were narrated in greater detail; some were better told on one occasion than on another. Whenever a better version of an incident or personal experience could be found, than those specially reported for this volume, it has been used. But his earlier addresses, while perhaps more vigorous, lacked the smoothness — or shall we say polish? — of his later ones, because during the last few years of his life he broadened in many ways. He read and studied in certain lines to great ad- vantage, and his acquaintance with many distinguished men and women in Europe and .America freed him. to some extent, from the limitations of his earlier years. Mr. Moody was desirous that printed copies of his words should be widely circulated. He often acknowledged from the platform his great obligations to the press. In I'.oston. in 1897, looking down upon the reporters' table, he said: " I want to speak a word for the papers. They are a great help to us. Buy papers. Buy lots of them. They are for sale. Religious people grumble about the newspapers and say they don't give enough space to sermons. When a good sermon is printed, buy that pa])er. Buy them by the hundred, and scatter them broadcast."' And again: " And I say once more that we want to thank God for the reports which the press are sending out. Let us ask God to bless the reports more and more." He then read a letter sent by " a laboring man." exjircssing his thanks for the reports of the meetings in one of the papers. " which", he said, " I read every day on the way to and from my work." At that time the papers did not report Mr. Moody's sermons in full. Some gave the substance of only a portion of them, others made brief mention, some none at all. If the publication of fragments of his sermons in the daily press met with Mr. Moody's emphatic approval — and we have his testimony that it did — it is believed that the accurate and permanent form in wdiich his latest words are here presented would not have been distasteful to him. The only full reports made during his last two months in Boston, in 1897. as well as those made in other cities, were made for this volume. When Mr. Moody knew that his words were being taken down vcrhalint, it seemed to stimul.ite him to still greater ex- ertions. He confesses to this in a remarkable incident he relates on page 119. when "everything went in, blunders and all." Mr. Moody was a rapid speaker, and when intensely in earnest, or carried away by the excitement of the moment, he sometimes un- consciously made slips of the tongue, which otherwise might not have occurred. In these " Echoes" obvious mistakes have been corrected; but with slight editing the great and living truths he so successfully advocated and defended for forty years before millions of eager listeners, are given in this volume substantially as he proclaimed them from the platform. THE I'UBLISHl-RS. Jf rom photographs, an6 Original Bcsigns ^rawn crprcsslvr for this work bis Charles CopcIan6, E^mun^ lb. Garrett, an^ other lEmincnt Hrtists. 1. PORTRAIT OF DWIGHT L. MOODY . . Fr07iti5piece Engraver! expressly for this work from a photograph made by Pierre Petit, Paris, in 1882, when Mr. Moody was 45 years old. The negative of this photograph was destroyed at Mr. Moody's request. Engraved in pure line and stipple by Mr. John J. Cade, New York. 2. Ornamental Heading to Preface 3 3. Ornamental HEAniNG to List of Illustrations ... 5 4. Orna.mental Heading to Contents 7 5. Orna.mental Heading to Rev, Lyman Abbott's Introduction 25 6. Exgraved Autograph of Rev. Lyman Abbott ... 32 7. Ornamental Headi.ng to Rev. Charles F. Goss's " Story of Mr. Moody's Life and Work" 33 8. Where D. L. Moody was Born. The Moody Homestead AT Northfield, Mass 34 9. D. L. Moody as he Appeared at the Time he Removed FROM the Family Farm to Boston ... 37 10. D. L. Moody at the A(;e of 26 45 11. Ira D. Sankey, Mr. Moody's Yoke-Fellow. Age 35 • -54 12. D. L. Moody's House at Northfield, in Winter, Look- IN(; East 71 13. Dining Room, D. L. Moody's House at Northfield . . 73 14. The Northfield Auditorium. It has a Seating Capacit\- of three thousand 77 15. D. L. Moody's House at Nurtiuteld, Lookinc; South . 79 16. D. L. Moody's Study 91 17. Engraved Autograth of Rev. Charles F. Goss . . .112 18. Ornamental Heading to Chai-ter I, with Engraved Au- tograph of D. L. Moody 113 19. Portrait of D. L. Moody at the Age of 62 . .113 (5) 6 MST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 2... A FATHER RECOGNIZING HIS LONG-LOST SON. DEATH OF A PRODIGAL IN A LONDON GAR- RET. (Full Page.) From an 0ru;inal Design by Charles Coieland ....... Facing 132 " No, father, I am too far gone, I am dying; but I can die happy in this gar- ret, now that I know you have forgiven iiie." In a httle while he breathed his last, and out of that dark garret, from a wretched bed of straw, his soul rose up into the kingdom of God. 21. AN INCIDENT IN MR. MOODY'S EARLY CAREER. PREACHING TO A STREET CROWD. (Full Page.) Fro.m an Original Design by Charles Copeland Facing 1S4 " Well," I said, " we can go into the street and preach the Gospel there." I tried every way I could to get the church people to go into the street with me, but 1 couldn't ; then I said I would try to get the sinners. When the hour came I stood upon a drygoods box and I went at it. There were a lot of young men sneaking around the outside. 22. A DRUNKARD SURPRISED IN A BAR-ROOM. THE LITTLE CARD HEADED -MY DEAR FRIEND." (Full Page.) From an Original Design by Charles Coi'el.xm) Facing 232 He was a miserable drunkard , his friends had left him and he was sinking rapidly mto a drunkard's grave. When he entered the saloon a few hours afterwards, the little card headed "My Dear Friend" was handed to him. " Why," he said, sarcastically, " this is singular, I've got a friend." He read on : " If you will come up to the hotel to-night at 7 o'clock I should like to see you." 23. REMARKABLE SCENE IN A DRUNKARD'S HOME. (Full Page.) From an Original Design by Edmund H. Gakkeii Facing 238 " Mary, have we a Bible in the house ? " " Oh, John," Mary said, " I hope you are not going to take my mother's Bible from me. Oh, John, don't pawn it!" "No," said John, "I don't want to pawn it." And she brought the Bible. The children can't understand it ; they had been used to hearing him curse and swear. 24. MR. MOODY AND SOME FRIENDS PREACHING AND SINGING HYMNS IN HAUNTS OF VICE. (Full Page.) From an Original Design by Charles Copeland . . . Facing 246 I don't know any work so blessed as going into saloons and preaching the Gospel there. If drunkards will not come to church, go down where they are, in the name of our God, and you will reach them. We took sixteen out of a saloon in that way one night, and nine of them went into the mquiry-room. If }-ou say, " Oh, they will put me out," I say, " No, I have never been turned out of a saloon in my life." 25. MR MOODY HOLDING A MEETING IN A COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE. A SCENE IN HIS EARLY CA- REER. (Full Page.) From an Original Design by Charles Copeland Facing 280 If I didn't get into a church, I would get up a meeting in some school- house. The first man who came to the meeting would bring, perhaps, an old dingy lantern. He would set the lantern up on the desk. Perhaps the next one who came in would be a woman, and she would bring out from under her shawl an old sperm-oil lamp. The next man would bring out of his pocket a tallow-dip, and he would light his match and set that up on the desk. That is the way we would light up the room. LIST OP' ILLUSTRATIONS. 7 26. AN INCIDENT OF THE CIVIL WAR. A LITTLE GIRL PLEADING WITH ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS CABINET TO SPARE HER BROTHER'S LIFE. (Full Page.) Fro.m an Okkhnai. Design bv Edmund H. G.\KKETT Faci7ig 306 When she entered the room the President was surrounded by his counsel- ors, and when he saw the little country girl he asked her what she wanted. She told her sad, simple story — how her brother, whom her mother and father loved so dearly, had been sentenced to be shot; how they were mourning for him, and if he was to die in that way it would break their hearts. 27. DEATH OF LITTLE ADELAIDE. MR. MOODY VISIT- ING A DRUNKARD'S HOME. (Full Page.) From an Original Desig.n bv Ed.mund H. Garreit . . Facing 312 I took my little girl, four years old, and started for the home of the drowned child. Little Adelaide used to go to the Chicago river and gather floating wood for the fire. That day she had gone as usual ; she saw a piece of wood, a larger stick than the rest, a little way from the bank, and in stretching out her hand to reach it she slipped and fell mto the water and was drowned. There were four children in the room, and the husband sat ni the corner — drunk. 28. IN PERIL UPON THE SEA. A THRILLING INCI- DENT IN MR. MOODY'S LIFE. (Full Page.) From AN Original Design by Charles Copeland . Facing 340 I went to my berth and lay down. I said, " I may be in Heaven when I awake. But I may reach Northfield." About 2.15 that morning my son came to my stateroom and awakened me, telling me to come on deck. There he pointed out in the dim distance a tiny light that we could occasionally catch a glimpse of as it shone over the waves as our ship rolled heavily from side to side. " It is our star of Bethlehem," I said, " and our prayers are answered." 29. MR. MOODY TELLING THE SOLDIER'S WIDOW'S STORY IN CAMP. (Pull Page.) From an Original Design by Charles Copeland .... Facing 374 The father and husband was gone, but the widow and children wanted to pray for some one. So I went to the Bible house and bought two Bibles and took them with me into-the army, and when in front of Richmond I told the widow's story. I held up one of the Bibles and said, " If there is a soldier here who wants to come forward and take this Bible, and have the prayers of that widow and those children in Chicago, will he come forward." 30. "HERRINGS, HERRINGS. GOOD FRESH HERRINGS, FOR NOTHING!" (Full Page.) From an Original Design by Edmund H. Garrett .... Facing 402 " Well," said the man, " if you will cry, herrings for nothing ! Good fresh herrings for nothing! 1 will pay you for them." He accepted and went on crying : " Herrings for nothing ! Good fresh herrings for nothing ! " But he couldn't get rid of a herring. He walked the whole length of the street crying "Herrings for nothing!" But he finally stopped and said: "I didn't know there were so many fools in the world." The secret was, nobody believed him. 31. DYING ON THE BATTLEFIELD. THE PARTING OF TWO BROTHERS. (Full Page) From an Origin.vl Design by Charles Copeland .... Facing 446 At last a bullet passed through his brother's body. Putting a knapsack under his head he made him as comfortable as he could, and started on. As he was turning away he heard his wounded brother say ■. " This is glorious! " " What is glorious? " 'Oh, I see Christ in Heaven ! " Lying in a pool of his own life blood, he looked up and caught a glimpse of the glory beyond. 8 LIST OF II.I.rSTRATIOXS. 32. MR. MOODY LEAVING HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME. (Full Page) From an Original Design by Edmund H. Gakkeit Facing 492 But one cold day in November,— I have never liked November since,— a day of leaden skies and frozen ground, my brother came home, and said he had lound a good place for me, and I must go ilown and spend the winter in (ireen- field. 1 said I wouldn't go. Hut as my mother and 1 sat by the fire, she said : " Dwight, 1 think you will have to go. 1 don't think 1 shall he able to keep the fiimily together this winter." It was a dark night for me. 1 didn't sleep much that night. I cried a great deal. The ne.\t morning after breakfast I took my little bundle and we started. I was about ten years old. When we got a mile away from the house we both sat down and cried. 33. "ARE ALL THE CHILDREN IN?" (Full Page.) From AN Original Design by Edmund H. Garrett . Fcxci)ig 528 Her husband was sitting by her side, as she lay dying, and he was watch- ing the flickering life go out, when all at once she opened her eyes, and looked around, and said : " W'hy ! it is dark." " Yes, dear." "Is it night?" "Ves, dear, it is night." "Are all lite children in?"' That dear old mother was living life over again. The youngest child had been in his grave twenty years; but the old father and husband said, " \'cs, wife, they are all in." Then she fell asleep in Christ. 34. "JOHN THOMPSON. YOUR FATHER WANTS YOU ' A FATHER SEARCHING THE HOSPITALS FOR HIS SON. (Full Page.) From an Original Design r.Y Edmund H. Garrett Facing 558 Going down through the hospital ward he would cry out : "John Thomp- son, your father wants you." The sick and wounded soldiers would lift their heads, and, I suppose, said to themselves, " 1 wish that was my father calling to me." He passed from one hospital to another and Ins voice would ring through the wards, "John Thompson, your father wants you." And by and by a wounded soldier lilted his head and said ; " Here 1 am, father! " 35. THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER DISCOVERING THE DEAD BODY OF HIS ONLY SON. (Full Page.) From AN Original Design hy Ed.mund H. Garrett . Facing 602 His fears were well founded, for there had been a terrible wreck. He walked along the beach, hoping to save some one who might still be alive. The first body that came floating toward the shore was the body of his own son ! He had been watching for that boy for many days, and he had been gone for three years. He had perished in sight of home, because his father had let his light go out ! 36. Ornameni al Taii.-Pik( e, ''Good Nkmit" .... 640 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY, By Rev. Charles F. Goss, D.D., Pastor of Jlfr. Moody's Chicago Church for Five Years. CHAPTER I. Dwight L. Moody's Birthplace — Death of His Father — The Widowed Mother and a Heavily Mortgaged Farm — The Little Red Schoolhouse — An Uncontrollable Love of Mischief — In- cidents in His School Days — How His Teacher Conquered Him — A Wanderer at Seventeen — His Advent into Real Life in the City of Boston — How He was Converted — Decides to go to Chicago — Finds Work at Last — Running Down Country Merchants on the Streets — Becomes Identified With a Church — Rebuked for His Rough and Ready Speeches — Starting a Mission School on His own Responsibility — An Outfit of Ragamuffins and Street Urchins — His Sunday-school Grows to i,ooo Pupils — Loses his Interest in Business — "I am working for Jesus Christ" — No Money, but Plenty of Friends 2>i CHAPTER H. Opening of the Civil War — Mr. Moody Enters into New Experi- ences— An Important Epoch of His Life — His Work as Chap- lain in the Union Army — Its EfTect on His After Life — Organiz- ing a Church of His Own — Raising $20,coo to Build His First Church — His Helpers and Leaders — Sleeping on Benches or on the Floor — His Great Capacity for Work — " Getting the Hang " of Meetings — His Inexhaustible Fund of Anecdote and Story — Captivating Eastern Audiences — Some of His Amusing Oral Blunders — His Marriage and Home Life — Scraping the Flour Barrel at the Bottom — Getting Hold of the Bible — Discovers the Value of Music — Meeting Mr. Sankey for the First Time — The Partnership that Followed — Plans to go to England on an Empty Pocketbook — The Shadow of Coming Events. . . 44 (9) lO CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. iMr. Moody and Mr. Sankcy Sail for England — Their Arrival in Liver- pool — The Sorrowful Ne.vvs that Greeted Them — A Discouraging Outlook — "I Will be There to-night " — The First of the Re- markable Meetings in Great Britain — An Audience of Eight Per- sons — How Interest in the Meetings Grew — Disagreeable Critics and Ministerial Sharpshooters — Taking Scotland By Storm — Mr. Sankey's " Kist fu' o' Whustles " — The Excitement Spreads Among All Classes — Remarkable Scenes — Sweeping through Scotland and Ireland — The Evangelists Arrive in London — Mr. Moody Questioned by a Conference of Ministers — The Wit. Shrewdness, and Candor of His Replies — The Most Wonderful Meetings Ever Held in London — Personal Experiences — Dining With Mr. Gladstone — Premonition of Sudden Death — Followed by an Assassin — Arrest of the Would-be Murderer — Using up the "Best Minister in Scotland" — Farewell to London. . 57 CHAPTER IV. Return of the Famous Evangelists to America — Great Preparation for Their Tlome-Coming — Erection of Buildings for Immense Audiences — The Campaign in Eastern Cities — Sweeping Through the South — A Work That Never Ceased for Twenty- eight Years — First Steps Towards Organizing Educational In- stitutions at Northfield — Great Results From Small Beginnings — The Northficld Seminary for Gi-rls — The Boys' School at Mount Hcrmon — Mr. Moody Grapples with Intricate Problems — The Summer School at Northficld — Visited by the Most Famous Men of the Times — Marvelous Vacation Work — Cher- ished Life Plans — "I'm Trying to Reproduce Myself" — Mr. Moody's Fervor, Energy, and Faith — " I'm Awfully Concerned About this Matter" — A Man of Action, as well as Words — How He Raised the Money to Found and Support His In- stitutions 69 CHAPTER V. Mr. Moody's W^ondcrful Capacity to Stand Hard and Continuous Labor — Always "Ready for Business" — His Disregard of Ordinary Laws of Health — " Have You Got .'\nything to Eat? " — His Miraculous Power to Stand Fatigue — His Intellectual and Moral Endowments — Looking into the Faces of More than One CONTENTS. J I Hundred Million People — His Wonderfully Retentive Mem- ory— A Life of Incessant Activities — How He Treated Men he Personally Disliked — Dropping Men as if They Were "Hot Coals" — His Devotion to His Friends — Standing by Henry Drummond — How Drummond's Death AfTected Mr. Moody — His Great Will Power — His Humility and Modesty — Refusing an Offer of $25,000 for His Autobiography — Offered $10,000 by a Newspaper for a Two-Hours Interview — The Power of His Eye — Did He Possess the Gift of Hypnotism? 83 CHAPTER \I. Mr. ^loody's Theology — His Power as a Preacher — What he Re- garded the Most Fascinating Doctrine in the Bible — His Belief that Things Were '" Going to the Bad " ^ Waiting for The Final Crash " — His Fine Sense of Humor — His Unshaken Belief in the Bible — His Broad Sympathies — His Oratory and Pulpit Power ■ — Born With a Silver Style in His Mouth — Characteristics of His Platform Addresses — His Limited Vocabulary — His Source of Illustrations — Drawn from Real Life — "Corner Groceries " in Noah's Time — How he Secured the Sympathy and Attention of an Audience — His Intense Energy on the Plat- form— Conditions that Aroused His Highest Powers — His Ideal of Music, and the Use he Made of it — Electrical Effect of Some of His Sermons — His Last Sermon, and His Last Audience. . 9,3 CHAPTER VH. Mr. Moody's Loyalty to the Regular Institutions of the Christian Church — What Might Have Happened if he had Unfurled His Banner — The Countless Multitudes that Would Have Flocked to Him — His Ability to Organize and Bring Order out of Chaos — How he Supported the Regular Work of the Churches — One of Four Men " Sent Forth by God " — His Last Meetings in Kansas City — ^ Great Preparations and Enormous Crowds — His Sudden Illness — -"Oh. I am Much Better" — Forced to Remain Away From a Meeting for the First Time in Forty Years — Alarming Symptoms — He is Sent Home in a Private Car to Northfield — Watching at His Bedside — Helpless, but Cheerful and Hopeful — "What is Going on Here?" — Nearing the End — Close of an Illustrious Life — Mr. Moody's Last Words — His Funeral — His Grave on Round Top 105 ^'.•■I»c h y An CHAPTER I. SIMPLY BELIEVING, SIMPLY RECEIVING. Incident in Manchester, England. — " Oh, I See It Now " — " I Understand You Have Been SteaUng " — Calling Things by Their Right Names — Two Men Who Saw What they were Looking For — Story of a Remarkable Conversion — Forging His Own Chains — On the Deck of a Sinking Ship — "Jump Into the Lifeboat!" — The Man with Handbills — The Story of Little Nellie — " Help ! Help !" — A Wicked Yorkshire Miner — "Don't Cry, Lass; Don't Cry" — The Silver Key and Tress of Auburn Hair — A Bed of Straw — " No One Cares for Mc " — From a Dark Garret to the Kingdom of God. . . . i r^ CHAPTER H. THE PRODIGAL SON. Noble Character — Seven Children, and No Two Alike — A Jolly Fellow — A Father Who was " a Little Soft " — Trying to Borrow a Dollar — A Scheme of the Devil — Saloon-keepers and Free Lunches — The Gnawings of Hunger — " Use or Lose " — A Jew Caring for Swine — Sowing Tares and Reaping Shame — The Hardest of Battles — " There Goes a Tramp " — Watching for His Son — Love Makes the Eyesight Keen — The Forgotten Speech — A Story of Mr. Moody's Early Life — A Mother's Grief for the Wanderer — The Little Circle By the Fireside — Tears and Silence — The Roar of the Storm — The Wanderer's Re- turn— What if there Were Two Graves There? — The Face of a Stranger — His Tears of Penitence Betray Him — Welcomed and Forgiven . . 136 (12) CONTENTS. 12 CHAPTER III. THE NEW BIRTH. A Photograph of the Heart — "I Will Take Fourteen Dozen" — Breaking the Plate and Abusing the Artist — " Ticketed " through to Heaven — " My Brother is an Archdeacon " — Signing Good Resolutions with Blood — The Crab-apple Tree — "Can't You Give Ale Something To Do?" — Turned Out of House and Home — A Personal Experience — Story of the Crane and the Swan — " I Want Snails" — The Descent into the Pit — No Such Thing as Wind — A Puzzling Question — The Mystery of Life — A Thrilling Incident — " He Isn't Going to Catch Me " — Cornering Him in One End of a Pew — Jumping Over the Backs of the Pews — "I Am that Nephew " — Joking at Mr. Moody's ENpense — A Drunkard's Downfall — The Empty Cot. , . 150 CHAPTER IV. SEEKING CHRIST AND FOLLOWING HIM. Faithful, Anxious, and Curious Followers — The Man Who Came to See the Chairs — " I Thought You Were a Humbug" — A Start- ling Question — " Do You Know That Man?" — Reward of Ten Thousand Dollars for a Lost Diamond — Crawling Under the Chairs — Jumping from the Gallery — " You Are Just the Man " — Mr. Moody's Condition When He Arrived in Boston as a Boy — Crying Unto God in His Extremity — " Aloody, I Don't Like Your Style " — Personal Reminiscences of the Burning of Chicago — A Night of Horror — An Indignant Woman — " None of Your Business, Sir" — "Where is Mary?" — The Man Who Ran up Behind Mr. Moody — " Talk to the Other Man; I'm All Right" — The IVlan Who Pretended He Wasn't Listening. . 167 CHAPTER V. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. What Is the Holy Spirit? — " What Made You Tell Mr. Moody All About Me?" — An Old Negro Preacher's Observation — The Clock Without Hands — " Everything Going to Pieces " — A "Long-headed" ]\Ian — One "Long" Eye, and One "Short" Eye — The Hon. Mr. Lot, of Sodom — Grumblers and Fault- finders — Coming " To See How Moody Does It " — People Who Write Letters to Mr. Moody — "The Terrible Sin of Robbing 14 CONTENTS. Hen-Roosts" — A Caution to the Old Grave-digger — "To Rent, With or Without Power " — Two Ways of Digging a Well — A Well that " Froze up in Winter and Dried Up in Summer " — The Old Wooden Pump on the Farm 190 CHAPTER YI. SOWING AND Rr:APING — WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? Family Skeletons — Teaching Servants to Lie — " Isn't It Strange? " — Teaching Clerks Dishonesty — JMr. Moody's Cliallcnge — A Man Who Accepted It, and the Result — Reckoning the Cost — Fore- closing the last Mortgage — Sowing Wild Oats — Sentenced to Prison for Life — The Man in Tears in the Balcony — The Story of a Confidential Clerk — " I Am Beyond Help " — Reaping as He had Sown — " Hello, Stranger, What Are You Sowing? " — A Story of John B. Gough — Mr. Moody's Reminiscences of Him — The Man Who Sowed Oats and Thistles — Deserting Wife and Children — The Fugitive Forger — The Last Night at Home — A Terrible Dilemma — " No Such Person Lives Here." . 207 CHAPTER VH. TEMPERANCE. — TO DRUNKARDS AND REFORMED MEN. Bound Hand and Foot — Carried Over tlie Rapids — Sowing Wild Oats — A Thrilling Incident in Mr. Moody's E.xperience — Beg- ging for Mercy in the Dying Hour — The Drunkard's Home and Family — The Ragged and Filthy Tramp — "I Have Got it Now " — The Arrow that Reached His Heart — Remarkable Story of a Vagrant and Outcast — Keeping Out of Debt — Working for Twenty-five Cents a Week — "That's the Man for Me " — Praying to God for More — " I Guess I'll Reform Too "— Drinking Up a Coat — " Mike, Where are your Shoes? " — Sing- ing Hymns in Haunts of Vice — Taking Si-xtcen Men Out of a Saloon in One Night 226 CHAPTJiR \'HI. THE INFINITE LOVE OF GOD. A Business Man's Novel Suggestion — A Touching Incident — The Motto in Gas-jets — The Most Beautiful Thing in the World — CONTKNTS. I c An Incident in Mr. Moody's Dublin Experience — What Changed Mr. Moody's Ideas about Preaching — Sentenced to Death — A Mother's Anguish — A Son's Untimely End — Asking to be Laid Beside her Dead Boy — Seeking the California Gold Fields — No Room in the Lifeboats — Remarkable Instance of a Mother's Love — "Tell Your Father I Died to Save You" — A Father's Search for His IMissing Son — How He was Found in San Fran- cisco — Story of the Boys Who were fcjrbidden to Climb Trees — The Little Dirty Chimney-sweep — Clasped to His Mother's Bosom — Mr. Spurgeon and the Weather-vane 249 chaptp:r IX. NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST. STANDING UP FOR JESUS. Mr. Moody's Ride with a Mormon Engineer — A Man Who was Proud of His Religion — An Amusing Story of Two Cowards — A Policeman Who was Ashamed of His Uniform — The Motto on the Building — A Confession of Cowardice — Story of the Two Young Men Who Sneaked Out to Hear Mr. Moody — Far-reach- ing Results of a Sporting Man's Conversion — Students Plan to Rotten Egg Mr. Moody — Carrying a Sermon in His Pocket- book — Three Fast Young Men Who Went to Ridicule Mr. Moody — A Noisy Meeting — A Chinese Test of a Christian — Speaking On a Dry-goods Box — Story of the Young Lawyer Who Came Out for Christ — How Judge McLean took His Stand — Praying in the Barracks 260 CHAPTER X. THE SOUL'S GREATEST NEED — WHAT CHRIST IS TO US. The Text on the Window Pane — " I've Got Him, Thank God! " — An Incident in the Life of Napoleon — A Legacy of Five Million Dollars — Sitting Quietly at the Feet of Jesus — A Touching Incident — " I Want to be With You " — An Incident of the Civil War — The Call for Six Hundred Thousand Men — " We Are Coming, Father Abraham "—A Alan of One Idea — " Oh, Moody is a Fanatic " — An Old Scotchman's Remark — " That Man Saved Me" — Selling a Woman's Soul at Auction — An Incident of Mr. Moody's Boyhood — Early Experiences in the West — Looked Upon with Suspicion — Holding meetings in Schoolhouscs. 271 1 5 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL THE UNBOUNDED GRACE OF GOD. / Telling Mr. Moody How to Preach — The Old Lady Who Locked the Door — Mr. Moody's first Arrival in Boston as a Boy — Haunting the Post-office — The Man Who Built a Ladder to Heaven — The Captured Spy — Mr. Moody's Vanished Audi- ence — The Man Behind the Furnace — Sunday-school Teacher and the Silver Watch — "More to Follow" — Living on "Old Joy " — The Man Who Never Forgot the " Meetings of '57 " — One of Mr. Moody's Experiences in London — " High Level " or " Low Level '" — A Disgusted Listener — " A Tick at a Time " — " Peculiar " People — " Weak " and " Lazy " People. . . . 283 CHAPTER XH. THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST. An Incident of the Civil War — Sentenced to Death for Sleeping at /' His Post — A Little Girl's Faith in Abraham Lincoln — The President's Compassion — " Mother Will Come " — How Mr. Moody's Heart was Softened — Experiences Among the Poor — " Little Adelaide " — Sad Scene in a Drunkard's Home — " Can't You Help Me Find a Place to Bury Her?" — No Money to Buy a Shroud — " Papa, Suppose I Were Drowned " — Praying for a Tender Heart — An Unmarked Grave in the Potter's Field — At the Grave of " Emma" — The Touch of a Mother's Hand — "Oh Mother ! Have You Come?" 305 CHAPTER XHI. FAITH. Starving with Ten Thousand Dollars in the Bank — A Man Who Cannot be Pleased — Living on Creeds — "The Building is on Fire ! " — Going Out of the Window Head First — "I Never Thought of That " — How Mr. Moody Prayed for Faith — The Two Men who Planted Trees — "I Don't Believe In Roots" — The Beggar By the Wayside — " I've Got the Money, That's Enough" — The Little Invalid — Spelling with Crackers — A Message for Grandpa — The Box of Paints — "I Don't See It, But You've Got It" — Jumping Into His Father's Arms — " I'se Afraid, Papa" — Weeping by His Mother's Grave. . . . 317 CONTENTS. 17 CHAPTER XIV. THE ELEMENTS OF PRAYER. An Incident in Mr. Moody's London Experience — Four Hundred Conversions — Prayers of a Bedridden Saint — An Invitation from a London Physician — Praying for Fifty Years — Confess- ing to His Family — The Specter of the Five Bottles of Wine — "Oh, I Can't pray" — A Remarkable Story — A Family Quarrel — Wonderful Reconciliation of a Mother and Daughter — Meeting Half Way — An Impressive Incident — An Audience in Tears — " There is One Woman I Will Never Forgive " — An Un- converted Woman — Living on Grumble Alley — The Smiling Christian — The Carpenter who Cut His Thumb — "Bless The Lord! I Didn't Cut it Off " — "I Wonder What's the Matter?" . 325 CHAPTER XV. THE ELEMENTS OF FR AVER — Continued. The Boy Who Wanted a Razor — Thrilling Incident in Mr. Moody's Life — The Imperiled Steamer — A Tiny Light over the Waves — Rescuing a Ship's Passengers from a Watery Grave — A Re- markable Answer to Prayer — The Boy Who Wanted a Bicycle — Pleading for a Father's Life — Wonderful Work of a Bedridden Boy — Mr. Moody Prays for His Brother Twenty Years — Praying for Ridiculous Things — Praying on the Way Home — Knocking at the Door — "My Heart is Breaking" — A Mother's Earnest Appeal — The Prayer in the Woods — The Soldier's Letter — Reminiscences of the Civil War — Mr. Moody's Experience with an Audience of Cambridge Students. . . 338 CHAPTER XVI. CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD — CHRIST THE COMFORTER. Binding Up Broken Hearts — The Deacon's Version of the Twenty- first Chapter of John — A Startled Preacher — Trying to Deceive the Flock — Mr. Moody's Misquotation Detected by an Old Scotch Lady — "Carl, Come Here" — Mr. Moody and His Brother Searching for a Flock of Sheep — The Better Land — No One Exempt from Trouble — Mr. Moody's Visits to the Sorrow- ing— The Deserted Wife — A Broken Heart in Every House — A Tragedy of the Sea — Mr. Moody at the Grave of a Dear 2 ^ 1 8 CONTENTS. Friend — "I Can't Find the Brake " — Tolling the Dcath-Kncll — Mr. ]\Iood3''s Childish Fear of Death — How it was Overcome — " Dust to Dust." 354 CHAPTER XVII. TRUST IN GOD GIVES PERFECT PEACE. False Friends — The Old Woman Who " Trusted the Lord Till the Harness Broke" — A Brave Missionary — " Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep " — Seizing the Last Rope — A Dangerous Feat — An Interesting Story of the Civil War — The Prayer of a Little Fatherless Girl — Asking God to Lend a Little House to Live In — The Story of Two Bibles Bought With Children's Money — Among Sick and Wounded Soldiers — A Soldier's Dying Message to His Mother — A Glorious Death — Mr. Moody's Experience in the Panic of 1857 — Starting Out as asCommercial Drummer — Expecting Something Dreadful 366 CHAPTER XVIII. EXCUSES. The Three Men Who Were Invited to a Feast — The Five Yoke of Oxen — The Sunday Newspaper — Sunday and the Bicycle — Death-bed Repentance — The Bridge of Sighs — A Hard Master — Mr. Moody's Efforts to Release a Man from Prison — Putting On the Uniform of Heaven — Hiring a Model — The Beggar and His New Suit of Clothes — Too Well Dressed — The Barefooted Beggar Boy — How He Obtained Five Pairs 01 Boots a Day — The Reckless Sailor Who Longed for a Better Life — Some of His Experiences — Drinking "On the Sly" — One Way of De- clining an Invitation to Dinner 384 CHAPTER XIX. GOOD NEWS — GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY. Reading a Death Warrant — People Who are Glum and Melancholy — Entering Richmond with Gen. Grant — A Thrilling Incident of the Civil War — Two Men to be Selected for Immediate Exe- cution— Drawing the Names — A Startling Message that came to Richmond — Liberating Forty Million Serfs — A Disappointed Preacher — An Empty Theater — "Herrings for Nothing!" — Incredulous People — Paying People's Debts — The Men Who Arrived Too Late — Anecdote f)f Mr. Spurgeon — The Postman's Knock — Farewell to the Little Emigrants — Anecdote of Chaplain Trumbull — The Name that Thrilled His Soul — "Fire on those Flags If You Dare ! " 399 C(JNTENTS. jQ CHAPTER XX. THE STANDARD OF MT. SINAI. A Woman Who Worshiped Herself — The Man Who Never Sinned — Swearing " From the Mouth Out " — A Negro Preacher Who DecHned to Preach a Sermon on Steahng — People Who " Squirm " — " My Boy Richard Thinks It's Wrong " — Sunday Newspapers — How Mr. Moody Kept Sunday When a Boy — Working Seven Days a Week — The Drunken Sailor Converted — " I am So Tired ! " — '" That is My Washerwoman " — The Vale- dictorian's ]\Iother — "Get Away, Old Man; I Don't Know You " — Story of the Opium Smuggler — The Cashier's Mistake — " How Far Is It To Heaven? " 412 CHAPTER XXI. LOVE AND SYMPATHY. Won to Jesus by a Smile — " That Man Must be a Minister " — The Best for the Money — Light from the Celestial Hills — No Heart so Hard but Love will Soften It — A Theory Upset — "I Ain't Never Comin' to This Sunday-school no More " — Bearing on the "Curiosity" Chord — Making up a Bundle for Johnny — Don't Want to go to Heaven if Grandfather is There " — Going West to Get Rid of the Neighbors — " I Suppose It's my Duty to Say Something" — "Now, Moody, You Are All Wrong" — The Power of a Loving Word — " This Is Papa's Friend " — Melted to Tears at the Name of " Brother." 430 CHAPTER XXH. THE FUTURE STATE — HEAVEN AND WHERE IT IS — ITS INHABITANTS AND RICHES —SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER THERE? The Future State — What the Bible Says About Heaven- — -"Every- where" ]\Ieant "Nowhere" — How Far Away is Heaven? — Heaven a Locality — A Glimpse of the Heavenly World — The Dying Soldier — An Incident in Mr. Moody's Life — The Vacant Chair — After the Funeral — "Where is My Mamma?" — Read- ing His Own Record — An Incident of the Civil War — Calling the Roll of Heaven — The Dying Soldier Who Answered, "Here ! Here ! " — The Man Who Could Talk of Nothing but Corner Lots — A Question Often Asked of Mr. Moody — Shall We Know F-ach (^thcr in Heaven? 440 20 contp:nts. CHAPTER XXIII. THE OVERCOMING LIFE. An Incident in London — Mr. Moody's Experiences when He was Converted — "Trouble with D. L. Moody" — At the Outbreak of the Civil War — Going to War with a Whoop — Self Control — "Mother, Where's My Collar?" — Taking a Dose of Unpleasant ]\Iedicine — Offering His \\'\ie a Bouquet Instead of an Apology — A Story of Anger and Contrition — A Manly Apology — Story of Three Millionaires — Waking Up and Finding Himself a Rich Man — I\Iean and Contemptible People — The Jealous Eagle and Its Fate — The Boy and the Echo — A Wise Mother — Mr. Moody's Experience at a Dinner Party — Washing out religion with a Bucket of Cold Water 458 CHAPTER XXIV. PERSONAL WORK IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. Enthusiasm Essential to Success — Teachers Pulling One Way and Parents Another — The iscouraged Superintendent — People Who are Like a Bundle of Shavings — Taking Hold and " Holding On" — A Touching Incident — The Little Girl Mr. Moody was Proud Of — A Rich Young Woman's Choice — An Amazed Father and Mother — '' Can You Give Me a Class? " — The Shoe- maker's Boy — "None of Your Business" — Gaining a Raga- muf^n's Confidence — " If you Go There again I'll Flog You" — Taking His Floggings in Advance — President Lincoln's Visit to Mr. Moody's Sunday-school — Feeling Two Inches Taller — A Class of Frivolous Girls — A Night Mr. Moody Never Forgot — How He Lost His Ambition for Business 471 CHAPTER XXV. THE GOOD S.\MARITAN. The Man Who Fell Among Thieves — The Priest Who Passed Him By — John Wesley's Motto — A Cry for Help — Criminal Selfish- ness — Driven Out of Town — Too Many Committees — The Levite — The Good Intention — "Drawing" Church Members — Blaming the Usher — The Chinaman and the Hoodlums — Race Prejudice — The Kind-hearted Samaritan — A "Blowing Up" — A Year Wasted — Binding Up His Wounds — A Worker in the Seven Dials — Gathering in the Outcasts — Giving Time, Money, and Personal Effort — The Fiddling Infidel — Paying the Inn- Keeper — A Pung Full of Boys — "Hitch On" — "Get Away! Get Away ! " — A Serious Case of Homesickness 483 CONTENTS. 21 CHAPTER XXVI. THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. People Who Pick at the Bible — Critics and Cavillers — Jonah and the Whale and Some Other Doubted Stories — The Scotchman's Answer to a Modern Philosopher — The Boy Skeptic Who Wanted to Argue with Mr. Moody — Ministers who Delight in Picking the Bible to Pieces — The Only Verse He Could Quote — The Bible Judged without Examination — The Minister's Cut Bible — " I'm Going to Hold On to the Covers " — Cutting Out what You do not Agree With — The Supernatural Things of the Bible — The Bible in Three Hundred and Fifty DifTerent Languages — Issuing Fifteen Hundred Bibles an Hour 496 CHAPTER XXVH. THE BIBLE AND HOW TO STUDY IT Different Ways of Studying the Bible — Digging Deep for Heavenly Truths — -An Infiders Challenge to I\Ir. Moody — Using a Con- cordance — The Man Who Wanted a Book on Assurance — Study- ing the Bible with a Telescope — Characteristics of the Gospels — How Mr. Moody Held the Attention of the Northfield Students — Studying the Bible with a Microscope — A Real and an Artificial Bee — Preachers with Flippant Tongues — Mr. Moody's Inter- leaved Bible — Marking the Bible — Mr. Moody's Recollections of the Family Bible — " Greeney From the Country " ^ The Im- portance of Knowing 50Q CHAPTER XXVHI. THE STORY OF THE DELUGE — TO FATHERS AND MOTHERS. An Awful Communication — Nuah Considered a Lunatic — Jeered at by His Neighbors — The Man Who Claimed that Force and Matter Work Together — Rocks Made of Sand, and Sand Made of Rocks — " Noah and His Folly " — Sending Reporters to "Write Up" Noah and His Ark — "No Signs of a Storm" — Confidence in a Father's Piety — The Beasts and Fowls Flock to the Ark^ — -A Warning Always conies Before the Blow — " You Can't Get In " — The Last Day and the Last Hour — " Are All the Children In?" — A Wealthy Land-owner and His Dying Son — "Father, Have I Got to Die?" — "I Shall be With Jesus To- night " — Tlic Hymn Book Stained with Blood 522 22 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIX. THE RICH I'OOL. The Biblical Meaning of " Fool " — Working and Planning from the Cradle to the Grave — Living iar this World Only — Pulling Down the Old Barns — Making Plans for the Future — A Visit at the Silent Midnight Hour — Pleading With Death — Stricken with Grief — The Epitaph on the Monument — A Terrible Mis- take—The Mother and the Little Blind Child — One of Mr. Moody's Reminiscences — The Sailor's Pertinent Question — A Mother's Ambition for Her Only Son — The Prickings of Con- science — A Promise to a Dying Mother — The Graves of the Household — "Father. Come this Way" — The Little Beckon- ing Hand — W'hcre will You be Next Year? 535 CHAPTER XXX. INFIDELS AND INFIDELITY. Sending His Daughter From the Room — "I Did not Think it Would do Her any Good to Hear What I Said" — A Crooked Path — A Son Gone Astray — " Father, I Am Dying " — " W^iat is to Become of Me?" — Farewell Forever — Full Inspiration of the Bible — Crying for Mercy — A Broken-hearted Wife — The Dying Infidel — "What Have I Got to Hold On To?" — Last Words of Lord Byron and St. Paul — A Wife's Request — Mr. Moody's Visit to an Infidel — Laughed at for His Pains — Asking for Just One Favor — "When I Am Converted I Will Let You Know " — A Night of Agony — "Try Your Hand On Me." . . . 545 CHAPTER XXXI. BACKSLIDERS AND BACKSLIDING. People Who Have " Never Slid Forward " — Mr Moody's Theology — The Cause of Hard Times — The Curse of Tobacco and Whis- key—" I Have Had a Bitter Time " — Mr. Moody and the Old Backslider — An Incident of the Civil War — A Father Searching the Hospitals for His Son — "John Thompson, Your Father Wants You" — Peculiarities of Backsliders — Pretexts and Excuses — Bad Husbands and Wretched Wives — Story of the Boy in " the Bush " — An Incident in Mr. Moody's London Experience — A Man and His Four Photographs — Advertising Himself as a "Prominent Worker" — An Incident on the Plains. . . . 554 CONTENTS. 23 CHAPTER XXXII. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. One Thing God Cannot Do — What Became of the Missing Five Dollars? — -Three Stumbling Blocks — A Humorous Incident — The Man Who was Looking for " Cold Chills " — A Re- markable Incident in Mr. Moody's Career — Mr. Moody Loses His Way — " Would You Tell Me Who You Are?" — An Aston- ished Scotchman — The Colorado Convict and His Flowers — "They Remind Me of My Mother" — Obstinate Sammy — An Incident in Glasgow — A Memorable Night — How Did John Draw the Crowd? — A "Sensational" Preacher — "Did You Notice His Coat?" — Remarkable Story of Mr. Moody's Neigh- bor, Long — The Pointing Finger of a Madman 564 CHAPTER XXXIII. SOCIAL AND WORLDLY AMUSEMENTS. The Boy Who Shunned His Father — " Oh, He Is An Old Fogy" — Marrying a Man to Convert Him — Tottering Homes and Blasted Lives — Where Sorrow and Disaster Thrive — The Banker and His Dishonest Partners — Dying of a Broken Heart — Northfield Boys and Early Apples — Straddling the Fence — An Incident of the Civil W^ar — Putting Up the Wrong Flag — The Converted Man Who Wouldn't Give Up Anything — Is it Right to Dance? — Shall I Go To The Theater? — " This Is No Place for Me " — " Don't Make a Fool of Yourself " — " Come, Moody, Let's Have a Game " — Card Parties — " Chutter, Chutter, Chutter " — " The Man that Comes here Sundays " — Footprints in the Snow. 581 CHAPTER XXXIV. AN APPEAL TO P.\RENTS. A Theory that Proved to be All Wrong — " Mother Is Not In " — Social Lies — Formation of Character — From the Sunday-school to Beer Gardens — Reaping the Consequences — "How Did You Come Here?" — Mr [Moody's Secret — In Prison Under an .Assumed Name — Moving in the " Highest Circles " — A Broken- hearted Mother — " Cut It Finer" — Looking Upon Sunday with Dread — " Natural Goodness " — The Lighthouse Keeper W^atch- ing for the Return of His Sailor Son — A Grief-stricken Father — Removing His Mother's Body — A Remarkable Story — " Plave 2A CONTENtS. You Seen My Boy?" — Story of the Little Wooden Cross — A Mother's Letter to Mr. Moody 596 CHAPTER XXXV. HOW TO CONDUCT MEETINGS — TO YOUNG CONVERTS. Preaching Everybody Out of Doors — Killing a Meeting — "A Pity to Stop While There's Anybody Listening " — Some Astonished Elders — Asking for an Explanation — Curiosity Aroused — Long- winded Ministers — Deacons Who Talk Too Long — What an Old Deacon Said — Six Years Without a Welcome — " Disturbing the Impression" — Air. Aloody's Rejoinder — Harrowing it In — What to do With People Who Sleep in Church— How Mr. Moody Slept in Dr. Kirk's Church — The Result — A Hot-Water Advocate — A Convert's Experience Under a Railroad Bridge — " Wait Till I Get My Big Brother " — Story of An Old Colored Woman — Jumping Through a Stone Wall — " Before and After " — The Uplifted Knife — Reminiscences of Mr. Moody's Early Career 610 CHAPTER XXXVI. QUALIFICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN WORK — FAITH, COURAGE, ENTHUSIASM, AND PERSEVERANCE — NINE NEW THINGS FOR THE CHRISTIAN. A Scotchman's Observation — " We Die, but Never Surrender " — Weighing Men — "Man Overboard!" — The Light at the Port Hole — Saved by a Seasick Man — The Woman Who Went to War with a Poker — Wandering in the Blizzard — The Tiny Light in the Window — The Man by the Lamp-post — An Impudent Fellow — "Moody, You Are Too Zealous" — An Unexpected Call at Daybreak — An Incident in Mr. Moody's Early Life — "Go Pick Cotton" — Why One Stone was Missing — Stephen Girard and the Irishman — "I was There!" — A Fatal Mis- take— Hanging On to the "Old Man" — Dressing Up "Out- side " and " Inside " — Story of the Farmer and His Pump — " I'll Soon Make that Right " — Patching Up " Old Adam " — The Old Judge and His Negro, Sambo — " Good Night." . 621 By Rev. LYMAN ABBOTT, D. D. D WIGHT L. MOODY needs no introduction to any English reading circle, but I am so glad to be in even the slightest measure identified with him and his work, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of acceding to the recjuest of the publishers to write an introdu-ction to this volume. For no man on either side of the ocean has done so much as Mr. Moody to solve practically the problem often and laboriously discussed : How to carry the Gospel to non-church goers. No ordained preacher of any denomination has reached with his voice so many thousands as has this lay- preacher. Most clergymen speak to hundreds, Mr. i\Ioody has spoken to thousands ; most clergymen speak to the same auditors week after week, Mr. Moody has gathered congrega- tions in almost every great city in both the United States and Great Britain ; most clergymen speak to men and women brought up in a religious atmosphere, and measurably familiar from the cradle with religious truth ; Mr. Moody has spoken to (25) 26 INTRODUCTION BY REV. LYMAN ABBOTT. many men and women who but for him would never have heard the name of Christ exeept in jirofanity. The music contributed by his former companion in work. Mr. Sankey, undoubtedly did much to attract these congregations at first ; but the attraction furnished by the music was no more esthetic than the attraction furnished by the speaking was oratorical. In both cases it was the life expressed, not the form of the ex- pression, which drew together tlic multitudes, and the music and the speech have both illustrated the meaning and the truth of Christ's saying, " And I. if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." P^or this is what pre-eminently ^NFr. Moody has done by his speech and Mr. Sankey by his music — they have lifted up Christ ; and in the presence of this fact all criticisms on the taste, the culture, the theology, are uninipt)rtant. In this respect, Mr. Moody's preaching and its et^ects have repeated the phenomena of the Methodist movement in the eighteenth century. When Mr. Mood\' began his l^^vangelical ministry, as when John Wesley began his over a century earlier, the preaching in the regular pulpits and by the duly ai)])ointed ecclesiastical teachers too often lacked the simplicity of Christ's spirit. Sometimes it had become the rci)L'tition of a theologi- cal system ; sometimes a course of instruction in ethical cul- ture ; sometimes a proclamation of law, a Thou shalt and Thou shalt not ; sometimes a species of emotionalism more or less successfully atlcnipting to ])e dramatic; sometimes it could hardly be distinguished from literary essays or political stump speeches. Doubtless, in spite of such defections, there was in the Christian Church a great deal of genuine Cospel preach- ing — more than there was in the organized churches either in Old England or New luigland in the i)revious cen- tury. I'ut the one age, as the other, called for an itinerant prophet who should not be educated in scholastic theology, who should go outside the churches to the " plain people," who should speak the language of connnon life, not that of the schools, and whose message should be neither law, ethics, nor INTRODUCTION BY REV. LVMAX ABBOTT. 27 theology, but the Glad Tidings of a crucitied and a risen Christ. This has been pre-eminently Mr. Moody's message. His whole teaehing might be summed uj) in the one sentence which constituted Luther's "little Clospel": " (lod so loved the world that lie gave His c^ily begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." In his philosophical interpretation of the facts of religion, Mr. Moody has in important respects disagreed with men who have gladly co-operated with him and with whom he has gladly co-operated. Not the least of the many services wdiich Mr. Moody rendered to the age has been this practical demonstration that religion is more than theology, and that, based upon this principle, a true Christian catholicity is always possible. Mr. Moody's psychological conception of inspira- tion undoubtedly differed from that of George Adam Smith, and his philosophy of redemption differed from that of Henry Drummond. lUit he worked in hearty fellowship with both, much to the surprise and in spite of the opposition of some men of narrower mold, who could not under- stand Christ's declaration, " He that is not against us is for us." The same s])irit enabled him, though a radical Protestant, to maintain friendly relations with Roman Catholic ecclesias- tics, and, though a Second Adventist — in the non-partisan sense of that term — to work in cordial relations with men who believed that the prophecies of Christ's second coming W'Cre fulfilled by the destruction of Jerusalem. This same spirit has absolutely prevented any formation of a new school about him as a leader. There is a Northfield in the Cnited States, as there is a Keswick in England ; but there is no Northfield school in the United States as there is a Keswick school in England. Mr. Aloody's theology is simply this ; Christ's Gospel is the cure for the world's sin and sorrow. That God loves the world of men, that He has given His only Son to die for the world, that in the death and resurrection of His Son is the secret of the world's redemption, that by reason of it the 28 INTRODUCTION I5V RFA'. LYMAN ABBOTT. \vorld eventually will be delivered from sin and sorrow, and that any individual may be delivered from sin and sorrow now by simply accepting the gift of life from God through Jesus Christ His Son, — this is an epitome of Dwight L. Moody's preaching. Nothing more than this is essential to the Gospel ; nothing less than this suffices for the Gospel. Some of the criticisms to which Mr. Moody has been sub- jected would be amazing were it not a common experience that he who is ambitious to be a critic rarely takes the trouble to ascertain whether his criticism is founded on fact. Such critics have imagined that Mr. Moody was accustomed to attract men by terrifying them, and, by appealing to im- aginary fears, sought to produce a feverish excitement which passed for religion. That there has been such preaching in Evangelical circles is very true, though much less of it than assailants of the church would have us believe ; but such is not Mr. Moody's message nor Mr. Moody's spirit. " I used to think." he says in one of liis sermons, " of God as a stern judge on tlie throne, from whose wrath Jesus Christ had saved me. It seems to me now, 1 could not have a falser idea of God than that. Since I have become a father, I have made this discovery: Tliat it takes more love and sacrifice for the father to give uj) the son than it docs for the son to die." * Mr. Moody's i)reaching was fotnidcd not on the wrath of God, but on God's love. Tliat Mr. Moody sonietimes appealed to fear is true, though, so far as I recall his ministry, never to mere physical fear; he often appealed to conscience, and alwavs with forcefulness ; but he generally appealed to love and hope. .\nd this was the real secret of his power. It was the secret of the power of the Methodist preachers in the last century, of the Lutheran preachers in the Reformation, and of the apostolic preachers in the primitive Church. To men who had lapsed into a dull despair or a dull self-content more * Men i)f the Bible, p. 22. INTRODUCTION BY REV. LYMAN ABBOTT. 29 dang"erous than despair, this Gospel message of God's love, when interpreted by a divinely inspired love for men in the preaeher, has always brought with it the inspiration of love and the impulse of hope. The translation of the love of God into the love of a human soul for a hu- man soul, not because it is worthy of love, but because it is in need oi love, is the Gospel, and when it comes to men who are hopeless of ever becoming worthy of doing anything worthy it rarely fails to meet a response. And this was the first element in Mr. Moody's power. The second element was like it: His conviction that when this life of love and hope is born in a man's heart and he begins to live or to try to live as Christ would have him li\'e, because Christ loves him, he is saved. Lost and saved in Mr. Moody's preaching are both present facts. The man who is without God and without that life of hope and love which faith in God imparts is lost; the man who lives with God and possesses that life of hope and love which faith in God imparts is saved. That there is an eternal lost which lies in the future of the one condition and .an eternal saved which lies in the future of the other is true ; but this is not the truth which Mr. Moody emphasized. He emphasized the facts of a present loss and a present salvation. It was his thought, not that the world will be lost, but that it is lost ; not that the Christian will be saved, but that he is saved. And he made this message of a present salvation effective because the message grew out of his own personal experience. He did not promise a future hope, which may be realized and may not ; he promised a present ex- perience which he was sure can be realized because he had realized it himself. No priest or bishop, no, not the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, nor the Pope of Rome, can pronounce with more authority the absolution and remission of their sins to all those who truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel than did this layman who disavowed all semblance of ecclesiastical authority. But in this absolution there was no assumption ; his authority was spiritual, not ecclesiastical. With ^O INTRODUCTION BY REV. LYMAN AIJBOTT. Paul he might truly say, " I received it not of man, but by revelation of Jesus Christ." It belonged to him as it belongs to every disciple w ho has a like exi)erience. And this Gospel whicli Mr. Moody derived from ex- perience he interjireted in tlie terms of experience. He had little imagination and no fancy. He rarely drew illustrations from nature, and even more rarel)- from hooks. The reader of this volume can hardly fail to be impressed 1)\- the fact that, with rare exceptions, his illustrations are concrete biographical accounts of the experience which he is expounding. Nor arc these experiences used to elucidate a theory ; they are used to assure his hearers of a fact. Though Mr. Moody was never a pastor, probably no settled clergyman ever had so wide and varied a pastoral experience, hew priests have received so many and so absolutely genuine confessions. His personal work was (juite as extraordinary as his platform and public work. And this personal work gave him an insight into human experiences which he used freely in interpreting both the needs of humanity and the gifts of (iod. He spoke like a lawyer presenting a case, and told with a simplicity which is better than rhetorical skill the story of the witnesses who attested his cause. He was thus singularly free from that professionalism which is the bane of the ])id])it. Hie ease with which the preacher falls int(j it and the difficulty with which he aveiids it are not ordinarily a])prehended 1)_\' the layman. 'Jdie minister is ex- ])ected to be ready at the appointed tiiue to speak to a relatively indifferent audience on the highest spiritual themes. He is expected not onh' to charm tliem b\- his literary skill, but also lo stir them b}- his divine passion. 1 le might by careful prei)ara- tion secure the literar}- charm, but the divine passion cannot be kept subject to call. It is not strange that the preacher oscillates between thinking it his dut\', on the one hand, to employ all the resources, if not also all the artihces of the orator, and trusting, on the other hand, to the euKjlionalism of the moment to give efficiency to extemporaneous exhorta- IXTROnUCTKlN BY RKW I.V.MAN ABBOTT ^j j tions. In cither case lie hecomes tlic professional oratt)r. Mr. Moody was not an orator and did not try to be one. As he stood on the platform he looked like a business man ; he dressed like a business man ; he took the meeting in hand as a business man would ; he spoke in a business man's fashion ; he had no holy tone ; he never introduced a jest for a jest's sake, but he did not fear to use humor if humor would serve his pur- pose ; he never turned a sentence neatly to catch that applause of the eye which is substituted in religious assemblies for ap- plause of the hands ; and whether they believed with him or not, his auditors were always sure that he believed all that he said, and indeed, said less than he believed because no language could express fully the experience of his own life. x\nd this conviction was confirmed l)y his life. He lived as he preached. His faith in the power of faith was exemplified by his conduct ; he might well have claimed that it was verified by results. Without salary or stated lueans of support, he not only lived apparently a comfortable, though never a luxurious, life, maintained a home, and educated his children, but he carried on an itinerant ministry, the expense of which in travel alone could not have been inconsiderable, built up and sus- tained a great Biblical school for the education of lay-workers in Chicago, two large and flotirishing educational institutions, one for girls at Northfield, one for boys across the Connecticut River at Mount Hermon, and a summer school in religion at the former place, which, without becoming sectarian, parti- san, scholastic, or narrowly pietistic, exerted a constantly widening influence by transfusing with the spirit of the Glad Tidings of a present salvation all parties and all churches of the Protestant and Evangelical faith. Such a character and career are well worth the careful study of all Christ's followers ; such courageous and consecrated faith are well worth their emulation. This introduction was written and printed before Mr. Moody's death ; had it been delayed till after that death I might have written it with a freer pen. But perhaps not. At all 32 INTRUDL'CTIOX BY REV. LYMAN AHHOTT. events I shall not now add to it any of those terms of eulogy which would have been so distasteful to him, — is it not more true to say are so distasteful to hmi ? We would have his mem- ory as he would have his life, simply a tribute to Christ. One of the most ancient creeds of the universal Church declares the sublimest fact in human history in a very simple phrase : " I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ . . . who for us men and our salvation came down from Heaven." Mr. Moody believed that as he believed in his own existence. He lived that he might bear witness to this truth. He bore that witness alike by his words and by his conduct. He was the last of that school of evangelists in which his predecessors were Whitefield, Fin- ney, Nettleton. His methods cannot in our time be success- fully imitated by another. But so long as the Church holds to this ancient faith in a divine Helper and Saviour, and to its right to pronounce with authority, spiritual not ecclesiastical, the absolution and remission of -sins, so long, though by new voices and in new methods, it will surprise and perplex journal- ists, historians, and philosophers by the power of the (dad Tidings of Christ, of which Dwight L. Moody was so illustrious a herald. -Tttt^TOK/ep EJwiGtrHfiffi e^HttWQ'RTv, '■%/ --^-V--.'^, Bv RE\'. CHARLES F. GOSS, D.D., /'as/or of J/r. J/uudr's Chicago Church for Five Years. CHAPTER I. Dwiglit L. Moody's Birthplace — Death of His Father — The Widowed Mother and a Heavily Mortgaged Farm — The Little Red Schoolhouse — An Uncontrollable Love of Mischief — In- cidents in His School Days — How His Teacher Conquered Him — A Wanderer at Seventeen — His Advent into Real Life in the City of Boston — How He was Converted — Decides to go to Chicago — Finds Work at Last — Running Down Country Merchants on the Streets — Becomes Identified With a Church — Rebuked for His Rough and Ready Speeches — Starting a Mission School on His own Responsibility — An Outfit of Ragamuffins and Street Urchins — His Sunday-school Grows to i,ooo Pupils — Loses his Interest in Business — "I am working for Jesus Christ " — No Money, but Plenty of Friends. D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY was born in NorthficUl Mass., on February 7, 1837. He came of Puritan stock, and there would be much in the study of his ancestry to interest the behever of heredity. But it was his mother who alone exerted anv demonstrable influence tipon his character. This stern and resolute woman was left a widow with a brood of growing children by her husband's death in 1841. Her neighbors advised her to distribute them among her friends; but she planted herself firmly on the slope of a rugged New England hill and resolutely decided to keep them together. The farm was heavily mortgaged and she was excessively poor, but nothing could shake her purpose and 3 (33) 34 LIFK OF DWIC.HT L MOODY. she triumphed nobly. That the chilthen liad to bear their share of tlie burdens goes witliout saying, and Dwight (Uttle fellow that he was) took his turn with the others. The Con- necticut \'alley, in which Xorthfield is located, is surpassingly beautiful, and, although Mr. Moody seldom indulged in de- scriptions of scenery, he was a passionate lover of nature, and no doubt formed this taste in that almost paradisaical spot. In the small and straggling village opportunities for culture were rare. There was a Unitarian church which his WHERE IX I.. M(JODV WAS HORN. Tin'. NORrill'lI'.l.l), M.XS.S. family attended, and a village school to which he was sent a gocjd deal oftener than he went ! Hear him descril^e it ! " In the little red schoolhouse which stood nearly opposite the house where I lived there were some bad boys who ran things, and I was one of the worst. We had a man teacher, who used the rattan on us a good deal, and took us by the ears and spun us around when we tried to do as we pleased. There was a great deal of excitement in our end of the town over the pun- ishment of the boys. One faction said that love would do for the bovs what the rattan failed to do. The other faction LIFK OF UWIGIIT L. .MOODY. 35 thoii,s:ht that the rattan was the only proper punishment. After a while the love faction ruled, and there was a lady teacher in the schoolhouse. " 'Sly, but didn't we think we were going to make things hum ! So I said to the other boys, ' Now we will have all the fun we want ! ' Well, the first one to be punished was Dwight Moody. I was told to stay after school. I told the boys if she tried the rattan on me there would be music. What do you think that teacher did? She sat down and told me that she loved every one of the boys, and that she wasn't going to use the rattan on any one of them. If she couldn't teach school without whipping the boys she would resign. She spoke most lovingly and wept while talking. That broke me all up. I would rather have had a rattan used on me than to see her cry. I said : ' You will never have any more trouble with me, and the first boy that makes trouble, I will settle him.' That woman won me by grace. The next day one of the boys cut up, and I whacked him. I whacked him so much that the teacher told me that was not the way to win the boys. Do you know what grace means? It means unmerited mercy, undeserved favor." Amidst such, influences the boy developed into a sturdy, restless, eager, impulsive youth. His love of mischief was un- controllable, and the sides of old neighbors still shake at the memory of his pranks. In her later years when the old mother sat in quiet comfort in the home which her son had made beautiful, she would tell with that sparkling light in her eye which was seen almost habitually in his, how he put squirrels into the dinner pails of his companions, or started the horses suddenly when some farmhand was helplessly drinking from a jug upon the seat of the wagon, and tumbled him over into its bed. Humor and pathos, life and death, heaven and hell, sun- shine and shadow, blended themselves into a tangled web in his young life. Now he is sent away from home to work, and in a fit of ungovernable homesickness is given a penny by a good old man whom he will remember to his dying day * ; now he * Incident relalfd by Mr. Moody on page iS6. 36 LIFK OF DWK.HT L. MOODV. meets with an accident in which he escapes death by prayer; now a farmhand tells him a thriHinj;;^ tale of his early refusal of the " call of God " and makes him tremble with the sense of sin antl personal responsibility; now his l)rollK'r runs awav from home, leavings the old mother to weep by the fireside, and attain comes back a prodigal and seeks her pardon.* From his eloquent lips ag^ain and a.qain all over the world he has told these incidents of a childhood which remained as fresh to him as if he were still in it. until the whole picture can be reconstructed and he can be seen movino^ noisily and rest- lessly among these simple scenes, drinking in the abundant life around him in great full breaths ; healthy, ardent, living an out-of-door and out-of-self life, eagerly absorbing but not yet digesting the experiences through which he passed. Soon after his seventeenth year the " wander-lust " came upon him, and out he went into the wide world, ignorant, but strong and fearless, lie made his first grapple with real life in the cit\- of TJoston. lie had relatives there, but, being high strung and independent, refused to seek their aid until driven to it by a stern necessity. It did him good to humble that proud young heart, and he secured a ])lace in his uncle's store upon three conditions : He was to board at a place selected by his uncle ; he was not to go out nights ; he was regularly to at- tend the Mount Xernon Church and Sundav-school. lie accepted the inevitable (as he always did) and phmged in. The strenuous discipline of regular labor told rapidly. Ihe services of the church in wliich the famous Doctor Kirk was pastor did not at first imj)ress hun nuicli ; but at length, a Sunday-school teacher whose heart was full of genuine love (a certain Air. Kimball) placed his hand upon his shoulder and asked liini if lu' would mil " give his heart to Christ." This act made one '>f those indelible impressi(jns upon him which any appeal to his heart or soul alwaxs left. Tie is perhajis to be taken literally when he says " 1 can fi'el the toucli of that hand upon my shoulder yet." 'ihe (piestion aroused a dor- mant spiritual nature. ^' Incident related by Mr. Mage 402. LIFIC OF DWKiHT L. MOODS' 37 It is doubtful if he in any way comprehended the emotions which began to boil up from his deep young heart ; but they were unmistakably religious, and he sought to join the church. lie was, however, so rough, uncouth, and ignorant that the old deacons shook their heads and put him on " probation." Many years afterward, with that eagle eye of his, he spied one of these very men in one of his great meetings in England, called him to the platform, and intro- duced him as " one of the dea- cons who did not think he was fit to come into the church ! '" It was one of the innumera- ble dramatic incidents of his life, and was paralleled by an- other, when, years later, he had the privilege of leading the son of his former Sunday- school teacher to undertake the Christian life. Boston proved but a cage for this young eagle, and he sighed for the boundless opportunities of the " West." When he was nineteen he took flight and alighted in Chicago. It was the natural habitat for a spirit striving for the fullest possible expression of itself. He found work at once, and took his place in that proces- sion of young men who were not only laying the foundations of their own subsequent enormous fortunes, but building a city without parallel in the history of the world. He was in his element at last. Here was boundless room, and here were un- limited opportunities. He settled down to his work, and it soon became evident that he had a great future of some" kind before him. Xo obstacle appalled him and no work was too hard for him. If customers did not come to see Jiiiii he went DWIGHT L. MOODY .\S HE AP- PEARED WHEN HE REMOVED FROM THE FA^^LV FARM TO BOSTON. {From a phnloa;! af>h.) 38 LIFE OF DWIC.IIT L. MOODY. out to find thcni in the highways and byways, until it came to be a proverb as he w-as seen running down some country mer- chant in the streets, '" the spider is after the flies again." The reHgious emotions kindled in his young soul wore still burning, and he at once identified himself with one of the Con- gregational churches, rented five pews, and undertook to keep them filled with young men. On his first attempts to take part in the religious services in the elegant church wath which he had united he had been tartly advised that his rough and ready speeches were objec- tionable. He abandoned them without resentment ; but there was something in him which had to find vent, and so he asked for a Sunday-school class in a little mission on North Wells Street, and was told that he could have it if he would go out and get his ow^n scholars. This was a simple task for a young fellow who was used to hunting up country merchants in the streets, and he appeared next Sunday with a complete outfit of ragamuffins, an embryonic Falstaffian army. It would be a matter of the most profound psychological as well as spiritual interest to be able to penetrate the motives which impelled this young fellow, boiling with animal spirits, into this kind of endeavor. It is easy enough to solve the problem by saying that it was " love for souls." No doubt it was, at the bottom. lUit at the age of nineteen or twenty a man's ideas of life are strangely mixed. He certainly did not have any clear system of thought about the great spiritual problems of existence, and it is likely that what seemed to him and to others an " interest in souls " would resolve itself upon analysis into a passionate love of human beings just because they were human like himself. His heart had always been sensitive and tender. He loved all living things. He also had the instinct of helpfulness to a very high degree. It was as natural for him to run to the assistance of any one in trouble as to escape from personal suffering. That he had acquired the power at this age to dififerentiatc soul from body as an ob- ject of interest and devotion in any such way as the phrase would indicate seems extremely doubtful. Perhaps he did not LIFE OF DWKiHT L. MOODY, 39 analyze his feelings at all. In fact, a careful self-analysis was unnatural if not impossible throughout his entire life. He lived in tlie objective rather than the subjective world. He acted upon impulse rather than reflection, and the conception we have formed of those first endeavors is that of a great loving Newfoundland dog pulling little children out of the water in a blind love and devotion. Besides this, such efforts gratified, in the easiest and quickest way, that innate love of activity and of organization which amounted in him to a passion. In the store in wiiich he was only a subordinate, or in churches al- ready equipped with workers, he found no real scope for his independent talents. In this little mission he sought an oppor- tunity to develop along his own lines. And so, with resistless energy and purpose, he threw himself into the activities of the place. But it was not long (either because he ran against snags or because his talents were still too much confined) be- fore he branched out in an independent effort of his own. He rented the " North Market Hall " on his own personal respon- sibility, and for the first time began to find the raw material of human life plastic to his touch. There now followed a series of experiments and adventures which, if they were written up by some one with the talent for the true comprehension of such phenomena, would make read- ing as fine as Don Quixote or Rabelais. They are still in- crusted with the rind of " evangelicalism " or (shall we say) " cant " phraseology. In every form in which we have seen them printed they all have the Sunday-school or tract flavor. But the fact of the matter is, that they were simply elemental in their perfect naturalness. Possessing as real a genius for un- derstanding and controlling human nature as did Alexander or Napoleon, his first rude endeavors with that divine material were as charming as those of the young INIozart with musical notes, or Praxiteles with clay. He brought to bear upon his task a wit as keen as Sydney Smith's, a tact as divine as Fene- lon's, a devotion as undivided as St. Paul's, a love as true as St. John's. The " stuff " was rude and he was rude with it often ; but generally wise and always kind. At twenty years of age 40 LIFE t)F DWIC.MT L. MOODY. he Struck out in absolutely original lines of dealing with the little heathen whom he found in lanes and alleys. It was not long before the children were literally swarming at his heels. His bare appearance was the signal for a pell mell rush. He had no trouble in getting them to come to him, but only to find places for them after they came. Into the work which he undertook he impressed other people as violently as ever the English navy did ! He caught one of the rising men of the cit\- (a life-long friend) and elected him superintendent (iwlciis volens) by the wild acclamations of his little liowling multitude. Everybody that came had to teach or speak. If they refused, he pushed them forward where they could not escape. At first the crowd was a disorganized mob : but he soon drilled them into veterans. Sometimes he bribed them with maple sugar, sometimes by telling them stories, and, when it became necessary, he thrashed them ! Always and everywhere, by one means or another, order rose out of chaos, until at last, at twenty-three years of age, he had built up a Sunday-school of more than one thousand pupils, which was the wonder and astonishment of multitudes of curious visitors.* The soul of anyone who studies this period carefully be- comes absolutely thirsty for a fair and full record of these ad- ventures. He ran against every phase of human experience ; dragged men out of saloons ; captured the children of drunk- ards; saved men from crime; brought relief to the poor and to the sick, and sunk his plummet down into the depth of human misery. In those six years of unremittent labor in this Xorth Market mission he came to know what human nature was in its naked simplicity. It was this swift disclosure of the suffer- ing and the sin of human life that developed and ripened his intrinsic love for mankind into what can be called by no other name than a passion. He came to see with an unclouded vision that man was capable of redemption ; that he was the victim of circumstance as well as of natiu'e ; that he needed human help as well as divine. With a concentration that must remain forever a wonder, he fixed his attention upon the higher * Referred to by Mr. Muody on page 455. LIFE OF DVVIGHT L. MOODY. ^I elements of manhood and womanhood and childhood. He gradually lost his interest in the business of making money and became absorbed in that of helping out into a larger and truer life these elementary creatures whom he saw imprisoned in the shell of their own selfishness and brutality. This enthusiasm is the stumbling block of the average student of human life. He regards it with suspicion. But why should it be any more strange that a man should have a passion for the discovery of the angelic elements in human nature than that he should have a passion for collecting rare china or breeding pouter pigeons ? Whatever has been said or shall be said as to the genuineness of such disinterested de- votion in the heart of this awkward, uncultivated youth, there was kindled a passion for the spiritual natures of men that for forty years burned in him like an inextinguishable fire. The instrument with which he sought to accomplish their redemption was the English Bible, which, it must be confessed, he read with the greatest difficulty. There were no " Interna- tional Sunday-school Lesson Helps " in those days, and he fell into the habit of opening his Bible at random and begin- ning a rambling discourse without head or tail upon the sub- ject which it suggested to his uneducated mind and active im- agination. But there were a few great central ideas which he had grasped ; which he held with the tenacity of a bull dog, and which he learned to illustrate from human life in a way that made them tlame and glow to every one who heard them. They were such conceptions as " The Love of God for Men ; " " God's Love Manifested in the Life of Jesus ; " " The Rewards of Good Conduct and the Punishment of Bad ; " and " The Pos- sibility of Instant Salvation to any Sinner who should accept of the death of Jesus as his Atonement." With these great truths well in hand he set to work to save men, and he succeeded. That old mission was the scene of some of the most remarkable reclamations of the vicious and depraved that any place on the globe has ever witnessed. It deserves a bronze monument far more than many battlefields. It was during this period that his connection with the 42 Lli-'K OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. Voung Men's Christian Association began. This institution was then new. and at once awakened his interest. Into it he plunged with his accustomed lieadlong and unreasoning en- thusiasm. There is no doubt tliat he often made himself a nuisance, and that there were many people who could think of nothing but a bull in a china shop when they saw him enter! He upset every plan. lie cut through all red tape. There never lived a man more thoroughly unconventional. The opinions of other people had no weight with him as to the best way of doing things. Xo matter how they had been done he would have a try and see if there was not a better way. But while he tormented the navigators in easy sailing, as soon as the weather became at all rough they were glad to take aboard this sturd}- pilot. The association went through some dark days and he came to its rescue. He took the noon meetings in hand, and llu'\' Ix'gan to respond to his charmed touch. They filled and then they overflowed, and finally l)ecame one of the features of W'estern life. Strangers who came to Chi- cago were as sure to go and see the Market Street mission and the association as strangers in New York to see the Bowery. This w^ork and his growing success in it was slowly crystal- izing a resolution that had been long in a state of solution. It was to devote his entire tiine to such enterprises.* Business had lost its charm. The fascination of this nol)ler efTort had enslaved his mind and heart. He had saved about a thousand dollars, and with this as his entire capital renounced secular avocations once and for all. This was in i860. Not lotig after this step had been taken, his old employer met him and asked : " Moody, what are you doing now? " " I am working for Jesus Christ " — and there has not been a day nor an liour of his life since when this reply would not have truthfull)- an- swered the same question. His thousand dollars soon slipped through his ever open hand. How he lived afterwards was a mvsterv. To those who asked him and who blamed him for his lack of worldly wisdom, he always answered, " I am wcjrk- ing for God and he is rich." ♦Incident related by Mr. Moody on page 456. LIFE OF DWKJHT L. MOOUY. 43 This is another fact that excites the increduhty of many who hear the story of his life. But there is no ground at all for skepticism. For more than forty years this was his method of subsistence. He never had any business ; he never had any salary ; he never had any guaranteed income ; he used all the money that came from the royalty on his hymn books for be- nevolence, and yet he lived ! He saved no money to speak of, and left little if any property aside from his home and a life insurance ; but he never wanted, and passed " uncounted thou- sands " through his hands to innumerable worthy causes and people. This is an exceptional experience. There have been other such ; but not many. It could not be made the law of life, for someone must produce the wealth which supplies the wants of these exceptional people. But it is certainly not im- probable that such people should be found in a life so com- plicated as ours. Their time and strength are surely needed for the higher interests of existence. There is no insoluble mystery in such an experience even to the unreligious, for those who do not believe that God fed him as He did Elijah, ought to know that such men will never be permitted to starve ; for people inevitably love them and trust them and give them money. They use what little they need and pass the rest alone;. CHAPTER II. Opening of the Civil War — Mr. Moody Enters into New Experi- ences— An Important Epoch of His Life — His Work as Chap- lain in the Union Army — Its Effect on His After Life — Organiz- ing a Church of His Own — Raising $20,000 to Build His First Church — His Helpers and Leaders — Sleeping on Benches or on the Floor — His Groat Capacity for Work — " Getting the Hang " of Meetings — His Inexhaustible Fund of Anecdote and Story — Captivating Eastern Audiences — Some of His Amusing Oral Blunders — His Marriage and Home Life — Scraping the Flour Barrel at the Bottom — Getting Hold of the Bible — Discovers the Value of Music — Meeting Mr. Sankey for the First Time — The Partnership that Followed — Plans to go to England on an Empty Pocketbook • — The Shadow of Coming Events. WITH the opening of the Civil War, the expanding- life of tlie young apostle of helpfulness entered a new realm of experience. Why so courageous, patriotic, and enthusiastic an American did not become a soldier is not easy to guess. Per- haps he felt that he could be of more service to his country in attending to the wants of those who were in the line of battle. So it proved at least. The needs of the soldier boys, temporal and spiritual, stirred liis compassionate heart to its dei)tlis. and he was one of tlie very first to grasp and develop the scheme of the Christian Conmiission. Into it he threw his whole heart and soul. In those foiu- b]nf)dy years the good he did and the benefit he received in this thrilling experience made it one of the most important epochs of his life. Young as he was, he had already attained an influence which made his judgment respected by men his sui)cri()rs in age and in wisdom, and brought him to the front in great emergencies. (44) LIFE OF inVlGHT L. MOODY. 45 The cficct of this terrible experience upon his own mind can be traced through all the rest of his life in many of his sermons and addresses. The immense activities which he beheld, the mighty organization of the army, the heroism of the men in battle, their patience in suffering, their gratitude for kindness, the revelation of their spiritual natures in sickness and death, the blood, the tears, the carnage, the awful pomp and pageantry, lend a new color, deep, somber, solemn, to all he did and said. But e.Kciting and attractive as this work was, it did not wean him from that to which he had given his heart in Chicago. In 1863 (^vhen he was twenty-six) he raised, by his own un- aided efforts. $20,000 and erected on Illinois Street, not far from the Tslarket Street mission, a commodious church with tower and spire for his great and growing Sabbath- school. There was a con- tinuous stream of converts to the life which he held up as the divine ideal. What to do with them became a serious question. Because they were poor and ignorant they did not fit into the menil)ership of neighboring churches. He was therefore shut up to the necessity of organizing- a church of his own. The problem of its ecclesiastical n.ature and re- lationships, of course, arose. He called a council of min- isters and the subject was debated at length, but the rev- erend theologians not being able to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion he cut the knot (he has cut more knots than any man who ever lived) and organized it upon an absolutely independent ])asis. Into its development as a settled, inde- pendent, unordained, free-lance minister (the friend of every DWIOHT L. MOODY AT THE AGE OF 26. {From a Photograph.) 46 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. .MOODY. church and the enemy of none) he now plunged with all his heart. Such bushwhacking work was surely never done on earth before! It was as original as if it had been the first ever undertaken ! But it went ! Everything he touched did ! He worked into it every kind of material upon which he could lay his hands, as birds build their nests. All that came to his mill was grist, and he gathered around himself a band of helpers who for zeal and faithfulness and devotion to their leader might be called apostles. The love between them and their leader was romantic and worthy of the noblest souls. They did any- thing and everything he told them to. If the work called for great sacrifices they made them. If it needed time and money they gave them. If they had to stay at the meeting-house all night, they slept on benches or the floor. The story is a ro- mance. Laughter and fun were blended (as always) in this strange life, with tears and solemn earnestness. Everything was natural, spontaneous, unconventional, heartborn. His capacity for work was something incredible, and must be dwelt upon at length in a proper ])lace. He never seemed capable of exhaustion. His record on one New Year's day was two hundred calls, during many of which he dropped upon his knees with lightning-like rapidity, fired a prayer to heaven, as a hunter would shoot a gun — and was off ! A fine description of some of those pastoral visits would have been as good a subject as Kipling ever found in barrack or jungle. One would think that this complicated church would have taxed all his energies; but while all this was going on he was elected president of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation on the platform " that the only way to get a buikling was to put Moody at the head of the institution ! " This was an invariable guarantee of success, and did not fail this time. He accepted (as he always did), ran, talked, begged, com- manded, until there was no more resisting him than an in- coming tide. Everything began to seethe and boil under the flames of fire which he kindled, and sure enough, the prophecy was fulfilled. The first Farwell Hall was the reward of his labor, his faith, and his genius. With this fine j)lan to work LIFK OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. 47 in he began to push the spiritual activities of the place with as strong- a hand as the material. The noon meeting was the special feature and became almost as widely known as the Fulton Street prayer-meeting. In interest and surprises it probably surpassed anything on earth. To be grabbed on the street by a sturdy, hustling young fellow, pulled into the hall, asked right in the meeting " whether he was a Christian, and if so why he did not testify," became an experience which men expected almost as much as to be solicited for alms by beggars. Everything was on the high tide and humming with life when, in January, 1868, the building (not four months old) suddenly disappeared in a holocaust of fire. This was noth- ing! The coals were yet burning when he had his plans laid for its successor ! The way the Phoenix rose out of the ashes was nothing to the way that new hall sprang out of the smolder- ing embers of the old one. It soon became a place of more than national influence. It was the center of the fjreat re- ligious activities of the city, and it is not too much to say that everything that radiated from there was filled with the spirit, if it did not take the direct impress, of the heart life of this im- passioned apostle of goodness. And still he was " spoiling " for work. A church and a Young Men's Christian Associa- tion were not enough to consume the boiling energies. Even Chicago was not big enough to hold him ! Another sphere gradually opened to him, in which he re- ceived his most direct training for that work which he was to do later on. Early in his career he had occasionally been called upon to attend and participate in Sunday-school conventions held for the purpose of stimulating teachers to more intelligent and earnest efforts. It did not take him long " to get the hang- "' of such meetings, and he soon began to make himself felt. His wide experience, his inexhaustible fund of anecdote, his imperturbable good nature, and strange, droll humor, but above all, the spiritual fervor of every word he uttered, soon gave him an extraordinary influence at every such occasion. It did not take him long to become well known, and his repu- tation gradually becanie national and even extended into 48 LIFE OF DWIGIIT L. MOODY Canada. He was sent for even from the conservative East, and on more than one occasion astonished and captivated the jjeoplc of Philadelphia. Boston, and New York. The charm of the man was undoubtedly in his absolute sim- plicity. While he possessed the germs of a constuumatc art, there was not the trace of artificiality. ITe was an uneducated man, and made no attempt to conceal it. In all his life he never posed. When he made his blunders — and they were legion — he laughed with those who laughed, and went straight forward. " We have with us this morning a young man who is studying in a theological cemetery ! " " The lady who is going to speak to you now will tell you how pickled (speckled) trout are raised." " Love John Bull ! (in a Canadian convention) I guess we do! Our hearts just warm to her! " .Such faux pas were too frequent occurrences to phase him. A shrewd ob- server said of him, " Aloody is impetuous and is always making blunders ; but he never makes the same mistake twice." These varied experiences did for him what his future re- quired. They gave him familiarity with all sorts of people in all sorts of places and in all sorts of conditions. He often found them uninterested and not infre(iuently hostile. Some were ignorant and others too wise. He learned to read an audience, as some people learn to read a man. There is a phvsiognomv of a crowd, and he became an expert in decipher- ing it. To put himself cii rapport with it soon ])assed from study and effort to second nature and instinct. He acquired a complete knowledge of all the practical difficulties which peo- ple encounter in their individual life and work, through his " question drawer " system. There is, of course, a limited ranp-e of such difficulties and pndjlems, and after a man has been in fifty or a hundred meetings and had them fired at him as if from Catling guns he has become familiar with the whole gamut and cannot be taken off his guard. ]\'rhaps no man who ever lived has more often been confronted with more sud- den surprises. What he said and did was continually turning out different from what he expected. In every embarrassment he doubled and turned like a rald)it in the chase. The com- LIFE OP^ DWIGHT L. MOODY. 49 plete self-confidence — in the best sense of the word, for it will be shown that in the worst sense he never had any — thus ac- quired became of inestimable value. It seems certain that he never really felt that uneasy and fatal consciousness of " in- capacity " which destroys for many men the very possibility of success. Such experiences as these perfected that equipment which he needed in the practical manag^ement of assemblies of men. In the meantime, and by many different ways, he was under- going a similar preparation in other departments. There can be no doubt that the blind feeling of love and care for all who suffered and were in trouble had gradually undergone an enor- mous development, and that he had l)y this time become fully conscious of that spiritual nature in man which has excited the interest and the devotion of the noblest beings who have ever lived. It had grown into what he described as " a passion for souls," and to see anyone anywhere pass through that tremen- dous change in which the soul recognizes itself as immortal and accepts God and eternity as its real good, was to him an experience more full of ccstacy than the discovery of gold in the vem of a mountain or love in the heart of a maiden. No other view can adequately explain the ardor and passion with which he devoted himself to this work through forty years of ceaseless labor. The peace and rest which such a nature needed, and which can only be found in a perfectly happy home, also came to him. On the 28th of August, 1862, he was married to Miss Emma C. Revell. If ever a love was deeper, if ever a happi- ness more complete, than that of these two lifelong lovers, it nmst have been somewhere when the world slipped a cog and earth touched heaven ! Children came to bless the union, and that prodigal love which he had lavished upon the ragged gamins of the street was now evoked by little children who called him " father." The home which the lovers established was one of simplicity and hospitality. The latch-string was always out ! The story of that domestic economy is both an idvl and a psalm. Tlie friends of the man and his work made 4 50 LIFE OF DWIC.HT L. IMOODV. him a present of the house he lived in, and " the ravens fed them." It would be easy enough to present a grave religious picture of these two parents solemnly and devoutly waiting- upon God in prayer for llicir daily bread, and going about their labors in a saintlike frame of mind. It would be a true picture, but only a partial one, for to those who knew them best that air of solenm and august piety was missing. They were more like birds who started out in the morning with perfect confi- dence in their ability to find their food and a complete abandon to the joy of work and song. Their lives were probably as full of bounding ha])piness as those of their children. The truth of the matter is that the bread and butter problem never puzzled Mr. Moody as it does the rest of us. He took it as a matter of course that the Master for whom he labored would provide the sustenance of the toiler. Although the flour barrel often had to be scraped at the bottom, he never gave himself any care. His confidence was never betrayed, and he grew so accustomed to opening letters and finding checks in them, or having money handed to him on the street, that it was as natural as drawing his salary ! It was during this same period that the final touch was given to the ecjuipment which he needed for the great mission of his life. He had been so full of other work that he had never had time to give to the prei)aration of his addresses. Those which he did not " shake out of his sleeves " were forged upon platforms and in pulpits. His knowledge of the English Bible was painfully incomplete, and no man ever Iiad to work with a more meager kit of tools, lint there came to Chicago one fortunate day a young evangelist l)y the name of Rev. Harry Morehouse, who perha])s did more for him than any other per- son who ever touched his life.* He delivered seven sermons in Mr. Moody's church on " God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Mr. Moody was away at the time ; but when he returned he learned about these ser- mons and came under the spell of that very gentle, beautiful. * Incident related by Mr. Moody on page 460. LIFK OF I)\VU;iIT L. MOODY. 51 holy, and learned student of the English Bible. Morehouse told him frankly that he needed a better knowledge of that Bible to enable him to win souls. And, what was more and better, he gave him the very method by which alone he could have in any way made up for the deficiencies of the past. It was the method of the " Bible reading." He taught him how to use the Concordance to advantage and how to weave to- gether in a single discourse many different texts which bore upon the same theme. This was perfectly simple, compre- hensible, and possible. With his accustomed insight, Mr. Moody saw that here was the very thing he needed, and he did not lose a moment in putting it into practice. He never wasted three seconds in anything he could not do ; but what he could do was worth all the work it cost. The method was perhaps an imperfect one for the most perfect comprehension of the Scriptures, and as well calculated to lead an abnormal mind astray, as to lead a normal mind aright. In fact it has been responsible for the collapse of many an eccentric though devout soul. But with his strange prescience, or through the divine providence (or both), he escaped, as he always did, the evils of any course he adopted. His mind had never been trained to logical reasoning or scholarly methods, and, in fact, was perhaps incapable of pro- ceeding in that manner to the discovery of truth. It was so constituted that it gathered its conclusions from multiplied impressions of many sorts, as a bee gathers the sweets of flowers and turns them into honey. And so where other and eccentric minds used this method to find quotations which sub- stantiated their vagaries, he used it to discover those which supported the few great central conceptions which were the entire stock with which he did his great business. The result, therefore, of his patient, ceaseless, heroic struggles to master the sacred Scriptures was that he accumulated a vast fund of texts and stories to illustrate the truths which he wished to hanmier into the minds of men. His Bible got to be at last (that portion of it which he needed) at his very finger tips. He never fell down on his method. He gave it finallv an enor- 52 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. mous vogue, and wliilc the crowds of his servile imitators made themselves and the 15ook ridiculous, he used it to delight and instruct millions. In addition to the newness of the method was the marvelous freshness which his own simple and childlike apprehension gave it. Owing to the natural con- stitution of his mind, the words of the Scriptures took posses- sion of his faculties in the same vivid way that they do those of a child. No one familiar with his utterances can doubt that he had an imagination of a very high order. Had it been trained to poetical expression it could have produced forms of great literary beauty. Before this ])(nverful faculty the heroes of Scripture really lived and its truths absolutely gU)wed. Faith is only a spiritualized imagination, and his imagination was spiritualized as truly as that of a great inventor is ma- terialized. Most ministers and students of the Bible confess that it requires their strongest efforts to give reality and vitality to the facts recounted in the sacred oracles. Their minds have become suspicious by investigating all the evidences for and against the supernatural elements of the Bible. Their hold upon them is the result of effort. With Mr. Moody it was different. No question of their reality ever for a moment troubled him. They were as real as if he had seen them with his own eyes. Every one who heard him speak felt this, al- though perhaps they were not always conscious of it. and this vivid apprehension of the facts of Scripture was the greatest source of his pulpit power. All his natural gifts had now undergone a liigh develop- ment. The consciousness of them had been pretty clearly unfolded to himself. The wings were nearly grown and the eagle began to plume them for a wider flight. One thing, however, was still lacking, lie had discovered the value of music in kindling the emotions of men and putting them in a receptive state for his inlluence. The fact that he realized the importance of this is another evidence of the range of his powers, for he had al)sohUely no knowledge of music and could not even sing a note. Just what pleasure singing gave him personally is an unsolved problem, and perhaps in- LIFE OF DWICiIIT L. MOODY. r-y soluble. It has sometimes seemed to those who observed him carefully that his pleasure was an indirect one, and came from seeing its influence upon others. At any rate he discovered what it could do at public gatherings, and he early began to grope around for some way in which it could be made to sub- serve his own particular needs. It was a remarkable coinci- dence (let us rather call it Providence) that just at this time there appeared a class of men working along the very lines which he was blindly following. The pioneers were Philip Phillips and P. P. Bliss, whose aim was not to sing hymns, but the " Gospel." At one of his conventions Mr. Moody heard one of their youngest disciples. He recognized instantly that he had found what he wanted. The story of his discovery and capture of his life-long friend and companion, Ira D. Sankey, is not only striking in itself, but typical of those innumerable experiences in which, without the slightest hesitation, he in- stantly summoned men to assume grave responsibilities with no other knowledge of their fitness than his own unaided in- tuitions, the confidence which he reposed in these intuitions being as uncjucstioning, apparently, as that of an animal in its instincts. It was at a convention held in Indianapolis in June, 1871, that Mr. Moody for the first time heard the voice of the young Pennsylvanian. Mr. Sankey was thirty-one years of age. healthy, happy, earnest, and full of music. The singing had been dull until he stepped forward to lead it. Something in him fitted the need of the moment. The hymns rolled out sweet and strong. The whole audience was moved ; but one of them was enraptured. "Where do you live?" asked Mr. Moody bluntly. ' In Newcastle, Pennsylvania." '* Are you married ? "' " Yes." " How many children have you ? " ' One." " I want you." " What for?" 54 LIFK OF I>\VI(;HT L. MOODY. " To help nic in niy work at C'hicae^o." " I cannot leave my business." " You must. 1 have been looking for you for the last eight vears. You must give up your business and cDuie with me to Chicago." " \\'ell. I will think of it. 1 will i)ray over it. I will talk to mv wife." IRA D. SANKEY, MR. MOODY'S ^■OKE-FF.LLO\V, ACE 35. [Fiovi a I'holoffraph.) He did so and accei)te(l his call. This followed almost as a matter of course, for, speaking calmly and witlnnit exaggera- tion, it would be hard to find an instance in which this strange being thus laid his hands upon any one who did not instantly rise up and follow him in much the same way as did those whom Jesus called — his power to command the services of men absolutely being something that of itself alone would have LIFE OF DWIGHT L MOODY 55 made him a man whose influence bordered upon the mysteri- ous and even inscrutable. These two companions (true yoke-fellows) worked together in Chicago for several months, and when Mr. Moody made his first trip to Europe he left Mr Sankey in charge of his church. It was during this period that he began to make a scrapbook of hymns suited to their needs, and this little scrapbook was the nucleus of the " Gospel Hymns " — one of the most famous publications in literature or music. This new partnership was only a few months old when an event ha])pened which startled the civilized world. The great conflagration of 1871 destroyed Mr Moody's home and church.''' " Have you lost everything? " asked a friend. " Everything but my reputation and my Bible," he replied. Terrible as was the loss and great as was the catastrophe, the unconquerable hero set to work about its reparation as energetically as after the destruction of Farwell Hall. He rushed oil East and began a campaign of begging which was a supreme work of genius, sending the ])roceeds back and tele- graphing his friends to " build large," a motto that might be chosen by him as the best expression of his life purpose and a suitable inscription for his tomb. They obeyed him and erected a rough building measuring seventy-five by one hun- dred anil nine feet, and good enough to answer their purpose until he could raise funds enough for the great permanent structure which he afterwards built at the corner of Chicago and LaSalle Avenues. It was about this time that there ripened in the mind of Mr. Moody a purpose which had probably been long unfolding. It was to go to England upon an evangelizing tour. He Uad already been in England twice, — both times upon religious errands — conventions, conferences, etc. That first trip will be long remembered for the incredible manner in which it was undertaken. He set the day for his departure ; but did not have a cent with which to pay his ex- penses. However, this did not seem to disturb him in the * Incident related by Mr. Moody on page 377. 56 LIFE OF DWKiirr L MOOUY. least, for he went on with his preparations as if he had milHons :n a vauh. There were still but a few hours left before the de- parture of the train, and yet the funds were not in sight. The trunks were packed and his family wailing-. It was about time for some one to turn up with the money, one would think ! And sure enough he did ! A friend who thought that he would need some " after Jic reached luiglaiid," handed him five hun- dred dollars ! There have been too many such strange events m his life to make it easy to call them mere coincidences. During these journeys he had made many friends, some of whom had proposed that he should come over to England for the purpose of holding a series of conventions, and he now de- termined to accept — proposing to Mr. Sankey that he should be his companion. There can be no doubt that the determina- tion to take this step was attended by mental emotions of a peculiar character. If " coming events ever do cast their shadows before," some vague conception of what he was to do must have agitated him unusually. He passed through the only recorded period of profound spiritual disturbance in his whole life. " It seemed as if the Lord was taking him to pieces," he said. It resulted in a more complete consecration, and a full-born desire to " go round the world and tell perish- ing millions of a Saviour's love," and the hope of " winning 10,000 souls for Christ in Great Britain." CHAPTER III. Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey Sail for England — Their Arrival in Liver- pool — The Sorrowful News that Greeted Them — A Discouraging Outlook — "I Will be There to-night" — The First of the Re- markable Meetings in Great Britain — .A.n Audience of Eight Per- sons — How Interest in the JNIeetings Grew — Disagreeable Critics and Ministerial Sharpshooters — Taking Scotland By Storm — Mr. Sankey's " Kist fu' o' Whustles " — The Excitement Spreads Among All Classes — Remarkable Scenes — Sw^eeping through Scotland and Ireland — The Evangelists Arrive in London — Mr. Moody Questioned by a Conference of Ministers — The Wit, Shrewdness, and Candor of His Replies — The Most Wonderful Meetings Ever Held in London — Personal E.xpcriences — Dining With Mr. Gladstone — Premonition of Sudden Death — Followed by an Assassin — Arrest of the Would-be Murderer — Using up the " Best ]\linistcr in Scotland " — Farewell to London. OX the 7th of June, 1872, the two companions sailed from New York and landed at Southampton seven days later. The experiences upon which they entered may well be regarded as among the most remarkable which have ever befallen men, and as they are to be understood only with a full knowledge of the difficulties which they had to surmount and the extraordinary results they accomplished, we shall be justified in setting before ourselves a clear conception of the exact state of affairs which they confronted. Here, then, were two young men thirty-three and thirty-five years respectively — comparatively unknown in the country upon whose shores they had set their feet. A few earnestly re- ligious spirits in Great Britain had heard of the rough bush- whacking work which they were doing and had extended them an informal invitation to undertake their present mission. The customs of the country were almost as much unknown to the (57) 58 LIKE OF UWKiHT L. MOODY. ^ oung adventurers as they to the country. They were used lu handhng audiences in their native land ; but so great are the dilYerences of national custom that this was more likely to ])rove an obstacle than an advantage. The peopl-e among whom they were about to begin their labors were less inflam- mable, and more conservative, tiian those to whom they had been accustomed. An established church was entrenched in all the glory, opulence, and (without disparagement be it said) pride of its antiquity and its power. Against such odds as these the two resolute youths sternly set their faces to make an impression upon this rigid and un- responsive life. They had come for large game. It was their purpose to excite a wave and not a ripple of religious feeling. That they succeeded is now a matter of history, and of great history, too, for it has been said by competent judges that Great Piritain is not the same that it would have been without the effect of this campaign. There are those whose minds are so constituted (and they are tmdouljtcdly the vast maj(jrity) who can be interested only or chieH}- in those conflicts of op- posing forces which involve the outlay of brute strength. The shock of hostile armies, the death grapple of great military machines, the rout of panoplied battalions by strength or strategy, they can comprehend and enjoy. But there are now and then a few elect s]:)irits wlio can ])erceive the fascination of struggles of a different cliaractcr — those in which invisible, spiritual forces contend on bloodless fields. 1"o them the struggle which now begins will have a higher and more en- during fascination. It is the battle of life against death ; of two young men from a new wcM'ld battling with the hoary cus- toms and prejudices of the ])ast. To see a ready and pun- gent wit ; a sweet and serene temper ; an adroit and invincible courage ; a homely but sublime eloquence ; simple but sweet songs; a religious zeal pure, noble, consuming — disarm pre- judice, conquer bigotry, paralyze opposition, turn curiosity into admiration, lead captivity caj^tive, spoil principalities and powers, and do it swiftly, imerringly. ami gloriously — this they think a more edifying and thrilling spectacle than the LIFE OF DWIGHT L MUODV. 59 mere struggles of men turned into wild beasts and armed with deadly weapons. W lien the daring companions arrived in Liverpool on the 17th of June they learned to their sorrow that two of the most influential of the gentlemen by whom ^Nlr. Moody had been invited to England had died. This made it impossible for him to begin where he had intended ; but he had a third invitation from Air. George Bennet of York, the secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association. He telegraphed a notice of his arrival and asked when he should begin his work. The answer was to the efi'ect that such was the religious indifference in York that it would take at least a month to get the town ready for his efforts ! In reply to this not very encouraging response Mr. Moody telegraphed " I will be there to-night." He was ! And after looking the situation over (it would certainly not have made any difference what condition he discovered) he decided " to go in at once ! " The first of that series of remarkable meetings which were destined to shake Great Britain was held in a little room in the Young Men's Christian Association building, and there were eight persons present ! The congregations increased, but -slowly and through the most herculean efforts of those inter- ested. The first week, judged by those crude standards of success which men of a different caliber are accustomed to apply, were a lamentable failure. But these invincible war- riors kept right on, and at the end of a month two hundred and fifty people had professed conversion and many church mem- bers had been quickened in their spiritual life. From York they proceeded to Sunderland, where they be- gan against such odds that it was humorously said by an ob- server that " Mr. Moody had one whole minister, three-fourths of another, and nothing or next to nothing of all the rest to help h.im." Things moved even harder here than in York, for he not only encountered indifference, but opposition. The preacher was certainly a good target for anyone who wanted practice ! He was not an ordained minister. He used strange and unusual methods. His theology was crude. Ministerial 5o I.IFK OF DWHiHT L. MOODV. sharpshooters filled him full of holes ; l)ut they could not stop his fighting, and victory came at last. From Sunderland they went to Newcastle. Their fighting i)lood was now up. Those who wish to see the story of this great campaign told in the strictest religious phraseology may object to such expression ; but anyone who knew the man will see that only military metaphors will do ! The same feelings which flamed in the bosoms of Oliver Cromwell and Sir Henry Havelock were burning in the heart of this resistless and terri- ble fighter — to his honor be it said! He had a w'ork to do which had to be done and he was going to do it ! Like those great heroes in every field of human struggle and endeavor, he relied on the arm of the Almighty ; but he also made bare his oii'ii! " We have not done much in York and Sunderland," said he, '■ because the ministers were opposed to us ; but we are going to stay in Newcastle till we make an impression and live down the prejudices of good people who do not understand us." In other words, " we are going to fight it out on this line if it takes all sunnner! " The great warriors are all alike. They stayed and they conquered. People began to see of what stuff they were made and what they were driving at. A perfect furor sprang up around them. The potent spell of genius, character, consecration, wit. sweetness, love, had be- gun to work. Multitudes thronged from every point of the compass to see this strange spectacle. People of influence and power began to array themselves on the side of the two men who were its germinating causes. Committees waited upon them from many places, and besought them to visit many cities. They passed triumphantly through Carlisle, Bishop, Auckland, Darlington, Shields, and other places, and finally, on the 2 1 St of November, 1873, arrived in Edinburgh, wdiere great preparations had been made for tlieir coming. This was manifestly their Waterloo — to enter and to face this metropolis of wealth, of learning, of power, and influence. The scene reminds one of that in which the yVyrshire plowman a half centurv before had made the same bold venture among the lifp: of dwight l. moody. 5i lions. Some of the greatest preachers in tlie world had there set up a standard by which he must be compared. The com- mon people were trained to theological discussions and were experts in all the questions of the Law and the Gospels. Preju- dices were deeply entrenched, especially against informality and the irreverence of Mr. Sankey's " kist fu' o' whustles." But the two plain men were now profoundly convinced that they were merely the instruments of a divine power and that they had nothing to do but to keep humble and be used. Thcv therefore plunged into their herculean task without fear. From the very first it became evident that the most extraor- dinary upheaval of modern times had begun. The city may be said to have rocked with it. Ever}- circle of life was agi- tated. Dr. P)Onar declared at its close that there was scarcely a house in the metropolis in which one or more had not been won over to a new life. Society, business, politics, were all affected. Great waves of influence emanating from this center swept through the whole of Scotland. The very material ele- ments of civilization felt the tumult, and the students of human life were confounded by the phenomenon. No one who did not attribute it directly to the inHuence of God upon human life could make head or tail out of it. It was easy enough at first to charge it up to superstition and the capacity of human nature for emotional excitement. But it was soon proven that the excitement was never irrational, not to say immoral. Xo appeal was ever addressed to the feelings which had not been first passed through the reason and the conscience. The ef- fects upon character were revolutionary. The drunkard aban- doned his cups ; the adulterer resumed the practice of virtue ; the thief restored his stolen plunder ; the dishonest gave up their ill-gotten gains. Tested by every means which the most expert judges knew how to apply, the convulsion was beyond all question a spiritual one. It was noticed with profound in- terest and surprise that the work was at first more powerful among the middle and upper classes than among the lower, and, considering the training of the men for their mission, this was inscrutable. (52 LIFE OF DWIC.HT L. MOODV. But at length measures were adopted by the great strategist to reach all classes. His powerfully organizing mind grasped the problem of the sub-division of labor and solved it. Meet- ings were multiplied and distributed. Means were adapted to ends. The movement became as thoroughly systematized as that of a great army, and the details of the scheme wore originated, grasped, held, swayed by the one master mind at the center. No army was ever more thoroughly organized or swung with easier power from the tent of a commanding general. From Edinburgh the two Americans went down to Glas- gow, and the same strange scenes were re-enacted there. It began to be discovered that the conditions made no difference with the results. The master mind knew how to cope with them all. Everything became plastic to his touch. The Glas- gow meetings were begun in February, and continued with various interruptions and excursions to other places until the middle of ^lay, when they made another three days' visit to Edinburgh, and from there swept through the north of Scotland — one might say like a triumphant army, except that no one moved but the commanders, who created their legions in every city which they entered. To disl)and an army and re-create it every three days in widely separate cities — this is unknown in military tactics. In these few months the whole of Scotland had l)een stirred, and Mr. Moody, feeling that the movement would now con- tinue without his personal effort, accepted an invitation to Ire- land. It was in September that the grapple with still other (lifTficulties and conditions began ; but he was now assisted by the prestige which he had ac(juired. The same phenomena began at once to reproduce themselves, not only in Belfast, but in Londonderry and Dublin. For months the waves of this profound sj^iritual excitement rolled in every direction, and in December Mr. Moody, leaving it to be taken care of by the people who had so heartily sustained him, went over to Man- chester. Within a week " the most difficult of all English cities to kindle by anything but politics was fairly ablaze and the ilames were breaking out in every direction." It is hard to find phraseology to describe these phenomena. 1 he words which we are obliged to use have been so often uttered in intentional or ignorant exaggeration that the mind revolts at again em- LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. 63 ploying tlicm. r)Ut there is notliing else to take their place, and the chastened judgment of history confirms their accuracy. London remained. Air. Moody must test his doctrine, his infiuence, his resources, in the metropolis of the world. Any other man would have trembled. He was not even flurried. " If you want me to come," he said, " you must raise five thou- sand pounds for advertising, halls, etc." " W'e have already raised ten," they replied. He went down to have a preliminary conference with the ministers. It was a scene long to be re- membered. They attacked him with questions from every side and upon every subject. In no single display of those remark- able powers with which he w as endowed did he ever appear so utterly bewildering as when subjected to a running fire of questions. Those who have seen him thus confronted have beheld a display of wit, shrewdness, and candor which stands in the forefront of all the exhibitions of the resources of the human mind. It was simply impossible to corner him. It was a game in which he was never beaten. As a mere display of skill and courage and resource it was infinitely more exciting than a fencing match. " How are you paid ? " " I have money enough for myself right in my ])cHMun(l someone who knew exactly what needed to be done, and into those efficient hands he committed the grave responsibili- ties of the rapidly growing school. The first large building was erected in 1879. The number of the pupils grew apace, until at last there was a large waiting list of applicants who could not be* acconmiodated even in the commodious and splendid structures which now adorn the beautiful hillside. While the Northfield Sennnar\ for Oirls was still in its in- fancy J\lr. !Moody decided to connnence the same sort of work among the boys. A farm of four hundred acres just across the Connecticut River came into the market and he bought it. The first pupils assembled in the old farmhouse, and when they overcrowded it he erected a few brick cottages for their ac- LIFK OF DWIC.HT I.. iMOODV. 73 comniodation. All who had the courag^c to ask for an educa- tion were admitted, and they streamed in from all over America and Great Britain. Taking- this success as an indication that he should go forward, he erected dormitories and a large reci- tation hall, taking all chances and building as fast as the needs demanded, imtil now there are in these two schools something like twenty beautiful and permanent edifices. In these two schools from six to eight hundred young people are at present receiving a careful training in all the more important branches of knowledge. They are certainly among the most remarkal)le and successful educational in- DINING-ROOM, MR. MOODY'S HOUSE AT NORTHFIELD. stitutions in America. The tuition and l)oard are as low as it is possible for them to be, and the instruction is of the very highest character. The influences are of course distinctively Christian. The dominant idea is that of " the development of the spiritual nature." and to this end cvcrvthing else must be subordinated, although the course of intellectual training fits both sexes to enter the l)est colleges or universities in America. An institution of a different character sprang up a little later on, as a sort of offshoot from the girls' school. Having a vacant building on his hands for a few months, Mr. Moody 74 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. invited any young women who wished to study cooking, dress- making, nursing, etc., to occupy it and pursue these I)ranches along with a course of Bible instruction. This was such a happy hit and aroused such a hearty response that the school is now a permanent feature in this little educational realm. It is not my purpose to describe these schools in detail, but only to make them illustrate the character and demonstrate the power of their fountkr. It is the strange genius which enabled this uneducated man to grapple with the most in- tricate problems of modern education and solve them, which arrests and startles our attention. Nothing seemed more cer- tain at first from his wild and almost plunging efiforts than that he had at last grappled with something that would throw liim. But these twenty years have demonstrated that the great wrestler was up to his task. We marvel at the growth of insti- tutions like those of Cornell, Chicago, and Lcland Stanford University. But w^e must remember that these at Northficld were founded by a man who knew nothing of what he was doing until he did it, and who, instead of being given un- limited money to work with, had to raise every dollar as he went along. It would have seemed as if these stupendous undertakings v.'ould have em.ployed — if not have exhausted — the energies of a single man : but Mr. Moody never rested as long as any- thing else could be done. In 1886 it was suggested to him that it niiglit be a feasil^le and valuable idea to invite to Northficld (which had then be- come famous for its " Conferences ") delegations of students from the different colleges, to hold a sort of " Summer ScIkioI " for Bible study. The suggestion fell in with his notions and it was executed. They came from all (juarters of the country, lived in tents, spent part of llic day in earnest work and ihe rest in as earnest play, and came under the vitalizing touch of the master spirit of this religious epoch. So great was the effect of this conference upon the lives of those who attended it that they clamored for its repetition, and it grew at last into an established institution. During these conferences some of the most important events of the century may be said to have transpired. It was here that the " Students' Volunteer Move- ment " was born, and that hundreds and even thousands of college-bred men have dedicated their lives to the cause of Christian missions. Mr. Moody attended and supervised lifp: of dwight l. .akxjdv. 75 them all, entering not only into the life of the assemblies, but into those of the individual men. This Summer School and this Student X'olunteer Movement must be reckoned with by the historian of the religious life of the century. These " student " conventions were an afterthought. The real " Northfield Convention " was born in 1880. Mr. Moody's ideas of the nature of the religious life made it inevitable that he would inaugurate some such movement. He thought that it was a spiritual law that if men should put them- selves in the proper attitude of mind and heart the baptism of the Holy Spirit would be bestowed upon them. Nothing THE NORTHFIELD AUDITORIUM. IT H.AS A SEATING CAPACITY OF THREE THOUSAND. seemed to liim to conduce more to this than public assemblages addressed by men of great spiritual power. He felt that if people could be thus gotten together in places where the un- divided attention could be given to religious thought the mind would be awakened and the soul touched. In 1880, therefore, he called a convention at Northfield for this purpose. It was well attended and his hopes were realized. The jicople who came received the very stimulus which he anticipated. The efifcct upon their lives was most extraor- dinary and justified him in repeating the eflfort the next year. With the exception of the three summers during which he was y6 LIFE OF DWIC.IIT L MOODY absent in Europe, these conventions have been held annually, and have been regarded by competent judges as among the most potent factors in the religious life of the age. To them he gave the best energies and efTorts of his life. He always brought to them those speakers whom he thought most able to awaken the enthusiasms of the divine life, no matter at what cost. Many of the most famous men of the age have been his guests at these times and have conununicated impulses to the spiritual natures of the great audiences which will outlast life itself. But no matter who was there, Mr. Moody himself was always the soul and center of the whole movement. From him have always come the noblest and grandest shocks of spiritual power. The management of such complex meetings, the harmonizing of so many dift'crcnl views, the suppression of so much that was erratic, the development of so much talent that was latent, have l)een among the highest j^roofs of that marvelous power whose nature we are trying to fathom. This work, it must be remembered, w'as done in vacation ! All these weighty and nmltifarious occuj^ations were, so to speak, l)ut the pastimes of a giant. We have not yet finished cnu" enumeration of the feats which Mr. Moody accomplished. Another task of a character inti- mately associated witli what he was (loing in Northfield had to be worked otU. It was perhaps his most cherished life plan. He had long before discovered that there were multitudes of young people scattered over the country who, if they had the opportunity to study the English Iiible under favorable circum- stances, might develop into useful and successful workers in the life of the church. His conception of their availability for this purpose was the outgrowth of his modesty. He honestly believed that there was nothing remarkable about himself, and that there were thousands of people better al)le than he to ac- complish what he had done, if they only would give themselves to such work with as much consecration. This conce])ti()n seemed to some of those who knew him the most remarkable thing about the man. He actually did not believe himself to be possessed of any extraordinary talents. He attributed everything which he had done to the " influence of the Holy Spirit." He thought that if he could get hold of young men and women, impress them with his ideas, get them to seek this consecration, furnish them with a good understanding of the Engli.sh Bible, and send them forth into the world, they could LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOC^DV. n turn the world upside down. One of his most eommon re- marks was, " I am trying to reprochice myself ; " and every time a fine young fellow began to follow and imitate him he seemed to be kindled with the hope that he had at last found a spiritual child. It was the longing of a mother for ofifsjjring. It was Paul's passion for spiritual parenthood. When I was pastor of his church I brought him several such men. He fixed his piercing eye upon them and said, " You want an education ? \\'hat do you want it for? To do good, did you say? Are you in earnest? W^ell, get ready and start for Northfield to- morrow ; I will pay your expenses." And then his great brown eyes, lit up with an almost maternal tenderness, would follow them to the door as if he were dreaming of their future. For many different reasons he had been compelled to post- pone the accomplishment of his plan for their education from year to year; Init at last, in i88(), he came to Chicago deter- mined to carry it out at all hazards, and I had the good fortune to be able to study the operations of his mind during the gesta- tion of this great enterprise. It was to me the most impressive mental and spiritual exhibition I had ever witnessed. The fervor, the intensity of feeling, the prodigious energy of will, the confident faith, were like the mighty forces of nature. One day a few weeks previous, and while riding with him in his buggy in Northfield, he drove up a beautiful and quiet valley and began to talk about his plans. His eye kindled. His face glowed. Suddenly he stopped the horse, took off his hat, and said, in tones that sent a positive physical thrill through me, " I am awfully concerned about this matter. Let us pray God to help us consecrate ourselves to it ! " That prayer went to heaven if anything ever did ! It was propelled by a spiritual force that would have carried it across infinity. It filled my mind v.ith an indescribable awe. When he arrived upon the ground ready to begin, such was my curiosity about his mind that I studied its processes as a jeweler does the movements of a watch. He came to the scene of operation as a general would to a field of battle, seizing with lightning-like rapidity upon the strategic positions, utilizing every means towards his end ; but utterly without previous definite preparation. Very little money (if any) had been promised, no pupils were actually in sight, the location had not been selected when he swooped down upon the field. There were no moments in his life more full of interest to 78 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. the Student of his strange nature than those in which he was incuhating (if I may say so) — when his mind was hatching its thoughts. His manner was an " aljsent " one. His eyes seemed turned inward. He was not quite as talkative as usual, although he " came out of himself " suddenly and easily, but sank back again quickly. His brow was not often " knitted," and the mental effort was not a painful one, at least apparently. Instead of straining itself after a conclusion I should have said his mind sank into a quiescent state, as a bird sits on a nest, and that his " conclusions " came to him, rather than awaited his approach. lie was in this state of nu'nd for several days, as he moved among his friends talking about this new enterprise. I took him one day to look at a building site which seemed to me available. He said little, but the first glimpse of it evidently brought all his plans to a focus. With lightning-like rapidity he secured an option from the owners, and within a few hours consummated tlie bargain. Where he got his money from I could never discover, but almost before his friends knew what he was about the property (three large residences next the church on LaSalle Avenue and a large lot in the rear) was pur- chased, and he immediately commenced the erection of a com- modious and beautiful building. Scarcely were these plans unfolded to the ])ublic before young men and young women began pouring in from all quar- ters of the country, attracted by his fame, his invitation, and his promises. Perhaps no movement inaugurated by him ever received a more intelligent criticism than this. Many in- telligent judges declared the plan unfeasible, and likely to flood the country with callow youngsters half fitted for their work. One very able article wounded Mr. Moody more deeply than anything that had ever been published against him ; but he pursued his accustomed course and kept silent, although those who watched him closely could see his heart bled. The m- stitution was on its feet, like everything else, almost before it was born, as all his spiritual and material children struck out for themselves at once, like those of fishes. It would take a book to describe it and its results. It would require another to discuss its merits and defects. The aim of this story of his life is to show that he possessed the genius and the power to launch it, and to point out the fact that like everything else he undertook he made it " go." LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. 79 In connection with this work it may be well to introduce a reference to another undertakini^ which evidenced the prodi- gious organizing powx'r of the man, for it was around this school as a center that it was made to revolve. I refer to the series of meetings held during the World's Fair. Mr. Moody was not in sympathy with the Congress of Religions, and this fact, combined with the opportunity for such an effort, led him to organize a remarkable campaign of religious services lasting through many months. They were scattered through every part of the city, and their management was entirely in his hands. He directed all the movements like a major-general. Tl was his fame and labor which paid the bills. It was his faith that sustained his discouraged followers when one night D. L MOODY'S RESIDENCE AT NORTHFIELD. I.UUKING SOUTH. they found themselves with a deficit of several thousands of dollars. " Do not be troubled about a little matter like that," he said, and, dropping upon his knees, he laid the case before God. It is unnecessary to say that the money came. It always did. In closing this list of his different enterprises, brief refer- ence must be made to the latest offspring of his fertile brain and loving heart. It is an organization for the distribution of sacred literature. It has two aims, one the dissemination of such literature through the prisons of tlic coimtry. and the other its sale for a merely nominal sum, to the masses of people who do not enjoy religious privileges. It has grown to enor- mous proportions. Immense siuns of money have been con- tributed for gratuitous distribution and almost innumerable copies have been sold. 3o LIFE OF DWir.IIT L. MO(MnV All these institutions were under full headway when he died, and by his own personal efforts he was raising the money to carry them on. The next day after his burial an appeal to the world to provide funds for the eontinuation of the " work be- gun and for twenty years carried on by Dwight L. ]\Ioo(ly " was issued. The plea is entitled " Moody Memorial hjidow- ment," and begins : " ' I have been ambitious, not to lay up wealth, but to leave work for you to do,' were almost the last words of I). L. Moody to his children. ■* The institutions founded by Mr. Moody are unitjuc in character. They consist of the Northfield Seminary and Training School for Young Women, the Mt. Hermon School for Young Men, and the Bible Institute at Chicago. The Northfield plant consists of 1,200 acres of land and about tvventv buildings, which, with the ]M-esent endowment, are valued at one and one-quarter million, and is practically free from debt. At Chicago the buildings, land, and endowment exceed $250,000 in value. The Northfield schools have about 400 students, each of whom is charged $100 per annum for board and tuition. The annual cost is about $200. At Chi- cago the amount required, approximately, is $150 each for 300 students. In brief, therefore, the sum of about $125,000 an- nually is required to maintain the work inaugurated by Mr. Moody on the principles successfully pursued for the j^ast twenty years. This sum has heretofore been largely raised by his personal efforts. y\ fund (if $3,000,000 is asked for, which, at 4 per cent., will perpetuate the work of Mr. Moody." To complete this glimpse of the herculean labors Qf the man it will be a pleasure, no doubt, to see the following enumeration of the buildings erected through his efforts. His first building was tlu' Illinois .Street Church in Chicago, erected about 1858, for the shelter of his mission school and the church which grew out of it. His second building enter- prise was the Young Men's Christian .\ssoeiation building in Chicago, erected in 1866, the first commodious edifice for Young Men's Christian Association purposes in this coimtry. His third enterprise was the re-erection of the first Young Men's Christian yVssociation building destroyed by fire, both known as the Farwell Hall. This also was destroyed in the great fire in 1871 and again rebuilt, mainly through Mr. Moodv's efforts. The fourth and i)resent beautiful edifice lifp: of dwicht l. moody. 8i stands partly upon the original site on land pven by John V. Farwell. The other Young Men's Christian Association buildings in America for which money was raised by Mr. Moody and in whose erection he was more or less conspicuous were at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Bal- timore, and Scranton. In Great Britain these Iniildings were erected by Mr. Moody's personal efforts or from the inspiration of his works : Christian Union building, Dublin ; Christian Institute build- ing, Glasgow ; Carubber's Close Mission, Edinburgh ; Confer- ence Hall, Stratford ; Down Lodge Hall, Wandsworth, Lon- don, and the Young Men's Christian Association building, Liverpool. In addition to the above are twenty or more build- ings at Northfield. Mass., the Chicago Avenue Church, and Bible and Institute buildings, Chicago. CHAPTER V. Mr. Moody's Wonderful Capacity to Stand Hard and Continuous Labor — Always "Ready for Business" — His Disregard of Ordinary Laws of Health — " Have You Got Anything to Eat? " — His Miraculous Power to Stand Fatigue — His Intellectual and Moral Endowments — Looking into the Faces of More than One Hundred Million People — His Wonderfully Retentive Mem- ory— A Life of Incessant Activities — How He Treated Men he Personally Disliked — Dropping Men as if They Were "Hot Coals" — His Devotion to His Friends — Standing by Henry Drummond — How Drummond's Death Affected Mr. Moody — His Great Will Power — His Humility and Modesty — Refusing an Ofifer of $25,000 for His Autobiography — Offered $10,000 by a Newspaper for a Two-Hours Interview - — The Power of His Eye — Did He Possess the Gift of Hypnotism? IT has seemed proper to pursue the general course of Mr. Moody's Hfe in a chronological sequence, and then to present a l)ird's eye view of the particular undertakings which he has originated, in order that confidence may be established in the claim that his character is one of the richest and most wonderful of modern times. It follows as a matter of course that those peculiar characteristics must be studied and analyzed if we are to discover the sources of his power. It is too soon to succeed in this, but not too soon to begin, and it will be the purpose of the last part of this sketch to point out some of those strange gifts and indicate the lines along which further investigation must go. Let us begin at the physical basis of life. He came into the world with a body endowed with the capacity to stand such strains as have been put upon few others in the history of the world. It seemed to have been constructed of steel and to have been incapable of exhaustion, and almost of fatigue. He did not need much sleep, and what he did need he could get at any time and under any circumstances, falling into peaceful slumber the instant he touched the pillow. Xo matter how late he retired he was likely to be up at five or, at the latest. (S2) LIFE OF DWIGIIT L. MOODY. 83 six o'clock, and, after a ride or a walk, was " ready for bus- iness." His digestive powers were of the most perfect character. He appeared to be able (and inclined) to break all the ordinary laws of health. He would drink four or five glasses of water during a meal. He ate with the greatest rapidity and scouted Mr. Gladstone's rules of chewing each mouthful seventy times — with humorous contempt. Dashing into my house one even- ing after a day of terrific effort, he exclaimed, " Have you got anything to eat? " A large dish of pork and beans (of which he was very fond) was placed before him. He sat down, mur- mured a silent i)rayer, and, without interrupting his repast by a word, emptied the entire dish as fast as he could carry the food to his mouth. And yet this was done with a certain in- " definable grace ! He often ate voraciously, but never like an animal nor ever like an epicure. In the later years of his life Air. Aloody's weight increased to more than three hundred pounds. Such bulk as this be- comes an irreparable misfortune to most men, for they become sluggish and appear gross. Neither consequence followed with him. He was as light upon his feet as a boy, and the spiritual qualities in his personal appearance were not even cloaked. In spite of this incumbrance his capacity for work was little short of miraculous. The physical vitality of the average min- ister is pretty severely taxed by the delivery of two or three public addresses in the week. Mr. Moody often delivered four and five in a day, five days a week through nine or ten months of the year, and then in vacation performed the hardest labors of his life. These efforts, until the very last trip, seemed to be mere gymnastic exercises to keep him in condition. Passing from his physical to his intellectual endowments, his biographer will awaken surprise, and, perhaps excite in- credulity ; for it must be deliberately asserted that he pos- sessed one of the most highly organized brains which the world has ever produced. He was not a " thinker " in the ordinary sense of that word. Whether it would have been possible for him to have become an original investigator like Edison, or profound ])hilosopher like Emerson, is a matter of mere specu- lation ; but his contribution to the store of original thought is very meager. He did not originate thought. He only appro- priated it. He did not even create a new phraseology. He 84 LIFE OF D\vi(;irr i.. moody. simply seized upon that of daily life and breathed a new vitality into it. Compared with a man like F. W. Robertson, to w hose pages the noblest intelleets of the age have gone for fertilizing thoughts, Mr. Moody cannot in any sense be called an intel- lectual force. But it is not by logical reasoning merely that the grandeur of the human intellect is shown. The mind has another power not less wonderful. \\'hile some of the great geniuses of history have been compelled to arrive at conclu- sions through long and subtle processes of reasoning, others have reached them by a mental spring as swift as lightning. This is the power which we call " intuition," and it was this power which Mr. Moody possessed to a degree which filled the minds of those who knew him with wonder. I never knew him to pass through such processes of " reflection " as bring out the best results of most men's thinking. All he seemed to re- quire was to have a given problem set before him in the clearest liglit possible, and he instantly saw the answer in all its bear- ings. It was like the mental operation of those mathemati- cians who astonish the world by their power to compute with- out addition, multiplication, subtraction, and tlivision. No single intellectual talent was more often the subject of remark than his memory for names and faces. He had un- questionably looked into the countenances of more people than any man who ever lived (100,000,000, Arthur T. Pierson esti- mates), and IkuI made the personal acquaintance of more in- dividuals than many of us have ever seen. And yet he seemed never to forget any of those who had once made a distinct and positive impression upon his mind! He could tell you the names of the " leading men " (a favorite expression) in Lon- don, Edinburgh, Dublin, Boston, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, Atlanta, or any other place in which he had ever been. Such gifts as these arc certainly not always accompanied bv those of a fine moral character ; l)Ut Mr. Moody was in- tensely and almost perfectly ethical. His ideas of truth and honor and virtue were most exalted. No attack has ever been made upon him here. He was incorruptible. Thrown into ten thousand delicate situations with women, and difificult ones with men, handling enormous sums of money and never com- pelled to render an account, he stands l^efore the world a monument of fidelity and of ])urity, unsmirched, uncondenined, and even unsuspected. LIFK OF DVVIGHT L. MOODY. 85 He and Herbert Spencer were far enough apart theologi- cally, but his heart would have responded to that noble senti- ment of the great philosopher, " Rightness expresses of actions what straightness does of lines ; and there can no more be two kinds of right action than there can be two kinds of straight lines." It is no uncommon thing in life to see men of such extraor- dinary intellectual and moral endowments, cold, hard, just, and unloving. But tears start to the eyes of those who knew Mr. Moody well, at tlie thought of the absolutely inexhaustible depths of his love for all living things. Horses, dogs, cows, animals, and birds — all excited the emotions of his heart. In the realm of human life, love for all classes was a master passion. Misfortune, poverty, ignorance, crime even, could not throw anyone out of the pale of his universal sympathy. He had his antipathies, but they were not directed against any class. They were as likely to be aroused by the rich as by the ])oor, by the learned as the ignorant. These antipathies were never enmities. He had no hard feelings. He was simply repelled. He gave men a wide berth if he did not like them. But if he did he opened his heart to its utmost capacity. Little children, whether his own, his grandchildren, or the children of strangers, fled to his arms as to those of a mother. There never has been a home outside of Eden more filled with the divinity of love than his. To be in it, to see the play of affec- tion, the absolute confidence and rest of love, was a beautitude. There will be readers of these statements who will, how- ever, raise one complaint against him. They will say that al- though he loved ardently he did not love forever. There are those who have been stung by what seemed to them desertion, and it is here that those who knew him best wall have to defend him from the charge of disloyalty. That defense is simple. What seemed desertion was not really such. He was a man whose life was one of incessant and terrible activities. He needed helpers. When he found them he laid hands on them with a sort of affectional violence. He gave them his whole heart and trusted them implicitly. If the time came when they were no longer of service to him he dropped them and sought others. There is no use denying that when he dropped men it was as if they were " hot coals," and it was impossible for those from whom he had received such loyal and almost pas- sionate devotion at one time not to feel as if he were unkind j^5 i-U^'-"- OJ-" Dwunrr i.. moody. and untrue when he turned away. Hut how could it be other- wise? Could he keep up intimacies with the thousands of people who at one time or another had been his lieutenants? It was a physical and mental impossibility. Sometimes those who had been thus abandoned had a chance to test that mem- ory and that love, and it is safe to say that there came to them revelations of an unbroken and unqualified affection such as filled them with deliij^ht. The depth of that devotion, the utter consistency of that affection, can be proven by a thousand cases, but none would be more striking and interesting than that of his loyalty to Henry Drummond. It is now a matter of historv how violently Drummond was attacked in Northficld during ]\Tr. Moody's absence, for his advocacy of views which were regarded as erroneous in that supremely orthodox place. Mr. Moody was in the midst of his campaign in Chicago at the time, and many of his most generous supporters wrote and telegraphed that " if "he did not denounce Drummond they would abandon him." Instead, he destroyed their messages, and, sending for Drummond, said : " I want you to take part in my meetings." With his accustomed grace and considera- tion the great author replied: " I should only injure yon in- stead of your sustaining ;//('." " Preach some of your old ser- mons." said Mr. Moody. " No, I would rather not take any part," Mr. Drummond replied. " Well, wherever you go or whatever you do, I am your friend, and I will stand by you with the last drop of my blood," said the old fidus Achates, and he did. He was in Cincinnati when the news of Drummond's death came, and that evening at my table he laid his knife and fork down and cried like a child. " He was the most Christlike man I ever met. I never saw a fault in him," he said over and over again through his sobs. No, do not let anyone do him the injustice of calling him unfaithful ; it was only the lack of time and opportunity. It is one of the strangest coincidences of history that these two great men should each say of the other " He is the most Christlike man I ever knew." All these traits would have had their beauty and value in a nature that was gentle, yielding, and lacking in vigor and pur- pose ; but they would not alone have fitted a man to do a work which was almost co-extensive with Christendom. It was necessary that they should be animated by a will whose power was commensurate with their beauty. Fortunately for the world this sublime endowment was not lacking. Rehind all LIFE OF I)WH;HT L. MooDV 87 these other great gifts lay a force whose nature we do not and probably cannot understand. We call it " will power." It is that energy which impels the mind and body with resistless power along any path which it has chosen. In Mr. Moody it was like compressed air, powder, or electricity. Whenever a thing had to be done he sprang to it as a projectile leaps from a cannon, and nothing could stop his progress. He knew nothing of those periods of halting and hesitation, nothing of those hours of doubt and uncertainty which paralyze so many strong arms. To decide was to will, and to will was to do. To cite all available instances of this would be to rehearse the whole of his life story. One naturally chooses those which have come under his own observation. During a visit in the rented house in which I lived in Chi- cago it became evident to him that a parsonage for the church was desirable. \\'hen this decision was reached he said sud- denly, " I guess I will go and get one." Seizing his hat he rushed from the house, and within a few hours returned in a cab. Springing up the steps and bursting into the room he exclaimed, " Get on }Our hat and show me the house you want. ]\Irs. McCormick has given me the money." We started out and within a few moments he had purchased a resi- dence worth ten or twelve thousand dollars. This may be taken as a sample of innumeraljle instances, and, in fact, as the rule of his volitional action. Dif^culties were nothing when opposed to the accomplishment of any cherished plan. They only served to stimulate all his powers, call out new resources, and lend actual joy to effort. Up to the very last hour the exercise of these powers seemed unat- tended with anything like discomfort. He put them all forth in the same way that boys do theirs, in that period where they do anything and everything to work ofif their surplus energies. Those great words which he uttered on his deathbed were the absolute truth. He had been " ambitious for work." He joyed like a Titan in struggle and efTort. Upon these basal elements his " spiritual nature " was erected. Perhaps it would be impossible to define that ex- pression in such a way as to gain the assent of all classes of readers. There may be those interested in the man, as a man, who do not themselves believe in the spiritual nature nor in the spiritual realm. But there can be no room to doubt that whatever other men might think, he believed with all the ardor 33 LIFE OF DWKllIT L. MOODY. and conviction of liis intense nature that his soul was his true self. While he lived amidst visible, tangible, and audible things, he continually felt the presence of that which was be- vond the reach of sense. An invisible realm was the real en- vironment of his life. He gauged all his conduct and his effort bv their relation to the life beyond the grave. Perhaps no man of modern times has come any nearer to being constantly in that state of mind by which Moses was characterized when it was said of him " he endured as if he really saw the invisible ! " As a motive of conduct, it made no difference whether he really saw it or not. His impression of it was more vivid than that of the world of matter. It animated everything and interpreted everything. His consciousness of God was equally distinct. It was as real to him as that of any other person whatsoever — friend or child or wife. To most of us. tormented by invincible doubts, this seems incredible and impossible ; but his belief in an car that was ever open and a hand that was ever outstretched, was like that of a little child in the presence of its mother at the bedside in the dark. The reality of the Saviour's life and of his constant nearness was not less distinct, and there was a spirit — a Holy Spirit, brooding over him and taking posses- sion of him at every moment of his life. I mean all this to be taken literallv. I mean it to seem to those who read this story, as being something different from the dull, dreamy, vague feelings of the ordinary man with regard to these great spiritual facts. The things which to most of us are mere theories or hopes were to him burning realities. They glowed before his imagination like fire instead of gleaming with the faint radiance of phosphorus. We linger with an irresistible fascina- tion over the problem of this power — a power which shook men to the center of their beings ; suddenly disclosed another world; agitated dull consciences; aroused slumbering emo- tions ; brought to life dead memories, and filled men with a sense of the realities of things which they had thought to be only dreams. We regard it as a mystery demanding our best efforts at solution. The simplest way to dispose of it was to say, as he did : " It was the Holy Sjiirit." He always and utterly repudiated the idea that there was anything exceptional about himself, and multitudes of his friends substantiated his simple theory. It is easier to let it go at this ; but it does not seem to satisfy our reason. It is like explaining the ])henomcna of a vast factory LIFE OF DWICiHT L. MOODY. 89 in which enormous masses of raw material are transformed into objects of lovehncss and usefnhiess by saying, " this was all done by electricity!" It is true that it was. This is the stupendous force that drives all the marvelous machines. But are the machines themselves nothing? Is it not necessarv to explain the delicate mechanism through which the inscrutable force transmits itself? And is it not just as necessary to an- alyze the marvelous organism of the living man through whom God pours that resistless tide of energy? It does not seem fair to ignore the instrument entirely. There was a rugged sort of righteousness in that irreverent outbreak of Ethan Allen when the clergyman was ascribing the power of that great Ti- conderoga victory to Almighty God, " Don't forget to mention Ethan Allen ! " There are always two factors — the motive power and the instrument. It is the latter with which we are now concerned, and even though the man himself refused (and with passion) ever to admit that there was anything exceptional about his nature, we must be true to our conviction that no ordinary man can be thus used, any more than a toy engine on a parlor table can be made to transmit the electrical current which propels a hundred street cars ! No more convincing proof of this can be urged than the fact that out of all the multitudes of men who strove to produce similar results not one of them has ever done more tlian shine by a sort of reflected light. And yet manv of them were among the most beautiful and consecrated spirits of modern times ! No, it cannot be reasonal)!}- doubted that he was endowed with numerous gifts of so high an order as to make him an instrument capable of the transmission of this divine power (whatever it may be) to a higher degree than other men. His own incredulity and modesty as to these gifts were among the most striking proofs of their existence. After his return from the army, where he had performed some of those prodigious efiforts in the Christian Commission, he was loudly praised by some of his friends upon a public occasion. " Strike me; but do not praise me," he exclaimed passionately. One day a mutual friend introduced him to " Uncle Johnnie Vassar." The old man's face glowed with more than wonted luster as he grasped Mr. Moody's hand and heartily exclaimed, "And so this is dear Brother Moody? How glad I am to see the man that God has used to win so manv souls to Christ ! '' 90 LIFE OF DWIGMT L. MOOUV. " You say rightly, Uncle John, ' the man whom God has used.'" said Mr. Moody, earnestly; and, stooping down, he took up a handful of earth, poured it out of his hand, and added. " There's nothing more than tJiat to Dwight Moody, except as God uses him." I once asked him why he so persistently refused to have his name attached to the Clermont Avenue Church. "Why? Because I am no more than any other man. And besides, who knows but that I may do something to disgrace it ! " Ponder the following quotation from a letter written long ago in answer to a request for permission to write his life. " Now in regard to the other thing, I am quite taken back. I have never thought of anything of the kind (a full and authoritative biog- raphy). It seems to me there are so many books now that there is not room for one more. And I do not know of any- thing that can be said of my life that would interest people." And yet, within two years after that letter was written, he told me witli his own lips tliat he could sell his l)iography at any moment for $25,000, and that when he was in New York he was offered $10,000 for a two hours' interview by an agent of one of the great newspapers ! What can be made of such mysterious contradictions? There is absolutely no explanation except that of the child- like simplicity of the man, and the strange and bewildering vividness of his consciousness of the indwelling of the divine Spirit. I cannot refrain from giving another illustration of this modest}'. I had often felt the inuneasurabie and unaccount- able power of Mr. Moody's eye. I had observed with un- bounded astonishment the strange fascination which he seemed to have for everyone who came near him. Crowds surrounded him by day and by night. In fact, it might almost be said that he was never alone. People gathered around him like moths around a candle. They made absurd excuses to approach him. They simply thronged upon him wherever he went. He literally had to shake them off. The more I observed this, the more it seemed to me as if he must possess that subtlest of all gifts which we vaguely call " hypnotism," and wondered if he had ever thought of it him- self. A most favoral)le opportunity to ask him sprang out of a conversation in which he had described at length Henry Dnmimond's well-known hypnotic powers. " Do you possess LIFK OK DWIGHT L. MOODY 91 this power? " I said, looking him directly in the eye. " Not if I know myself! " he answered, hotly. " If I thought my in- fluence was owing to that I would quit preaching to-morrow. Any power I have comes from the Spirit of God." " But how do you know that such a subtle power as this may not be one of the very highest gifts of God, and that it is only when it is perverted (like perverted eloquence) that it does harm ? " " I don't know anything about it, and I won't have anything to do with it ! " he answered, with that sharp toss of his head with which he dismissed a disagreeable subject. T 3 « ti\=v)-r MR. MOODY'S STUDY. " But don't you think you may exercise it unconsciously? " I persisted, determined to satisfy mv mind. " No." " Did you ever try? " "No!" I could get nothing more out of him, but I was not con- vinced, and I have never doubted that he possessed it to an enormous degree and used it without knowing that he did so. However this may have been, the fact which now concerns us is that he did not consider himself a man of any great natural gifts, but only one who had given himself up as fully as he 92 I.Il"!'. ol" nWIC.lir I.. MOODY knew how to the intlucnces of the Holy Spirit. Early in his career he heard Henry \ arley say, " It remains for the world to see what the Lord can do with a man wholly consecrated to Christ." This idea took a tremendous hold upon him, and he determined to be that man if possible. Any man in any line of work who gives himself up with such devotion must sec great results. When he ha])pens to be a man endowed as Mr. Moody was, he will see miracles. It is certain that what War- ley asserted could not be truthfully reiterated since Mr. ^Moody's death. To sum the matter up, there are two objects of interest for the student of this life — the complex nature of the instrument, and the divine power which worked through it. The scientist will perhaps care only to analyze the instrument and the fanatic to magnify the divine power. Rut the calm and reverent stu- dent of the mystery of existence will stand in admiration before one and in worship before the other. CHAPTER VI. Mr. Moody's Theology — His Power as a Preaclicr — What lie Re- garded the Most Fascinating Doctrine in the Bible — His Belief that Things Were " Going to the Bad " — Waiting for The Final Crash " — His Fine Sense of Humor — His Unshaken Belief in the Bible — His Broad Sympathies — His Oratory and Pulpit Power — Born With a Silver Style in His Mouth — Characteristics of His Platform Addresses — His Limited Vocabulary — His Source of Illustrations — Drawn from Real Life — " Corner Groceries " in Noah's Time — How he Secured the Sympathy and Attention of an Audience — His Intense Energy on the Plat- form— Conditions that Aroused His Highest Powers — His Ideal of Music, and the Use he Made of it — Electrical EfYect of Some of His Sermons — His Last Sermon, and His Last Audience. LET us now pass from Mr. Aloocly's natural endowments to a cursory view of his theology and his preaching. His theology was full of the charm naivete. It was rather that of a child than a man. Two words will characterize it — " evangelical " and " conservative." The greatest emphasis of his preaching may be said to have been laid upon the " blood atonement " in the death of Christ, and the immediate salvation of any one who accepted the redeem- ing merits of his death, by an act of faith. The language he used to enforce and illustrate these ideas must have often seemed to those who were profound students of theology to have bordered dangerously upon materialism. He often described the efficacy of the " blood " of Jesus in such a way as to communicate an absolute shock to those who had accepted the theories of the atonement propounded by such men as Robertson and Bushncll. But however much his utterances may have been clouded by the difficult symbols and metaphors in which the death of Jesus had to be presented, it is certain that it was the dying love in the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God which stirred his soul to its depths and enabled him to stir the souls of others. A very slight alteration in the sharp- (93) 94 LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. ness and literalness of his views took place in the passing years and is recorded in some of his own words. '■ There was a time when I used to think more of the love of Jesus Christ than of God the Father. I used to think of God as a stern judge on the throne, from whose wrath Jesus Christ saved me. It seems to me now I could not have a falser idea of God than that. Since I have become a father I have made this discovery: that it takes more love and self-sacrifice for the father to give up the son than it does for the son to die." As it is not our purpose to criticise, but only to record his views, this brief passage will serve as well as many pages to set them clearly forth. A second leading idea in his theological system was that of the Pre-millenial coming of Jesus Christ. Next to the " Atonement " it was to him the most fascinating doctrine in the Scriptures. He was theoretically a pessimist, believing that things were " going to the bad," and must continue to do so to a " final crash," before the Christ could come again. He considered the world a sinking shij) and that his sole duty was to save all he could from the wreck. The theory of evolution never even appealed to his imagination. The whole world of modern ideas rolled over him like the waters of a brook over a stone. The conception of the " shipwreck " satisfied his scientific and his theological ideas perfectly. Nothing but his fine sense of humor could have saved him from being mourn- fully crucified upon this theory and sinking into an inert de- spair. It did save him, however, and no one who knew him can help being thankful for that saving grace. He never took himself too seriously. It was* this grace that saved Abraham Lincoln from despair, and Martin Luther from fanati- cism. If Calvin had possessed it, the history of the world would have been different. A third dominant tone in the limited gamut of Mr. Moody's theologv and the one which involved him in the only contro- versy in which he ever indulged, was the " verbal inspiration " ot the Scriptures. He said, and he firmly believed, that llie whole Scripture was like a chain, which if it were broken in any single link, become useless altogether. The tendency among modern scholars to take a more liberal view, he regarded as dangerous in the extreme and worthy of the severest castiga- tion. It was in the administration of these rebukes that for the onlv time in his life he said things which might be considered LIFE OF DVVIGHT L. MOODY. 95 uncharitable, and which forfeited for him a httle of that con- fidence reposed by the people in his infalUble common sense. This seemed all the more strange, because in all his previous career he had avoided such criticisms, and put into a minor place all those doctrines which did not command what might almost be called universal assent. There was such a grim con- sistency and a grim humor in his theories that those who liked them least enjoyed them most ! To hear him in some moment of terrific intensity and conviction declare : " You can't throw away a part of the Bible and keep the rest. Most of those parts which the critics want to throw out are those on which Jesus Christ himself has set his seal. I am sure I do not want to be wiser than my Master'' — half made the most stubborn scholars doubt the results of life-long investigations. " I don't understand the Bible," he said: " I don't explain portions of it; I don't interpret it; but I do believe it. I don't understand astronomy or higher mathematics, yet I believe in them. It is because we can't understand the Bible that I love it. One can see tliat it is God's w^ork. There is a length to it, a breadth and depth which w^e can't understand, but which leads us to a height which we can't understand either." Scholars might differ with him, but they could not help respecting him. He roiled them, but they loved him. He was harsh against them, but he turned around and asked them to come and address his Northfield pupils — the greatest con- fidence he could bestow. A man who could invite Henry Drummond, and Lyman Abbott, and George Adam Smith to speak to those whose spiritual welfare was dearer than life, is as broad in his sympathies as we can ask him to be. In the main, his theology could be found as he told the London ministers, in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Next in interest to the ideas which constituted his message, are his literary style and his oratory. In its last analysis, the literary style. of every successful writer or speaker must be considered a native endowment, and happy is the man who finds himself upon his first appearance in print or on the platform uttering his thoughts m a way to please the people. Mr. Moody had the good fortune to be born with a silver style in his mouth. His first recorded utterances possess the same essential literary characteristics as those which are the fruit of all these years of practice. It can be best characterized 96 LIKE OF DWIC-HT L. MOODV. as " telegraphic " — and it was a style unknown to TertuUian or to Blair. It is the outgrowth of the struggle of modern men to save time. The electric telegraph has compelled a recognition of the fact that ten words can convey as definite and important an idea as ten pages. Mr. Moody seemed to seize the idea that his messages were to be delivered over wires kept hot, and that there was neither time nor money to be wasted in their delivery. Brevity, ])rc- cision. perspicuity, were from the first their prevailing traits. Words and sentences fell from his lips with rapidity and clear- ness. In passages of the same length (about 530 words chosen at random from printed sermons) 1 have estimated that Mr. Moody uttered thirty-six sentences; Bushnell, twenty; Spur- gion, twenty-one; Lacordaire, fifteen; Chalmers, nine. It would seem as if such brevity would have rendered his speech unmusical; but this was far from being the case. There was a flow and smoothness to its movement which gave an actual pleasure to the ear. In passages of intense excitement the sentences possessed an exj^losive quality suggesting a pack of fire crackers set ofT by accident; but after he had gained control of his vocal organs, and of his inflanuual)le emotions, there was nothing of this character. As the brevity of his sentences was a marked characteristic of his style, so was that of his words. His vocabulary was ex- ceedingly limited; but exactly adapted to his use. Among his words those of three or four syllables are rare. He seemed incapable of uttering them. One of the facts which his old friends recalled with roars of laughter was his effort to master the word " Mephibosheth," when beginning his ministry. He committed its spelling to his memory, and on his parish visits was heard struggling with its pronunciation — Meph-Mcphib- phib-bo-bo-bo-sheth, etc." He never attempted such a word in public unless it was absolutely necessary, fearing them as a traveler does a ditch which is just a little wider than he can jump. He did not draw the line absolutely on every thing but Anglo Saxon words, nor did he prefer them from any definite theory of their value, for he probably could not have picked out the Latin or Greek words in any sentence he ever uttered; but they certainly predominated and gave an intense vigor to his style. In a page of 530 words. 400 contained only a single syllable, lAFK OF inVKllIT L. MOODY. 97 and most of them are Anglo Saxon. Many of his longer words were terribly shortened, terminals like " ing " being almost invariably abbreviated to " in". B. F. Jacobs used to say that D. L. Moody was the only man living who could say " Jerusalem " in two syllables. In his earlier days, in Chicago, an over-zealous critic, who was not an over-active worker, took Mood}' to task for his defects in speech. " You oughtn't to attempt to speak in public. Moody; you make so many mistakes in grammar." " I know I make mistakes," said Aloody, " and I lack a great many things; but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. But, look here, my friend, yon'z'c got grammar enough, what are you doing with it for Jesus Christ? " His illustrations were always of the simplest possible char- acter and abounded largely in personal reminiscences. They w^ere sometimes classical, for he had listened to so many elo- quent speakers that striking stories from antiquity became familiar to him without his having to discover them through reading. There were a few scientific ones which he acquired from the same source, and occasional tropes and metaphors indi- cated that he had observed natural analogies. But in the main his illustrations were naratives of real life. As he told the story of Noah's w'arnings before the Flood, he pictured the scofTers of that day while the Deluge was delayed. " They'd say to one another, ' Not much sign of old Noah's rainstorm yet." They'd talk it over in the corner groceries, evenings." Then, as if in explanation, he added: " I tell you, my friends, before the world got as bad as it was in Noah's day, they must have had corner groceries.*' When contrasted with Demosthenes and Cicero, Burke and Chatham, Webster and Sumner, this sort of speech may not be called oratory ; but if oratory is " just whistling to a dog — while eloquence is whistling so as to make him come " — then this was eloquence! At any rate no human being since time began has ever gotten the ears of so many listeners. I have been re-reading John Brown's description of a ser- mon delivered by Thomas Chalmers in a little village in Scot- land, and Gilfillan's of the preaching of Edward Irving, and the best accounts of the results which Finney, Edwards, White- 7 98 LIFK OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. field, and Wesley produced, asking myself in the meanwhile whether Mr. Moody could be honestly compared with them. Are we to place him among the great preachers of the ages as well as among its great organizers and inspirers? For one I cannot doubt it. He had the physical capacities of a great orator. His body was robust and powerful, capable of enduring inmicnsc strain, and filled with that strange energy which al)solute physical health imparts. He also possessed those two other qualifica- tions of a great orator, a piercing and conmianding eye, and a voice of great resonance and command over vast reaches of space. His eye was a deep rich brown. It was like that of a dove and an eagle, both. Sometimes it charmed with its tran- quillity, then suddenly blazed with an indescribable luster. Sometimes it twinkled like a star with humor ; but when his heart was filled with sadness it became sufifuscd with compas- sion. It had, moreover, the strange power of emitting sparks of scorn for evil. I say " sparks," for I have been sometimes half prompted to try to pick them up from the platform ! But its power to command was its greatest of all. It absolutely seized and chained men as it swept from floor to gallery and gave each one of 10,000 people the idea that it was fixed on him — like the eye of an oil portrait. His voice was also of immense value in his preaching. It was nearer to a tenor than a baritone in quality. I have never thought myself (nor heard anyone say) that it was beautiful or musical. I do not believe that it had any of those strange and fascinating qualities that the voices of some great orators like Webster or Spurgcon have had to soothe and lull and charm the ear. The tone or qualit\- itself could not have pleased — apart from language, and yet it was smooth, clear, resonant, satisfying, and keyed to give expression to all the feelings of which he was capable. Its carrying power, however, was its most valuable characteristic. So far as I can discover, the hall in Manchester was the only place which he ever found great difificulty in filling, and this was owing more to its shape than size. A man who has voice enough to reach 10,000 people out of doors or in has voice enough for all practical purposes ! Upon the ear of the last man in the gallery every word would fall like the clang of a bell or the note of a lark. He possessed an instructive knowledge of most of the arts of oratory, but never had an hour's training by a teacher. His LIFE OF I)\\"I(;HT L. MOODV. qq gestures had a great variety, but there was uo attempt to make them specially descriptive. They were calculated to lend force rather than illustration to his thought. They consisted mainlv of the hand pointed heavenward to indicate the aspiration of the soul, or the fist struck upon the pulpit to indicate the stern imperative nature of a present obligation, or the swift down- ward stroke to show the plainness of the truth, or the finger pointed straight at a hearer to arouse his conscience. He frequently held his Bible in his hand through much of the sermon, often adjusting his glasses to read in a manner that made every hearer feel " these are the oracles of the living God ! " ' His first oratorical aim was to secure the sympathy and attention of his audience. One of the prerequisites was pure air. If the ventilation was poor, he would order the windows open during the singing of the hymn that preceded the sermon. If, in spite of this, the people became drowsy, he would pound his Bible, raise his voice, or tell a funny story ! It was impos- sible for him to speak unless everybody was aroused and eager. His intuitive discovery of any prejudice in the minds of his hearers was only equaled by his ability to disarm it. He never began his sermon until he seemed satisfied that he had put everyone into a mental attitude favorable to the reception of his message, but when this was accomplished he settled down to business! From the first moment to the last the fact that he meant business and not fireworks, oratory, or theatricals was apparent. He was there to convince and persuade men, and for nothing else whatever. Nothing could be more impressive than his determination to secure the results he aimed at. The evidences of a supreme and terrible resolution were manifest in every move. Most of us know what it is " to stiffen the sinews and sum- mon up the blood "' in some great emergency ; to go down into the arena of the soul and beat the reveille ; to call out all the reserves ; to conscript every energy and fling all against some obstacle. Mr. Moody always did this when he preached ! Of course he believed that he wrought his results by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and he did. But he wrought them by obeying the laws of the Spiritual world. It is through human nature thus exalted, thus in a state of highest activity, that this divine influence flows. Had he called upon the Holy Ghost without thus summoning up the energies of his own nature, he would lOO LIFE OF DWIGHT L. IMOODV. have been powerless. Had he thus summoned these energies without calHng upon the Holy (jhost he could have produced great effect upon men ; but not Spiritual effect ! He could have aroused, excited, moved to tears, but not to Heaven. He sometimes became terrilile when the current was run- ning against him and he could awaken no response. The ef- forts, physical, mental, spiritual, which he put forth were as intense and terrible as those which men like Richard Coeur de Lion have made when set upon by multitudes of foes ! I have seen him when the expenditure of power scared me. I have felt the platform shake under the movements of his body — seen the sweat start from his forehead, his eyes blaze, his muscles grow tense and rigid, and have felt as one does when a great engine puffs and pants upon a slippery track, the steam escaping and the wheels revolving without gripping the track. But he always got the track at last ! He always pulled his load ! These mighty struggles always carried his audience. He was, of course, like most remarkable men, dependent upon certain conditions for the highest exhibitions of his power. Those conditions were immense audiences — im- mense choirs — immense excitement — everything on a colos- sal scale. When he looked out upon a sea of faces in every direction he absolutely caught fire ! In order to secure such a crowd he packed the people in like sardines. His eagle eye could detect a single vacant seat in the most distant part of the room. When at last there was a solid mass of human life in front of him so that not only elbows touched, but shoulders, when there was an unl)roken circuit for his electricity to pass through, he was ready to begin to create the emotional condi- tions. His unfailing instrument was sacred song. He would have nothing whatever to do with a piece of music which only appealed to the sense of beauty. He could form no judgment of its value by hearing it played or sung in private. He must see it tried in a crowd, and could discover in an instant its adaption to awaken the feelings which he needed to have in action. If it had the right ring he used it for all it was worth. " Let the people sing," he would shout — " let all the people sing. Sing that verse again. There's an old man over there who is not singing at all, let ///;// sing." No matter how long it took, he would keep the people at work until they were fused and melted. If choruses would not do it, solos would, LIFK OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. iqi and he always had singers who possessed the requisite reper- toire. Having at last secured the true emotional condition, he rose to his work. The joy of conflict, of leadership, of victory, was in his eye, but merged in the sublime feeling that now he was to put forth that mighty energy to make men better ; to lead them to the renunciation of sin ; to point them to Christ. The joy of warriors in battle, of old sea captains on the bridge, of the trainers of wild horses, of artists painting pictures, of sculp- tors carving statues, of statesmen swaying assemblies, were flaming in his soul. There was also something higher — it was almost the exultation of Creation. Was he not about to see avaricous men abandon their love of gold, defaulters re- store their ill-gotten gains, adulterers abandon their lust, drunkards dash dow^n their cups, the captives loosed, the bowed down lifted up? Yes, he could see it. feel it all ! As the words poured in torrents from his lips he knew that those eternal deeds were being done. He pierced the mask of those faces and saw the operations of the souls. He beheld Christ moving among them. He forgot himself utterly. And now the audience begins to feel the strange spell of his rugged eloquence and marvelous simplicity. They draw into their hearts the great compassion. They burst into a ripple of laughter at a droll story ; they break down in sobs at a tale of love ; they stiffen with nameless awe at those terrible de- nunciations of sin. There were certain passages in some of his sermons where, judged by the effect they produced, it must be said he rose to a sublime eloquence. I heard him preach his sermon on " Elijah," in the city of Detroit, wdien it appeared to me that supernatural things were actually occurring in the room. The line of demarcation between the real and the imaginary seemed broken down. That solemn hush had fallen upon the audience which rests upon the world before a thunder storm. You would have thought that every listener had been nailed to his seat. In the final outburst we actually beheld the chariot swoop down from heaven, the old man ascend, the blazing car borne through the still air ; and wdien the impassioned orator uttered that piercing cry 'Wy father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof ! " the excitement was almost un- endurable. I02 IJFK OF DWKWIT I.. MOODY. 1 also heard liiin i)i-cach his sermon on " Whatsoever a Man Soweth, that shall He also Reap," to 2,500 men one night in the Chicago Avenue Church, when I am sure that an actual vision of a man progressing through all the stages of vice, and at last borne away to his doom, could not have made all the dreadful phenomena of evil seem more real. That was the sublimest exhibiti(jn of the power of one life over man\- that has ever been granted to me. No one who has not heard him can ever imagine what this power was. No quotation can give any impression of the ef- fects produced ; but here is a random specimen : " I can imagine when Christ said to the little band around Him. ' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,' Peter said, ' Lord, do you really mean that we are to go back to Jeru- salem and preach the Gospel to those men that murdered you?' ' Yes,' said Christ, ' Go hunt up that man that spat in my face ; tell him he may have a seat in My kingdom yet. Yes, Peter, go find that man that made tliat cruel crown of thorns and placed it on ]\fy brow, and tell him I will have a crown ready for him when he comes into My kingdom, and there will be no thorns in it. Hunt up that man that took a reed and broup-ht it down over the cruel thorns, driving them into my brow, and tell him I will put a scepter in his hand, and he shall rule over the nations of the earth if he will accept salvation. Search for the man that drove the spear into my side, and tell him there is a nearer way to My heart than that. Tell him I forgive him freely, and that he can be saved if he will accept salvation as a gift. l\'ll him lliere is a nearer way to My heart than tliat.' " The most wonderful thing about this preaching was that the people never seemed to tire of it. Through all those wonder- ful years from 1871 to 1899 the crowds that thronged about him were as great as ever, surging around the doors and cramming the hall almost as soon as the doors were open, and all this time he was preaciiing the same old sermons! Some of them had been delivered seventy-five or one hundred times, and he finally ceased to care whether he had spoken them in the same place or not, for the people liked them the second time as well as the first, and the fifth as well as the second. If this is not a prodigy, what is? Let those who arc disposed to take this man lightly remember that they can move across the continent and no one observes their progress or cares a farthing what they have to say ; but whether it was in Chicago or London, LIFE OF DWIGHT L. MOODY. 103 San Francisco or Paris, Mexico or Alexandria, Cairo or Jeru- salem, thousands upon thousands pursued him, until a careful statistician has concluded that he addressed in all not less than 100,000,000 of human beings ! For myself I must regard it as I do any great natural phenomenon. He was an elemental force in human society. And he did not lose this power even to the last. The meetings which he held in Kansas City, where his public life closed, were in some respects the most enthusi- astic in his whole career, and his last sermon was delivered to fifteen thousand people ! And yet we must pause here to consider the impressive fact, while the crowds were as large and enthusiastic as ever, it will probably be discovered (or perhaps it is already acknowledged) that one element was lacking. The spell of the man's personal presence and influence was as great as formerly, but the re- sults in numbers actually brought to accept the ideas and the life he advocated, had diminished. The fact of the matter is that the last decade of Mr. Moody's life witnessed a great change in the entire situation of the religious world. New ideas and new conditions had arisen. \Yhh these Mr. ]Moody was not perfectly in touch. He did not fully understand them. This was not strange. In fact, it was inevitable. No man ever lived perhaps (unless it was Gladstone) who was able to keep pace with the rapid changes from one period to another during a long life. Men grow up into a certain set of condi- tions, adjust themselves to them, become hardened in them, and stay there, while a new generation arises with new needs and new notions, passes on, and leaves them behind. Mr. Moody helped to make an epoch. His influence upon the religious life of the generation playing its part in human afifairs between i860 and 1890, was that of a formulative force. He moulded thought, action, worship. It would be too much to expect that his mind thus hardened in its habits of thought and feeling should be able to adjust itself to the enormously altered conditions of the last decade. In order to have done this he would have had to alter himself, and this was impossible to a nature like his. I said to him once, in 1897, "' You are at odds with much of modern life. \\''hy do you not conform to the new epoch ? You were a leader of a great movement a generation ago, and you are still young enough to head the religious life of the new age if you will only comprehend it and accept it." 134 LIFE OF DWKiHT L. IMOOUY. He fixed those great deep eyes upon nic with one of those long stares which seemed to penetrate into my very soul, and shook his head ! What 1 said did not appeal to him. He knew no other methods. He could grasp no other ideas. He belonged to the last generation. Some other leader must arise for the new. Pray God he may come soon ! Pray God he may be as pure, as great, as competent as he who led the old. It is honor enough to have piloted one generation. It was all Moses and Joshua could do. This is certainly one of the most pathetic facts of human life. It is a limitation which every man who is growing old shudders to admit; but it is the most in- evitable limitation of all. CHAPTER VII. Mt. ^^oody's Loyalty to the Regular Institutions of the Christian Church — What Might Have Happened if he had Unfurled His Banner — The Countless Multitudes that Would Have Flocked to Him — His Ability to Organize and Bring Order out of Chaos — How he Supported the Regular Work of the Churches — One of Four Men " Sent Forth by God " — His Last Meetings in Kansas City — Great Preparations and Enormous Crow^ds — His Sudden Illness — " Oh, I am Much Better " — Forced to Remain Away From a Meeting for the First Time in Forty Years — Alarming Symptoms — He is Sent Home in a Private Car to Northfield — Watching at His Bedside — Helpless, but Cheerful and Hopeful — "What is Going on Here?" — Nearing the End — Close of an Illustrious Life — Mr. Moody's Last Words — His Funeral — His Grave on Round Top. IN summing up the results of a long- study of Mr. Moody's character, I must say that it always seemed to me to be one of the most remarkable things about him that he could never be induced to turn aside from the regular in- stitutions of the Christian church, into any side issue or narrow sect. Two influences would naturally impel him to do so. In the first place, his clear conceptions of the lack of fervor and consecration to be found in the ordinary denominations ; and, in the second place, a natural capacity for organization and opportunity to identify his name with a great and new move- ment. At almost any time during his whole career, if he had sounded the war cry, Mr. Moody could have rallied around his standard countless" multitudes not only of disgruntled people, but of earnest and consecrated souls who saw in him the prophet and exponent of a higher Christian life. He always knew that if he should but once unfurl his banner and summon these people to his side he had the capacity to organize them into a compact and mighty association. For this power of organi- zation was certainly akin to genius. The instant he appeared amidst chaos, it became order. With a swift insight he dis- covered exactly what had to be done, and who were the best (105) I06 I-'^'K <^>''' 1>\VI(".HT L. MOODY. people to do it. W'itli a knack and cunning- that were simply marvelous he swept all unpromising agents into the back- ground, and almost before any one knew what had happened a living organism had sprung into being. If this man had gone into the ranks as a private soldier, this capacity would have made him a general, and if he had once come into command of a great military organization, it would have become a fighting machine of irresistible power. It was impossible to see him manipulating the forces which he had at command, without thinking of Grant or Napoleon. The indul)itable proof of this power is, of course, to be seen in the vitality of every in- stitution which he established. There they stand, and in spite of the prognostications of critics, those who have studied them most intimately are persuaded that they are there to stay. Some one will pick them up and carry them forward. They have been cnd(jwed with an indestructible vitality. The church he founded in Chicago bears as fresh an imprint of his hand to-day, as when he was its pastor a generation ago. With such self-knowledge as he possessed he must have clearly seen that if he had struck out. like Wesley or liooth, to form a new society he could have given it colossal ]M-oi)ortions and have secured for himself an undying fame through the society which should subsist to perpetuate his memory and his ideals. But he deliberately turned away from this great temptation. lie scorned to further divide the already sundered body of the Christian church. He decided that instead of communicating the niightv iiiipulses of his life to a scj-jarate organization he would instill them as best he could into the church universal and be forgotten if need be. I'his we regard as the very noblest decision of his mind and the noblest impulse of his heart. His desire to support the regular work of the churches was evidenced two or three years ago, when he literally crushed the proposed Northfield Emergency Fund, designed to send out student volunteers as foreign missionaries, when the regular denominational boards could not send them for lack of funds. People who have known him for many years and lurnd him speak frequently said that they had never heard liini throw more earnestness into an address than when he said: " Some of the people have been scnrling me checks for this fund. I want you to call them back, or 1 shall send them on to the missionary Boards. I am in sympathy with the lloards LIKE OF DWICHT L. MOODY. 107 and have no synijiatliy with the croakers. You cannot find a better set of men on this continent than those in the American Board. You cannot find a better set of men than those in the Presbyterian Board. Where can }ou find a l^etter man than Robert Speer? Where will you find a man that is doini^ better work than Bishop Thoburn in India? Any man that is work- ing as he is in India we will help. Dr. Clough is also doing a magnificent work there. We are in hearty sympathy with these regular Boards. I think it is a great mistake to send any money outside of the regular channels." It is clear that Mr. Moody affords the deepest problems for the psychologist and the philosopher. He is no longer the " Evangelist Moody " alone : but also the founder of institu- tions and movements which have shaped the habits of a gen- eration, and bid fair to continue their influences indefinitely into the future. This fact is not known to the masses, and one of the difficulties to be encountered by his biographers will be that of persuading men to believe that he was ever anything more than a strolling preacher ! Sooner or later, however, it will be conceded by all impartial judges that he nmst be a great man who could spring from the humblest surroundings and yet by his own genius attain a world-wide reputation ; who had only a district school education and yet saw the most polished scholars of the age sitting humbly at his feet ; who never de- spised the material element of existence and was, notwithstand- ing, one of the most spiritual men who ever lived ; who walked through a long life on the sharp edges of great dangers and yet never fell ; who was endowed with powers of the highest order but never used them for his personal aggrandizement ; who was the object of most extravagant adulation and yet retained the modesty of a child ; who passed the whole of his later life among the rich and learned and yet never lost his sympathy with the poor, the ignorant, and the suffering. No wonder that in speaking of Dwight L. Moody, Dr. N. D. Hillis said in part: " When long time hath passed, some historian, recalling the great epochs and religious teachers of our century, will say: ' There were four men sent forth by God — their names, Charles Spurgeon, Phillips Brooks, Henry Ward Beecher. and Dwight L. Moody.' Each was a herald of good tidings; each was a prophet of a new social and religious order, and each made a permanent contribution to the Christian church; while I08 LIFK OK DWIC.IIT I.. MoonV. of all it may be said tiicir scnnons were translated into many tongues and their names known in every town and city where the English language is spoken. For our instruction, rebuke, and inspiration (lod hath raised up other preachers, represent- ing a high order of intellect, marked elocjuence, and perma- nent influence; but as to the iirst order of greatness there have been perhaps these four — no more. God girded each of these projihets for his task and taught him how to " di]~» his sword in Heaven." " In characterizing the message of these men we say that Spurgeon was expositional, l'hilli])s IJrooks devotional. Henry Ward Beecher prophetic and j^hilosophical, while Dwight L. Moody was a herald rather than teacher, addressing himself to the common people — the unchurched multitudes. The sym- bol of the great English preacher is a lighted lamp, the symbol of IJrooks a flaming heart, the synfljol of Beecher an orchestra of many instruments, while Mr. Moody was a trumpet of nar- row range ]:)erhaps, but sounding the advance sometimes through inspiration and sometimes through alarm. " And our sorrow to-day is the more in that the last of these giants has gone down to the valley and disappeared behind the thick shadows. Oft in hours of gloom and doubt, full oft in days when wickedness seemed enthroned in high places, when the rich seemed to be selfish in their strength, and the poor without an advocate in high places, when good men seemed weakness and leaders seemed a lie, in our depression we have turned our thoughts toward the three prophets in the English Tabernacle, in Trinity, and in ri}mouth, or toward the evange- list and friend of the connnon people, and have been com- forted by the mere thought that things were a little safer be- cause these four men were in their appointed places. The first three were conmianders. each over his regiment, and worked from a fixed center; but the evangelist was the leader of a flying band, who went every whither into the enemy' ^ country, seeking conquests of peace and righteousness. Be the reasons what they may. the common people gladly heard the great evangelist. In his death the unchurched classes have lost their best fritnd. For nearly forty years the mul- titudes have pressed and tln-onged into tlie great halls and churches to hear this herald speak of duty, sin, salvation, and God's love in Mis great Christ. I5ut, disappearing from our sight, he is not dead. While life continues for nniltitudes he LIFE OF DWKJHT L. MOODY IO9 will remain a cool sprini;- Howini^- in a desert, the covert of a rock in time of sorrow." It is now time for us to brinj;- this story of an illustrious life to its close. On the 16th of November, 1899, Mr. Moody opened a series of meetings in Kansas City. Great prepara- tions had been made. He was at his best. The crowds were enormous. There was not a premonition of what was to occur. But one night at the close of a meeting he experienced an unusual fatigue. A doctor was summoned and decided that the great heart which had performed such prodigies through all these years was working very badly and demanded immediate rest. This declaration he heard with his usual incredulity, say- ing to those who inquired about it — " Oh. I am much better. Don't know just what is the matter. A little touch of malaria or grip, perhaps. But the doctors are bringing me around all right." But on the i8th he was forced to re-main away from the noon meeting. " I regret it very much," he said, " for it is the first time in my life I was ever compelled to do such a thing." The symptoms became rapidly more alarming, and almost immediately arrangements were made to send him in a private car to his home in Northfield. There he lay for several weeks almost helpless, but cheerful and hopeful — ministered to by as loyal and as loving a circle of friends as ever surrounded the couch of an invalid. In fact, it may be said, that the civilized world watched at that bedside, for the bulletins of his condition were telegraphed wherever men knew of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For a long time the hope of recovery was cherished ; but early in the morning of .December 22d it became clear that he could not survive the strain. He soon made the discovery for himself. " What is the matter? What is going on here? " he exclaimed as he awakened out of a slumber and saw^ evidence of unusual feel- ing. One of the children replied, " Father, you have not been quite so well, and we came in to see you." He well knew what these kind words really meant and began to make his preparations for the last great change by summoning his family and addressing to them his parting words. During a portion of the time he could talk freely, and said to his sons : " I have always been an ambitious man, not ambitious to lay up wealth, but to leave you work to do, and you are going to continue the work in the schools at East Northfield and Mount no LIKE OK DWIGHT L MOODY. Hermon and Chicago." Still later on, the stillness of the room was broken b}- the sobs of his daughter, who exclaimed. " Father, we cannot spare you! " " I am not going to throw my life away. If Clod has more work for me to do, I'll not die," he said bravely. Just as the shadows were closing in upon him December 23d, he opened his eyes and exclaimed, " Earth recedes and Ileaven opens before me. If this is death, there is nothing awful here. It is sweet. This is bliss. Do not call me back. God is calling me. I must go. There is no valley here. It is all beautiful." A few moments later, the great soul passed to its reward. It was only a few weeks before that that he had closed a sermon to the students with these impressive and proi)hetic words: " I'y and by }OU will hear pec)i)le saw ' Mr. Moody is dead.' Don't you believe a word of it. At that very moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall then truly begin to live. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was Ixjrn of the s])irit in 1856. That which is Ix^rn of the flesh ma\- die. That which is born of the s])irit will live forever." The world will not soon forget that scene, those words, that triumph ! The funeral occurred on the 26lh of December, 1899. The sun rose clear over the mountain, at whose feet North- field nestles. In the distance, on the foothills of the Green Mountains, patches of snow appeared. The morning was frosty, but in the afternoon, as the friends gathered for the service, the temperature had risen several degrees. Early in the forenoon special trains arrived, and large parties on regular trains came later. Several of the older friends came the day before, and were entertained at The Northfield, which was opened for the occasion. At 10 o'clock there was a brief service at the house, con- ducted by Dr. C. I. Scofield, the pastor of the Congregational Church, who was present during those " four glorious hours " as the Friday morning has ])ccn called by one who saw the great evangelist fall asleep, and Dr. U. A. Torrcy, the pastor of the Chicago Avenue Church, and the superintendent of the Moody Bibic Institute in Chicago. Dr. Scofield read the ninetieth Psalm and the fourth chapter of 1st Thessalonians, and Dr. Torrey offered jirayer. No signs of mourning ap- LIFK OF DWKrHT L. MOODY. HI pcarcd about the house; no crape was seen on the door. The window blinds were all open. I'eople entered the house as if going to a reception. Inside, after the service, they sat in the library and parlor chatting pleasantly. Their conversation was mainly about Mr. Moody, recalling incidents in his event- ful career, helpful words which he had spoken and deeds of kindness which he had done. Shortly before ii o'clock the body upon which others had leaned for a generation was taken from the room upstairs in which it had rested after being embalmed, and placed in the cloth-covered coffin with (juiet trimmings and a plate bearing simply the name and dates of his birth and death: 2DUjigl)t %, a^ootip 183 7- 1899. The cofifin was placed upon a cloth-covered frame and car- ried to the church, a half-mile distant, by thirty-two students of the Mount Hermon School, headed by the ofHciating clergy- men and followed by Ira D. Sankey, Mr. Moody's associate for nearly thirty years, trustees of the Northfield School, and other intimate friends. Christmas greens festooned the gal- leries of the church, while on the coffin and about it were ap- propriate floral tributes from the trustees, faculties, and students of the several institutions here and in Chicago. At the head was a pillow, in which a crown had been worked in white, with a purple ribbon, on which Mr. Moody's last words were seen. " God is calling me." An open Bible, with " Victory, I Corinthians xv. 55-57 "' on tlie left side, and " II Timothy iv. 7-8 " on the other, rested at the foot. Palms, ferns, laurel, violets, cut flowers, and callas were placed about the pulpit. Dr. Scofield had charge of the services, which began with the hymn, " A Little While." He then offered an invocation. Dr. Arthur T. I'ierson read the Scripture lesson, and Dr. George C. Necdham prayed. '" Tmmanuel's Land " was the second hymn. After the public services the cofifin was carried again by the Mount Hermon students to Round Top, the Olivet of Northfield, and placed in a vault just at the crown of the little hill, where man^■ of the best meetings are held everv vear. Mr. 112 I-IFK OF DWIC.IIT L. IMOODY. Moodv thouelit that the Lord niii'ht return while he was liviiiir, and he had been heard to say that there was no place on earth that he would prefer to be when that eventful hour dawned than on Round Top. His remark was recalled after he en- tered " within the .i^ates," and no other ])lacc of Inirial was even mentioned. From this restinf^-place one may see his birthplace, a little more than a stone's throw to the south; his own home for the last quarter of a century, about as far to the w-est ; the seminary buildings, some of them a minute's walk to the north; the last two buildings erected at Mount Hermon, the chapel and Over- ton Hall, four miles distant, appear across the beautiful Con- necticut River \'alley. A prayer, a hymn, and the benediction composed the simple service at the grave — a grave which we believe will ])e one of the great shrines of history, one that for centuries will be visited by pilgrims from all over the world; for he was one of the few men of modern times whose fame and influence was conterminous with civilization. There are many of us to whom it seems as if a big mountain had dropped out of sight or a great river ceased flowing. It will never be the same world to us any moft. We rememi)er the words of Reecher over the cofifin of Lincoln: " Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washing- ton dead? Is Hampden dead? Is David dead? Disin- thralled of flesh and risen to the unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His life now is grafted upon the infinite, and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on thou that hast overcome. Your sorrows, O people, are his peace. Your bells and bands and muffled drums sound triumph in his ear. \Vail and weep here ; God made it echo and triumph there. Pass on ! " CHAPTER I. SIMPLY BELIEVING, SIMPLY RECEIVING. An Incident in }ilanciicstcr, England. — " OIi, I Sec It Now" — " I Understand You Have Been Stealing " — Calling Things b}' Their Right Names — Two Men Who Saw What they were Looking For — Story of a Remarkable Conversion — Forging His Own Chains — On the Deck of a Sinking Ship — "Jump Into the Lifeboat!" — The Man with Handbills — The Story of Little Nellie — " Help ! Help ! " — A Wicked Yorkshire ]\Iiner — "Don't Cry, Lass; Don't Cry" — The Silver Key and Tress of Auburn Flair — A Bed of Straw — "No One Cares for Me ' — From a Dark Garret to the Kingdom of God. T one of our Sunday meet- ing's in Manchester, Eng- land, a good many years ago, a great many re- mained after the meeting, and we didn't have workers enough. So I went up into the gallery and talked with incjuirers. While I was talking a gentleman came and sat a little apart from the rest. I thought at first he was a skeptic, but when DWIGHT I,. MOODV, A 1 I saw went tears in his eyes I knew that he was interested, and I up to him and said : " ]My friend, are you a Christian? " 8 (113) 114 A HAl'PY ILI.rSTRATIOX. " No," ho answered, " but I should hke to l)e one/' '' Very well," I replied, " I will talk with you if you wish." I read a passage of Scripture to him and said : '* Does that make it plain? " " No, that doesn't heli) nic at all." Then I read another passage, and I felt sure T should see a new light in his eyes ; and I said : " Does that help you? " " No, that doesn't help my case at all. The fact is, I can't feel that I am saved." " Oh," I said, " I get at your difficulty now. 1 want to ask you a question: \\'as it Noah's feelings that saved him, or was it the ark? " " Oh," he answered, " i see it now ; good night, Mr. Moody." I heard him go down stairs, and I said to myself, " That is a little too quick for me." At the next meeting I looked for him, but didn't see him. I had been looking for him about a week, when one .Sunday someone touched me on the shoulder and said : " Do you remember me, Mr. Moody? Don't you remem- ber the man and the ark the other night? " " Yes, are you the ' ark man ' ? " " Yes." "Well, I have been looking for you ever since; how is it with you ? " " Oh," he said, " the ark settled it. ^^1ly, T had been try- ing to save myself by my feelings ; to make an ' ark ' of my feelings, and when you spoke of the ark saving Noah I saw it at once. Any one can see that; it settled all ni}- troubles, all my difficulties." When I left Manchester some time after he was almost the last man to shake my hand ; he gave me a good grip and said, " Everywhere you go tell people about the ark ; any stui)id man can see that." Some one has said that a fly was just as safe in the ark as an elephant ; it is the ark that makes the weak now HK Hh:CAME A SOLDIER. 115 ones safe. If you are in the ark that saves you; it isn't your feelings, it isn't your righteousness, it is the ark ; and, thank God, we haven't got to toil as Noah did to build the ark, it is alread}- built. I iMice heard of a minister who said I was preaching per- nicious doctrine when I preached sudden conversion. l>ut point out to me one single conversion in the Bible that was not sudden. Every conversion recorded there was instan- taneous. If preachers say conversion is a life work they are keeping men out of the kingdom of God. We can have in- stantaneous conversion. When I was in England they did not agree with me at all on this point. They said conversion was a life work from the cradle to the grave. I said all I could to convince them of the contrary. One day I was walking down the streets of York when I saw an English soldier coming towards me. When he came up I said : '* Would you allow a stranger to ask you a question? " " Certainly, sir." " How long did it take you to become a soldier? " " Well, in the first place I made up my mind to enlist." " Well," I said, " that's a pretty good point." " After I made up my mind to enlist I went to the recruit- ing ofificer and told him I wanted to enlist. He took out a shilling and put it in my hand, and the moment that it touched my hand I was a soldier." " Were you a soldier before you put on the uniform ? " " Yes, sir." " And before you knew anything about military disci- pline? " "Oh, yes, I was a soldier the moment that shilling touched my hand." Here was a man who was a civilian one moment and a soldier the next ; he could go where he pleased one moment, but the next moment he had to go where Queen A'ictoria sent him, or be arrested as a deserter. Ij5 REFORMlN(i HY DKGREES. A minister once preached a very powerful sermon against the doctrine that 1 was going to preach about, and he told his people they ought not to go and hear me. The pernicious doc- trines I taught were sudden conversion, and assurance. I once heard a lady say she didn't like our meetings because I taught that people could be converted all at once if they would look to God. I thought I would like to get hold of some of those modern philosophers, and so I told them of a man who came to me and said he was in trouble. For some time he would not tell me what his trouble was, but finally he said that he had overdrawn his accounts, — the polite way of saying that he had been stealing. I said : " Oh, I understand, you have been stealing? " " Well, I suppose you might call it that." " Let us call it by the right name. How much have you taken? " " I don't know ; I haven't kept account." " Have you stolen a thousand dollars ? " " I think it would be more than that." " Fifteen hundred? " " Yes, I suppose it would amount to that." " T will tell you the only way that thing can be settled ; go and make restitution at once, that is all you have to do.'' Now I suppose if T am to believe one of these modern philosophers who don't believe in sudden conversions I ought to have said to that man, " You stole fifteen hundred dollars this year, but don't steal more than a thousand next year, and then don't steal more than five hundred the next. If your em- ployer catches you at it tell him that you have been converted, that it is a gradual thing, and that you expect in the course of a few years you won't steal any." See how it works? Take a n,an who is in the habit of getting drunk, and every time he gets drunk it wakes up the devil in liini, and he knocks liis wife down. After he gets over his drunk he comes back- to the meeting and wants to become a Christian. Now send one of these mcjdern philosophers to him, and he says: SOMK (iREAT REVIVALS. 117 " What is the trouble? Are you a hard drinker? " " Yes, sir." " Get drunk every week? '' " Yes, I am ashamed to say I do." " And when you are drunk you go home and knock your wife down? " " Yes, generally." " Well, I don't believe in sudden conversions ; I believe in being converted gradually. Now, don't you get drunk more than once a month next year. Wouldn't it be encouraging if your wife didn't get knocked down more than once a month next year? Then perhaps the year after that you won't get drunk more than once in three months, and the year after that not more than once a year. In a few years you won't get drunk at all, and then you will be converted, and yours will be a happy family." Don't you think that is absurd? Conversion is right- about face. A man can't repent quick enough. How long did it take a man to be converted when Jesus Christ was on earth ? \\dien He said to the man who was sick with the palsy, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," were they forgiven ? They must have been forgiven in one minute when Christ was on earth ; and after He was glorified they were converted a little faster — three thousand in one day, and Jews at that ! And not only converted and baptized, but brought into the church of God in one day ! Three thousand one day, and five thousand another day ; that is what the Bible tells us. Another favorite saying of these modern philosophers is : " I don't believe in revivals. I know men who were converted in a revival a few years ago who didn't hold out." It is a good thing to study the Bible and see what it says about revivals. A good many who were converted in Christ's day went back and walked no more with Him. Do all the blossoms on your trees bring forth fruit? If they did the fruit would break down the trees. Do you say that a mother ought not to rejoice when a babe is born because she isn't sure it is eoine to live? And Ijg FINDING WHAT WK LOOK FOR. do you say that we ought not to rejoice when anybody is converted because we don't know they are going to liold out? There is not a denomination in Christendom to-day that has not sprung out of a revival. The Roman Cathohc Church claims to be apostolic ; was it not born of the fires of Pentecost? Here are our Episcopal friends ; they say they are apostolic ; if that is so they came from Pentecost, too. Certainly, they ought not to be afraid of revivals. I have met Lutherans who were very much afraid of revivals ; where did they come from if not from the great revival under Luther? I would like to know where Wesleyan Methodists came from? Was it not from revivals under Wesley and Whitefield? I should like to know if there is a Young Men's Christian Association or any religious society worth having, that hasn't sprung out of re- vivals. If you ministers are afraid converts won't hold out, I will tell )ou how to make them a good deal stronger ; just let one hundred of these converts come into your church, then preach sermon after sermon to them and follow them uj) individually. I heard a story in London a few years ago that illustrates the thought that men generally look for what they want to see, and the}- usuall}' see what they are looking for. At a dinner in that city a merchant who had recently returned from India, and a missionary who had also returned from there, were seated near each other. Some one asked the merchant what he thought of the missionary work of Englishmen in India, and whether the native converts remained faithful to their new faith. " Native converts ! " exclaimed the merchant in surprise, " I have been in India twenty years and I never saw a native convert." Every one looked at the old missionary, expecting to hear a vigorous defense of missionary societies, but he made no com- ment. In a little while he said to the merchant : " I understand you were quite a hunter in India, and that you had wonderful success in hunting tigers." Immediately the merchant straightened up. THK CONVERTED THIEF. 119 " Yes," he said, " 1 have kiUed a great many tigers in India." And then he proceeded to relate tiger experiences. When there was a hill in the conversation the missionary said quietly : " Isn't it strange? I have been in India twenty years and I never saw a tiger there ! " The moral is simple : One man had been looking for con- verts, and he found them ; the other man was hunting for tigers and he saw them. We are told by both Matthew and ]\Iark that the two thieves who died on either side of Christ reviled Him and scofTed at Him, as did the crowd. They cast His title in His teeth. We are told there was no difference between those men. Both had been in rebellion against God all their lives. Both were led to execution as thieves and malefactors, on the same day ; but one of them was converted during the day, and the other was not. Over one of them came a wonderful change. W^hat was it? How was it? What brought him under conviction? I don't know ; but one thing I do know — he was convicted of sin and confessed, and Christ saved him and snatched him from the very borders of hell. How simple the conversions of the Bible are ! Simply believing, simply receiving. Years ago when I went to St. Louis to hold a series of meet- ings one :c(\ looked exactly like me. and so they arrested me instead of the guilty man. I shall get out when I have a chance to ex])lain." Another innocent man! So T went along to the next. " How is it that you are here?" " Oh, T am all right: talk to that other man; T am all right." So T went along to the next. " How is it that you are here? " Well, vou see. they got a false witness to go into court oxi-: Ki;i'i:xTANT sinner. 1/9 and swear to a lie; tliat is what brought mc here; I am per- fectlv innocent, and I am going to prosecute him when I get out." Another innocent man! So I went along to the next. " How is it that you are here? " "I am unjustly accused; I am going to have a trial this week, when I will cstal)lish my innocence, then I shall be out of prison." And so I went around among the cells. There were be- tween three and four hundred prisoners, and I never found so many innocent men in my life in one day as I did there; I never saw so many men justifying themselves. I said, I will see if I can find a sinner in the v.hole crowd. Human nature doesn't change one bit by putting it under lock and key. I continued my rounds among the cells, and when I was almost through I found a poor fellow in one of them jvith his face resting on his arm, and the tears running down his cheeks. " How is it that you are here?" He looked up and said with a sob: " My sins are more than I can bear." " Well," I said. " thank God for that. You are the man I have been looking for." " Why have you been looking for me; do you know me? " " I never saw you before in my life; but you are the man I have been looking for." " Why," he said, " you must be the man who preached to us this morning! " " Yes. sir, I am." '* Do you say you are glad my sins arc more than I can bear? I thought you were a friend?" '■ Yes, sir, T am." " How do you make it out? " " If your sins are more than you can bear, you will be glad to cast them on One who can bear them for you." I replied. " I don't understand it," he said. 12 l8o A CONVICT'S PRAYER. " Well, I have been going all through this prison trying to find a man that was lost." I stood there for half an hour talking with him. It was like finding a cup of cold water in the desert to find in all that prison one man who knew he was loai and wanted to be saved. I told him how Christ came " to seek and to save that which was lost." After I had talked with him I said: " Let us pray." He got down on his knees on the inside of the cell, and I knelt down on the outside. I said: " You pray." "Oh. you don't know how wicked I am; it would be mockery for me to pray." " If you want mercy, ask for it," I said. He couldn't raise his head; but he managed to cry out: " God be merciful to me, a vile wretch! " When I rose from my knees I i)Ut m_\- hand through the little window, and as he took it a hot tear fell upon it. I said to him: " I will meet you at the mercy scat at nine o'clock to-night." That night I had so much liberty in prayer I felt as if I could not go away without seeing him again. The next morn- ing I went to the Tombs and persuaded the officers to let me visit him in his cell. The moment he saw me he grasped my hand and said: " Mr. Moody, I want to thank you; but I never can thank you enough in time or eternity." Then he went on to tell me what peace and joy had come into his soul. He said: " When I was put into this prison I thought I never could face my friends again; now I thank God I was brought into this cell; if I hadn't been brought here I should not have been saved." " Tell me about it," I said. "Well," he replied, "I don't know just what time it was when the Lord came in here, and I can't tell just how He came; but I was on my face crying to God for mercy, and it THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. l8l seemed as if Jesus Christ came riglit into this cell and said to me. ' Your sins, which are many, are forgiven.' I think I am the happiest man in the whole State of New York." Can you tell nic why the Son of man passed by one cell after another until He found that one cell and went in there? It was because He found there one who was lost, and the Son of man came " to seek and to save that which was lost." I once heard of a lady who was exercised about her soul. She dreamed she was in a dark, deep pit from which she was trying to escape. She would climb up and slip back, and at last she said, " I am lost! " She lay down in the pit to die, and that moment she looked up at the mouth of the pit and saw^ a star shining in all its beauty and glory, and it seemed to lift her up out of herself, and out of the pit. She was rejoicing that she was to be lifted out of the pit, but she looked at her- self and said, " I am just the same," and dropped back. Then she fixed her eyes on the star again and she rose higher and higher and higher, until she got clear out of the pit; and when her feet rested on the rocks above she shouted with joy and awoke to find it was only a dream. " But," she said, " I learned a lesson." She found that if she was ever to get out of the pit of sin she must keep her eyes fixed on the star of Bethlehem. When I see a poor drunkard, when I see a thief, when I see a prisoner, it is a grand, a glorious thing to proclaim the Gospel to him, because I know he can be saved. A prison chaplain once told me of a scene that occurred in prison. The commissioners went to the Governor of the State and asked his consent to pardon live men for good behavior. The Gov- ernor consented, with the understanding that the record was to be kept secret, and at the end of six months the five men standing highest on the roll should be pardoned. At the end of six months the men were gathered in the chapel, the roll was called, and the president of the commission spoke to them. Then, putting his hand in his pocket, he drew out the papers, and said to those convicts: 1 82 A BEWILDERED MAN. " 1 hold in in\- hand pardons for five men." Every man liehi his breath, and the place was as silent as the fi^rave. Then the commissioner began to tell why the Governor had given these pardons; but the suspense was so great that the chaplain spoke to the commissioner and told him to read the names of those pardoned before he spoke further. The first name read was that of Reuben Johnson. " Reuben Johnson will come and get his pardon." He held out the paper, but no one came. He looked all around, expecting to see a man spring to his feet; still no one arose, and he turned to the officer of the prison and said: "Are all the convicts here?" " Yes," was th.e reply. Again he called : " Reuben Johnson will come and get his pardon." The real Reuben Johnson was all the time looking around to see where Reuben was; and the chaplain beckoned to him, and he again turned and looked around and behind him, think- ing some other man must ])e meant. .\ second time he beck- oned to Reuben, and called to him, and a tliird time the man looked around to see where Rcul)en was. /\t last tiie chap- lain said to him: " You are the man, Reul)en; " and tlic poor fellow got up out of his seat and sank back again, thinking it could not be true. lie had been in prison for nineteen years, and was under a life sentence. At last he came forward, trembling from head to foot, and looked at the pardon as if he could hardly believe his eyes; he went back to his seat, buried his face in his hands, and wept like a child. Reuben had l)een so long in the habit of falling int(j line and taking the lock-ste]i witli the rest that when the convicts were marched back to their cells he fell into his place, and the chaplain had to say: " Reuben, come out; you are a free man." That is the way men sometimes work out their ])ardon — by good behavior; but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offered to all that have sinned and are not worthv. PRKACIllXr. IN THE STREET. i«3 " But," some say, " 1 have tried to find Christ and failed." Of course you will fail as long as you try to save yourself. During- the Civil War I received an invitation to go into a country town and preach. I was very busy at the time and couldn't go for some weeks after ; but there came a day when I could go, and I went to the town and called on the minister who had invited me. He said : " That letter was written weeks ago, but you did not come when requested, and now it is too late, the hall is otherwise engaged." " Well," I said, " we can go into the street and preach the Gospel there." I tell you, my dear friends, nearly every sermon that Christ preached was out in the open air. He preached on the moun- tain side, and on the sea, and in the fields. I tried every way I could to get the church people to go into the street with me, but I couldn't; then I said I would try to get the sinners. When the hour came I stood upon a drygoods box and preach.ed the best I could. You never saw a colder crowd in your life ; there were a lot of young men sneaking around the outside, afraid some one would laugh at them ; they wanted people to understand that they were not interested. After I had been there a few nights a gentleman drove up one evening while I was preaching. He had a fine turnout, a magnificent horse, a silk hat on one side of his head, and a big cigar sticking out of his mouth; he sat there until the ser- mon was over, and pretended that he wasn't listening, and then went away. To my great amazement, he was back again the next night, and by and by he came quite regularly. One night I noticed that his forehead itched. Did you ever see a man in a religious meeting have an itching forehead? A good many men consider it a sign of weakness to shed a tear in a religious meeting. I noticed that this man took ofT his hat and rubbed his forehead, and sometimes he managed to pass his fingers across his eyes. When the meeting was over, I said to one of the citizens: i84 feETTER ANGRY THAN CARELESS. " Who is that man? He is interested." And the reply was: " You ought to have heard him make sport of you to-day; I never heard a man say such things in my hfe; if half the things he said about you are true you ought to be hanged. He will tell more vile stories than any one I know; he can't talk a minute without taking God's name in vain; and the habit is so strong that he swears when he doesn't know it." "Well," I said, "he is interested; I am sure of that; it is no sign that he is not interested because he abuses me; on the contrary, it is a pretty good sign that he is interested." I have known people to get so angry that they would talk as hard as they could against the j^reacher one night and be converted the next day. If you see a dozen dogs together and throw something at them, it is the dog that gets hit that goes off yelping. I said: " Where does he live? " He replied, " Don't go near him, he will only curse you." No man can curse you; you can bring curses down upon yourself, but you can't curse anyone else. I questioned a little further, and they told me a little more about him. They said he was the wealthiest man in that part of the country; he had a beautiful wife and seven children, but his influence was against everything that was good. I found out where he lived, and went to his house. He was just coming out of the front door. I said: " I believe this is Mr. ? " He turned around and said gruffly: " Yes; what do you want? " " I should Hke to ask you a question." "What is it?" " T am told that God has blessed you above all men in this part of the country; He has given you good health, great wealth, a good wife, and seven children; and yet it is said that all God has received from you is blasphemy and curses, and I would like to know why you treat Him in that way? " d _ w " SS. -1 (H Q. ft - K. p n - 2 O — rt — 6 £-« 5 C " O R ^ -"^ =• ^ u. m !/i t^ n p " i^ Pi c O C ^ ft >< S 5 ?3 rt-Cl- O -1 •-• rt « O c S. PI '^ c" n v: - O TO c ^ POWER OF A BAD HABIT. 187 " Come in," he said. He led the way to the drawing-room, and we sat down. Then he began : " What you said is true, every word of it. Do you know, I had company last week, and my wife said she wanted the floor to open and let her out of sight because I kept on swear- ing, and I didn't know it. I have tried a hundred times to stop swearing, but the more I try the worse I swear, and I can't be saved." " I think you can." " You preachers don't know how we business men are tempted." " I am a business man myself," I said. This was just be- fore I went out of business. " Aren't you a minister? " " No." " Well, you don't know how men who are in the habit of swearing are tempted. I have sworn since I was a little boy, and the habit is so strong that I swear when I don't know it; you don't know anything about it." " I am ashamed to tell you I know a good deal more about it than I wish I did. Of course you meet a good many men who know nothing about it by experience, but I am sorry to say I do." "Did you ever swear?" " Yes, I am ashamed to say I did." " How did you stop? " " I never stopped." " What, you don't swear now, do you? " " No, sir." "Well," said he, " how did it come about?" " It stopped itself." " Well, how did you make it stop itself? " " I will tell you how to have it stop itself; if you will take Jesus Christ right into your heart you will never swear again as long as you live. One night I took Jesus Christ into my heart, and when T got up the next morning there was love in 1 88 TRYING TO PRAY. my heart; I didn't feel like cursing; and as I walked through Boston Common it seemed as if the birds were singing for my benefit, and the sun shone brighter than it ever did before; from that day to this I never liave liad a desire to swear." " I don't understand it," he said. " I know you don't understand it." I replied. " and that is why I came to see you; if God comes into your heart you will begin to praise Him and pray." " How can I get God to come into my heart? " " Ask Him; get down here and pray." He said he had never been on his knees in his life. He didn't know how to get down; his knees seemed to crack; it was the stiffest kneeling I ever saw. I prayed, and then I said: " Now you pray." " I have been trying all day; what shall I say? " " Ask God to have mercy upon you; ask God to save you." He stammered out a prayer, and after we arose he asked: " What is the next thing to do? " " Go down to the church and tell God's people you want to be among them, and that you want them to pray for you." " I never go to church; I haven't been to church for twenty years, unless it was to the funeral of some prominent citizen." " It is time you did," I said. At the next meeting he was there before the minister was, and he came up and sat behind me. When he arose he took hold of the back of my seat, and I could feel it tremble, and he said: " My friends, you know all about me. If God can save a wretch like me I want you to pray that He will save me." There were not nian\' dry eves there. I returned that day to Chicago and I haven't been in that town since. Some years after. I was out on the Pacific coast. I preached at Pasadena, and after the service a gentleman stepped up and said: " Mr. Moody, will you go over to the hotel and take dinner with me?" I hesitated a little, and he said: A SOUL SAVED. i3q " Do you know me? " " I know your face," I said. ' Don't you remember Mr. ? " " Yes, I do; is it possible this is you? I want you to tell me one thing: have you ever sworn since that day when you kneeled in your drawing-room and asked God to have mercy on you? " " No, I never had a desire to swear after that," he answered. Within three months after his conversion he was elected an elder of the church, and he had been an elder ever since. I believe that every soul can be .saved. I believe that if you make an honest cry for mercy you will get it. If you want salvation it is within your reach. The vilest can pray, the blackest can pray, the greatest sinner can pray; if there is an honest appeal sent up from your heart God will hear and answer it. CHAPTER V. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. What Is the Holy Spirit? — " What Made You Tell Mr. Moody All About Me?" — An Old Negro Preacher's Observation — The Clock Without Hands — "Everything Going to Pieces" — A " Long-headed " Man — One " Long " Eye, and One " Short " Eye — The Hon. Mr. Lot, of Sodom — Grumblers and Fault- finders — Coming " To See How Moody Does It " — People Who Write Letters to Mr. Moody — " The Terrible Sin of Robbing Hen-Roosts" — A Caution to the Old Grave-digger — "To Rent, With or Without Power" — Two Ways of Digging a Well — A Well that " Froze up in Winter and Dried Up in Summer " — • Forty Years of Work — The " Boy Preacher " — The Old Wooden Pump on the Farm — Lots of Noise but Little Water — Holding Meetings in a Tent — Running Against a Man's Theology. I REMEMBER, after I had been a Christian about ten years, hearing an old Presbyterian minister say, in an evening prayer-meeting' in Chicago, tliat we do not honor the Holy Ghost as we ought to when we speak of Ilim as an influence, not as a person. Up to that time I had always looked upon the Holy Ghost as one of the attributes of God, like Mercy, Love, and Justice, and I thought the old man was a little out of his head. After reaching home I took my Bible and read all there was in the Gospels about the Holy Spirit, and I found that Christ always spoke of Him as a per- son, never as a mere influence. The Bible ought to settle, it seems to me, all doubt in our minds that the Holy Ghost is a person, and not merely an in- fluence; and if we want to honor Him, let us treat Him as one of the Trinity, a personality of the Godhead. Now if I should ask what Jesus Christ came into the world to do, you would say that He came to seek and to save that (190) tHE WORK OF THK SPIRIT. 191 which was lost; that He came to reveal the Father; but if 1 should ask what the Holy Ghost came to do, I believe a good manv would have a little difficulty in answering the question. I was in the church a long time before I took pains to look into the subject to know what is His work in this world. In the first place, His work is to convict of sin. I believe I had rather go out in the street to-day and break stone or shovel snow than attempt to do the work of convicting an audience of sin. Thank God, that is not my work! There is no power that can convince a man or woman of the exceeding sinfulness of unbelief except that of the Holy Ghost. I be- lieve Elijah might come back here and preach as he did on Mt. Carmel, and if the Holy Ghost did not convict of sin, not one soul would be convinced. I believe that Gabriel might come and preach as only an angel could, and if the Holy Ghost didn't work in the hearts and consciences of men, not a soul would be convinced. People do not want to be troubled; they don't like to be told their faults. If a minister only flatters us and tells us that we are such very good people, and so angelic, that is just what we like. I heard of a man who said he liked to go to a certain church because the minister never touched on religion or poHtics. A friend and I once found a man asleep on the side- walk. It was one of the coldest days of winter, and we knew he would freeze if we didn't wake him. We awoke him, and he got mad and wanted to fight. That was just what we wanted — to get his blood stirred and then he would be all right. Sometimes the Holy Ghost wakes up men and they wake up angry. There are a good many people who don't want their consciences disturbed; but when the Holy Ghost works upon everybody, there will be some troubled ones. I have known people to go out of our meetings and slam the door behind them as hard as they could. That is not a bad sign; I would rather have them go out mad than go to sleep. I remember when I was preaching in Philadelphia a lady and her husband were present at one of the meetings. As she IQ2 A MAX SELF-CONDEMNED. took liis arm to go home, she made some remark about the meeting, and he was as cross as could he; she couldn't get a word out of him. He had never before, since they were married, let a night pass without kissing her. and she fell that she had made a great mistake in trying to get him out to those meetings. The next morning when she spoke to him he wouldn't answer, and it was the same way at noon and at night. He kept that up for a whole week. Finally, when he couldn't hold in any longer, he said: "Wife, what made you tell Mr. Moody all about me?" " Why," said she, " I never spoke to Mr. Aloody in my life." " Then you have written to him about me." " No, I have never written to him, and he didn't know you were there." "Well," he said, " I never saw him before in my life; but the wretch held me up before that audience for a whole hour, and told them all about me." I wisli 1 had the power to make every one think I was preaching right at him individually. The greatest trouble is, as the old negro preacher told his congregation, people are very liberal with sermons and give them all away. I was once preaching in a church that had been l)uilt by a rich whiskey dealer, and when I found that out 1 bore down on him pretty hard; but after the service he came to me and earnestly told me what a fine sermon it was. He had applied it to somebody else. When the Spirit of God works, He applies the truth, and just carries the truth home to the heart and conscience, and conviction follows. That is what we want, and we are going to get that by honoring the Holy Ghost. We are not going to get it from the minister; he hasn't got that power. After a man has been convicted and is willing to give up sin. the next thing the .Sjiirit does is to shed abroad the love of God in the heart. People try to make themselves love, but they can't do that. Love nuist be spontaneous. You may try to love an unlovely person, but you can't do it by trying. Love is shed abroad by the Spirit. LOVE MUST HAVE AN OUTLET. 193 I thought w hen I was converted that every Christian ought to wear a badge, — an outside badge, — but I have changed ni\' mind, because if that was done every hypocrite would get a badge and put it on. When Christ was on earth He said, " A new connnandnient I give unto you, That ye love one another." If we are filled with love, even infidels and skeptics will say: " Those people are Christians." I have seen it over and over again. A man may be a miser with his money, and with his com- forts, but he cannot be a miser with his love. Love must have an outlet. You cannot keep it. It must have an object out- side of itself. When a man is filled with the love of God, he cannot help but work for Him. A man may be a successful merchant, but have no love for his customers; he may be a successful lawyer, and have no love for his clients; he may be a successful doctor, and have no love for his patients; but a man cannot work for God without love. He can't do it. A man's religion that has no love in it is like a clock without hands. It may have beautiful machinery, and you may put it in a fine case and stud it with diamonds, but it will not be worth anything as a timekeeper. A person has got to love, to win other people to Christ. If I am cross and peevish and disa- greeable, I may be ever so sound in doctrine, but I shall not win any one to accept it. They will hate me, and hate it, and despise it. I once went into a restaurant with a couple of professing Christians, and we sat there five minutes; and one of them — he was a prominent man — called up the head waiter, and said in a loud voice, " What does this mean, sir? We have been here half an hour waiting for some one to come," and he gave the head waiter a good blowing up. That man knew there was not a word of truth in it. We hadn't been there over five minutes. T was ashamed of the company I was in, and have been careful not to be caught again. Yet that man boasted of his sound theology. He lives on that. What do I care for his theology? You have got to be lovely yourself if you 194 THE WAY TO LIBERTY. are going to win other love. Love begets love; a smile begets a smile. You have got to win souls, not drive them away. It takes true wisdom to do that. The next thing the Spirit of God does, is to impart hope. I never have seen a man or woman filled with the Spirit of God who did not hope. They look on the bright side all the time; they look into the future, and find there is nothing but victory ahead. Where the Spirit of God is there is liberty. In some churches if a man gets up to speak he is hampered. You have seen men in the pulpit who were floundering around and couldn't get on. Ministers know what I am talking about. I have been there myself lots of times. Sometimes the fault was with D. L. Moody, and sometimes it was in the congregation. The Holy Ghost has got to have an atmos- phere to work in. A friend of mine was teaching in Natchez before the Civil War, and he and a friend went out riding one Saturday and drove into the country. Seeing an old slave coming up, they thought they would have a little fun. They had just come to a place where there was a fork in the roads, and there was a sign- post which read, " Forty miles to Liberty." One of the young men said to the old darkey: " Sambo, how old are you? " " I don't know, massa. I reckon I'se 'bout eighty." " Can you read? " " No, sah; we don't read in dis yer country. It's agin de law." " Can you tell what is on that signpost?" " Yes, sah; it says ' Forty miles to Liberty.' " " Well, now," said my friend, " why don't you follow that road and get your liberty? " The old man's countenance changed, and he said: " Oh, massa, dat is all a sham. If dat post p'inted out de road to de liberty dat God gives, we might try it. Dar wouldn't be no sham 'bout dat." My friend said he had never heard anything more eloquent THE HABIT OP' SILENCE. 195 from the lips of any preacher. God wants ah his sons to have Hberty. A friend of mine once asked a judge in his church to ac- company him to a schoolhouse in the country, where he was going to preach. He told the judge he would like to have him speak to the people. The judge said, " Oh, I can't do that." " Why can't you? You can speak in court well enough, and without any trouble. Why can't you speak here? Suppose you just try it." When they arrived the judge de- clined to speak, but the minister said, " I want to put the judge into the witness-box and question him." And the judge got his lips open at last and told how he was converted, and how the spirit of God came down upon him. There was mighty power in what he said, and the result was that many were con- verted, and the judge became an earnest working Christian. I think there are hundreds bound, as he was, by station. I met at a meeting a man whom I had known to be a professing Christian for three years, and I supposed of course he had prayed in public. I noticed that he hesitated when I asked him, but he rose, and as soon as he had opened his lips the words came easil}-. I heard him tell a friend afterward that that night he felt as if he had been converted a second time. How many there are in the church that are bound to silence by long habit! I believe that the weakness of many Christians is that they are trying to do their work with money, or with influence, or with intellectual and social power. These are all right in their place, but they are not going to redeem the world. I suppose if you had gone to Sodom a week before its de- struction, they would have told you that Mr. Lot was one of the most influential men in that city, — perhaps had the finest " turn-out " and owned some of tlic best corner lots in the town. If you had talked with him aliout removing your busi- ness and your family down to Sodom, he would have said, " Well, I am doing very much better here than Abraham is doing on the plains with his tent and his altar." A good many 196 LONG AND SHOR'l" SICHT. men, no doubt, thought Lot " long-headed." Sucli men may be the most successful of business men, but their children may be going to ruin while they are ]Hishing for money. Such a man is often called " long-headed." The Lord pity him! I had a friend once who said he could never understand why his wife was ahva\s so eager to buy ]:)aintings. He couldn't see any beauty in tlieni. A few years ago his sight began to fail. He went to an oculist, who said to him. " My dear sir. how have you got along all these years? You have one * long ' eye and one ' short ' eye. and you never saw any- thing straight." He fitted him out witli glasses, and he be- came even more interested in paintings than his wifv.' was. He built an art gallery and filled it. and " saw " beautifully. Many a Christian has a '" long " e_\e and a " short " eye. You can never sec clearly in that way. Abraham was a long-sighted man and Lot a short-sighted man. Lot saw the well-watered plam of Sodom, and chose it for himself and family. I suppose if there had been a railroad running from Sodom to Jerusalem. Mr. Lot would have been the president of it. He would have been universally spoken of as the Hon. Mr. Lot, of Sodom. .Vn honorable name, but his family was going to ruin all the time. Lot was a man of great influence, but I can find a thousand Lots where T can find one Abraham. I can find a thousand men piling u]) their millions and all the time tlu'ir children are going to perdition. Get the spirit of criticism and grumbling out of the way and go to work. Men and women who are doing nothing easily get into the habit of finding fault ; then they write letters. and criticise the minister, and tell liow he ought to i)reach. That is part of the business of peojjle who have nothing to do; I have seen it over and over again. People go out from a meeting and say of the preacher. " What do you think of him. anyhow?" "Why. I must confess I was greatly disap- pointed. I like that man in St. Paul's Church better." " Oh, Fd rather hear our pastor any (la\-. There are plenty of men who can preach better than he can." " I didn't like his ges- CAPTIOUS CRITICISM. 197 tures; I don't like his manner." " He wasn't logical; I have got a logical turn of mind, and when I go to hear preaching, I want to hear logic." " He was not argumentative; I am of an argumentative turn of mind, and I like argument." " I have a good deal of hard work during the week, and when I go to church I want a man to appeal to my emotions. If he don't appeal to my emotions, I don't like him. He isn't my style, anyway." And so they pick the preacher to pieces, and wonder whv thcv don't have a blessing. Anyone can criticise. I have always noticed if a man fails in everything else he can go into the business of criticising. And if they can't reach me in any other wa}', they'll write me letters. It takes neither brains nor heart to do that; anyone can do that. I have had men tell me how to preach who couldn't find enough people to preach to. I have seen people come to our meetings and sit with their brows knit to " see how ]\Ioody does it." Never think of praying for me, — onl}- want to " see how he does it ! " They come on the platform to " see what is the secret of his success." There is no secret; nothing mysterious. Get up and go to work, and pray (jod to teach you the secret, and stop fault-finding and grumbling. A great many people have had their feelings terribly wounded, and have written me letters, because I have spoken of some things in the church that ought not to be there. Do you tell me I don't love the church? Do you think I would have given up business over forty years ago, and given my whole life, and all I have, if T didn't love the church? I know I love it, but " faithful arc the wounds of a friend." If there is anything wrong in the church, let us get it right. One minis- ter said if he overhauled his church he would lose his pastor- ate. Lose it! I would rather be out of the church if I did not have liberty to preach. Some one asked an old colored man how he liked his minister. " Oh," said he, " he's a fine preacher! Such a good preacher." 13 198 THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST. " What did he preach on this morning? " " This morning? Oh, let me see, he had for his subject the terrible sin of robbing henroosts, but he was so polite he didn't hurt nobody's feelings." V\c don't want to be " i)olite " in that sense. I want to hurt people's feelings if they are doing wrong. When Christ died on the cross the veil of the Temple was rent in twain; and from that time on these bodies of ours be- came the temple of the Holy Ghost. Christ said, " He dwcll- eth with you, and shall be in you." Don't get the idea that He comes to you in church and leaves you when you go out of doors. He shall abide with you. If this is true, ought we not to take good care of these bodies? If they are the temple of the Holy Ghost, ought we not to keep them pure and sweet? I never had the advantage of an education, but when God called me into His service, I hungered and thirsted to be used by Him, and I wanted to get hold of the Bible. I left this country and went to England, that I might sit at the feet of Charles Spurgeon and George Aliiller. Spurgeon said to me something I have never forgotten. He said, " Young man, take good care of your body, because it is a temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. You can't take care of your soul; God must take care of tliat; but you can take care of the temple it dwells in." If these bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, ought we to defile them with whiskey and tobacco? I heard Andrew Bonar say. when he was in this country many years ago, that once when they were burying a saint of God, and because he was old and very poor, and his children and friends had all passed on before him, the bearers were hurrying him away to the grave as fast as they could. An old minister was officiating, and as they were hurrying to get the body into the grave, he said to the grave-digger, " Mon, tread softly, ye bear the temple of the Holy Ghost." And when I think of this body of mine being a temple for the Holy Ghost. and that it belongs to God, and it is not my own. T feel as if 1 want to keep it as pure and sweet as I can. May God help us WITH OR WITHOUT POWER. 199 all. And I believe when the temple is ready, God will come and fill it. Now we come to the question, What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The moment you arc " born again," the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and makes it His temple. " Be- hold, I stand at the door, and knock ; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, T will come in to him." Your body and mine is the temple of God. Xo Christian can receive more of the Holy Spirit than he alrcad}' has. If you should invite me to come and spend a week with you, I would not come in sec- tions, first my head, then my arms, then some other part of my body. All there is of me would come at once, because that is the only way I can come. The Iloly Spirit is a person, and when He comes, all there is of Him will come at once J heard Dr. Gordon say that you might walk through any great city thoroughfare and you very often would notice the sign, " This shop to rent, with or without power." He thought it was very suggestive, and that it would be a good thing to apply to Christians. Now, do you want to be numbered among those with power, or without power? If you want to be numbered among those with power, pray that God may give you power, and that you may be quickened as God wants to quicken us. " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Better than showers, isn't it? Better even than a spring. There is a spring up in the mountain near my home that feeds a little brook, and that little brook goes babbling over its pebbly bed, making a noise all the time and always making itself known; but when the heat of summer comes the waters of that brook are dried up, and there is nothing left of it. Then, not far away, is the great, silent Connecticut River. I never hear that river; would not know it was there, because it does not make any noise; but follow it down in its silent course and you will find all along its banks great mills and manufactories that are given power by ":\t ?co DIGGING FUR WA TKR its waters. 1 believe it is the privilege of every one to have the Spirit of God resting upon him, so that he will be just like that river. There are two ways of digging a well. One is to dig until you come to water, and stop there, though the water won't last long. Another is, to dig down and down and down till you get a never-failing supply. Some of our Mt. llermon boys once undertook to dig a well. When they got down six or eight feet they struck water. .\ pump was jnit in and set in motion, and very s()t)n the well was ])umpe(l dr\ . Then they went on digging till they struck a rock, and the water burst forth. They thought they had got deep enough that time. But when the pump was set to work, it wasn't many days before the well was dry again. \\'e said we nuistn't stop till we got to where the water couldn't he exhausted. So we went down and down till we struck clay, and then gravel, and then flinty rock; and at last we got to a lower stratum that }-iekk(l a never-failing sup])ly of water. I remember the first time T was in California T stood in a valley and noticed that in one section vegetation was green and vigorous. TUU just over the fence everything w^as dried u\). ( )n that side of the fence was another ranch, and tln're was scarcely a bit of vegetation there. I thought that was verv curious, and T said to a farmhand: "Can you explain whv on one side of the fence vegetation is fresh and green, and on the other side it is all dried u])? " " ( )h, _\es," said he, " one man irrigates — he l)rings water down from tin- mountain and thoroughly waters his farm. The other doesn't." 1 think that is the wav with a good many Christians in oiu' churches. .Some are dried uj) : but others have a secret connnunica- tion between their souls and Heaven, and Cod sends the water to them and keeps them always fresh. "Sou may be as dry as Gideon's fleece — all dried u]) — no ])()wer at all; btU il is the privilege of each one of us to have the dew of Heaven resting upon us all the while. That is what God wants. Drink deep; don't be satisfied with merel\ " getting water." A CONSl^X'RATKl) LIFK. 20I If I have got a tiiml)Icr full of water, I can say I've got water as much as if I owned a river ; and you can say a great many people have Christ, but you have got to probe deep to find life. Jesus came that we might have life, and that we might have it " more abundantly." A man said he had a well, a good well, only " it froze up in winter, and dried up in summer." There are many Christians who are just like that. People talk about " spasmodic effort." I am as much opposed to that as any other man. T don't believe in spasmodic efforts. When a man drinks as God wants him, he can't help working summer or winter. T am one of those old-fashioned people who believe the liible. I believe it is literally true of any man who examines it with the Spirit that rivers of truth will flow out of him. As a tree is full of sap. so is the Christian who is full of the Spirit. The tree full of sap will bear leaves and blossoms and fruit. And when a man is full of the breath of God, his life will be filled with fruit. You haven't got to go back to the days of ]\Iartin Luther. or to Wesley, or to Whirefield. l.\v a good deal, to find lives that have been filled with fruit. Only a few years ago a man died, — no, thank God ! he never died, he lives more now than ever before — who had never been to Oxford, or Cambridge; but God said to him, " Charles, you go to London and I will let rivers of life flow from you." He went to London, and stayed there forty years, and tens of thousands listened to him every Sunday; and no man ever attracted such vast crowds under one roof. At first they called him a " Boy Preacher." They laughed at and ridiculed him. They tried to make him out an ignorant clown. P.ut see where his influence is to-day. See what power he has to-day, and what he had for forty years. Every Thursday a sermon of h.is came out printed in many languages, and it went into all the corners of the earth, and thus he preached to people everywhere. I cannot begin to tell of the results of that one man's work. He founded an orphan asylum for two hundred and fifty boys, and another for two 202 Sl'URC.KOX'S WONDP'.RFUL IXKH'KNCE. hundred and fifty girls, \vhcre children taken from the streets were given a home and trained in ways of righteousness. He founded one of the finest theological seminaries in the world, which is constantly training young men for the ministry; he had a society of colporteurs circulating good books; he had evangelists that went all over London and the suburbs preach- ing the Gospel ; he had an institution that he called a " poor man's house," where he gathered in the poor and forsaken and preached the Gospel to them. When I was in London many years ago there were at that time eighty churches in the city and its vicinity that had sprung up through that man's efforts. You can hardly go into a minister's library anywhere to-day that you do not find volumes of Charles Spurgeon's sermons. He fed the flock of God for forty years in a great many differ- ent ways. How many different volumes of books have come from his pen! How many streams of life he set in motion! I don't believe the four walls oi any church can hold the in- fluence of a man filled with the spirit of God. I believe the world has yet to sec what God can do with a man full of the Holy Ghost. I remember an old' wooden pump on the farm when 1 was a boy. and how I used to pump water for the cattle and pump for the family, pump, pump, pump, until it seemed as though my arm v.-ould drop off; and sometimes the old ]nunp would squeak and make a good deal of noise, and I wouldn't get much water. I find lots of people pumping away, squeak- ing and making a great deal of noise, but they get hardly any water. They are ])umping out of dry wells. Haven't you seen people pump and pump, and talk and talk like a parrot, and all they said didn't amount to anything? No heart in it! No power! A lady once came to me at the close of a service and said: " ]\Ir. ]\Ioody. you have made me perfectly miserable." " How is that?" I said. " Whv, you said you pitied a woman wlio had no religious home influence over her husband and family. When I mar- AN IRRITABLE CHRISTIAN. 203 ricd my husband, I thought I would soon bring him into the kingdom of God, I thought I should have no trouble in get- ting him to come to Christ; but now I think he is further away than he w-as then, and I have not as much influence as I used to have. When I try to talk with him about his soul it is a forced conversation, and I can't talk with him about eternal things. I have trouble with my servants all the time, and I never have been able to help one of them to Christ, although I have wanted to." " Would you allow me to speak very plainly with you? " " Yes." " Don't you get angry with your husband once in a while, and give him what in New England we sometimes call ' a good blowing up ' ; and then when you want to talk to him about becoming a Christian, you have a feeling that he will say, ' You had better look at home, you are no better than I am ? ' " " Yes, Mr. A'loody, that is true." *' Then, instead of praying for your husband, hadn't I better pray for you? " She asked me to pray for her, and I did. Some days after that she came to me and said: " Mr. Moody, I want to thank you for talking to me as plainly as you did the other day. If I had known that you were going to talk to me in that way I wouldn't have come near you. When I left you I went home and locked myself up with God, and my conscience searched my soul and revealed me to myself. I saw how irritable I had been, and how I had scolded my husband without provocation; then I noticed that my conduct with my servants had not been at all Christ-like. When my husband came home that night I met him at the door and asked him to forgive me. He was very much sur- prised and wanted to know what I had been domg. I said, ' Well, you know we have been married now for so many years, and I haven't lived as a Christian ought to live. I haven't been consistent; I have been cross and irritable so many times, and I have scolded so many times without cause, 204 THE IIKiilER LIFE. and my life has l)ccn sucli that I am afraid I have kept you from becoming a Christian, and Clod knows 1 love you better than any one on earth, and 1 wouldn't stand between you and God for all the world.' My husband couldn't stand that; he broke right down, and God gave him back to me that night." If you have ever lived in England }ou know what a great barrier is built up between the Church of lilngland and what they call the Dissenting churches. 1 was asked a few years ago to go down to a county parish to preach on Saturday and Sunday. When I arrived I found that a large tent had been provided to hold the services in, and that the Church of Eng- land people and the Dissenters were working together har- moniousl}-. I was entertained l)y a wealthy churchman of great prominence in the conmiunity, and I found that his house was filled with Dissenting ministers who had come to the meetings, whom he was entertaining. It was so unusual to find a man in his jjosition fraternizing with every conceiv- able kind of worker in the whole county that I said to him, " How long has this been going on?" He replied, "There was a time when if I met a Dissenting minister I wouldn't look at him or bow to him; I really thought that every Dis- senting minister was doing all he could to tear down the Church of England. I went over to Kassock and I met some men there who told me about being filled with the Spirit of God. and I tried to get into this higher life. When I was filled with the S])irit, the first thing I did was to go to every Dissenting minister in my county and tal]< and ])ray with him; and since then every minister who has come into this county has never preached but he has had my prayers." Here was a man wdio was a blessing to nearly every family in the whole region. He got the blessing and ])assed it on to others. The first time I was in Dundee I went into a great stone church and the congregation was so slim vou could have fired a cannon ball right through it and not hit anvbodx-; but the voung luinister's heart was full of the fire of the Holy Ghost, and when T was there a few years afterward you couldn't get A MINISTER AWAKENED. 205 into the aisles. Hundreds of people had been converted just because that young man was filled with the Spirit of God. I remember when 1 first went to England with Mr. Sankey, at a service where I was presenting this subject, I noticed a Presbyterian minister in the audience who hid his face in his hands. I said to myself. " I have run against that man's the- ology." I used to be very much afraid of running against the theology of ministers! When the meeting was over he went out of the door as though he had been shot out of a cannon, and I said to Air. Sankey, " I am afraid that minister is ofTended at something I said." At the next meeting I looked for him but he wasn't there; and at the next and the next, and so on for a whole week, but I didn t see him. It was just at the beginning of our work in England, when we were trying to get a foothold there, and I was verv anxious not to ofifend any of the ministers. About a week from that time he came into the noon prayer-meeting, and rose and told about being at the meeting a week before; and he said he came to the conclusion on that day that if God had got anything more for him he was going to have it; and, he added, "I have been closeted with God for the past week, and He has answered my prayer." He moved that whole assemblage; everybody knew that he had received a great blessing, and it spread through the audience like wildfire. He said that before he got this blessing his church wasn't one-third full. On the third Sab- bath after that I went down to his church and I couldn't get inside; I had to stand outside and look in at the window. Some tune after, he said to me, " T haven't preached one ser- mon since God gave me that anointing that there have not been conversions." Some Englishmen were travelin"- in Africa with the idea of colonizing. They came to a beautiful place in the mountains and asked the natives if they had an abundance of water. They said, " No. there were a few months last summer when we didn't have any rain. The clouds came over us but thev didn't break, and it is pretty dry up here now." They went to an- 2o6 THK OLD GOSl'KL WITH NEW POWER. Other place and were told that during a certain season there was no rain. But at the third place the natives said they had plenty of water ; the clouds were pierced up there on that high ground, and they got under the clouds. I have seen churches that were living under pierced clouds, and they go on year after year with an abundance of living water : and I have seen churches as dry as the mountains of Gilboa — not a drop of dew on them. I know a minister who sought this blessing, and in ten months he received three hundred and eighty into his church on profession of faith. The church had never been so full since it was built. Over two thousand people in that city flocked to hear him preach just because he was filled with the Spirit of God. It is not a new Gospel that we want, it is the old Gospel with new power. CHAPTER VI. SOWING AND REAPING — WHAT SH-ALL THE HARVEST BE? Family Skeletons — Teaching Servants to Lie — " Isn't It Strange? " — Teaching Clerks Dishonesty — Mr. Moody's Challenge — A Man Who Accepted It, and the Result — Reckoning the Cost — Fore- closing the last Mortgage — Sowing Wild Oats — Sentenced to Prison for Life — The Man in Tears in the Balcony — The Story of a Confidential Clerk — "I Am Beyond Help " — Reaping as He had Sown — "Hello, Stranger, What Are You Sowing?" — A Story of John B. Gough — Mr. Moody's Reminiscences of Him — The Man Who Sowed Oats and Thistles — An Incident in Chicago — Deserting Wife and Children — The Fugitive Forger — The Last Night at Home — In a Convict's Garb — A Terrible Dilemma — A Letter of Warning — Returning to the Old Home — '■ No Such Person Lives Here " — -The End of a Misspent Life. I BELIEVE that the text " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," applies to saint and sinner alike; to every human being on the face of the earth. It makes no difference what nation he belongs to, whether he is Jew or Gentile, Romanist or Protestant. Here is a law that has been in force for six thousand years, and neither devil nor man has been able to break it. You might as well try to blot the sun out of the heavens as to blot out this truth. You can't get around it or over it. It meets every man, whether it be the minister in the pulpit or the man in the pew; it is the law for David, or for Ahab; ruler or peasant, agnostic, infidel, pantheist, deist; it makes no difiference. You can't take up the daily papers but you read that men reap what they have sown ten, fifteen, or twenty years before. You haven't got to go out of your own ex- perience for proof of the truth of this text. You will yourself say, " That is true in my case. I have had to reap." (207) 2o8 UNBELIEF DOES NOT CHANCE KAc:TS. I remember giving out tliis text at one uf our meetings, and a man said he duln't l)elieve it. " Well," 1 said, " my friend, that does not change tlie fact." There's a class of people who labor under the delusion that because the\- don't belie\e a thin.g. the thing isn't true. Now listen, truth is truth whether } ou believe it or not. A lie is a lie whether \ou be- lieve it or not. The fact was, that man didn't want to l)elieve it. When the meeting broke up an officer was at the door who had a warrant to arrest that ver_\- man. lie was taken into coiu't, tried for crime, found guilt v, and was sent to ])rison for twelve months. I have no doubt when he got into his cell he found the text true. A'ou can deceive your wife; you can deceive }our neigh- bors; yes, you can even deceive yourself. Ikit you can't de- ceive (jod. So, if we are deceived, let us ])ra\- (lod to open our eyes. You may trille with some things, but don't trifle with eternal things. There is no one truth in the Bible that has had such an iniluence over ni}- life as that one. I have said to myself, " Plow stupid I was not to sec that truth years ago." Look at the men and women who are sowing now, only to reap, in after years, in tears and agony and imtold sorrow. I am not in the habit (jf dividing up my texts; T don't lik-e to say " firstly," " secondly," and " finally," and " in con- clusion," and all that. I get lost before I get to the " con- clusion." Hut it is a good thing to do. Spurgeon told me he could never " get on " unless he had i\\'c points. That is the prei)aration he made, and he would fill them up in the pulpit. I have never been able to get on with so man\ divisions; but I am going to divide up this subject, and bring everything under four heads. First: A man ex peels io reap. Second: lie expeeLear in mind the reaping time is coming. I will venture to say there is many a man who would give all he has in the world if he could call his mother back and get her forgiveness. I was a member of the Mount Vernon Church in Boston wMth John B. Gough. I used to go to his house, and when he came to Chicago I used to entertain him. In later years he JOIIX li. (iOUGH'S lUTTKRKST MK.MORV. 21/ came often to my home, and but a little time before he died I heard him say, " If I could tear one thing- from my memory I would willingly give my right arm." Antl 1 have always sup- posed it was the way he treated his mother. She could not stand it to see her boy going to a drunkard's grave, and her heart broke, and John T>. Ciough came to himself; but his mother was gone. If you are not right with your father and mother, get right with them at once. They will be gone by and by. A man wrote to me that this idea that one must reap just as he sows will do for the unconverted, but not f(jr a man who has turned from his sins. But if I get drunk and break my right arm and that arm is amputated, though I may afterward become not only a temperate but a godly man, I must still go through life without that right arm. Suppose I send a man to sow ten acres of oats, and when they come up I find half cf them are thistles. I say. " It is the work of an enemy. Some one has sowed those thistles." I call the man who sowed the seed and say to him: " John, do you know anything about those thistles? " " Do you remember, IMr. Moody," he replies, " that two or three years ago you were talking with me and you told me if I had done wrong and I came to you and confessed it you would forgive me? W'^ell, some time after that I got angry with you and I mixed thistle seed with the oats. There has not been a day since that I was not sorry; and though I could not face you, I now hold you to your promise of forgiveness." " Well, John, I will forgive you, but when you reap the oats you must reap the thistles along with them." I know what it is to reap thistles with my oats. I don't believe there is a minister or elder or deacon in the church who does not understand this. There are some things for which I can never forgive myself. There is not a cloud be- tween my soul and God this day. I have a clean testimony to this, but there are many things I wish I had not done. I know a man who deserted his wife and children, and after 2i8 THE REMORSEFUL FU(;IT1VK. being gone for years he returned home, like the prodigal, and sought out his wife. She supposed he was dead, and she had married again; and the poor man has never seen his wife and children alone. He has stood on the street watching his children, but he never spoke to them. I believe God will for- give that man, but he will never forgive himself. He must reap the consequences of his sowing. Some years ago in Chicago I preached from the text, " Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there." A man came to me and said: " Can I see you alone? " " Yes," I said. He shut the door and turned the key. The perspiration stood in great beads on his forehead. He put his head on my shoulder and trembled and sobbed. I let him have it out. After he got control of himself I said: " Tell me your trouble." " I am a fugitive from justice. The Governor of my State, Missouri, has offered a reward for my apprehension. I have been hiding here in Chicago for months." He then told me the story. He had forged thousands of dollars' worth of county bonds and sold them. He did not intend to defraud; he expected to succeed in speculation, call the bonds in, and never be found out. But he got beyond his depth, and he had to flee from the city. He had disfigured and disguised himself all he could. He said: " I am away from my business, my friends and associates. I dare not receive a letter or write one. I have nothing to do. I am afraid to l)c out in the daytime. Tf I walk out I can hear the footsteps of an officer on my track. They tell me there's no hell, but it seems to me I have been in hell for months." " Why don't you give yourself up? Why not go back and face the law? " " Oh," he said. " T can't do that." " Well," I rei)licd, " I would rather be in prison with Christ than outside without Him. God cannot hclj) you until you RETURNING TO BEAR THE PENALTY. 2IQ do the right thing." He looked me straight in the face and said: " Mr. Moody, I would rather go to prison than to suffer what I have suffered for the last few months. iNIy conscience smites me day and night. I have been in perfect torment all the time. All the while it seemed as if some one would touch my shoulder and arrest me for the reward offered. But I have a wife and three children, and how can I bring this public dis- grace upon them? My wife is a refined woman, looked up to and respected. I have three beautiful children. How can I put this stigma upon them for life?" The case looked different to me then. I have a rule that I have carried through life. It is this: If a man comes to me for counsel I try to put myself in his place. When he spoke of his wife and children I was dumb. That is what makes me hate sin. You cannot alone reap its results; others reap and suffer with you. I said: " My friend, I don't know what to say. It is always safe to pray, pray about everything." I got down and prayed, and I wept, — I couldn't help it. I said: " To-morrow I will meet you at twelve o'clock." He was there on time. He said: " Mr. Moody, it's all settled. Don't trouble yourself about me. I am going back this afternoon to give myself up. If I ever meet the God of battles I must go through prison. I have made up my mind to do right. I ask you to do one thing — pray God to help me; pray for my wife and children. I don't know what will become of them; pray God to help me and them." I did pray, and I wept with that man. He said: " Don't speak of it mitil I am in the hands of the law. Little did I think it would ever come to this." Well, he took the train and started for Missouri. He arrived in his town about midnight, stole off to his home, and staved there a week. His children were voung. and he was 220 AFRAID TO MKKT HIS CMILDRKN. afraid to liavc ihcni know lie was homo lost it should get out and he would be arrested. lie wrote nic a letter that week. It brought tears to my eyes. He said he heard his little child say : " Mamma, doesn't papa love us any more? " " Why, yes, what makes you ask such a question?" " Why, he never left us before, and he has been gone a long time, and he don't write to us, and he don't send us any- thing, and I'm afraid he has forgotten us." And there the father was in the house all the time. He would go up and look at the children, in their innocent sleep, but he was afraid to kiss them, lest it should wake them up. Think of it! And think of the stigma, the brand he was to put upon them. Talk to me about sin being pleasant! Well, he had been at home a week. He felt as though he must give himself up. The last night came. He left his house about midnight, lie wrote me how he tgok his wife to his bosom and kissed her again and again, not knowing whether he should ever see her again. He was afraid to kiss the children, but he took a long look at those dear little ones. Then he left his home and went across the country and arrived at the sheriff's house the next morning at daylight. There wasn't much ()f a trial. He went into court and ])lead guilty. Do you know, T think we ought to have a change in our laws, and when a man says he is guilt\'. then make it so much easier for him. Don't teach him to lie out of it. I believe hundreds of men in difficulty would come out at once and con- fess if we had that state of things. 1 am not much of a lawyer, but I tell you T believe in mercy. 1 want it for myself. And T believe that when a man does confess his wrong there is a kind of feeling that ])rom])ts us to forgive him and he!]) him and stand by him. Not that he ought not to go to prison for a length of time. I believe that he ought to, but make it as easy as possible when a man confesses his guilt and starts to do right. The court sentenced this man to the ])enitentiary for nine- A THIEF AND PKRJLTRER. 221 teen years. That's the shortest time they could give him on the eight indictments. I went down to sec him, and, ahhough he had on the prison garb, I beheve he was a child of God as much as I was. God had spoken peace to his soul. lie was not half as agitated as he was when he came to me in Chicago. The cloud had lifted; the burden was gone. Thank God, we got him out at last and he was restored to his family. He has gone up on high. I expect to meet him in the kingdom of God. To his dying day he could never forgive himself, but God forgave him. A fine looking young man once came into the inquiry-room. He had been brought up in a happy home with a good father and mother. He had gone astray. He said he wished to be- come a Christian, but he could not, because he knew what it would make him do. He had robbed an express company, and that sin stood between him and God.' He had been tried and the verdict was in his favor, but he knew he was guilty. He had gone into the witness-box and committed perjury. He went out of the inquiry-room and left the building. He came again, however, and I never felt so nnich pity for a man in my life. He wanted to l^ecome a Christian, but the thought of having to go back and tell his father that he was guilty, after his father had paid $2,000 to conduct his trial, deterred him. After a great struggle he got down on his knees and cried out, "O God, help me! forgive me my sins; " and at last he got up and said, " Well, sir, I will go back." A friend went down to the railway station and saw him ofif, and shortly after I got this telegram from him : " Mr. Moody — God has told me what to do. The future is as clear as crystal. I am happier than ever before." He reached his native village, and I soon received a letter from him that filled my soul with sympathy. Let me say here, if anyone has taken money from his employer, go and tell him of it at once. It is a good deal better for you to confess it than to have it on your mind, or try to cover it up. " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper." If you have taken any 222 A TOUCHING LETTER. money that does not belong to yoii, make restitution by con- fession at least. If any one is being tempted to commit a forgery or any crime, let this young man's letter be a warning to them: " My Beloved Friend and Brother: I am firm in the cause. I have started, and feel that God is with me in it. And, oh, dear brother, never cease praying for my dear father and mother, and I wish you would some day write them and tell them that God will make this all for the best. If I live for ages I will never cease praying for them, and I never can forgive myself for my ungratefulness to my dear broken- hearted sisters and brothers and dear good parents. Oh, the link that held the once happy home is severed. O God ! may it not be forever. Would that I had been a Christian for life; that I had taken my mother's hand when a child and walked from there, hand in hand, straight to heaven; and then the stains would not have been. But we know, O God, that they can't follow me into heaven, for then I will be washed of all my sins, and the things that are of this earth will stay here. " Oh, my dear Christian brothers, my heart almost failed me when I was approaching my home, and thought that I was the one out of eight brothers and sisters to break the chain of happiness that sur- rounded that once happy and beautiful home. The beautiful sunshine that once lit that dearest of homes is now overshadowed with darkness. Oh, I fear it will kill my dear parents; it is more than they can bear. When I reached home, and they all greeted me with a kiss, and I told them I had started for heaven, and God sent me home to tell them, my mother shed tears of happiness. But when I was forced to bring the death-stroke upon her the tears ceased to flow, and God only can describe the scene that took place. I called them all around me, and I thought I could not pray if I were to attempt it. But when I knelt with them in prayer God just told me what to say, and I found it the will of God; and after I had prayed I kissed them all, and asked tlioir pardon for my ungratefulness, which I received from them all. Then I made my preparation to leave home, for how long God only knows, but I got grace to leave in a cheerful way, and it appeared for a short time; and if God lets me live to return home I will join my mother's side, take her to church, and bring my brothers and sisters and father to God. We will all go to heaven together. My beloved brother, I must see you some day, and just tell you what God has done for me, and I know he will never forsake me, when I am shut up in those prison walls receiving the punishment I justly deserve for my crime. When T can't comnnmciate with any one else I know I will not be sliut olT from Gf)d. Oh. glory! ■■ I came to Cleveland last night, and was going to get that money and return it to the General Superintendent, but my attorney had made that arrangement already. 1 find there is an indictment at A tllK CONVICT'S RETURN. 2^3 against me now for perjury, and I am going to take the morning train and go there. Court is in progress there now, and I am going to plead guilty. I will write you again soon, and give you all the particulars and the length of my sentence." I want to iirg-e this Jetter upon your consideration as a warninf^. Think of the punishment that young man brought upon himself; think of the agony of that father and mother when lie broke the news to them — when he told them of his guilt. He had sowed seeds of evil, and they with him reaped the harvest of sorrow. A prominent citizen in the north of England told me a sad case that happened in Newcastle-on-Tyne. It was about a young boy, an only child. The father and mother thought everything of him, and did all they could for him. But he fell into bad ways, associated with evil cornpanions, and finally with thieves. He didn't let his parents know about it. One night his companions prevailed upon him to break into a public house. They stood outside while he entered the house and broke into the till. He was caught, and in one short week he was tried, convicted, and sent for ten years to Van Dieman's Land. After his term of servitude expired he returned to his native land, and to the town where his mother and father used to live, and soon stood at the door of his old home. He had been gone ten years, and what a change he found there! He knocked, but a stranger came to the door and stared him in the face. " No, there's no such person lives here, and where yottr parents are I don't know," was the only greeting he re- ceived. Then he went down the street, asking even the chil- dren that he met about his family, and where they were living. But everybody looked blank. There, where he was born and brought up, he was an alien, and unknown even in his old haunts. At last he found a couple of townsmen who remembered his father and mother, and they told him the old house had been deserted long before; that he had been gone but a few months 224 --^ 11AR\EST OF (iRlHF AM) TKARS. when his father ched l)roken-hearted; and that his mother had lost her mind. He went to the madhouse where his mother was, and went up to her and said: " Mother, mother, don't vou know me? I am your son! "" Ikit she raved and struck him in the face and shrieked, " Vou are not my boy! " and then raved again and tore her hair. He left the asylum more dead than alive, and so completely hrtjken-hearted that he died in a few months, ^'es, the fruit was long growing, but at last it ripened to the harvest like a whirlwind, and vengeance made quick work of it. The death harvest was reaped. .And that is true in regartl not only to individuals but to nations. Nations are only collections of individuals, and what is true of a part, in regard to character, is always true of the wliole. In this country our forefathers planted slavery in the face of an open lUble, and didn't we have to real)? When the harvest came, nearly half a million of our young men were buried, many of them in nameless graves. Didn't God make this nation weep in the hour of gathering the harvest, when we had to give up our young men, both North and South, to death; and almost every household had an empty chair, and blood, blood, blood, flowed like water for four long years? Ah, our nation sowed, and how in tears and groans she had to reap! Once, in speaking to His disciples, Christ sjjoke about being cast into hell, " where the worm dieth not." I believe the worm that dieth not is our memory; I believe that what will make that world of the lost so terrible to us is memorv. We say now that we forget, and we think we do, but the time is coming when we will remenil)er, and we cannot forget. MemorN' is (iod's oflicer; and when (iod touches its secret springs and savs, " .Sun, remember," we cannot hel]) but remember. When He shall say, " Son and daughter, remem- ber," tram]i, tram]), tram]) will come before us a long proces- sion— all the sins we have ever committed. T have been twice in the jaws of death. Once T was drown- ing, and as T was about to sink the third time I was rescued. THK REAl'lNG-TLMb: MUST COMK. '■S 111 the twinkling of an eye it seemed as though everything I had said, done, or thought of Hashed across ni}- mind. I do not understand how everything in a man's hfe can be crowded into his recollection in an instant of time, but nevertheless it all flashed through my mind. Another time when I thought I was dying the past all came back to me again. It is just so that all things we think we have forgotten will come back to us by and by. It is only a question of time. I was at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. and I noticed there a little oil painting, only about a foot square, called " Sowing the Tares." The face of the sower looked more like that of a demon than a man. As he sowed the tares, up came serpents and reptiles, and the}' were crawling up on his body, and all around were woods with wolves prowling in them. I have seen that ]iicture manv times since. Ah! the reaping time is coming. If you sow to the flesh you must reap the flesh. If you sow to the wind you must reap the whirlwind. You can decide your destiny if you will. Heaven and hell are set be- fore you, and you are called upon to choose. Which will you have? If you will accept Christ He will receive you to His arms. If you reject Him He will reject }'0U. CHAPTER VII. TEMPERANCE. — TO DRUNKARDS AND REFORMED MEN. Bound Hand and Foot — Carried Over the Rapids — Sowing Wild Oats — A Thrilling Incident in Mr. Moody's Experience — Beg- ging for Mercy in the Dying Hour — The Drunkard's Home and Family — The Ragged and Filthy Tramp — " I Have Got it Now " — The Arrow that Reached His Heart — Remarkable Story of a Vagrant and Outcast — A Chicago Business ]\Ian's Experience — The Preacher Who Made an Impression — "Mary, I Wish You Would Pray for Me " — Keeping Out of Debt — Working for Twenty-five Cents a Week — " That's the Man for Me " — Praying to God for More — "I Guess I'll Reform Too " — Three Hundred Cords of Wood and a Lot of Sawbucks — Drink- ing Up a Coat — " Mike, Where are your Shoes? " — Waiting For Something to Turn Up — Singing Hymns in Haunts of Vice — Taking Sixteen Men Out of a Saloon in One Night. THERE was not a day that some poor captive did not come to our meetings boimd hand and foot with the chains of intemperance. Some of them said, " Oh, I'm all right "; others said, " I'll come 'round all right in a little while "; and some said, " I took the pledge, and broke it. and kept on drinking until the habit became a cord that bound me to intemperance; and the cord became a chain, and now I can- not break away from it." Thank God. T can proclaim the good news that Christ can deliver you from all your sins. I don't care if you are bound hand and fcjot with sin. He will save you if you only come to Him. How many young men there are whose characters have been blasted by strong drink. How many brilliant men have gone down to death through it. Some of tlie noblest states- men, some of the most brilliant orators and men of all profes- sions, have been borne to a drunkard's grave. Many men say, " I am not going down to a drunkard's grave." They think (226) THE RESISTLESS CURRENT. 22/ they have sufficient strength of will to stop drinking when they choose. When strong drink gets a firm hold there is nothing within us by which we can save ourselves. God alone can give you power to resist the cup of temptation. He alone can give vou power to overcome its influence. Look at that man in a boat on Niagara River. He is only a mile from the rapids. A man on the bank of the river shouts to him: " Young man, the rapids are not far away, you'd better pull for the shore." " You attend to your own business; I will take care of my- self," he replies. Xow he has got a little nearer, and another man on the bank sees his danger, and shouts: "Stranger, you'd better pull for the shore; there's danger ahead, and if you go further you'll be lost. You can save your- self now if you pull in." " Mind your own business; I'll take care of myself." On he goes. I can see him in the boat enjoying himself and laughing at the danger. Another man on the bank is looking at him, and he lifts up his voice and cries: "Stranger, stranger, the rapids are below you; pull quick for the shore; if you don't, you will lose your life; " and the young man laughs at him — mocks him. By and by the young man says: " I think I hear the rapids — yes, I hear them roar; " and he seizes his oars and pulls with all his strength, but the current is too swift. Nearer and nearer he is drawn to the brink of that awful abyss, until with one unearthly cry, over he goes. Ah, my friends, this is the case with hundreds. They are in the current of riches, of pleasure, of drink, that will take them to the whirlpool. Satan has them blindfolded, and they are on the road to destruction. Think of the lost souls in the saloons and gambling dens — young men who are noble, who might be jewels that would sparkle in the Saviour's crown for eternity, and yet Satan is 228 THE DVIXC. DRUXKARI). taking them bodil}' down to death. Is it not written that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Is God true or not? If any man tells you that a drunkard can reel into Heaven, tell him he is a liar. Heaven would be as cor- rupt as earth if that were possible. We hear some young men say in a jesting way, " Oh, we are only sowing our wild oats; we will get over this by and by." I have seen men reap their wild oats. I remember I went home one night and found my household in alarm. They had seen a man come running down the street, and as he ap- proached the house he gave an unearthly scream, and in terror they bolted the door. He came right up to the front door, and instead of ringing the bell, he tried to push the door in. They asked him what he wanted, and he said he wanted to see me. They told him I was at the meeting, and away he ran, and tliev could hear his screams and groans as he disap- peared. 1 was coming along the street, and he shot past me like an arrow. But he had seen me, and he turned and seized me by the arm, saying eagerly: " I have got to die to-night. Can I be saved? The devil is coming to me at one o'clock to-night." " My friend, you are mistaken," I said. I thought the man was sick. T.ut he persisted that the devil had come and laid his hand upon him, and told him that he might have till one o'clock that night. I said: " He will not come after you." " He will; there's no chance of my getting away from him. He is coming! Won't you go up to my house and sit with me? " I couldn't convince him. so I persuaded some friends to go to his house and look after him. At one o'clock that night the devils came into his room, and the six men there could not hold him. He screamed, " Look there ! See them ! There they are ! They are after me! He is taking me! He is going to take me to hell! He is after me! " TIIK RUMSELLER'S PMNISHMEXT. 229 He was reaping what he had sown. When Ueatli came and laid his icy hand upon him, Oh, how he cried for mercy — how he besought pardon. Ah, yes, young men, you may say, in a jesting way, that you are " sowing your wild oats," but the reaping time is coming. Look at that rumseller. \Mien we talk to him lie laughs at us. He tells us there is no hell, no future, no retribution. I remember one saloon keeper who ruined nearly all the young men in his neighborhood. Mothers and fathers went to him and begged him not to sell their sons liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor, and that he was going to sell it to every one who wanted it. His saloon was a foul l)lot as dark as hell upon the place. But he had a son, and a father's heart. He didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't remember that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap. Tin]e rolled on, and that young man became a slave to drink, and his life became such an intolerable burden to him- self that he put a revolver to his head and blew out his brains. The father lived a few years longer, but his life was full of bitterness, and he went down to his grave in sorrow. My friends, we generally reap what we sow. The reaping may not come soon, but it will surely come. If you ruin other men's sons, some other man will ruin yours. Rear in mind God is a God of ecjuity; He is a God of justice. He is not going to permit you to ruin other men and then escape yourself. You are doing the devil's work when you rejoice at a man's fall instead of trying to raise him up. Go to work and get him away from the devil if you can. When the devil gets a man down, a good many tr_\- to help the devil to keep him down. Because a man has fallen again it is no sign that he has not been reclaimed. A man came into one of our meet- ings who was not only a tramp, but he had sunk about as low as any tramp could go. His will power was gone. He had nothing but rags to cover his nakedness. He was as filthy and as far gone as any man I have ever seen. He remained after the second meeting, and some friends prayed with him. He 15 230 THK HOPELESS RECLAIMED. said, " Jesus won't answer my prayer, I am too great a sinner." He afterwards told me that after the first meeting- he had a fifteen-cent scrip'" in his pocket, and he said, " If the Lord will help me keep that piece of scrip twenty-four hours without spending it for whiskey I will regard it as a token that He will answer my prayer." He had no j)lace to sleep, so he walked the streets of New York for the next twenty-four hours. I met him sometime afterwards and asked him how he was get- ting along; and all he said was, " I have got it now." The last time I heard from him he said, " I have got it now." He hadn't spent it fur whiskey. He said he intended to keep that piece of currency as long as he lived. That shows how God can save the poor drunkard. In Philadelphia, at one of our meetings, a drunken man arose. Until that time I had no faith that a man could be converted while intoxicated. This drunken man got up and shouted, " I want to be prayed for." His friends tried to quiet liim, but he only shouted louder " I want to be prayed for," and three times he repeated his request. His call was attended to, and he was converted. God has power to convert a man even when he is drunk. I have still another lesson. I met a man in New York who was an earnest worker, and I asked him to tell me his ex- perience. He said he hafl licen a drunkard for over twenty vears. His parents had forsaken him, and his wife had left him. He went into a lawyer's offiice in Poughkeepsie, mad with drink. The lawyer proved to l)e a good Samaritan, and reasoned with him and told him he could be saved. The man scouted the idea. He said: " I nui'^t be jiretty low when my father and mother, my wife and kindred, have cast me ofif; there is no hope for me here or hereafter." P»ut this good Samaritan showed liim how i* was possible to secure salvation, and he got him on his feet, and guided him. and he was saved. He said to me: " I have not touched a dro]) of liquor since." He became leader of a yotmg men's meeting in New ^^ork. 'Fractional Currency issued by the Government during the Civil War. FINDING A FRIEND. 23 1 I asked him to come up to my native town, where there were a ^^ood many drunkards, thinking he might encourage them to seek salvation. He came and brought a young man with him. They hekl a meeting, and it seemed as if the power of God rested upon that meeting when these two men told what God had done for them — how He had destroyed the work of the devil in their hearts, and brought peace and happiness to their souls. A man who was induced to come into one of our meetings in Chicago slipped out and didn't come back. Some friends found out his name, and went to the saloon where he made his l".ead(|uarters, but could not find him; they went there a num- ber of times, and at last they left a card for him, which was headed, " My dear friend." He was a miserable drunkard; his friends had left him and he was sinking rapidly into a drunk- ard's grave; he thought that his end was near, and he had given himself up to die. When he entered the saloon the little card headed "' Aly dear friend " was handed to him. " Why," he said, sarcastically, " this is singular, I've got a friend." He read on: " If you will come up to the hotel to-night at seven o'clock, I should like to see you." He read it again, and said: " But I have no real friend, and I don't understand what this expression, ' My dear friend,' means." He said it went like an arrow into his heart and burned into his very soul, to think that some one should address him as " My dear friend." While drunk he had fallen in the street and his face was badly bruised. He was so ashamed of himself that he tried to get some one to go to the hotel for him. Rut he found that he hadn't many friends — drunkards don't have many — and he had to go himself. When he arrived at the hotel he was ashamed to go in, so he watched from behind a post until he saw a man whom he had seen come out of the Tabernacle, and v.hom he thought might be the man who had sent for him. Approaching him he said: 232 HOPE FOR THE INEBRIATE. " Is your name Hawlcy? " " Yes," was the reply, " I have been looking for yon, and I want you to come down to the Tabernacle." " You do; well, I won't go to the Tabernacle." " \\niy not?" " I have got a black eye, the skin is broken on my nose, I am dirty and disfigured, and I won't go." " iUit I want you to go." The man replied that he could not go, for he had become so much of a slave to liquor that he couldn't sit an hour in a meeting without going out to get a drink. At last he was per- suaded to go in, and he took a seat behind a post. He went mto the inquiry-room, and that very night the Spirit of God met him, and he became one of the leading men in the city. He not only brought his friends to Christ, but he went into other towns telling every one what great things the Lord had done for him. God w'cnt down to the very gates of hell to save that man. So let us tell drunkards there is hope; let us tell them that the Son of man was made manifest to destroy their appetites, and that He can and will take them away. He can destroy their taste for liquor, and when that is done the saloons will soon be closed. In one of our temperance meetings in Chicago a business man arose and told a most remarkable story. He said that eight years before, he was a confirmed drunkard ; his father, who died a drunkard, used to give him li(juor when he was a little boy of four years; his friends had forsaken him; he had been taken into court and sent to jail as a vagrant; his only fear was that the ])nlicc would get hold of him; his only ambi- tion was to keep out of the hands of the law and to drink liquor all day and sleep at night wherever he could. One night he went down to the lake shore, and a tenible storm arose, and for the first time in his life he cried to God to help him. He said, " My friends, although a vagrant and an outcast, God met me there on the lake shore; He took hold of my right hand WAITIXC. AM) WATflllXC 235 and I have never had any taste for Hqnor since; He has kept me for eight years." Now, I licheve that God destroyed that man's appetite for hcjuor, root and Ijranch. When we were in Chicago, a St. Louis merchant, staying in the city on business, heard that we were trying to reach and reform drinking men ; and he thought he woukl try to induce a friend, who was a hard driidAV .MIRACLES. these miracles if they were not supernatural. I think that we are having;- miracles now just as wonderful as those which Christ perfornicd when lie was t)n earth. In one of our meet- ings a man stated that he had l)een a confirmed drunkard for thirty years, and that God had taken away his appetite for strong drink. His face shone as he told what God had done for him. The conversion of tliat man I considered super- natural. I should like to have a man explain how such a thing is done by natural causes. I know there are a great many who doubt these witnesses. If a man had told me years ago that a man could be a drunkard for tliirty or forty years, and then could have his appetite taken away from him, I should have doul)te(l his word. I have always believed that God could save a drunkard, but I l)elieved that he had to carry that appetite down to the grave; but God, I find, is going to destroy the works of the devil, and this appetite for strong drink is one of the devil's works. Taking away a man's appetite for drink is supernatural work, and that is what (lod does. Let us take the case of a drunkard who has heard of the saving power of God. I think a drunkard's home is about the darkest spot on earth; I think it is about as near hell as you can get in this world. In heathen countries I liave visited I haven't found anything darker than a home in a civilized land where there is a drunken father; I believe a drunken fatlier and a drunkard's home is the curse of curses. A drunkard is a slave; when he would break away from liquor an unseen power drags him on ; when he would push forward, there is a power that holds him back. Many and many a time he has tried to ])reak away from strong drink ; l)ut at last tlie sim])le truth reaches him, and he hears that all he has to do is to look to Jesus Christ for salvation, deliverance, and redemption. He begins to wake up and he says, " I wonder if it is true that I can be delivered from the power of strong drink? 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever ' — ' Whosoever ' — that means me; it means everv drunkard. 'WHOSOEVER' — HE CAME TO SAVE ME. 237 Thank God for the sweep in that text. Can I be saved from a drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell, and onee more lift up my head in soeiety? Can my children look up to me once more and speak to me respectfully? That would be a wonder- ful transformation! I wonder if it is all true?" He goes home to his wife and asks: " Mary, have we a Bible in the house?" " Oh, John," Mary says, " I hope you are not going to take my mother's Bible from me; it is the only thing I have left that mother gave me. When she died she said. ' Mary, there are untold treasures hidden in that Book, and I want you to keep it.' Oh, John, don't pawn it! You took my wedding ring and sold it for whiskey, and you have sold almost everything else for whiskey; but you are not going to sell my mother's Bible for whiskey, are you?" " No," says John, " I don't want to pawn it; just go and get it." And she brings the Bible, and John says: " I wish you would find the third chapter of the Gospel of John." She finds the place at last, and begins to read; and when she gets along down to the fourteenth verse, John stops her and says: " Just read that again, carefully." And she reads it again. " Mary," says John, " I thought Jesus Christ came into the world to condemn me, because I am a drunkard, l)ecause I am a poor sinner. I have condemned myself; my children have condemned me; my father has condemned me; my mother has condemned me; but 1 read there for the first time that Jesus Christ didn't come to condemn me. He came to saz'c me." It began to dawn upon him that God sent His Son that he might be delivered. " Mar}-, can you pray? " " Well, John, I used to know how to pray, but when things got so bad, I became discouraged and gave up praying." "Won't you try? I want you to pray for me." 2-8 A WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION. And I see the poor drunkard and his wife get down on their knees, and she tries to pray that God will deliver him. Then John tries to pray; he can't pray very well, but it is an honest cry for mercy. The greatest drunkard will be heard, if there is an honest cry for help; in prayer he is looking away from man to a higher source; he is looking to God, who has almighty power. After a while he says: " Mary, I never had such a feeling in my heart as I have now; " and he kisses his wife. It is a long time since he kissed her, and the dear woman begins to think how happy she was when she first married him. The next morning he repeats that prayer; they wake up the children, and the children can't understand it; they have been used to hearing him curse and swear, and now he is talking about religion, and ])raying. He speaks kindly to the chil- dren, and they can hardly believe their senses. He goes out and finds work' that brings him in a dollar. He passes the saloon on his way home, but he docs not go in. God has kci)t him all day, and no Rothschild ever felt so rich as when he went home with that dollar for his family. Go into that home six months hence, and the place is trans- formed. The rags are gone from the windows, the old broken furniture is gone, and new has taken its place. The wife has grown ten years younger, and is happy and cheerful. After supper he sings the old liynm. " Ju.st as I am without one pica. But that Thy blood was shed ft)r mo; And that Thou bidst mc conic to Tliee; Oh, Lamb of God, I cnmc." The miserv and woe and the curses of the drunkard are gone forever, and songs of Zion are sung in that home. Thank God! that is taking place all over our land. 'i"he first dutv of a reformed man is to take care of his famib'. ^'our money belongs at home. If your wife has had a hard struggle, and you have l)een s(|uandering your money in S-5 5.3 SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE. 24I saloons and rumshops, you want to take it home now; your aim should be to make your home just as comfortable for your dear ones as you possibly can. Clothe your children, and don't let them be hooted at on the street as children of a drunkard. Give them comfortable clothes and a comfortable home. Now, here is a question that has been asked: " Ought a man to pay his liquor bills after he is converted? " " Render unto Qesar the things wdiich are C?esar's." If you want to have any influence with these rumsellers, go and pay your bills. If vou owe a liquor bill, the mistake is made; you never ought to have contracted the bill, but you must go and pay the debt. We have a right to go into debt for only one thing, and that is love. I believe that a great many people are suffering a thou- sand times more than they would if they had not run into debt, not only for liquor, but for other things. If you will take my advice, you will keep out of debt. If friends want to advance money to help you, tell them you won't have it. I would rather have twenty-five cents that I liave earned by the sweat of my brow than twenty-five dollars that I have borrowed, and which I shall have to pay back. Work }-our own way up to the to]") of the ladder and you are likely to stay there; but if you are lifted up there you will be all the time tumbling back and you will get disheartened and dis- couraged. It may l)c that it will take years for some of you to pav your debts; but if your hearts are right, and your pur- pose right, and you mean to jwy your liills, and do pay them just as soon as you can, that is just as acceptable to God as if vou ])ai(I them all at once. If reformed men are deeply in debt, and they have not a jienny to pay with, their creditors must wait. I have great confidence in men who profess to be re- claimed, if the^■ show a disposition to go to work. That is a very sure sign of reformation. If you cannot get as much for your work as you think you ought to have, get whatever you can. Rut some of these men have not done amthing for vears o^2 GETTING A FOOTHOLD. but drink liquor, and they are not fit for much at first. It is difficult to get them situations, and if we do succeed in getting them work they ought to take it and thank God for it. If it is not what you like, thank God that it is something. Some- thing is a good deal better than nothing. There was a con- verted man in Chicago who could not get the kind of work he wanted, but he found a man who would board him and give him twenty-five cents a week. He accepted the offer and went to work. Twenty-five cents a week! Well, that wasn't much, but he got his board, and that was a good deal. Pretty soon a business man heard of it, and he said, " That's the man for me; that is just the man I want; " and he hired him and gave him four dollars a day. There is many a man who will help you up if vou will show a disposition to help yourselves. You must be such true men, and so helpful to your employers that tb.ev cannot get along without you, and then you will work up, and your employer wall increase your wages. If a man works in the interest of his employer he will be sure to keep him and treat him well; but if he only works for money and don't take any interest in his employer's business, he will soon let him go. They can get any number of such men; but when they get hold of a man that takes a real interest in his work he cannot be spared, for such men are scarce. If you cannot earn more than a dollar a week, earn that. That is better than nothing, and you can pray to God for more. If you are looking for work do not ])cg. Ask for some- thing to do. Your meals will taste a good deal sweeter when you have earned them by the sweat of your brow. There was one good thing about the ])rc)(Hgal son, he would not beg, and he would not steal. He would not even steal the swine's food. That is the kind of men we want now. If you will not beg or steal, men will respect and hel]) you. What we want to-day is true men, and if ]H'0])1c' find that you arc a true man, they will make room for you. It may be hard to get the first foothold, but if you hold right on, God will open a way for you, and. if need be, send down a legion of angels to help you. PRETKNDEl) CONVP'.RTS. 243 " What wouUl }ou do with a man that would not work? " I think Paul has it right: " if any would not work, neither should he eat." I think we are doing men a great injury if we continue to help them when they won't work. Some of these men have professed Christ, but there is a difference between conversion and being born of God; being regenerated. We are living in davs of sham — • and sometimes when these men see that others are getting food and new clothes, they say: " Those fellows arc making a good thing out of it; I guess I'll reform, too." When I was President of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation in Chicago men were coming in all the time for work. They would tell harrowing tales about their suffering, how they had no work, and how much they w'anted help. At last I got two or three hundred cords of wood and put it in a vacant lot, and I got a lot of saws and sawbucks and kept them out of sight. When a man came in and asked for help, I would say: " Why don't you work? " " Can't get any." " Would you work if you could get it? " " Oh, yes, Pd work at anything." " Would you really w-ork in the street? " " Yes." "Would you saw wood?" " Yes." "All right." Then we w'ould bring out a saw and a sawbuck and send him out into the lot, but we would send a boy to watch him, to see that he didn't steal the saw. By and by the fellow would say: " T guess I'll go home and tell my wife I have got some work," and that would be the last w^e would see of him. That whole winter I never got more than three or four cords of wood sawed. If vou are always showering money on these shiftless men, and giving them food and clothing, they will live in idleness, 2AA NO CHARITY FOR THK LAZY. and not only ruin themselves, but their children. It is not charity at all to help them when they will not work. If a man v/ill not work, let him starve. I never heard of their really starving to death. 1 had charge of relief work in Chicago for a number of years, and 1 was brought into contact with a good many of these lazy men, and I say there is no hope of a man who will not work. Talk about their conversion — it is often onlv just put on to get a little money without work. This is the class we have so much difficulty with in large cities. I knew one of these men in Chicago who did not drink, but he was always poor. What kept him down I could not tell. He had five children. I do not believe his furniture was worth five dollars, and he had no beds. One cold day he came to see me. He said the landlord had put his family out on the prairie. I said : " McDonald, you are a mystery to me; I have known you for years; what do you do with your money? I begin to think you are lazy." " I think you hit it there," he said. " Well, you must go," I said. " I pity your wife and chil- dren, but I am not going to take care of a lazy man, like you all winter." " That's pretty hard," he said. " I know it is, but I can't help it." That was in the morning. About five o'clock in the after- noon he came back. He asked for a place for his children to sleep. He knew I wouldn't let those children stay out all night; he knew he had me. T said: " What have you been doing all day? " He used a great many Ing words, and said he had been studying the philosophy of pauperism! We have got to take care of the cliildren; but these able- bodied lazy men, if they will not work, must starve. A man once said to me that he didn't believe there was any love at all; that Christians professed to have love. 1)ut he didn't believe they ought to have two coats. I think he re- EVILS OF PROMISCUOUS CHARITY. 245 fleeted on me, because I had on my overcoat at the time, and he hadn't got any. 1 looked at him and said: " Suppose I sliould give you one of my coats, you would pawn it for drink before sundown. I love }ou too much to give you my coat and have you drink it up." A good many people complain that Christians don't have the love they ought to have for their fellow men; but I tell you it is no sign of want of love that we don't love the downright lazy man. Some years ago I picked up several children in Chicago, and thought I would clothe and feed them; and T took special interest in those boys, to see what I could make of them. I don't believe it was thirty days before the clothes I had given them had all gone for whiskey; the fathers had drank them up. One day I met one of these little fellows, for whom I had i)ought a pair of shoes only the day before. It was beginning to snow, and he was barefooted. " Mike," said I, " how's this? Where are your shoes? " " Father and mother took them away," said he. There it was; the shoes had probably been drunk up. There is a good deal of promiscuous charity that really does a great deal of mischief; and people must not think, because we don't give them m.oney to aid them in their poverty, that we don't love them. I believe if the prodigal son could have got all the money he wanted in that foreign country he w'ould never have returned home. It was a good thing for him that he got hard up, and had to live on the husks that the swine ate. It is a good thing that people should suffer. If lazy men get a good living without work, they w'ill never work. God has decreed that man shall earn his bread by the sweat of his 1»row, and not live on other people. A good manv men are always waiting for something to turn up. instead of going out and turning up something — looking for it and finding it. Let those men who have been drunkards just set out and work among their old friends. No man can reach a drunkard better than one who has been a drunkard himself. I don't know any work so blessed as going into saloons 246 COSPKL SOXC.S IX A SALOON. and preaching the gospel there. If drunkards will not come to church, go down where they are, in the name of our God, and you will reach them. If you say, " Oh, they will put me out." I say, " No, I have never been turned out of a saloon in my life." Go down in a saloon where there are thirty or forty men playing cards and drinking, and ask them if they don't want to hear a little singing. They will probably say: '* Yes, we don't mind your singing." " Well, what kind of music will you have? " And prob- ably they will ask you to sing a comic song. " lUit we don't know how to sing comic songs. Wouldn't )ou like to h.ave us sing the ' Star Spangled Banner,' or ' My Country, 'tis of Thee?" And so you sing " IMy Onuitry, 'tis of Thee," and by and by they stop playing cards to listen. " Now, boys, wouldn't you like to have us sing a hymn our mothers taught us when we were boys? " And then you sing " There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Inimanuel's veins; And sinners plunged beneath that Hood Lose all their guilty stains." Or sing " Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me," and it won't be long before hats will come ofif, and those men will remember how their mothers used to sing hynuis to them, and the tears will run down their cheeks; and soon you can read to them a few verses out of the lUble, and ])ray with them, and you will be having a prayer-meeting there before you know it. We took sixteen out of a saloon in that way one niglit, and nine (if them went into the inquiry-room. If these men will not come out to hear the glorious Gospel of the Son of God, let us carry it into saloons and wretched homes. — -.il "0 CHAPTER VIII. THE INFINITE LOVE OF GOD. A Business Man's Novel Suggestion — A Touching Incident — The Motto in Gas-jets — The Most Beautiful Thing in the World — • An Incident in Mr. Moody's Dublin Experience — What Changed Mr. Moody's Ideas about Preaching — Sentenced to Death — A Mother's Anguish — A Son's Untimely End — Asking to be Laid Beside her Dead Boy — Seeking the California Gold Fields — No Room in the Lifeboats — Remarkable Instance of a Mother's Love — " Tell Your Father I Died to Save You " — A Father's Search for His ./lissing Son — How He was Found in San Fran- cisco — Story of the Boys Who were forbidden to Climb Trees — The Little Dirty Chimney-sweep — Clasped to Flis Mother's Bosom — Mr. Spurgeon and the Weather-vane. I WAS once erecting a building in Chicago for workingmen, and a business man said to me, " I would like to put up a text on the wall of that building." I supposed he was going to put up a motto in fine fresco. But I soon found the gas-fitter was working back of the pulpit. " What are you doing? " I said. " Putting in gas jets," he replied. And, to my amazement, I found he was putting up the motto " GOD IS LOA'E." in gas jets so that it was impossible to light the church without lighting that text. One night a man was going by and he saw the gas-lighted text " GOD IS LOVE," and he said to himself " God is love." " God is love." By and by he came back, and he looked at it again. I saw him come in and take a seat by the door. Soon he put his hands up to his face, and once in a while I would see tears running down his cheeks, and I was foolish enough to think they were caused by my preaching. I went to him and said: (249) 2;o THE TEXT IX LETTERS OF LIGHT. "What is the trouble?" " I don't know." " \\"hat was there in the sermon that made you cry?" " I didn't know you had been preacliiuj;'." "Well, what was it that trembled you; was it anything in the songs? " " I don't know anything about the songs." " Well," I said, " what ;'.!.■ the matter? " " That text up there," he replied. V' ]\Iy man," I said, " believe that (iod loves you." ^" r am not worth loving." " That's true," I said, " but He loves you all the more." And I sat there a half-hour, and the truth of God's love shone into his soul and he became a new man. If I tlumglit I could make the world believe that (lod is love I would have only that one text, and I would go up and down the earth trying to counteract what Satan has been telling men — that God IS not love. He has made the world believe it effectually. It would not take twenty-four hours to make the world come to God if you could only make them believe that God is love. There was a time when I preached that God hated the sinner, and that He was after every poor siiuier with a double- edged sword, ready to hew him down. I'ut T have changed my ideas upon this point. T will tell you liow. When I was preaching in T)til)lin a young man who did not look over seventeen, though he was really older, said he would like to go back to America with me and preach the Gospel. I thought he could not i)reach it, and I put him off bv saying it was undecided when I should go back. After I arrived at Chicago I received a letter from him saying he had just arrived at New York, and he would like to come and preach for me. I wrote him a cold Utter, asking him to call on me if he ever came West. A few days after, I received a letter stating that he would be in Chicago on the next Thurs- dav. T didn't know what to do with him. I said to the ofifi- SEVKN SERMDNS FROM ONE TEXT. 25 1 ccrs of the church: " There is a man coming from England, and he wants to preach for mc. I am going to be absent on Thursday and Friday. If you will let him preach on those days I will be back on Saturday and take him ofif your hands." On my return on Saturday I was anxious to hear how the people liked him, and I asked my wife how that young Eng- lishman got along. She said, " They liked him very much. He preaches a little different from what you do. He_tells_sin- nersJJiat_God_loves then^^'^ I said he was wrong. I thought I could never like a man who preached contrary to what I was preaching. On Saturday- night I went down to hear him, but I had made up my mind not to like him. He announced his text, — and I saw that everybody had brought their Bibles with them. " Now," he said, " if you will turn to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse, you will find my text." He preached a wonderful sermon from the text, '' For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life." My wife had told me he had preached the two previous sermons from the same text, and I noticed the audi- ence smiled when he read it. Instead of preaching that God was behind them with a double-edged sword ready to hew them down, he told them how God wanted every sinner to be saved, and how He loved them. I could not keep back my tears. It was wonderful how he brought out Scripture. He went from Genesis to Revelation, and preached that in all ages God loved the sinner. On Sunday night a great crowd came to hear him. He preached his fourth sermon from that wonderful text. " For God so loved the world," etc., and he went from Genesis to Revelation to show that it was love, love, L0\'E that brought Christ from Heaven, that made Him step from the throne to lift up this poor, fallen world. He struck a higher chord that night, and it was glorious. The next night there was an inmiense crowd present, and he said: "Turn to the third chapter and sixteenth verse of 16 2C2 THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OK LOVE. John; " and he preached his fifth sermon from that text. He did not divide the text up into firstly, secondly, and thirdly, but he preached from it as a whole. The whole church was on fire with enthusiasm before the week was over. Tuesday night came, and there was a greater crowd pres- ent than ever. The preacher said: " Turn to the third chap- ter of John and the sixteenth verse and you will find my text." They thought that sermon was better than any of the rest. It seemed as if every heart was on fire, and sinners came pressing into the kingdom of God. On XWxInesday night people thought that probably he would change his text, and there was great excitement to hear what he was going to say. He stood before us again and said: " My friends, I have been trying to get a new text, but T cannot find any as good as the old one, so we will again turn to the third chapter of John and the six- teenth verse." He preached his seventh sermon from that wonderful text. I have never forgotten those nights. T have preached a different gospel since, and I have had more power with God and man since then. In closing up that seventh sermon he said: " For seven nights I have been trying to tell you how much (jod loved you, but this poor stanmiering tongue of mine will not let me. If I could ascend Jacob's ladder and ask Gabriel, who stands in the i)resence of the Almighty, to tell me how nmch love God the father has for this poor lost world, all that Gabriel could say would be, ' God so loved the world, that He gave 1 lis ()nl\- begotlen .Son, iliat whosoever be- lievcth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' " He went to Europe and returned again. In the meantinu- our church had ])een burned, and a temporary ])uil(ling liad been erected. When he returned he preached in this building, and said: "Although the old building is biuMit up. the old text is not burnt up, and we will preach from tliat." .So he preached from where he had left off before, about the love of God. y/ The deepest, strongest human tie is a mother's love for TRUE MOTHER LOVE. 353 her child. It is possible to separate a man from his wife, or a father from his son, and there may be in the wide world something that will separate a mother from her own child. There are drunken mothers who turn against their own off- spring; mothers so steeped in sin that they abuse or forsake their own children : but a true mother will never giye_up her_^ ^chiUl^ And so the Bible says, "Can a mother forget hsv_ child?" She may. But God says " Yet_jwilLI not forget _ Tliee." God's love is higher, deeper, and broader than a mother's love. Xr^oye always descends. ^Ajiiother loves more_ than the child_can love the mother. I used to tell my mother when I climbed up on her knee, " I love }'ou more than you do me." Mother would say, " It is impossible," and I doubted her. But when I became a father, and my boy said the same to me I realized what my mother felt, and I, too, said, " It is impossible." Dr. Gqodell once told me of a l)oy who used to go to school with him. His father was a very bad man, and seemed to take delight in teaching the boy every kind of vice and sin, until he became so bad that the Goodell boys were forbidden to play with him. It was not long before the boy's father died, and the lad went from bad to worse, until, at last, he was arrested for murder. He turned out to be the worst criminal that \'ermont ever had. He had killed five persons. When he was on trial for his life his mother was in the court room, and she took in every word that was said against her son, and it seemed to hurt her far more than it did him. And men wondered how she could love such a demon. She could not help it. _God planted the mother-love in her heart. When the verdict of " Guilty " was brought in it seemed as if she would faint away; and when the judge pronounced the sen- tence of death she was frantic with grief. She seemed to feel it far more than her boy. When the sheriff put him in a cold, damp cell the mother put her arms around him and they had to take the boy from her by force. She traveled the length and breadth of Vermont trying to get influential men to sign a ^54 L()\K FOR rill". UNWOR TIIV petition for liis reprieve. The day before the execution she saw liim for the last time, 'i'he supreme moment at leno;tli arrived, and when the boy was hang-ed she begged for tlie body that she might ])ut it in the old burial ])lot. where she could plant flowers upon the grave and water them with her tears. The Governor said " No." The law of the vStatc re- (luired the box's body to ])e buried in the ])rison \ard. And the mother, when dying, begged that her body might be buried close by that of her wayward son. It was the only thing in the universe that slie loved, and she thought she had a right to be laid beside it. It was a mother's love that made her Nyijjing to have her grave pointed out for all time as that of the__niother of a noted criminal. They say that death has burned out everything in this world. It seldom conquers a mother's love, f^d savj^ " I can never forget thee." God's love is tenderer and broader than man's. It never, never fails. A gentleman once attended a great dinner party, and he was impressed by the graceful manner in w hich the lady of the house presided over the gathering. ITe discovered after leaving the house that he had left something in the dining- room, so he went back to get it, and he fotind the hostess seated at the table with a }-oung man who looked like a tramp. She introduced him as her youngest son, and said, " He has_ gone far astray, but I love him still." Of course she did. That's what is going to bring this old world l)ack, — this old thought that " God is Love," with_an unchangeable, unfailing- love. _ Here was a boy who had a loving mother, who was as fair and lovely as any being on earth, and he turned his back on her, got drunk, and descended into the deepest kind of sin. He received no benefit from that mother's love, but the love wasjhere all the same. The sun shines on the just and the un- just alike, but you can go into a dark cellar and shut out the light. You can spurn the love of God; you can despise it; you can make light of it; but I hope the Holy Ghost will l)urn this truth down into your heart, that God loves you, — loYCS-yoti-ux- spite of your meanness and sins, — the_whoIe crowd of us. TMK MKANING OF THK CROSS. 255 I know of iiotliiiii;- that Ijriiigs out the love of God l)ctter than the Bible. AX'hen Paris was in the hands of the Com- mune they took some of the leading citizens and put them to death. Among others they imprisoned the Archbishop of Paris. There was a litllc window in the shape of a cross in the door of the cell, and when they dragged him out to die they found he had written over the ends of the cross thus: t DEPTH That cross tells us of God's love. Height: it reaches to the very throne of Heaven. Depthj it reaches to the bottom of_a lost world. Lengtli^aiid Breadth: it reaches to the very corners of the earth. It is not our good deeds, our tears, our prayers; it is the finished work of Jesus Christ thatsaves us, because He died and gave Himself for us. I do not believe any one can get a true glimpse of Jesus Christ without loving Him. A story is told of a man who went to California when the gold excitement broke out, and left his wife and little boy in New England. He said as soon as he was successful he would send for them. It was a long time before he was successful; but at last he sent the money, and his wife and child went to New York and sailed on a steamer for San Francisco. Every- thing was going well, when all at once the_dreadfur cry was hearcl " Fire, firer^__The fire swiftly spread Ihrough^^e" vessel; tliepumps were set at work; but they could not put it out. The flames gained on them, and the captain ordered the lifeboats launched. But there were not lifeboats enough to take all the passengers, and among_thoseleft on deck was the motli£r-_ajid her bov. The last boat was pushing away. If she did not get into that boat she must perish. She begged of the men to take her and her boy; but thev said, " We dare not /' 2^6 DYING TO SAVE HKR CHILI). take any more." Her tears and entreaties touched the heart uf one of the men and he said, " Let us take her; " but the others would not. Finally they said " We will take one." What did the mother do? Did she leap into that lifeboat and leave her boy behind to perish? That is not a mother's love^ She kissed him, dropped him over into the lifeboat, and said: If you H\:e_to secjyoiu:. falliex, tell him I^diedio save yoiC Suppose, when that youn_c; boy crrew to be a man, he should speak contemptuously of such a luother. would you not say, "He is an ungrateful wretch?" But, sinner, what are you .^oing_\yith Jesus^ Did he not do more than that? Was He not numbered among the transgressors for us? Was He not wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities? Did He not die for us? I heard of a minister living near Chicago whose son went to the city to sell his father's grain. The boy arrived in Chicago and sold the grain; but when it was time for him to arrive home he did not come. The father and mother sat up all night expecting to hear the sound of the return- ing wagon every minute, l)ut they waited and waited, and .still he did not come. The father became so uneasy that he went into the stable, saddled his horse, and rode to Chicago. When he reached there he found tliat his son had sold the grain l)ut had not been seen since. After making investigation he found that the boy had gone into a gambling house and lost all his money. After the gamblers had taken his ready money the}- advised him to sell his horse and wagon, and with the money thus obtained he could play again and make up his loss. He lost all and disappeared. A great many think as this young man thought, that rumsellers and_gamblers arc their best friends, when they are all the time taking from them their peace, their health, their money, their soul — ^erything they have, and are then ready to forsake After looking fruitlessly for his son. the father returned home and told his wife what had happened. P.iit lie did not A FATHER'S DEVOTION. 25/ give him up. He went from place to place, asking ministers to let him preach for them, and he always told the congrega- tion that he had a missing son dearer to him than life, and he urged them if ever they heard anything about him to let him know. At last he learned that he had gone to California. He arranged his business affairs and started for the Pacific coast to find him. When he arrived in San Francisco he began to preach, and he had notices put in the papers, hoping that they might reach the mining districts, trusting that if his son were there he might sec him. One Sunday, after preaching a ser- mon, he pronounced the benediction, and the audience went away. Rut he noticed in a corner one who remained. He \\xnt up to him and found his missing son. He did not repri- mand him, he did not pronounce judgment. upon him, but he put his loving arms around him, drew him to his bosom, and took him back home. This is but an illustration of what God has been domg for you. There has not been a day, an hour, a moment, that He has not been searching for you. He offers us His love and His forgiveness. Dr. Arnot was one of the greatest of Scotch divines. His mother died when he was only three weeks old, and there was a large famdy of them. The Arnot children got the impres- sion that their father was very stern and rigid and that he had a great many hard laws and rules. I suppose they missed the tender care and love of the mother. One rule was that the children should never climb trees ; and when the neiglibors" boys learned this they began to tell them about the w^ondcrful things that could be seen from the tops of the trees. Well, now, ^•ou tell a boy of twelve that he musn't climl) a tree and he will get up that tree some way. And so the .\rnot children were all the time teasing their father to let them climb a tree ; but he always said : " No."' One day he was busy reading, and the children said: " Father is reading. Let's slip down into the lot and climb a tree." 258 A FEATHER'S WISDOM AND LOVE. One of the little fellows watched to see that the father did not catch them. When his brother got up on the first branch, the little fellow on the ground said: " What do you see? " " Why, I don't see anything." " Then go higher, you haven't got high enough." So he went up higher, and again the little boy said: " Well, now what do you see? " " I don't see anything." " You aren't high enough, go higher." And the little fellow went up as high as he could go, and down he fell and broke his leg. Willie said he tried to get him into the house but he couldn't do it. He was scared nearly out of his wits. He thought his father would be very angry. But he ran into the house and told him, and his father started for the lot. When he got there he picked the boy up in his arms and brought him up to the house. Then he sent for the doctor. Willie got a new view of his father. He found out the reason why he was so stern. He said the moment that boy got hurt no mother could have been more loving and gentle. Aly dear friends, there is not one commandment that has been eiven us which has not been for 01. r highest and best good, ihere isn't a conmiandment that hasn't come from the loving heart of God. and what He wants is to have us give up that which is going to mar our hap])incss in tliis life and in the life to come. An Englishman told me a story once that may serve to illustrate the truth tliat God loves men in their sin. He does not love sin, but He loves men even in their sin. . A great many years ago a little boy was stolen in London. Long months and years passed away, and the mother had prayed and prayed, and all lur efforts to find him liad failed; but slie did not quite give up hope. One day a boy was sent to sweep the chimney, and by some mistake he came down by a different chimney and landed in the sitting-room. He thought things THE LESSON OF THE VAXE. 259 looked strangely familiar. His memory began to travel back through the years that had passed. The scenes of earlier days were dawning upon him, and as he stood surveying the place his mother came into the room. He was clothed with rags and covered with soot. But the mother recognized her own. It was her boy. Did_shc wait until she sent him to be washed before she took him in her arms_? No, indeed: she took him J4ist as h e was, all black and grimy, and hugged him to her bosom, and shed tears of joy over him^ If you have wandered far from Him; if there is not a sound spot on you, if you wilL just come to God He will forgive all and receive you . One day Mr. Spurgeon went into the country to spend a little time with a friend. This friend had a weather-vane on his barn and on the weather-vane were the words " God is Love." " " What do you mean by that? " said Mr. Spurgeon. " Do you mean that God's love is as changeable as the wind? " " No," said his friend, '^I believe that God is love which;:^' ever way the wind blows." Now, it is pretty hard to make saint or sinner believe that. When things are running smoothly we believe that God is love, but when things go wTong we think God does not love us, and when things are unfortunate and seem to be against us, then it is that we think that Christ has forgotten us. Now, if I could just get you to believe that God loves you in spite of your failings, in spite of your sins, your backslidings. and your lukewarmness, I tell you it would be a grand day for your souls. CHAPTER IX. NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST. STANDING UP FOR JESUS. Mr. Moody's Ride with a Mormon Engineer — A Man Who was Proud of His Religion — An Amusing Story of Two Cowards — A Policeman Who was Ashamed of His Uniform — The Motto on the Building — A Confession of Cowardice — Story of the Two Young Men Who Sneaked Out to Hear Mr. IMoody — Far-reach- ing Results of a vSporting Man's Conversion — Students Plan to Rotten Egg Mr. Moody — Carrying a Sermon in His Pocket- book — Three Fast Young Men Who Went to Ridicule ]\Ir. Moody — A Noisy Meeting — A Chinese Test of a Christian — Speaking On a Dry-goods Box — Story of the Young Lawyer Who Came Out for Christ — How Judge McLean Took His Stand — Praying in the Barracks. SOME years ag-o I went to Salt Lake City, and when within forty miles of that place, the engineer of the train sent word that he would like to have me ride in the engine cab with him. He was a Mormon elder, and he wanted to convert me to Mormonism before I arrived at Salt Lake City. He wasn't ashamed of his religion ; he gloried in it. The only religion that I know of that men are ashamed of is the religion of Jestis Christ. If a man believes in a false re- ligion he is always proud of it. 1 have never Umnd a Chinaman who wasn't proud of being a disciple of Confucius. When 1 was in the Mohammedan country some time ago, I didn't find a Mohammedan who didnt feel proud tliat lie was a disciple of Mohammed ; but the disciples of Christ are ashamed of the only religion in the world that gives a man self-control ; the only one that tells how men's sins may be blotted out; the only one that lifts him out of the ])it and the mire. A man once said to me, " How do you account for the fact (260) THE WAY OP' CALVARY. 26 1 that ^lohammcd lived six hundred years later than Christ, and yet Mohammed has more disciples than Christ? "' 1 said, " It is very easily accounted for. A man can be a disciple of Mo- hammed and not deny himself, and never bear a cross. He can live in the darkest, blackest, vilest sin, and yet be a Mo- hanmiedan ; but a man cannot be a disciple of Christ without den}ing- himself, without giving up sin, and without taking his cross to follow Him.'' I have often said there would be a great stampede into the kingdom of God if men could get into heaven without going by the way of Calvary. If we could only slip around that hill, and get upon the Mount of Trans- figuration, stepping over the cross, and reaching the crown, there would be a great rush that way. But it cannot be done. The way to Heaven is straight, and in the way there is a cross. In one of our meetings a little tow-headed "Norwegian boy stood up. He could hardly speak a word of English, but he got up and came to the front. He trembled and the tears trickled down his cheeks, and he said : " If I tell the world about Jesus, He will tell the Father about me." That was all he said, but I tell you that in those few words he said more than all the rest of them, old and young, together. They went straight down into the heart of every one present. " If I tell the world "' — • yes, that's what it means, to confess Christ. When a man dies we ought not to be compelled to go to his native town and hunt up some old, musty church record, in order to know whether he was a Christian. The Gospel does not mean that you are to join some church and confess Him once publicly, and let that be the end of it, but you are to " take up your cross daily and follow Him." Are there not hundreds who are really ashamed of Christ ? I heard a story about two young men who came to the city from the country on a visit. They went to the same boarding-house and took a room together. \\'hen they were ready to go to bed each felt ashamed to get down on his knees before the other. So they sat watching each other. In fact, to express the situation in one word, thev both were cowards — ves. 262 MORAL COURAGE REQUIRED. cowards ! At last one of thcni mustered up a little courage, and with burning cheeks, as if he was about to do something wicked, he knelt down to say his prayers. As soon as his com- panion saw that he also knelt. After they had said their prayers one said to the other : " I am glad that you knelt ; I was afraid of you." " Well," said the other, " I was afraid of you, too." So it turned out that both were Christians, and yet they were afraid of each other. You smile at that, but how many times have you done the same thing — perhaps not in that way. but the same thing in cfTect. What would }ou think of a man who wants to be a police- man but is unwilling to put on a policeman's uniform. He doesn't want any one else to know that he is a policeman. Do you think he would be a very efficient policeman ? Do you think that your life and property would be safe with an of^ccr like him ? What would you think of a man who wants to fight for his country, who says, " I am just full of patriotism, but I don't want to put on a soldier's uniform, or have any one know that I am a soldier." What would you do with an army of such men? Why. a little band of five hundred men whose hearts were truly patriotic, and w^ho lived for their country, would rout an army of five hundred thousand of such cowards. It takes a hero to be a Christian. Mark that. It takes moral courage to come out and confess Christ, and the lack of it keeps more people out of the kingdom of God than any- thing else. Now, some may say, " Really, if I should confess Christ, what would they say down at the factory where I work ? " " Aha! Up to hear Moody last night, were you?" "Did Moody catch you?" "Did you get converted?" "Did you get religion?" And }ou sneak off like a hound, and say, " No, sir. I don't believe in Moody. I never went to hear him." That is what you would do. I pity the man who will be laughed out of i)rincii)le. Is it right to serve God ? If it is. serve Him. Take vour stand, and STAND. Confess TAKE A BOLD STAND. 263 liini, and the whole thing is settled. Then it is that eternal life begins. Then it is that you become a child of God and an heir of Heaven. Thousands have gone down to the caverns of death for want of this courage. My friends, let us look this great ques- tion in the face. If there is anything at all in the religion of Christ, give everything for it. If there is nothing in it — if it is a myth, if our mothers who have prayed over us have been deceived, if the praying people of the last 1900 years have been deluded, let us find it out. The sooner the better. If there is nothing in the religion of Christ let us abandon it, and eat, drink, and be merry, for time will soon be gone. If there is no devil to deceive us, no hell to receive us ; if Christianity is a sham, let us come out like men and say so. I hope to live to see the time when there will only be two classes in this world — ■ those who take their stand bravely for Chirst, and those who take their stand against Him. This idea of men standing still and saying, " Well. I don't know, but I think there may be something in it," is absurd. If there is anything it it there is everything in it. If the Bible of our mothers is not true let us burn it. If it is false, why spend so much money in publish- ing it? Why send out millions of Bibles to the nations of the earth ? Let us destroy it if it be false, and all those institutions that give the Gospel to the world. What is the use of all this waste of money ? Are we mad ? Are we lunatics ? Have we been deluded? If so. let us burn the Bible and shout over its ashes : " There is no God ; there is no hell ; there is no Heaven ; there is no hereafter. When men die, they die like dogs in the street." But, my friends, if it is true — if there is a Heaven, a hereafter, if the Bible is true — let us come out boldly, like men, for Christ. Let us take our stand, and not be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is v.n old stone building that belongs to the Univer- sity of Aberdeen, and upon it is inscribed a motto that has been there for many years. I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and I went up to look at it. It is this : " They say. What i64 A GOOD iMOTTC). do they say? Let tJietn say." That's a pretty good motto_{or_ a man who wants to be a Christian, isn't it? I took that for my motto. It is of very Httlc account what man thinks of me, but I tell you it is very important what God thinks of me. A man once said to me, " I can't let anybody know." T said, " You will never get into the kingdom of Heaven then." He tried otherwise, hut he could not get in until he came by the regular wa}-. If there were a back door to heaven, there would be a big rush that way, and people would sneak in and sit down as if they had always been there. You are not fit to be a disciple of Jesus Christ if you are ashamed of Him. When I was preaching in New York there came into the inquiry-room a great strong man, six feet tall, who wanted to become a Christian. He seemed very nnich moved. I think I spent an hour with him. The next night I had another long talk with him. T could ])ring him to a certain point, but could not bring him to the Cross. Finally, I said to a prominent layman : " I wish you would win that man's confidence, and see what it is that is keeping him from Christ." He had two or three interviews with him and gave it up. But one night, at the young converts' meeting, he rose and confessed that he had found Christ. I said : " What was the obstacle that kept you from Him so long? " He colored up clear to the roots of his liair. He seemed very much embarrassed, and finally said that the first night I talked with him the thought came to his mind. " If I become a Christian I've got to get a liible and read before my room- mate, and he will laugh at me." He tried every way he could to get into the kingdom of God and not let his roommate know it. Night after night the cross came up: " I've got to get a Bible and read before my roommate." And he thought lie never could do it. lUit one night the burden became so great that he made up his mind that he would go home and read the Bible and let his roommate laugh. So he went to his room, and was very glad to find that his roommate wasn't there. He THE FEAR OK RIDICULE. 265 got the Bible out, and had read but three or four verses when he heard his roommate's step on the stairs. His first impulse was to slip the Bible into his trunk, and appear as though he was getting ready to retire. The second thought was, " Now is the time to let him know." So he sat there, reading. His roommate came in, looked, and said : " A^re you interested in the Bible? " " I am." It is a good thing to get your hps open, and to say as much as that. " How long has this been going on? " " Well, I went to hear ^Nloody, and I made up my mind to become a Christian ; but I have been too much of a coward to read and pray before you, because I thought you would laugh at me. I have been greatly troubled ; but I made up my mind to-night I would read my Bible and pray, and let you laugh all you wanted to." " Well, now," said his roommate, " that is rather singular. I have been attending those meetings myself. I was converted by the same sermon you say affected you. and I have been try- ing ever since to screw my courage up to get my Bible out and read it before you," And those two "cowards had been sneaking out, unknown to each other, and going to the same meetings, and each was afraid of the other. When I was preaching in Agricultural Hall, in London, some wealthy men. then recently returned from India, were living fast lives in that city, and the subject of Moody and Sankey came up at the dinner-table, and they called us "mountebanks." One of them, a wealthy sporting man who had twenty-nine horses in his stalls, said : " Well, gentlemen, I know every one of you. and there is not one of us trying to do good ; and I am told these two men are trying to do good." He took his little daughter and came to Agricultural Hall. There were twenty thousand peoi)le there. The little girl said : " Papa, I want you to introduce me to Mr. Moody." He 266 RECORDS OF USEFULNESS. did SO. Then she wanted nie to speak to her father. So I got an opportunity to talk with him. After he had gone people said: " Do you know who that man is?" " No." " He is the leader of the sporting men of London, antl has won many a Derby." That man was converted. I lis son was at Eton, and he per- suaded me to go down there. The students had planned to throw rotten eggs at me. But he said : " If any rotten eggs are to be thrown at Air. Moody, I will take my share," and he stood by my side. Four of his sons were converted. One of them preached the Gospel in London, and another preached it in California. Look at the far-reaching results. I can't begin to tell you the hundreds of people converted before that man went up to glory. His daughter who led him to Christ is married to a good man, and her husband is working for the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, just think that some man or woman or child may confess Jesus Christ to-day, and twenty or thirty years hence there will be tens of thousands who have been turned to Him by that one confession. I once received a letter from a man who heard me preach twenty-five years before. He said that a sermon on the power of Christ to save was published in a newspaper, and he cut it out and saved it. It was a blessing to his soul, and he carried it in his pocketbook until he wore it to pieces. I have a letter which reads : " The last time I heard you was in Liverpool over twenty-five years ago. Three of us wx>nt to hear you and make sport and ridicule. We were fast young men ; drunkards and debauchees. At the close of the service w^e went away to pray. That night we shook hands, and said, 'We will bid farewell to sin.' That night we turned from our evil ways. One of tin- lliree died as a missionary on the Congo. Another died serving the Lord in Egypt. The two are in glory. I have three sons, and they are on the Lord's side. It is a great thing to stand up for Christ." A WOMAN'S DECISION. 267 A lady who had never been to any other than a Quaker meeting lost her child by death, and she said, " I will go to Moody's meeting, and perhaps I can get a little comfort." God blessed her. She had a nephew and a brother who were going down through strong drink. She went home and said to her family, " I want you to go with me and hear that Amer- ican." The meeting was held in the Free Methodist Church. That night there was a noisy time, and the Quakers were shocked, and on the way home she heard her nephew and her brother making sport of what had been said on the subject of the New Birth. As she went into the house the thought oc- curred to her, " Now it may be that the eternal destiny of these two men will depend on my action at supper to-night ; " and she fell on her knees and prayed God to help her. At the supper-table they made all manner of sport ; and she stood up for Jesus Christ, and confessed him. Then they said : " You don't believe what Moody said about being born again, do you? We Quakers have never been taught that." " Well," she said, " God has blessed my soul to-day, and I would not say a word against what can bless other people. If you can get what I have you will thank God all your life." The next night the two men intended to go to the theater, but through her influence they went to the meeting instead, and in a little while the nephew, who was working in one of the great foundries that he might learn the business in order to become proprietor of it, came with a petition signed by eight- een thousand workingmen, asking me to preach to them. A great and glorious work followed among them, and all because of the stand that lady took for Christ. Stand for God, and don't be laughed out of it. In some parts of China the English government has made arrangements that a man who has given up his old religion is not obliged to pay taxes to the joss houses. When the tax- collector comes around, if a man says he does not have to pay taxes because he is a Christian, the tax-collector makes him preach to prove that he is a Christian. If we were to escape 17 268 ASHAMED, BUT NOT OF CHRIST. taxes here by preaching, many would preach. What we want is to testify, to be ready at all times to give our testimony, and not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. A young man was converted some years ago who was so full of the joy of believing that he could not hold his peace. He had to speak, and so he mounted a drygoods box on the corner of the street and told what Christ had done for him. A large crowd gathered around, and by and by one of these modern free-thinkers interrupted him, and said : • " Young man, you ought to be ashamed to be standing there and talking such stuff." The young man was embarrassed, and colored up, and said : " I am ashamed of myself, but I am not ashamed of Christ, my Master." People say, " I am ashamed to speak for Christ because I can't speak better." So am I. Many a time I have wished the floor would open and let me drop out of sight. He is worthy of a better witness than I am. I can honestly say that I have been ashamed of myself a good many times, Init I do not re- member that I have ever been ashamed of my Lord and Master. Some say, " If I were a man of wealth and culture and in- fluence I could do so much for Christ." Cod can take a tramp and make him more than a man of wealth for Christ. John Bunyan w-as worth more than all the wealthy men of his day. If we had wanted some one to write a book worth more than all other books, except the Bible, we should probably have gone to Cambridge or Oxford ; but the Lord converted a drunken tinker and he wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress." The Loid can take an outcast and make him shine, not only here, but in eternity. Many years ago a young lawyer went home one day and told his wife that he had become a Christian that day in his office. They were going to have company at supper that night, and he said : " After supper I want the servants to come into the draw- ing-room, and I am going to read and pray." THE FIRST PRAYER. 269 Although his wife was a professed Christian, she said : " My dear, you know these lawyers who are coming to dinner are scoffers and skeptics, and it will be embarrassing if you should not succeed in your first attempt to pray. Don't you think you had better put it off until after they are gone and then go into the kitchen and pray with the servants? " The young lawyer thought a little while, and then said : " Well, wife, it is the first time I ever asked Jesus Christ into our home, and I think I will ask him into the best room in the house." After supper he told the gentlemen who had assembled that he had that day accepted Jesus Christ, and he would like them to remain while he prayed. They went into the parlor, and the young lawyer led in prayer. That was Judge McLean, one of the ablest Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, who stood for Christ constantly for over forty years. Wasn't that a grand confession? During the Civil War a young man who had enlisted was assigned to the barracks with a number of other soldiers, and when night came, as was his custom, he knelt down and prayed. The rest were playing cards to see who should pay for the drinks. They began to curse him, and throw things at him. The next night it was worse ; they just howled. The next night it was still worse. He saw the Chaplain and said : "What shall I do?" The Chaplain said, " Well, those men have just as good a right there as you have. I think you had better give it up. It disturbs them." " W"hy," he said, " I don't pray very loud." " Well, I wouldn't disturb them. You can get into your bunk and pray there. You can pray on your back as well as on your knees ; and the Lord will hear you just as well." The young soldier was disappointed. It was a long time before the Chaplain got sight of him again, for the young man avoided him after that. But one day they came suddenly upon each other, and the Chaplain said : 270 A SOLDIER'S COURAGE. " Did you take my advice ? " " Yes, for three niglits." " How did it work?" " Work ? — it didn't work at all. I got into my bunk like a coward; my conscience wouldn't let me sleep. So, finally, I resolved I would pray before them all, and I've done so ever smce. \Miat do you think has been the result? Three of the men have been converted ; we have a prayer-meeting every night, and I think we will get the whole company." That's what is wanted — men of moral courage to stand up for the right. If you want the blessing of Heaven, and the peace that passeth all understanding, you must be ready and willing to confess Him. Let the world know that you believe Him and arc not ashamed of Him. CHAPTER X. THE SOUL'S GREATEST NEED — WHAT CHRIST IS TO US. The Text on the Window Pane — " I've Got Him, Thank God! " — An Incident in the Life of Napoleon — A Legacy of Five MilUon Dollars — Sitting Quietly at the Feet of Jesus — A Touching Incident — "I Want to be With You " — An Incident of the Civil W^ar — The Call for Six Hundred Thousand Men — "We Are Coming, Father Abraham " — A Man of One Idea — " Oh, Moody is a Fanatic " — An Old Scotchman's Remark — " That Man Saved Me " — Anecdote of Rowland Hill — Selling a W^oman's Soul at Auction — The Two Bidders — Pursuing One's Shadow — An Incident of Mr. Moody's Boyhood — Chased by a Shadow — Bailing Out the Darkness — Mr. Moody's Early Experiences in the West — Looked Upon with Suspicion — Holding Meetings in Schoolhouses — The Lantern and the Tallow Dip. THE soul's greatest NEED. WE often hear people say, " Oh, he is a very good man, but he lacks one thing"; or, " She is a very s^ood person, but she lacks one thing." If that one thing is salvation, they lack everything. You might say all that a dead man lacks is life. Only one thing ! A sick man who is lying on the borders of the eternal world only lacks his health to make him all right. That is only one thing, but it is everything to a man who is sick. Money is everything to a man in want — a beggar. If a man lacks salvation he lacks everything ; and it seems to me it would be well for us to pause once in a while and ask ourselves the question, " Do we lack that one thing? " George Whitefield was once the guest of an old general who was held in high esteem. He wanted to speak to him about his soul, but his courage failed him. The general was an old man, but he was one of those who lack the one thing ; he lacked Christ and His salvation. Whitefield was to go away early in the morning, and the word had not been spoken ; so before (271) 2/2 TO HAVE AiND TO KNOW. he retired he wrote with a diamond upon a pane of glass in his room, " One thing thou lackest." After W'hitetield had gone one of the servants found that text on the window pane, and spoke to the general about it, and God used it to bring the old soldier to his knees, and into the Kingdom. I was once preaching in Manchester, England, and in a seat close up to the platform sat a man who looked up at me intently all the time. I looked right down on him and said : " My friend, won't you take Christ?" Said he, " I have got Him, thank God ! " He did not lack Him ; he had got Him ; and it is the privilege of every one to have salvation and to know he has it. Once when I was at sea we had been in fog and storm and darkness for a day or two, and didn't know just where we were ; but the moment the clouds broke away a little and we could get a glimpse of the sun we took an observation and found out where we were. I think it would be well for sinners to take an observation and find out where they are. Another thing : I don't believe we shall have peace, or com- fort, or joy, until the question of assurance is settled. Some people say, " It is presumption for you to say you know you are saved." I say it is presumption for me to say I doubt it when God has said it. Shall I doubt God's own words? But you say it is too good to be true. Then \ou must go and settle that with the Lord, not with me. I take it as I find it in the Word of God. Do you think He is going to leave His children to go through life not knowing ^\hether the\- are going to glory or perdition? There is no knowledge like that of a man who kiiozvs he is saved, who can look up and see his " title clear to mansions in the skies." It is said of Napoleon that one day when he was reviewing his army his horse became frightened and ran away at full speed, and the Emperor's life was in danger. He could not get hold of the rein, but a private soldier sprang out of the ranks, and was successful in getting hold of the horse's head at the peril of his own life. The Emperor was pleased. Touch- ing his hat, he said to him : TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD. 273 " I make you Captain of my Guard." The soldier threw away his gun, stepped out of the ranks, and went up to where the body-guard stood. The captain of the guard ordered him back into the ranks, but he said: "No! I won't go!" " Why not ? " " Because I am Captain of the Guard." " You, Captain of the Guard ? " " Yes." "Who said so?" " He said so," pointing to the Emperor. That was enough. He took the Emperor at his word. My friends, if God says anything let us take Him at His word. Christ is ours for time and eternity ; He will never leave us. It seems to me that we want this doctrine preached and taught so that Christians will be encouraged to talk to others. Make it personal. One thing I know — I cannot read other minds and other hearts ; I cannot read the Bible and lay hold of it for others ; but I can read for myself, and take God at His word. The great trouble is, people take everything in a general way, and do not apply it to themselves personally. Suppose a man should say to me, " Moody, a man in Europe died last week, and left five million dollars to a certain individ- ual." " Well," I say, " I don't doubt it ; it's rather a common thing to happen," and I think nothing more about it. But sup- pose he says, " He left the money to you." Then I pay atten- tion ; I say, " To me ? " " Yes, he left it all to you." I become suddenly interested, and want to know all about it. So we are apt to think Christ died for sinners ; that He died for everybody in general, and for nobody in particular. But when the truth comes to me personally that eternal life is mine, and all the glories of Heaven are mine, I begin to be interested. The longer I live and the older I grow, the more convinced I am that there are times when we must sit quietly at the feet of Jesus, and only let God speak to our souls. Just keep quietly alone, and learn of Jesus. It is when a man is alone 274 ALONE WITH JESUS. with his wife that he tells her the precious secrets of his soul. It is not when the family are around or when there is company near. So, when we want to learn the secrets of heaven we should be alone with Jesus, and listen, that He may come and whisper to our souls. The richest hours I have ever had with God have not been in great assemblies, but sitting alone at the feet of Jesus. But in these hurrying days w^e cannot get time to listen to Christ's whisper. We are so busy we do not choose that one thing needful. If we did, we should not talk so much as we should listen, and when we did speak it would be only when we had something to say. I was very much touched one day, many years ago, when my little boy (my youngest) was quite small. I was in my study, and I told my wife I didn't want to be disturbed. I was tracing a line of truth very earnestly through the Bible, when I heard a gentle knock at my door. I said : " I don't want to be disturbed now." But the little knocking kept right on, and so I said : " Come in." Tt was my little boy. I thought I would dispose of him, so I said : " My son, what do you want? " He threw liis arms around my neck and kissed me, and said : " I don't want anything, only to be with you; I love you." I could not send him away then. I went to the closet and got some toys and i)ut them on the iloor before him, and I said to myself, " Dear little fellow ! He wants to be with me." I think there are times when the Lord wants us to be with Him, and not only when we want to ask Him for something. There are times when we want to be alone and let God talk with us. It is a hard thing to serve the public; but it is a glorious thing to serve Christ. He is not a hard master. He knows we are apt to make mistakes, and He is ready and willing to for- give. If Christ is such a glorious Master should we not be willing to sacrifice ourselves to Him and give up all and follow Him, and turn our backs upon this world and live for Him ? ANSWERING THE CALL. 2/5 When the Union was in danger, how many men laid down their Uves and gave up everything for their country ! The moment that Abraham Lincohi called for six hundred thousand men you could hear the steady tramp of their feet coming from every direction, and the song went up from all quarters, " We are coming, Father Abraham, six hundred thousand strong." All Mr. Lincoln had to do was to call, and the men came pour- ing in. Christ is calling for laborers now. The cry is, " What shall I do ? " Let me say to you, find some one thing and do it well. Do not think anything you do for the Lord is a little work. What seems to you a little work may be the mightiest work that has ever been done. I suppose they say of me, " O, Moody is a radical ; he is a fanatic ; he has only one idea." Well, it is a glorious idea. I would rather have that said of me than be a man of ten thousand ideas and do nothing with them. To have one idea, and that idea Christ, that is the man for me ; that is the man we want now. A man that has one idea, one desire, one thought, and that idea, that thought, that desire, Christ and Him crucified — that is what this perishing world wants now. It can get on without our rhetoric ; it can get on without our fine speeches, without our eloquence. It does not want them ; it needs Christ and Him crucified. WHAT CHRIST IS TO US. I had once been speaking on the subject : " What Christ Ofifers to be to Each One of Us," and on my way home I said to a Scotch friend who accompanied me, "I got only half through my subject to-night. The fact is, I wanted to tell the people all about Christ." He replied, " Ah, man, you don't expect to tell all about Christ in one meeting, do you? That will take all Eternity." If we are going to know Christ, we must meet Him at the cross ; we must know Him first as our Saviour. Don't start from the cradle, but start from the cross. Some one asked another who had been converted why Christ was divine. " Why," he said, " because He saved me." If he had 276 BIDDING FOR A SOUL. Studied a week he couldn't have given a better answer than that ; that is one of the best i)roofs that Jesus Christ is divine, because He saves. " There is no other name given under Heaven and among men " that is able to save, but that name. Redemption is more real than salvation. I asked a man some time ago why he thought so much of a certain man. I noticed that he could not speak of him without tears in his eyes, and so I said, " Why is it that you love that man as you do?" "Why, Mr. jMoody," he said, "he saved me." He told me how he became involved, how he took what did not belong to him, thinking he could replace it in a few weeks, but when that time came he found he could not. In a week or two exposure would come, and it meant sure ruin to him, his wife, and family. He went to this friend and poured out his heart, and he advanced him the money and paid the debt ; and he added. " I would lay down my life for that friend. He saved me." It was out of gratitude to that man that he was willing to give his life for him. Ask yourselves, Am I redeemed? If not, why not settle the great question now? Why postpone it any longer? Why make any more delay? It is said of Rowland Hill that he was once preaching in the ojien air when Lady Erskine rode by, and she ordered her carriage driven as close up as possible, so that she might hear him. And he said : " My friends, I have got something for .sale to-day." Of course all was silence then. " I am going," he said, " to sell it by auction. It is worth more than the crown of England. It is worth more than all the world. It is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine. Hark! I hear a bid f(jr her soul. Who bids? Satan bids. Satan, what will ^•ou give for this soul? ' I will give riches, and Imnor, and pleasure; yea, I will give the whole world for her soul! ' Do I hear another bid for this soul ? Ah ! methinks I hear another l)id. Who bids? The Lord Jesus bids. Jesus, what will you bid for this soul ? ' I will give peace, and joy, and comfort, that the world knows not of. Yea, I will give eternal life for her soul I ' " Turning to Lady Erskine he said, " You have here two thp: way, thk truth, and thk life. 277 bidders, which will you take?" And, ordering her carriage door opened, she made her way through the crowd and said, " The Lord Jesus shall have my soul if He will take it." That story may be true, or it may not be true. But it is true there are two parties bidding for your soul to-day. I hear people say, " There are so many creeds now, and so many different doctrines. I don't know the way to become a Christian. Here are our Roman Catholic friends, and they say theirs is the only way ; they say they came straight down from Pentecost. Then you go to the Episcopalians, and they will tell you that theirs is the apostolic church. You go over to Russia and they will tell you that the Greek church came right straight down from the Ark, and theirs must be the right way. Here are our good Baptist friends ; they think they are nearer right than any of them. Here are our Methodist friends ; you can tell a John-\\'esley Methodist anywhere, and they think they are right. Then come our Congregationalist friends, and they think they are nearer right than anybody else. Then a Presbyterian asserts that John Calvin and John Knox were nearer right than any of them, and the Lutherans think they are all right, and I don't know which is right." The Lord hasn't left us in the dark. He says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." Accept Christ and you will have the right way, the right life, and the right truth. When there were no paths through the woods, and men wanted to leave a sign by which others might follow them through the trackless forest, they chipped the trees with a hatchet, every few feet, and they called it " blazing the way." The Son of God came down here and blazed the way through the wilder- ness, and if we will take our eyes off from one another, and off from sects and creeds and doctrines, and follow Him, we shall be led in the right way. We would be saved many a dark hour, if we were only willing to walk with God, if we w^ould only just let Him take us by the hand and lead us. What God wants us to do is to follow in His footsteps. I have been told that scouts sometimes find an Indian trail con- 2/8 THE LIGHT OK THE WORLD. sisting of only one footprint, as if only one man had passed over the land. The chief goes before, and all the rest of the tribe follow him and put their feet into his footsteps. That is what our Chief wants us to do. He has passed through the heavens and gone up on high, and He wants us to follow. That brings me to another thing : Christ is the light ; not a light, but tlic light ; not a way, but the way ; not a door, but the door ; there is only one door. My dear friends, these denomi- nations build up fences : the Catholics have put up a high fence, the Greek church, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Congrega- tionalists, the Presbyterians, all have put up their fences, but the Lord Jesus will sweep them all away. Should anyone ask if you are a Methodist, or a Baptist, the question is of no account ; but the real question is. Are you a Christian, and bap- tized? If you are, these names don't amount to anything. When you get to heaven, you won't find Methodists or Bap- tists or Episcopalians or Romanists or Congregationalists or Presbyterians, but we shall all be one in Christ Jesus, the whole crowd of us. You can't be in the dark if you follow Christ. I was once in a gentleman's house, and he called my atten- tion to a picture that hung on the wall. I told him if any one had given it to me, I wouldn't put it up. The first time I saw it I thought it was a beautiful picture ; but w hen I remembered the text it portrayed, " I am the light of the world," I changed my opinion. It represented Jesus Christ standing at the door of a cottage, with a great lantern. I thought, " What does Jesus Christ want of a lantern ? " It would be like hanging a lantern on the sun. If you get Jesus Christ, you get the lantern and everything else. He is the light, and He will dispel all the darkness around you. If you want light, and peace, and jov, turn your eyes toward Jesus Christ, and they will all come to you. Did you ever try to catch your shadow? I have tried it. I placed a light on the floor, and tried to leap over the shadow, by jumping over the light ; but the shadow went over my head, and I never could catch it. T could run then faster than I can THE WAY TO DISPEL DARKNESS. 279 now, but I couldn't catch my shadow. It was a Uttle shadow then, not so big as it is now, but I couldn't catch it. I remem- ber one night when the sun had sunk far down in the west, I was going down the mountain side facing the sun, and a boy was coming after me, trying to catch me. I ran down the mountain — I was barefooted, and I could run pretty fast then — and by and by I looked over my shoulder to see if the boy was gaining on me, and what did I see ? A great long shadow coming after me, but I couldn't see tfie boy. I remember lots of times when I have been facing the sun, looking around and finding a shadow coming after me. I didn't try to catch it at all, but it was trying to catch me. Just turn your eyes to Jesus, and peace and joy will come right after you. Suppose a building was just completed, and it was then found that there were no windows in it, no electric lights, or gas, or means of lighting it ; and the builder's attention is called to it, and he comes in and says, " Why, I never thought about that! There is to be a meeting here this afternoon, and I've forgotten all about the lighting." So he gets some men with pails and sets them at work bailing out the darkness ! You would say that he was crazy — had gone mad ! The quickest way to dispel darkness is to let the light in. I tried to make this illustration as absurd as I could, because you are doing the very thing it illustrates. Just let the light in, and the darkness will take care of itself. When I first went West, I always used to try to preach in churches on Sundays, and talk to people wherever I got a chance through the week. Of course I wasn't known then, and sometimes they would look upon me with a good deal of sus- picion. If I didn't get into a church, I would get up a meeting in some schoolhouse. Sometimes after I had spoken in the afternoon, some old farmer would get up and say, " Won't you speak here again to-night? " " Yes, sir." Then he would an- nounce, '' The young brother will speak here to-night at early candle-light." The first man who came to the meeting would bring, perhaps, an old dingy lantern. He would set the 28o LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE. lantern up on the desk, and while it didn't give much light, it was a good deal better than sitting in the dark. Perhaps the next one who came in would be a woman, and she would bring out from under her shawl an old sperm-oil lamp. The light would be very feeble, but she would set the lamp up on the desk and it helped a little. The next man would bring out of his pocket a tallow-dip, and he would light his match and set that up on the desk. Hiat is the way they would light up the room ; and by the time we got all the people there, we had plenty of light. If every man and woman would give only a little light, they could light up a whole city. If you can't be a lighthouse, you can give as much light as a tallow-dip. or an old dingy lantern. That is what we are here for, not to be mere agents to represent our Alaster, but we arc here to shine ; not only in our homes, but in our places of business. Wherever our light goes, we must not let it give an uncertain light. Set the light on a hill, not in a valley ; put it on top, not under the bushel. CHAPTER XI. THE UNBOUNDED GRACE OF GOD. Telling Mr. Moody How to Preach — The Old Lady Who Locked the Door — Mr. Moody's first Arrival in Boston as a Boy — Haunting the Post-office — The IMan Who Built a Ladder to Heaven — The Captured Spy — Mr. Moody's Vanished Audi- ence— The Man Behind the Furnace — Sunday-school Teacher and the Silver Watch — " ]\Iore to Follow " — Living on " Old Joy " — The Man Who Never Forgot the " Meetings of '57 " — One of 'Mr. ^Moody's Experiences in London — " High Level" or " Low Level " — " Is this Young Man ' O. O ' ? " — A Disgusted Listener — A Remarkable Story — "A Tick at a Time" — "Peculiar" People — Why Fie Put an Extra Shine on His Boots — " Weak " and " Lazy " People — "I Thought it Wouldn't Alake any Difference." WHEN we opened our first meetings in New York one of the newspapers began to tell me how to preach, and said if I would tell the people to do the best they could, it would be " sound doctrine." I said that I would tell them. I think I have enough grace not to tell a man to work out his salvation in his own strength. If a man's works could- save him, would Christ have left the bosom of the Father and suffered the agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary? There is not a place in the Bible where it teaches that a man can save- J^timself independent of God, and separate from God. You say. What was the law given for? It was given that every mouth might be stopped ; and when a man has come to honor the gift he has not much to say. Perhaps no word in the Bible is so misunderstood as the word " grace." It means unmerited mercy, undeserved favor. If no one was to be saved until he was worthy there would be no more souls redeemed. But God has not promised to deal (2S3) 284 LAW AND LOVE. 4 i in grace with those who are worthy, but with the unworthy. In the second chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to Titus grace is portrayed in a threefold manner ; grace that saves us ; grace that teaches us how to live ; and grace that sends us out into the vineyard to work. That covers the Christian life. The law came by Moses^_b.ut grac£_and_triith by Jesus ^ Christy The law tells me how vile I am. Grace comes and cleanses me, and makes me meet for the kingdom of God. That is the difference between law and grace ; law slays a man, but grace makes him live ; the law takes a man to death and judgment, but Christ comes and (|uickcns him, giving eternal life. Let me repeat ; law leads unto death, but grace leads to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. \\'hy, the law is a schoolmaster; a cold, severe man who is continually holding a rattan over you. TJioii slialt do this, and thou shah do that. That is the law, with a rattan at the back of it. But under grace the schoolmaster tries to rule the school with kindness and love. He says if you love me, do this ; if you love me, don't do that. The schoolmaster that taught me was a harsh, severe man. It was a word and a blow with him, and generally the blow came first. I knew what it was to experience severity in my school days, and I also knew what it was to experience kind- ness. After that stern school-teacher came a kind-hearted lady, who ruled by love. Well, we thought we should have a grand time — do just as we pleased — didn't fear her. The first time that I broke a rule, instead of seeing a rattan in her hand, I saw tears in her eyes. That was a good deal worse than a stick or a rawhide to me. She asked me to remain after school. When we were alone she took me by the hand and talked to me in a low, kind voice, and with tears in her eyes. " If you love me," she said, " keep my rules." I tell you I never broke a rule after that. Her kind words went straight to my heart. Dr. Arnot used to tell the story of one of his experiences when he was pastor of a church in Glasgow. He had a parish- BARRING THK DdOR. 285 ioner, an old lady, who could not pay her rent. So the Doctor went around to see her, and knocked at the door. No one came ; but he thought he heard some one walking stealthily around inside, so he knocked again, and louder and still louder. Then he tried the door, but it was fastened. Then he kicked on the door, and made such a noise that the next door neighbor came around to see what the fuss was all about. The Doctor said to himself : " My ears must have deceived me.^" He went away. Some days after that he met the old lady in the street and told her that having heard she was in great dis- tress, and could not pay her rent, he had called around to help her. " Oh ! " she said, " was that you? Why, Doctor, I thought it was the landlord coming around for his rent, and I kept the door locked and fastened." That is the condition of many before God. They shut the door, lock and bar and double bar it, and keep the Lord out, and think he is coming only to demand something of them. It is amusing to hear of people working out salvation when they haven't got any. You must first get salvation before you can " work it out." You have got to take salvation, first, as a gift. A man has got to have a hundred cents before he can spend a hundred cents, hasn't he? When I went to Boston as a boy I soon ran short of money, and I anxiously looked for a letter from home with some money in it ; so I used to go to the post-office on the arrival of every mail and inquire for a letter. The man at the general delivery window would say there wasn't any ; then I would say, " I think there must be a letter there somewhere ; won't you please look again ? " And he would reply : " I think I know my business ; there is no letter here for you. At last the long-looked for letter came, and I never was so glad to get anything in my life. I opened and read it ; it was from my young sister, and she was very much afraid that I 18 286 SALVATION A GIFT. \voulcl he robbed, and she cautioned me to look out that thieves didn't pick my pockets. I was more concerned about getting something into my pockets than aliout having them picked, for I hadn't anything in them. 1/ You must take salvation first as a gift, and then work be- /7£ cause you are saved. A|\'ork fi-nm t)i(' c'''^^\ not work towards it. J fork it out. I have vcr}- little sympathy with lazy Chris- tians. I believe laziness belongs to the old creation, and not to the new. When a man works for salvation, and puts his work in place of salvation, he cannot talk to you about the " gift of God." If a man comes to my door and asks me for a ton of coal or a load of wood, there is no merit in his taking the gift ; and there is not much chance for boasting when you take the gift of God as a beggar takes alms. The reason why no more are saved is because many would like to be saved on their own terms ; they want to put God under obligations and make out that they arc pretty good sinners, just coming short a little ; can pay ninety-nine cents on a dollar. They think the Lord will make up the rest. I once heard of a man who thought he could work his way up to heaven by giving up his wealth and doing good deeds. One night he dreamed he was building a ladder from earth to heaven. At first it was pretty near the ground ; but as he kept doing good deeds it kept going uj:* and up, and one day when he had been unusually generous, having given several thousand dollars to a good purpose, the ladder went right up out of sight. He helped God a good many years, and the ladder kept going u]) higher and higher until tinally it reached right up to the throne of God. Then he thought he was going to be saved ; so he left the world and started to climb the ladder, but before he got far it began to tremble, and when he got up into the clouds it shook so he could hardl}- kvvp on. While he was clinging to his frail support, terribly frightened, he heard a voice from /I the throne — " Tie that climbeth up some other way, the same /f is a thief and a robber." Then down came the ladder and he HATRED TURNKD TO REVKRENCE. 28/ awoke from his sleep. If you wouldg^o^to heaven think of that dream and know that vou must enter through tlieonly way that God has provided, that is, through His own Son. A Scotchman said it took two to convert him, — himseh" ^d the Ahnighty. Xjnan said to him, " What did you do ?J' He saidj " I did all I could against it, and the Lord did the_ rest." LeJLy;our_rnind go back to the time when Clir^st first met you, and you will find that out^ A minister once introduced a man to me, and asked me to notice him particularly so that I would know him again. When I reached my friend's home I said. " Tell me about that man." " Well," he said, " during the war he was a Confederate spy, was captured, courtmartialed, and sentenced to be shot. He cursed President Lincoln, and he cursed God, but especially he cursed the President. It seemed as if he lay awake nights to heap abuse upon President Lincoln. The soldiers lost all pity for him, and at last they grew so angry that they would have been willing to starve him to death. One day an oflficer came in, and the prisoner supposed he had come to order him to be shot. He began to curse and revile Lincoln, and the officer said : " If you received your deserts you would be shot ; but the / (5, , President has sent you a pardon, and you are a free man ! " "What? What's that?" stammered the prisoner. " There, sir," said the officer, " is your pardon, and we have no claim upon you." When the man realized that he was pardoned he broke down completely, and wept like a child. And my friend added, " That man is now an elder in my church, and there is no man. North or South, who more reveres the memory of Lincoln, or who will more earnestly defend his character." That is often the way the Lord saves. I have seen a sinner cursing and re- viling, but the grace of God came to him, and he became a new man in Christ Jesus. A man who believes that he is lost is near salvation. Why? Because you haven't got to work to convince him that he is i- 288 .RESCUED FROM DESPAIR. lost. Anyone who will repent and turn to God will be saved. It makes no difference what your life has been in the past. I was preaching one Sunday to a fashionable audience, and after the sermon I said : " If there are any who would like to remain and talk, I shall be glad to talk with them." They all got up, turned around, and every one of them went out. I felt as if I were abandoned. When I was going out I saw a man behind the furnace. He had no coat on, and was weeping bitterly. I said : " My friend, what is the trouble? " He said: " You told me to-night that I could be saved; that there wasn't a man so far gone but the grace of God could reach him. I am an exile from my family; I have drunk up twenty thousand dollars within the last few months ; I have drunk up the coat off my back, and if there is hope for a poor fellow like me I should like to be saved." I didn't dare give him money for fear he would spend it for more drink, but I got him a place to stay that night, provided him a coat, took an interest in him, and six months after that, when I left Chicago for Europe, he was one of the most earnest Christian men I knew. The Lord had blessed him wonder- fully. He was an active, capable man. The grace of God can save just such men, if they will only repent. A Sunday-school teacher of a class of boys wanted to show them how free the gift of God is. So he took out a silver watcli and offered it to the first boy in the class, and said : " I will give you this watch, if you will take it." The boy laughed, and would not take it. Then ho offered it to the next boy, and the next, and to every boy in the class till he came to the youngest, and the little fellow slipped it into his own hand. The other boys thought it was a joke on the teacher's part. The teacher then took out the watch-key and said : " The watch is yours. You have taken me at my word. A\'ind the watch up, and it will keep good time." TAKING ALL GOD OFFERS. 289 And one of the other boys said : "What do you mean? That's not his watch for good, is it? " " Yes." " And he needn't ever bring it back to you? " " No." " Oil — h ! If I had known that, I'd have taken it." ^ Rowland Hill tells a story of a rich man and a poor man of his congregation. The rich man came to Mr. Hill with a sum of money that he wished to give to the poor man, and asked Mr. Hill to give it to him as he thought best, either all at once or in small amounts. Mr. Hill sent the poor man a five pound note with the message — " More to follow." Every month came the remittance with the same message — " More to fol- low." Now, that's grace. ** More to follow " — yes, thank God, there's more to follow. I believe it is dishonorable for God's people to keep singing about living " at this poor, dying rate," and talking about how little love they have for Him. People get up in the prayer-meet- ing and say if they can get a crumb from the Father's table they will be satisfied. Crumbs are good eating for cats and dogs and chickens, but poor for a man. I think the Lord wants us to ask for the loaf. What w'ould you say if I were a millionaire with an income of a hundred thousand dollars a year, and so many thousand dollars a week to live on, and I really lived on a few cents a day. You would say that I was the meanest, closest man you ever met, and you would have the utmost con- tempt for me. We have a rich banker, but if we get a " little " we are perfectly satisfied. God says, " Come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." We can have all the grace we want. It is a question of simply taking what God offers us. I remember when I was on the Pacific coast, a man took me through his fine house, over his broad lands, showed me his thriving orchards, and said : " Mr. Moody, you are a guest of mine, and I want you to feel perfectly at home ; do what you 290 LIVIXC; ON STALK MANXA. like.'' Well, after he had said that, you don't suppose if I wanted an orange I was going under the tree to pray that it would fall into my pocket, do you ? No. I just went up boldly and plucked what I wanted. There are a lot of Christians that are sort of half-starved ; they are living on past experience, thinking of the grand times they had twenty years ago, perhaps when they were converted — living on stale manna. I know some people that just live on old joy. A friend told me of a man who lived for eighteen years on the '57 revival. " Why," he said, " I never enjoyed myself as I did in '57 ; that is when I was converted ; you ought to have seen the meetings we had in '57." Never anything like '57. If he was in prayer-meeting, it made no difference what the subject was, he was always talking about '57. Well, '57 was good with me ; '58 was better than '57 ; '59 was better than '58, and so on, and I expect each year is going to wind up better than any preceding year. I believe the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Don't you know that we honor God when we ask Him for great things? I believe it is dishonoring to God, — I be- lieve it deeply in my soul. — for us to live the way we are living, at this low rate, this low level. I remember the first time I went to London, in 1867. I wanted to see the Crystal Palace. It was out of the city. So I went to the ticket ofifice, and said : " Give me a ticket for the Crystal Palace." " High Level, or Low Level? " said the booking-clerk. I had no idea what he meant, but I thought it might be high fare or low fare, and I said : " Low Level." I've never gone " Low Level " since. I got enough that day. I found that I was landed down in a hollow, and the Palace was aw'ay up on a hill. I think I climbed two hundred and sixty steps, and I was all out of breath when I reached it. I found if I had taken a " High Level " ticket I should have been landed right up by the Palace. That's why Christians have to climb. They go " Low Level " all the time, and what OUT AND OUT FOR CHRIST. 291 a time they have of it in the evening of Hfe. The grace of God is to lift us up on the " High Level." There is another class of people who labor under the delu- sion that if they are worldly Christians they are going to make the most out of both worlds. You couldn't make a greater mis- take. If a man asks me about becoming a Christian, but fears that he will not be kept, I say to him, " Either stay in the world or get clear out of it." I remember when I first went to Lon- don, a merchant wanted me to go to Dublin, and I went. He introduced me to an old, white-haired man, who said : " Is this young man all ' O. O.' ? " " Yes," said the London merchant, " He is ' O. O.' " I began to color up. I had heard of D. D., but not of "O. O." And he said: " Is he Out and Out for Christ? " I never forgot that expression. " Out and Out." The only way to live a peaceful life, a joyful life, is to live it " Out and Out." It is the only way that Christians should try to live. A great many people say, " Well, this has been my experi- ence : I have not found grace enough to keep me in perfect peace, rest, and joy." Then that's your own fault ; because you don't go to the Lord and get it. When I was preaching in London in 1884, a crippled lady was brought in a chair to one of our meetings. She sat right in front of me, and she wore a look of perfect disgust and contempt through the whole ser- vice. When the meeting was over the footman came to carry her out to her carriage, and she said : " Take me out of this ! " I said to myself, " I shall never sec her again ; " but, to my amazement, she was back the next day, and they kept bringing her back from day to day. I watched her, and that look of contempt and disgust began to disappear, and in its place came an eager, anxious look. One day she sent for me, and said : " Mr. Moody, you have something that I have not." " If you haven't got the love of the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. I have something that you have not," I replied. 292 THE DISCOURAGED PENDULUM. " You have got peace and joy that I know nothing about." " I am sure of that if you don't know Christ." *' But I would hkc to have it," she said. " You can have it, you can have that Christ ; " and I preached Christ to her. And she said : " Well, when you go to America, it will all be over with me." She was sure she could not " hold out." Finally, one day, I happened to think of the old fable of the Pendulum and the Clock, — how the pendulum figured out the number of thou- sand and hundreds of thousands and millions of times it must tick, and it came to the conclusion that it could never travel so far, swinging such a great distance, so many miles, and it was going to give up the " strike " ; but the second thought came and it decided to go on : it was only " a tick at a time." Some people think they are going to get enough grace at an experi- ence meeting to last all their lifetime. No, No. Get manna from heaven fresh every day. Now there are people who, because they can get light on their path for only a day at a time won't take it. My friends, what would happen if God should give you grace enough at once to last all your lifetime? I have a friend on the banks of Lake Erie, and his business establishment is connected by pipes with the lake ; and he said if the Government should give him Lake Erie he wouldn't know what to do with it. It would flood the place and drown him out. All we have to do is to keep the communication open. Just draw on the Bank of Heaven. You couldn't break that bank if you tried. Go down to a city bank and you will see the notice : " Open from 10 to 3." But the Bank of Heaven is open all the time, day and night. Well, when the servants came to take this crippled lady away that day, she was still doubting; but she came again, and again, and I saw a great change in her face. About ten days after, I received a letter in which slie said : " ATr. Moody, I want to thank you for that fable. God used that to bring light to my soul. I said, ' I can trust Him to- STEP BY STEP. 293 night, and I will go on step by step,' and I concluded to trust Him then and there as the light broke in upon me, and I have been wonderfully blest. I sent my servant to get a clock with a pendulum that swung back and forth ; and the servants have changed my name, and they now call me ' Lady Pendulum.' " She signed her name to the letter, " Lady Pendulum," and that was the only name I knew her by for a long time. When I left London I received a box from her, and there was a pen- dulum clock in it, and she said : " Will you take this clock home with you, and think of the poor sinner going on step by step? " Almost every year I get a letter from ner, and the " clock is still ticking." In 1892 I went into the Hall in London, and I saw Lady Pendulum there, and I said : " How are you ? " " Oh," she replied, " the clock is still ticking." She has educated two or three missionaries and sent them to India to preach the Gospel. She sends beautiful flowers, hundreds of books, and texts of Scripture in beautiful frames, to the hospitals, and is active in all good works. At Northfield we have people come to speak to our students, over eleven hundred of them, from sixteen to twenty years of age, and some of the speakers say, " I want you to understand that you are seeing your best days." And I squirm like a fish out of water. My friends, I don't think I have seen my " best days " by a good deal. I have no sympathy with the idea that all good people are gone, and the best times are behind us. Not a bit. There's a grand army of witnesses gone on ahead, but it grows brighter and brighter. You hear so many people mourning that " something is going to happen." When the hour comes, there will be grace given to help you. A great many people live all their lifetime under the " bondage of death." A man said to me some time ago, " Moody, have you grace enough to go to the stake as a martyr?" " No, what do I want to go to the stake for?" 294 BENDING UNDER THE LOAD. Another said, " Moody, if God should take your son have you grace enough to bear it ? " I said, " What do 1 want grace for? 1 don't want grace to bear that which has not been sent. If God should call upon nie to part with my son He would give me strength to bear it." What we want is grace for the present, to bear the trials and temptations for every day. " As thy days, so shall thy strength be." Don't go around whining and mourning, for there is plenty of it. Some people borrow all the troul^le they can from the past and the future, and then multiply it by ten, and get a big load, and go reeling and staggering under it. If you ask them to help any one else, they say they can't — they've got enough to do to take care of themselves ; forgetting " Casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you." A man was once traveling along a highway, and he over- took another man carrying a heavy burden on his back, and he asked him to ride. But the man, after he got into the wagon, still kept his bundle on his back, saying, " I am willing to carry it if I can only get a ride." So many are content to be nominal ^Christians, and go along with great loads and burdens ! The three Bonars, John, Horatio, and Andrew, were all preachers at the same time. They lived to be eighty years of age. One said, " There is nothing before the true believer that is not glorious." Some reporter caught it and sent it out. and it came to this country and I got hold of it ; and it opened up a flood of light to my soul. I consulted my concordance, and I declare I almost became a shouting Methodist before I got through. I found that my garments were to be garments of praise, of grace, and glory ; my song was to be the song of the glorified ; my society was to be the society of those who washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, — the society of the purified. This body was to be fashioned like unto His glorious body, and I found many other glorious things. " Everything glorious ? " How is this ? Does not death intervene between us and the glory? My friends, were we not given eternal life? If I have eternal life, am I going to die? THE DARK VALLEY. 295 The spirit cannot die. I shall move out of this body into a better one. I have " a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Why, there's nothing to fear about death. All that it can do to the true child of God is to hasten him on to glory. I believe that the Twenty-third Psalm is more misquoted than anything else in the Bible. It is used in all the Jewish synagogues ; in the Latin Church ; in the Greek Church ; it is in the Church of England service, and in all the Protestant Churches, and many a nation chants it at the burial of the dead, and many an army has gone to battle shouting it. All through the Civil War there was nothing known better than the Twenty-third Psalm. And yet i'c is misquoted more than anything else in the Bible. They say, " Though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death." And they emphasize the " d-a-r-k " so as to send a chill down your back. The word " dark " is not there at all. It reads : " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," etc. Did you ever see a shadow in the dark? You have got to have light to find a shadow. All death can do to the true believer is to throw a shadow across his path. Don't be afraid of your shadow. There's a class of people to-day very much afraid of being called " peculiar." They hesitate to work for Christ because they will be considered peculiar. You will notice that when God has some work to do. He generally calls peculiar people to do it. I have no doubt that Moses was a very peculiar man in his day, and those proud Egyptians said he was the biggest fool in Egypt when he turned his back on the gilded palaces of Pharaoh and identified himself with the slaves, the Hebrews. If you had dropped down in the old world and asked some- body what sort of a man Enocli was, they would have said he was a remarkably good man but peculiar ; a very narrow- minded man. If there's a progressive euchre party, you can't find any of the Enoch family there. If there's a horse race, and the whole country turns out to see it, you will not find Enoch there. He wasn't a great scholar, or a great scientist, 296 GIVING THK HKST \VK HAVE. and we do not read that he was a great general or a great geologist. In fact, he wasn't anything that the world usually calls great; there's nothing of that kind recorded about Enoch. But he " walked with God '' three hundred and sixty-five years, and he was not a very peculiar mortal ; for " God took him." He has been gone for four thousand years, and if he shone so bright down here in this world, how much brighter must he shine in heaven. I suppose if you had asked the men in Elijah's time what kind of a man Elijah was, they would have said, " He is a very good man, but Oh! so peculiar." But for service and power, he was worth the whole 7,000 who bowed the knees to Baal. There's another class of people who seem to think that a few ministers and church officers must do all the work, and the rank and file of the church arc to be " looked after " and cared for. A great many look upon the church as a hospital, in which they are to be taken care of, and somebody is to wait upon them all the while. Now, that isn't true. You've got to get up and do some of the work of the church yourself. Every man and woman can have a hand in this work, if they will. In the twcnty-lifth chapter of Exodus we read, " And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an olTering : of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them : gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair." If they had no gold to bring then they must bring silver ; and if they had neither gold nor silver, they must bring brass, — just as acceptable to God as gold, if that was the best they had. God wants heart-service, and that which man thinks the most of. He gave the best He had, and He wants you and me to do the same in return. " Blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair." I've always been glad the " goats' hair " was added there. A great many of us are poor, so poor that we can't give " blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen," but we can find a few goat hairs. They were just SERVICE DUE TO GOD. 297 as acceptable to God as a bag of gold. What a power Chris- tianity would be if every man and women did what they could. Now, my friends, do you see the wisdom in this? I have heard people say, " If I were as rich as that milHonaire I would build a church myself." Would you? Well, you would kill it. If I was worth millions I wouldn-'t build churches for God, nor endow a church, but I would work for God. I have seen a great many churches heavily endowed, and I have known many churches in the Old World, twice dead, all gone sound to sleep. God could build a magnificent church in Heaven, and drop it down here to earth all finished if He wanted to. He could send angels down here to build it without any of our help. He could do it, but He wants us to have a hand in it ; He wants us to get the blessing. A man saw a little boot-black putting an extra shine on his own boots, and he said : " What are you doing there, my boy ? Why are you taking so much pains to black your own boots? " " I am going up to Exeter Hall ; there's a meeting for foreign missions up there, and I'm going," the boy said. " What takes you up there ? Are you interested in foreign missions? " " Yes, sir ; I gave a penny to foreign missions last year, and I am going to see what they have done with it." Every man is to have something to do ; and if a man is to be a co-worker with God, it is a privilege to help build up His kingdom. Keep that in mind. The more the heart gives, the more it will receive from on high. God's law is service. If you've got money, give it ; if you've got talents, give them. If you have got a voice, give it, and let no man say that he can do nothing. You say : " I am so weak." W^hy not be honest and say, " I am so lazy ! " I remember some years ago some one sent me a tract entitled, " Wliat is That in Thine Hand?" I threw it aside for the time, because I was very busy, but the title haunted me, and I picked up the tract and read it. The writer went on to 298 THE WONDER-WORKING ROD. say that when the Lord called Moses, Moses thought the Al- mighty had made a mistake ; that the Lord had called the wrong one. You know how Moses went on and excused him- self on the ground that he wasn't eloquent, and he wasn't this or that, and they wouldn't believe that he had been sent. At last the Lord said : " What is that in thine hand? " Moses had in his hand an old dried-up stick. He might have got a hundred better ones if he had looked around ; but he took the first one he came across and carried it around Horeb. and yet with that he was to deliver the children of Israel. Was there anything more contemptible in all the world than that old dried-up stick ? Suppose that Moses on his way down to Egypt had met one of these modern free-thinkers, and he had asked : " Moses, where are you going?" " Down to Egypt." "What business takes you down there?" " I am going to demand of Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go free." " But Moses, do you know that Pharaoh is one of the mightiest monarchs on the face of the earth ? Do you tell me that you are going down there to free those three millions of slaves ? How are you going to do it ? " " With this stick." When we had three millions of slaves in this country, it took the lives of about half a million of men on both sides, a mint of money, and four years of hard fighting, to set them free ; how was one man going to set the children of Israel free that had nothing but an old stick to do it with, that you would have thought good for nothing, and that he could not make any good use of? But when God had linked Himself with that rod, it did its work well. When he went into the presence of Pharaoh and demanded of him that all the children of Israel should go free, Moses' stick became a serpent, and Pharaoh said : USING THE WEAPONS WE HAVE. 299 '■ Then your God is a god of that stick ; well, you get out of here. I don't know anything about a god of that stick, and I won't obey Him." But Moses stretched out that stick over the waters of Egypt, and turned them into blood. That stick became famous in Moses' hands. All he had to do was to stretch it out, and plagues came over the land. Finally Pharaoh said : " You get out of Egypt as quick as you can." When Moses came to the Red Sea, all he had to do was to pass that stick over the waters, and they were divided so that the people could pass through the sea dry-shod. He struck the flinty rock in the desert with it, and out f owed water for the people to drink. If God could use that dried-up stick, he can use you and me, though some of us are pretty dry, too. God can use us if we are willing to be used. It wasn't Moses or the rod ; it was the power of God in Moses, and the power of God in the rod that did the work. What is that in thine hand ? Take what you have got, not what you haven't got. When they wanted to take Jericho, w'hat did they do it with ? Rams' horns. You wouldn't like to see your ministers going around with rams' horns, would you? What a comical sight it must have been to the people of Jericho, to see six thousand men going around blowing rams' horns. You laugh. Of course they laughed ; but I tell you the rams' horns did their work pretty well. The wall came tumbling down. They took Jericho, and that victorious army marched right through the land. Some of us may be as crooked as rams' horns, too ; but the Lord will use us if we are willing to be used. I don't be- lieve they had any silver trumpets in those days ; they couldn't get them, and so they got rams' horns ; they had plenty of rams' horns, and they took them and went to blowing them. Take what you have got and use that. Look again when Samson went out to meet a thousand of the Philistines. What did he take? The jawbone of an ass. You wouldn't like to take the jawbone of an ass ; you w-ould want a Winchester rifle or a Damascus blade. The Philis- 300 WITH LAMPS AND PITCHKRS. tines wouldn't let Samson have any weapons, and they thought he couldn't get any ; but he got hold of the jawbone of an ass, and with it he slew a thousand men. Do you know of anything weaker as a weapon than the jawl)one of an ass? Yet with it Samson did the work. Look at Gideon. Gideon had only thirty-two thousand men and Alidian had 135.000. 103.000 more than Gideon had. Yet the Lord said, " Gideon, you have got too many men." So Gideon issued a proclamation to every man that was fearful, and to every man that was afraid, saying they could go back to the rear; and 22,000 men wheeled right out of line and went back. I can see poor Gideon as some of his generals, scared to death, flock around him and say: " O Gideon, you have made a big mistake. Look at that ; two-thirds of the people are going." I think it would be a pretty good thing if we could have a sifting of the church and get all the doubters back to the rear. Gideon still had ten thousand men ; but the Lord said to him, " You have got too many yet; take them down to the brook, and every man that lies down to drink, leave him there ; but every man that laps up the water as if he was full of fire and enthusiasm, let him go along with you." Nine thousand seven hundred of them lay down to drink, and that was the last that was seen of the whole lot of them. Gideon had now only 300 men left, and the only weapons he had were pitchers, and lamps in the pitchers ! Wasn't it the height of madness for a man to go up against an army of 135,000 with 300 men armed only with pitchers and lamps? Yes, that was all Gideon had ; but he went as the Lord directed him, with the cry of " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon ! " and the Midianites fell like chafif be- ford the wind ; Gideon took the whole crowd of them. Aren't you worth as much as a pitcher? It is very hard to make people think you are after them ; they always think that you are after somebody else. Every man or woman ought to have a hand in this work. You don't want to be mere boarders. Go into a boarding-house, and you can always tell who the boarders are and who the guests are. THE SHEPHERDS SLING. 301 The guests sit in the parlor, and take no interest in family af- fairs ; but a boy comes rollicking down stairs, goes through the parlor and sitting-room, looks at the mail, and makes him- self at home generally. He is a child of the house. The trouble with the church is that we have got too many boarders and too many guests, who do not t^ike any interest in the Lord's work. There isn't a child so young, nor a disciple so weak, but that they can do something if they will. You can get a sling with five stones and go out against some Goliath. Shamgar w^as out in the field ploughing with his oxen, and a man came along and said, " Shamgar, run for your life ! There are six hun- dred Philistines coming." But Shamgar took his ox goad and slew the whole lot of them. I wonder what armies would be if they only had slings and ox goads for weapons. Saul came pretty near getting David into trouble ; he wanted David to put on his armor to go against the giant. Saul was head and shoulders above everybody else in the army, and there was too much room in the armor for David the stripling. But he obeyed the king, and put the armor on. and found that he could almost turn a somersault in it. So David said : " Take it ofi." Like most boys, he had a sling, and he said : " Let me take my sling. I am used to that." " What," they exclaimed, " a sling to meet the giant of Gath ! Why, he has a helmet, and a sword, and a shield, and an armor-bearer ! " " Well, I will only take my sling," said David. I can imagine how they made all manner of sport of him. So he went to the brook, and picked up five smooth stones. God uses weak things ; God uses little things ! You and I would have wanted some good big rocks to have thrown at Goliath ; but David got a few little smooth stones, and went to meet his enemy. The giant came out full of wrath, saying: " Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves ? " " You come with a helmet," David said, " and a shield, and an armor-bearer. I come in the name of the God of Israel." 19 302 WORK FOR EACH ONE OF US. And he put one hand behind him and raised the other right up and threw his sHng-, and the giant fell dead ; and he rushed up to him, took his sword from him and eut ofi his head, and with the sword and the giant's head in his hand he went for- ward to the king. Then Saul called to his cheering army, " Make haste, rush upon them ! " And it was not long be- fore the whole camp of Philistines were falling before the enemy. So God used the man who was willing to be used. David could take good aim with his sling, because he was in good practice. What you and I want to do is to get into prac- tice with the weapon we have. Dorcas had only a needle ; but she understood how to use it, and she set it going, and consecrated it to the service of God. I believe she set more needles in motion than modern sewing machines have. Look at the Dorcas societies that have been formed ! Get your needle consecrated, and make up your minds that you will sew for the poor. Go and hunt up some poor families, and make up garments and take them to them. Make up your mind you will have a hand in the Lord's work; that you will do something, and do it right away. I believe that when God laid out your life and mine He laid out work for each one of us. It is a false idea that if you don't do your work some one else will do it for you. There is not a man on earth who can do D. L. Moody's work ; if I don't do it, it will be left undone ; I must answer for it when I stand before God's judgment seat. Never call anything you do for God small. Don't look down upon it. People say, " I will do what I can." That is just what you don't do. God don't want you to do what you can't, but He wants you to do what you can. I was a guest in a family a number of years ago, and when I arrived on Saturday night I was introduced to a young lady, a member of the family. Next morning, when 1 came down into the draw- ing-room, she was the first member of the family to greet me. We talked together, and she said she had a class in a mission school. A TEACHER'S MISTAKE. 3O3 " What time do you have your class ? " '* At three o'clock in the afternoon." That afternoon I saw her right in front of me at the meeting. After we had returned to the house, I said to her : " I noticed you were at the meeting this afternoon." " Oh, yes." " I thought you said you had a class in a mission school ? " " So I did." " Did you get anyone to take your class for you ? " " No, sir." " Did you tell the superintendent you were not going to be there? " " No, sir." " Did you tell your class you wasn't going to be there? " " No, sir." " How do you know that any one taught them ? " " I don't know that any one taught them, for I noticed that most of the teachers were at the meeting." " Well, is that the way you do the Lord's work? " " Mr. Moody, I have only five boys in my class, and I thought it wouldn't make any difference." " Well," I said, " If you look upon the Lord's work in that way, you are making a mistake." Who knows but in that class of little boys there might have been a John Knox, or a Wesley : there might have been a John Bunyan, or a Martin Luther. One little boy may become the leader of a Reformation ; another boy may become a ^^'hite- field. and may turn thousands and tens of thousands to the Lord. Do you suppose Mrs. Wesley knew what she was doing when she trained Charles and John for the Lord's work? For a century, I honestly believe, no woman has ever done more than that woman did in training those two boys. There are millions of people who hear the gospel from the lips of Metho- dist ministers every week. There is not a denomination that hasn't men in its pulpits that have been converted at Methodist altars. Charles Spurgeon experienced his change of heart at 304 THREE GREAT WORKERS. a Methodist altar, and what a vast multitude have been going up to heaven because of this good man's work. Mothers, don't consider your work small. You can't tell how much you are accomplishing. Do you think there was anybody in Bunyan's day who accomplished so much for God as he? It was a good and great work to win the life of that Bedford tinker to Jesus Christ. All honor to that man in Maine who went to jail and found Francis Murphy and led him into the kingdom of God ! Do you think that man didn't do a grand work, a great service, who put his hand on the shoulders of John B. Gough years ago and saved him ? And so I appeal to all. Win a soul to Jesus Christ now. A kind word and a gentle act will win for Him. Christ died that He might make us a peculiar people, zealous in all good works. CHAPTER XII. THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST. An Incident of the Civil War — Sentenced to Death for Sleeping at His Post — A Little Girl's Faith in Abraham Lincoln — The President's Compassion — " Mother Will Come " — How Mr. Moody's Heart was Softened — Experiences Among the Poor — " Little Adelaide " — Sad Scene in a Drunkard's Home — " Can't You Help Me Find a Place to Bury Her?" — No Money to Buy a Shroud — " Papa, Suppose I Were Drowned " — Praying for a Tender Heart — An Unmarked Grave in the Potter's Field — How Mr. Moody Bought a Burial Lot for the Poor — A Remarkable Sequel — At the Grave of " Emma" — The Touch of a Mother's Hand — " Oh Mother ! Have You Come? " DURING the Civil War I remember reading of a young- man, not twenty years of age, who was court-martialed and sentenced to be shot. The story was this : One night his comrade was going on picket duty and, being ill, he was excused and this young man was detailed to take his place. The next night he was ordered out himself; and, having been awake two nights, and not being used to it, he fell asleep at his post, and for the offence he was tried and sentenced to death. It was just after the order issued by the President that no more interference should be allowed in cases of this kind. That sort of thing had become too frequent, and it had to be stopped. When the terrible news reached his father and mother in Vermont it nearly broke their hearts. They had no hope that he could be saved by anything tliey could do. r)Ut they had a little daughter who had read the life of Abraham Lincoln, and learned how he loved his own children, and she said: " If Abraham Lincoln could only know how dearly my father and (305) 3o6 A ClllLDS INTKRCKSSIUX. mother love my brother he wouldn't let him be shot." The little girl thought this over and made up her mind to go to Washington and see the President. She went to the White House, and tlie sentinel, when he saw her imploring looks, passed her in; and when she reached the door and told the private secretary that she wanted to see the President he could not refuse her. When she entered the room the President was surrounded by his generals and counselors, and when he saw the little country girl he asked her what she wanted. The little maid told her sad, simple story — how her brother, whom her mother and father loved so dearl} , had been sentenced to be shot; how they were mourning for him, and if he was to die in that way it would break their hearts. The President's heart was touched with compassion, and he immediately sent a tele- gram revoking the sentence and giving the boy a furlough, so that he could go home and see his father and mother. I relate this just to show how Abraham Lincoln's great heart was moved to compassion by the sorrow of that father and mother; and if he showed so nnich tenderness and com- passion, do you not think the Son of God will have compassion upon you, sinner, if you will take that crushed, bruised heart to Him? He will heal it. Have you got a drunken husband? Go tell Him. Have you a profligate son? Go take your story to Him, and He will comfort you, and heal your sorrow. Once when I was returning from Europe there was a young ofificer on the steamer to whom I felt greatly drawn, because I could see that he was dying. It didn't seem to him that he was dying. Death is very deceitful. He was joyous and light-hearted. He would talk about his plans, and take out his guns, and tell how he intended to go hunting when he arrived; but it seemed to me that he would never live to see land. By and by he grew worse, was confined to his bed, and the truth came to him that death was near. He asked a friend to write a telegram, which was to be sent to his mother as soon as the vessel arrived. It read: " Mother, I am very sick. — THE NEED OF SYMPATHY. 309 Charlie." " But," said some one to him, " why not ask her in the telegram to come?" "Ah," he repHed, "Mother will come." He knew that when she read that telegram and learned that he wanted help she would come. It was the knowledge of his need that would bring her. So Christ is waiting to hear our need, and man's need bfings out the help of God. The real trouble is that men don't think they need Him. Some time ago I began to read the Bible carefully to study Bible characters. I read through the four Gospels, and my heart was moved. When I look over an audience and think of the wretchedness and misery that you and I do not see, that He does see, I think I can understand what this passage means: " When he saw the multiude, he was moved with compassion." His heart went out towards them. A good many years ago. when a young man, I was fre- quently sent for to attend funerals. One day I was called suddenly to attend one, and I learned there were to be a great many young men and boys present who were not Christians. I said, this is my opportunity. I will give them a Christlike sermon. I tried to find one of Christ's funeral sermons, but I found instead that He broke up every funeral procession He attended. The dead could not be dead when He was present. He turned sorrow into gladness, darkness into light. What we ought to have is more compassion for the unfor- tunate, the erring, and the fallen. How many times I have had to upbraid myself for not having more compassion. I be- lieve it would be a very easy thing to reach the unfortunate and distressed if we had the spirit of the good Samaritan. People say, "I wish I had it." How can we get it? Listen. Sup- pose a great misfortune has overtaken you, wouldn't you like to have some one come right along and help you? Wouldn't you? I believe there is not a man or woman, I don't care how rich or poor they may be, who does not need, at some hour in their lives, a little human sympathy, a little ministration of love, or helpful words from somebody else. Each heart has ■^lO PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE. its own bitterness, each one has his own trouble and sorrow. We are too apt to think that others do not need or care for our compassion. Now if you want to get the spirit of compassion just think of some one among your acquaintance who is in trouble, — some one who is in distress, or who has had some great mis- fortune. And who has not? Then imagine that their trouble is yours, and that they arc in your place. I have told the following story many times, but I don't know of any one thing in all my life that helped me so much to get into sympathy with those that need it. I used always to spend my summers in Chicago; probably fifteen hundred to two thousand children w^re in my Sunday-school, and very few of them had a church home. When sickness or death came into their families they used to send for me. When the ministers were away I was frequently sent for from other parts of the city, and I sometimes attended three or four funerals a day. I could go to a funeral and see a mother walk up to the coffin of her loved one, and hear sobs and wails of anguish that were enough to break a heart of stone, but I had heard them so often they wouldn't move my heart. I had become hardened to them. One day my wife told me that one of the children in my Sunday-school had been drowned. I took my little girl, four years old, and started for the home of the drowned child. When I got there some workingmcn and women had dragged the little one's body from the water, and the mother sat by the dead child, stroking her hair, as the water was dripping down upon the floor. It was her first-born child. Little Adelaide used to go to the Chicago River and gather floating wood for the fire. That day she had gone as usual ; she saw a piece of w^ood, a larger stick than the rest, a little way from the bank, and in stretching out her hand to reach it she slipped and fell into the water and was drowned. There were four children in the room, and the husband sat in the corner — drunk. The mother said, between her sobs and tears: . A SKARCHING QUESTION. 3 1 I "You see the condition my husband is in. 1 have had to take in washing to get a Hving for my children, and I have had to care for him. He has never provided for us, or done a day's hard work in five years. Adelaide was my companion. I have no money to buy a shroud or cofBn for her. (3h, I wish you could help me." • I laid down the money for the coffin and the shroud. Then she said, as the tears rolled down her face: " Can you help me find a place to bury her? " " Yes," I said, " I will attend to that." I made a memorandum of what was wanted, and I did it all very mechanically. Then I took my litrle child by the hand and started out. When we reached the street my little girl said: " Papa, suppose we were very poor, and mamma had to wash for a living, and I had to go to the river to get sticks to make a fire; if I should see a big stick and should try to get it and should fall into the water and get drowned, would you feel bad? " " Feel bad! Why, my child, I do not know what I should do. You are my only daughter, and if you were taken from me I think it would break my heart," and I took her to my bosom and kissed her. '' Papa," she said, " did you feel bad for that poor mother? " The child had been shocked at her own father. How that question cut me to the heart. I could not speak. I led the child home, then I went into my room, and turned the key in the door. I walked up and down the room all that day. I said to myself: " You profess to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and to represent Him, and you weritf to' that house of mourning, and didn't even pray with that poor heart-broken woman, and you left her there with a drunken husband." I got on my knees and asked God to forgive me, and to give me a tender heart, that if I ever saw people in trouble I might sym- pathize with them. T went hnck to that poor woman's house, and read the fourteenth chapter of John, and I told the mother 312 WEEPING WITH THOSE WHO WEEP, where Adelaide had gone, and prayed that the Lord might heal the mother's wounded lieart. We fastened the lid of the cofifin, got a carriage and put the poor mother and her four little children into it, and, last of all, little Adelaide's coffin was put into the carriage with them. The husband was still drunk and did not realize what was going on. The cemetery was seven miles away. I had not been there for many years. I thought niy time was too precious to go there. I said, " I can't let that mother go alone and bury her child," and I rode the seven miles and comforted her all I could. I could weep with her then. " Suppose it was my child! " was the thought that kept coming into my mind. We buried Adelaide in the Potter's Field. We had no sooner lowered her body into the grave than we were ordered off the place. As the mother tore herself away she turned and looked towards the little grave, and moaned: " I haven't always been able to pay my rent, and I have lived among strangers all my life. I have always thought that was hard, and Oh. it is hard! But it is harder to bury my Adelaide here, to leave her here in an unmarked grave in the Potter's Field. I am afraid I shall not know where she is laid." I thought it would be very hard for me to lay my little girl in a pauper's grave. I said to myself, " I will never bury a child in a pauper's grave again as long as I live." On the next Sunday I told the story before my Sunday- school, and, although they were all poor children, wc raised money and bought a lot of our own in which a hundred chil- dren could be buried. Before I could get the deed made out another heart-broken mother came and said: " Mr. Moody, my little girl died to-day. Can I bury her in that lot?" " Did she belong to our school?" " Yes." " Are you poor? ' " Yes." ^» ft thp: little craves. 315 " You have no lot? " " No, sir " She asked me if I would go to the funeral, and say a few words, and bury her. I said I would. I well remember the first burial in that lot. The little grave was dug under an oak tree, and when we came to lay the child in it I asked the mother: "What was the name of your little girl?" " Emma," she said. That was the name of my own little girl, my only daughter. Do you think I could not grieve, that I could not weep and sympathize? In a little while another mother came. Her little boy had died, and she wanted to bury him in that lot. We made a grave close to Emma's grave. After making a few remarks, I turned to the mother and said: " What was the name of your boy? " " Willie," she said. That was the name of my only boy at that time. So strange that the first two little bodies let down into those graves should bear the names of my two dear ones. Do you think I could not weep with that mother, that I did not have compassion, and that my heart did not ache for her? Soon after, I went to Europe. I was gone a year and a half, and when I returned to Chicago, one of the first things I did was to go to that cemetery. The lot was filled with little graves. I have often said that I should like to be buried there with those little ones, and when my Master comes, and they rise to meet Him, I should like to go up with them. What we want is a heart full of compassion for those that need comfort. Have you got compassion yourself? Don't you think there's need of it? Ought we not to cultivate it? During the Civil War a mother received news that her boy had been wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, and she started at once for the front. Of course a mother would go. An order had been issued that no woman would be allowed 3l6 'fHE TOUCH OF A MOTHER'S HAND. within the lines, but she got through in some way, and found her way to the held hospital. At last she found the ward her boy was in. She went to the doctor and pleaded that she might be allowed to nurse and care for her son. The doctor said: " Aladani, you must keep away from him for the present. He is in a critical state; the excitement would be too great." " I have come six hundred miles, Doctor, to see my boy," she said. " I cannot wait." And she begged and pleaded so hard that finally the doctor said: " You can go quietly in and sit down by his side. Don't speak to him or wake him. When he awakes I will break the news to him gradually." And the mother stole to her son's bedside. When she saw him l}'ing there so white and still, with the marks of suffering upon him, she could not resist the temptation to lay her hand gently on his forehead. And, with- out opening his eyes, he cried out: "Oh, mother, have you come?" He knew the touch of his mother's hand. Oh, my friends, that was earthly compassion, but what con- ception can you form of the compassion of Jesus? He knows what human nature is; He knows what poor, weak, frail mortals we are, and how prone we are to sin. He will have compassion upon you; He will reach out His tender hand and touch you as ?Te did the poor leper. You will know the touch of His loving hand, for there is virtue and sympathy in it. CHAPTER XIII. « FAITH. Starving with Ten Thousand Dollars in the Bank — A Man Who Cannot be Pleased — Living on Creeds — "The Building is on Fire!" — Going Out of the Window Head First — "I Never Thought of That" — How Mr. Moody Prayed for Faith — The Two Men who Planted Trees — "I Don't Believe In Roots" — The Beggar By the Wayside — "I've Got the Money, That's Enough " — The Little Invalid — Spelling with Crackers — A Message for Grandpa — The Box of Paints — "I Don't See It, But You've Got It" — Jumping Into His Father's Arms — " I'se Afraid, Papa" — A Touching Story — Waiting and Weeping by His Mother's Grave — " You've Been a Good While Coming " — The Prince and the Condemned Man. 1 DON'T believe any man or woman amounts to much who has not faith in somebody or something. People say, " What does it matter whether a man be- lieves or not? I don't see the importance of faith." If a man should tell me there were ten thousand dollars deposited in the bank in my name and I didn't believe it, and was starving for the want of it, I might die for the want of bread. All I have got to do is to go to the bank and draw the money, but I get no benefit from the fact that the money is there unless I believe and act. Some one has said that the three elements of Saving Faith are Knowledge, Assent, and Consent. Suppose I want to go to Europe. I know there are plenty of ocean steamers that will take me there in five or six days. That is knowledge. But if I don't go on board, I don't get to Europe any quicker than if I didn't believe. I may say to a man, " Sir. you may have this book for a quarter of a dollar," and he assents to the (317) 3i8 THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH. fact that I make the offer; but only when he takes the book, and appreciates it, does it become his, don't you see? He has got to act upon the offer. " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In other words, faith is dependence upon the veracity of another. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Do you know it is impossible to please yourself without faith? If a man should rise in an audience and say he had no confidence or faith in me I could do nothing to please him; it would be utterly impossible. And when a man says he has no faith or confidence in God how is He to help that man? He has cut himself off from God. Faith is very important. If business men lost faith in each other, how quickly all business would be brought to an end. Some people think when we talk about faith in Christ that it must be some miraculous faith, and that they must wait until it comes down from Heaven; that it is some sort of a shock which is to come upon them. Faith in Christ is the same kind of faith that men have in one another. If you have faith in a man, you do not hesitate to introduce him to your wife and daughter. Isn't faith like that the foundation of all social intercourse? Isn't faith the foundation of all commerce? Isn't it the foundation of family life? Isn't it the real foundation of everything else? It is not unreasonable that God should ask us to ]mt faith in Him. Mark this, I do not ask you to put faith in Him without giving good reasons. We often hear people ask, " You do not think it makes any difference what kind of a belief a man has. if he is only sincere in it, do you? " My friends, it makes all the difference in the world whether a man believes a truth or a lie. If the devil can make you believe a lie, and that you are going to be saved because you are sincere in your belief in it. that is all he wants. Do not suppose for a moment that it does not make any difference what you believe in, or what your faith is, if you are only sincere. Do not be deceived by that terrible NOT CREEDS, BUT CHRIST. 319 delusion, which is one of the devil's lies. The faith you need, the faith that saves, is fixed upon the living Christ. I like a man to be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. Once I asked a man what he believed, and he said he believed what his church believed. I asked him what his church believed, and he said he supposed hi^s church believed what he did ; and that was all I could get out of him. Now, I challenge any man to give a reason why he should not believe God. Give a reason, will you? Has God ever broken His promise to man? I believe there would be a jubilee in hell if man could break God's word. It is not belief in a creed only. A man may have a creed and no Christ. A creed is all right in its place, but if you live on creeds you will never get a living Christ. Suppose a friend should ask me to dine with him. To reach his house I must go in the street leading to his home; but if I do not go into his house I do not get my dinner. Now a creed is the road or street; very good as far as it goes, but if it does not take us to Christ it is worthless. God does not ask you to believe a creed, but a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. A man once said to me, " The doctrines you preach are the most unreasonable things under heaven. You preach that people are saved by simply believing. You cannot make any reasonable, thinking man believe that." " I can." " Why," he said, " how is a man going to be afifected by what he be- lieves?" I said, "If that is your difficulty, I can make you believe in three minutes. You say a man is not affected by what he believes; that it does not afifect his course of action. Suppose a man opens that door and shouts, ' This building is on fire! ' If you and I believe it, what will we do? Probably get out of that window head first." " Oh," said he, " I never thought of that." How are you going to get faith? If I could sum up all the time I have prayed for faith I believe it would amount to months. As President of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation I used to call the young men together to pray, and we ■120 THE KUUNDATIUN OF JIOPE. prayed for faith, faith, faith. We would close up the Bible, and pray for faith. One day I was reading the Bible and I came to tlie passage, " Faith conieth by. hearing, and hearing by the word of God." I began to study the Bible, and faith has been coming ever since. You never saw a man who feeds on the Bible wdio did not have faith. It does not require much faith to put confidence in a good man. There are men I know whom I could not help but be- lieve in. Why? Because I have been associated with them for years, and I never knew them to be untrue. It does not require much faith, after all, to believe in the God of the Bible; but it does require a great deal of faith to believe in yourself. Let us keep in mind that if you take the Bible and study it you will have faith, and that faith will keep coming. Now, you and I and every Christian worker have been called to work for Christ. Behind you is your faithful God, and He cannot fail. If you will hand things over to Christ, and if you will count upon God at your back, it docs not matter what happens, — your heart will be at rest. Some people say they don't see the importance of faith. Faith is what a foundation is to a building. If you build with- out a good foundation the house will soon have to be taken dow^n. The man who has not a good foundation for his hope is like a man who builds a house on the sand. WMicn the test- ing time comes, down comes the house. So witli the man who has not a good hope in Christ, — his house comes down. That is the trouble. People haven't a good, grand hope. Suppose I hire two men to set out trees, and after a day or two I go out to see how they are getting along. I find that one man has set out a hundred trees and the other only ten. I say: " Look here, what does this mean? That man has set out a hundred trees, and you have set out only ten. What does it mean? " " Yes, but he has cut off all the roots and just stuck the tops into the ground." THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH. 32I I go to the Other man and say: " What does this mean ? Why have you planted all these trees without roots ? " " I don't believe in roots, they are of no account. My trees look just as well as his." But when the sun blazes upon the trees they all wither and die. That's the condition of men without faith. Faith is the root of the tree, and what we want is to be firmly grounded in the Bible, and when the storms come we are secure. People say they haven't enough faith. I was told in Scot- land of a lady who was introduced to a minister as a woman of " great faith." She said, " No, I am a woman of little faith, but I have a great God." We talk about not having enough faith. But have you got faith in the living Christ? People say, " If you have the right kind of faith." Any faith that will bring you to Christ is the right kind. Have you a Christ who has saved you and is keeping you day by day? Have faith in the living God, not in the dried up creed of some church, — the Protestant Church, the Catholic Church, the Jewish Church. Not all these can save you. The churches are like Moses lifting up the pole with the brazen serpent. You must have faith in Christ. I once heard an Englishman use this illustration : A beggar sat daily by the w^ayside, and a gentleman who used to pass by would often give him a shilling. One day as he went by and tossed out his shilling the man said : " I do not need your money. I am not a beggar. My begging days are over. A man came by last night and gave me a thousand pounds." " How did he give it to you? " " He just put it in my hands." " How do you know it was good money? " " Why, I have had it tested. I have put it in the bank." " Did he put it in your right hand or left? " " Why? What do I care whether he put it in my right hand or left? Pve got the money, and that's enough." ^22 A CHILD'S CONFIDENCE. A gentleman liad a little granddaughter who was taken ill with a liglit attack of scarlet fever and was placed in quaran- tine away from the rest of the famil}-. And the old grand- father used to go up every night to see his grandchild and have a talk with her. Once when he entered the room she took him into the corner. She had some little crackers made in the shape of letters, and with tliese she had spelled out these words: " Grandpa, I want a box of paints." The next night when he came home he left his overcoat with the box of paints in it down stairs. She didn't seem to be much disturbed, but she said: " Grandpapa, I thank you for the box of paints. I haven't seen it, but I know you've got it." The old grandfather said he wouldn't have lost the confi- dence of that little girl for hundreds of dollars. That is faith. A child lives upon faith in his father and mother. Let us live in that way. I remember when one of my boys was two or three years old I put him on the table, and I said: " Willie, jump." And the little fellow swung his hands, and said: " I'se afraid." " I will catch you. Jump," I said. " I'se afraid, i)a]:)a." " Willie, I'll not let you fall. Look at me." But the little fellow shrank back. He trembled with fear. I said to him: " Look at me. Jump." He jumped. And then he said: " Oh, put me back, and let me jump again." It wasn't long before he had too much faith in me. lie would get up in a chair, and say, " I'm going to jump, papa," and I had to run to catch him. You like to have your children have faith in you, don't you? Of course you do. I was down in Alal)ama once, and a gentleman stood his two boys up on a fence post, and they jumped into their father's arms with perfect confidence. The TRUSTING WHOM \VP: KNOW. 323 father picked up a third boy, a Httle fellow who had been play- ing with the other two, and stood him on the post, but he wouldn't jump. He said: " Take me down, or I'll fall." He could not get that boy to jump. He said instead, "Take me down." I said to the father: " What makes the difference ? " " Oh," he said, '" he's not my boy. He doesn't know me." That's an infidel. You can't expect an infidel to trust God. He doesn't know Him. But get accjuainted with God and you can't help trusting Him, can't help believing Him. The little child that reaches out his hand and takes a gift has faith. The best illustration of faith is a little child. Take that little girl — she lives a life of faith. She never bothers her head where her breakfast or supper are coming from. Her elbow peeps out of a hole in her sleeve; don't bother her a bit; she knows mother will get her another dress. Now, we are to have that same child-like faith. The nearer we can come to the faith of a little child, the better we shall please the Master. While the yellow fever was raging in a Southern city the father of a poor family who were strangers there was attacked by the disease. The father was buried and the mother was stricken down. She knew that she must die, so she called her little boy to her and said: " When I am gone, Jesus will come and take care of you." She had no one else to commend him to. The little fellow followed his mother's body to its burial place, and returned home. The night was dark and dreary, and he became fright- ened. He went back to her grave, supperless. and lay down and slept till morning, when he got up cold and stiff. While he sat by the grave weeping a stranger passed and asked him what he was doing there. He said he was waiting for Jesus. " What do you mean, my boy? " said the man. The boy told his story. God touched the man's heart, and he said: " Well, my boy, Jesus has sent me." 3^4 HIS TRUST REWARDED. " Well," said the little boy, smiling through his tears, " you have been a good while coming." His faith was real, although it had been sorely tried. There is a story told in history of a political offender who was sentenced to death, and the crown prince had charge of the execution. Just before the prisoner was to be executed, the prince told him that any request he might ask of the crown would be complied with. The poor man asked for a glass of water. They brought it to him, and the very thought that he was so near death disturbed him, and his hand trembled so that he could hardly put the water to his lips. The prince said, " Do not be afraid. Your life is safe until you drink that water." And quick as lightning he dashed it on the ground. Take the Prince of Life at his word. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." It does not say he " shall have." but he hath. Have you got Him? If not take Him now. He is God's gift to you. Trust Him. Living or dying, sick or well, trust Him. CHAPTER XIV. THE ELEMENTS OF PRAYER. An Incident in Mr. Moody's London Experience — Four Hundred Conversions — Prayers of a Bedridden Saint — An Invitation from a London Physician — Praying for Fifty Years — Confess- ing to His Family — The Specter of the Five Bottles of Wine — "Oh, I Can't pray" — A Remarkable Story — A Family Quarrel — Wonderful Reconciliation of a Mother and Daughter — Meeting Half Way — An Impressive Incident — An Audience in Tears — " There is One Woman I Will Never Forgive " — An Un- converted Woman — Living on Grumble Alley — The Smiling Christian — The Carpenter who Cut His Thumb — " Bless The Lord! I Didn't Cut it Off " — An Astonished Father — The Load of Wood Stuck in the Mud — - " I Wonder What's the Matter? " — An " Established " Horse. 1HAVE no sympathy with the idea that if we ask God to do a certain. thing He is going to give us chaff. If we have faith I beHeve He will answer our prayers. I don't be- lieve He mocks His children. I believe He will give out of His abundance, and give us the best He has. Now, I have no doubt a great many of you have said at different times, " What is the use of prayer, anyvv'ay? " One Sunday morning in London, I preached in a Congre- gational church, but with no unusual power. There didn't seem to be anything out of the regular line of the service. In fact, I was a little disappointed. I didn't seem to have much liberty there. That evening I i)reached to men. It seemed as if the building was filled with the glory of God, and when I asked for an expression, men rose by hundreds. I said. " They don't know what this means," so I thought I would put another test. I just asked them to step into the chapel — all those that wanted to become Christians, but no one else. (325) 326 fKRVENT, EFFKCTUAL I'kAVER. They flocked into the chapel hy huiuh-eds. 1 was in great per- plexity; I couldn't understand what it meant. I went down to Dul)lin the next day, and on Tuesday morning I received a dispatch saying: " Come to London at once and help us." " I didn't know wliat to make of it. but I hastened back to London and labored there ten days, and four hundred names were recorded at that time. For months I could not under- stand what it meant, but by and by I found out. There was in that church a poor bed-ridden woman who used to take differ- ent ones upon her heart, and she began to pray God to revive the whole church. She prayed to God to send me to that church. One Sunday morning her sister came home and said: " Who do you think preached for us this morning? It was Mr. Moody, from America." The sick woman turned ])ale and said: " T know what that means, that is in answer to prayer. There is going to be a great work here." The servants brought up her dinner, but she said: " No, no dinner for me to-day, I spend this day in prayer." And that night while I was preaching she was praying, and in answer to her prayers the power of God fell upon the audience. I want to call your attention to ten elements of true prayer. When Christ got His theological students around Him, He did not teach them how to preach, but how to pray. And I think we often ouglit to make that ])rayer, " Lord, teach us how to pray." First, there is Contrition. I am sometimes ashamed of myself to think Ikmw fluent I am when I go into the presence of God. As if T were on an ecpial footing with Him; as if there were no difference between us. Let us bear in mind that God is holy. The nearer we get to Him, the more we shall think of I lis holiness and abhor ourselves. We shall grow smaller and He larger. One of the truest signs that a man is growing great is that God increases and he decreases. Why! SINCERITY IN PRAYER. 327 some people will talk about themselves by the yard. " I, I, I, I." There will be forty-nine I's in a speech five minutes long. That is a sign that you are not growing in grace, but you are growing in conceit. But when we get near to God, how small we look, and how great God seems. When Isaiah saw God, he cried, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of I^osts." And then what did he cry? That he was unclean and dwelt with unclean people, and he wanted the coal to be taken ofif the altar and put upon his lips, that his iniquity might be purged away. There is no true prayer without Confession. As long as we have an unconfessed sin in our soul we are not going to have power with God in prayer. He says if we regard iniquity in our hearts He will not hear us, much less answer. It is a prayerless prayer and an abomination to God and man. What God wants is sincerity. How many men are there who are just living on empty forms? They say their prayers, but they don't mean any- thing. Why ! the Pharisee said plenty of prayers ; but how did he pray? He prayed with himself. He might as well have prayed to a post. He didn't pray to God, who knew his heart a thousand times better than he did himself. He forgot that he was as a sepulcher, full of dead men's bones; forgot that his heart was rotten, corrupt, and vile; and he came and spread out his hands and looked up to Heaven. Why ! the very angels in Heaven veil their faces before God as they cry, " Holy, holy, holy." But this Pharisee came into the temple and spread out his hands, and said: "Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men are; I fast twice a week." He set before God what he had done in comparison with other men, and was striking a balance and making out God to be his debtor, as thousands are doing to-day; and then he said, " I give one-tenth of all I pos- sess." I suppose, if he were living now, and we should ask him for a donation to help build a church he would say: " Well, I think it will do good; yes, I think it will — it may reach the vagabonds and outcasts — I don't need it, of course — but if it will reach that class, it will do good. I will give 328 CONFESSION AND PETITION. fifty dollars if you will have it mentioned in the morning papers; just have it announced, 'John Jones has given fifty dollars to the church building fund.' " That's the way some people give donations to God's cause; they give in a patronizing way. If your heart doesn't go with your gift, God will not accept it. The Pharisee said: " I give one-tenth of all I have; I attend the services in the temple; I fast twice a week." He fasted twice a week, although one fast only was called for; and he thought because of this he was far above other men. A great many people nowadays think be- cause they don't eat meat, only fish, on Fridays, they deserve great credit; although they go on sinning all the week. Look at the Pharisee's prayer; there's no confession there. He had become so bad, and the devil had so covered up his sins, that he was above confession. The first thmg we ought to do, when we come to God, is to confess. If there is any sin cluster- ing around the heart, bear in mind we can have no communion with God. It is because we have sin about our hearts that our prayers don't go any higher than our heads. The Pharisee's pravcr showed no spirit of contrition; there was no petition; he didn't ask anything from God. " Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterous, or even as this publican." That is a queer kind of prayer. Not a petition in it. It was a prayerless prayer; it was down- right mockery. Ihit how many men have just got into that cradle, and been rocked to sleep Ijy the devil. A short time ago I said to a man: " Are you a Christian? " " Of course I am; I say my prayers every night." " But do you ever pray? " " Why, of course I do ; haven't I just said so? " I found that he prayed, but he only went through the form, and after a little, I found that he was in the habit of swearing! "How is this?" I asked; "swearing and praying! Do vour prayers ever go any higher than your head? " " Well, I have sometimes thought they didn't." A HARD CASE TO REACH. 329 My friends, if you are not in communion with God your prayers are but forms; you arc living on formalism, and your prayers will go no higher than your head. How many people just go through the form? They cannot rest unless they say their prayers. How many there are with whom it is only a matter of education. The next true element of prayer is Restitution. It is folly for us to ask God to do something for us that we can do for ourselves. I don't believe that we preach restitution enough. If I have five dollars in my pocket that belongs to some one else and I try to cheat him out of it, can I pray? What we want is a revival of righteousness, a revival of uprightness. I sometimes hear a man say, " Hallelujah," and it rasps across my nerves like a file. I look into his face and know that it is not real. When I was in the north of England, some years ago, I met a w^oman whose case seemed one of the hardest to reach I had ever met. She came to the meetings constantly. She talked with me every day. She wanted to be a Christian so much, and yet something was in the way. Do the best I could I couldn't find out what it was. Finally there passed through the town a woman who was a devoted Christian worker. I said to her: " I wish you would talk with that woman and see if you can find out what is the matter." She talked with the woman and pleaded with her. She knelt down and prayed with her. She tried to get her to pray. After an hour of this, the trouble all came out. " Oh, I can't pray," she exclaimed. " Every time I kneel down to pray I can't see God's face. All I can see is five bottles of wine." It transpired that at some time in her life she had been housekeeper for a rich man, and he had fallen ill and died. During his illness several bottles of very rare wine had been sent to him. She stole five of the bottles. Years passed, and she had used the wine. Now the memory of that theft brought ,,Q THE MEMORY OF HER SIN. up the sij^fht of those five bottles to confront her when she would turn to God. " Now," said her counselor, " your duty is plain. You must make restitution." " But I cannot. The wine is used, and the man is dead." " Take the money value of it, then, and give it to his wife." " I can't do that, either. She is dead, too." " Is none of his family living-? " " Yes, he has a son in ," naming a town twenty miles distant. " Then you must take the money, and go and confess to him, and give him the money." " Oh, I can't do that. Won't it do for me to give the money to the church? " " Indeed not. The Lord doesn't want stolen money. This does not belong to you to give." Well, the end of it was that she finally took the money, about twenty-five dollars, and called on the young man. He was surprised enough. " Rut," he said, " it doesn't belong to me. Give it to the church." " I can't," she said. It isn't mine to give. You give it if you want to," and this he eventually did. Well, she came back with a radiant face. She hardly seemed to touch the earth. " Now," she said, " I have found that I can pray." Friends, there may be five bottles of wine standing be- tween you and Heaven. You can't bribe the /Mmighty. You may bribe the church and me, but if you are going into His kingdom, you can't be a sneak or a thief. Make restitution. If I've got five dollars in my pocket that belongs to another man, no amount of psalm singing and shouting " glory halle- lujah " will cover it up. The next element is Forgiveness. More people stumble right here and lose their power than anywhere else. Now, if I do not forgive just as T want God to forgive me T cannot pray. A man said to me some time ago, " We have a magnifi- FOR(^.IVE, AS WK WOULD UK FOR(;iVEN. 331 cent organ, a wealthy and cultured preacher, but we haven't had a man converted in our church. Can you tell me why? " " Yes, there are lialf a dozen families in your church who are not on speaking- terms, and the Holy Ghost cannot work." God cannot stultify Himself. He says He cannot work. If tliere is any one you are not willing to forgive, don't you see that you have broken down the bridge? And how are you going to get over yourself? Now, if you have had trouble with some one and have not forgiven him, go and have it settled before the sun goes down. God delights to answer prayer. But you cannot deceive yourself. If you are living a dishonorable life, God hides His face and will not hear you. I remember preaching in a place a few years ago, and on one side of the desk sat a mother who was greatly troubled about her sir.s and wanted to come to Christ. On the other side of the platform was her daughter. They belonged to a very wealthy family, perhaps the wealthiest in that town, and it had been known for a year that there had been a quarrel be- tween mother and daughter. They would not speak to each other on the street, and would have nothing to do with each other ; yet both of them wanted to become Christians. I said: " I don't see how you can become Christians if you are not willing to forgive each other, and as it is a public matter and every one knows it, you had better ask each other's for- giveness right in the meeting." Well, the mother started. The daughter was not quite so willing. A mother's love is stronger than her children's love. But when the mother arose and the daughter saw her coming, she, too, arose and met her, and they asked each other's for- giveness before the audience, and confessed their faults one to the other. To me it was one of the most impressive things I ever witnessed in all my life, and I think one of the most powerful sermons ever preached in that town. There were sobs all over the house, and a great many were brought under conviction then, and inquired, " What must I do to be 332 JO"^' I^' RECONCILIATION. saved?" Confess your faults one to another. If you can think of any one you have had difficuhy with, go and have it straightened out, be reconciled, and then see how quickly God will answer your prayer. At a revival service in Michigan, a young lady was greatly troubled, and in answer to inquiries she said that her unwilling- ness to confess Christ resulted from a schoolroom quarrel which was still imscttled. She felt that she couldn't forgive her enemy. When she had told her trouble she asked for ad- vice. " Must I forgive my mate? " " Certainly, if you want God's forgiveness," was the answer of the minister. Imme- diately she ran with all her might to her old friend, and, instead of meeting a cold reception, they were soon crying on each other's necks. And so it always should be, and almost always there will be the same prompt half-way meeting betweeen those ag- grieved. M}- wife was laboring in the inquiry-room one even- ing with a lady who was in just this state of mind, and very soon reparation and complete reconciliation were effected, and the two old friends walked ofT arm in arm, happier than ever before their little misunderstanding. And one of those ladies felt so strong in her new-found charity for all that she won over her husband, and he openly confessed Christ. A man once asked me to go to his house and talk with his wife; she was anxious about her soul. I called upon her and talked an EARNEST AND CONSTANT PRAYERS. 343 Another clement of prater is Perseverence. God hasn't set the clay that He is going to answer our prayers ; it may be long after we are in glory that our prayers will be answered. Many a boy has been brought to Christ long after his father and mother were dead. Many a boy has looked upon the face of his father and mother in their coigns and then turned to God. Many a young man has been converted at his father's grave. There is a story told of a governor of New Jersey who was besought by a woman to pardon her husband then under sen- tence of death. She came day after day until he was so dis- tressed that he gave orders not to admit her into his ofBce — he could not be troubled any more with her. One day she gained admission by strategy, and she had her ten children with her; and they all fell on their knees and cried, " Governor, pardon our father 1 " And the mother said, " For the sake of these ten children spare the life of my husband." It touched his heart and the life of her husband was spared. A little bedridden boy whom I knew, kept mourning be- cause he couldn't work for Jesus. The minister told him to pray, and pray he did ; and the persons he prayed for one by one professed Christ. When he heard that such a one had not accepted Him, he just turned his face to the wall and prayed harder. Well, he died; and from his little memorandum-book it was found that he had prayed for fifty-six persons daily by name, and before he was buried all of them had given their hearts to Jesus. Tell me that little boy won't shine in tlie kingdom of God ! We ought not to give men up as long as they are on earth ; while we have life ourselves, let us keep on praying. We can't tell when our prayers will be answered ; it may take years. I remember when in England I was told of a lady who had a godless husband ; he had forbidden her ever to speak to him on the subject of religion. She made up her mind that she would pray for him at midday for a year. She prayed every day at twelve o'clock in her room, and yet she could see no efifect. Then she resolved to pray for six months longer, which 344 PLEADING FUR SUULS. she did, and still no sign, no answer. The (|uestion came to her then, " Shall I give him up? " " Xo," she said, " as long as God gives nie breath and he lives, I will pray for him." That very day, when he came home to dinner, instead of going into the dining-room he went np stairs. Slie waited, and waited, but he did not come down, and finally she went to her room and found him on his knees crying to God for mercy, in that very room where she had prayed for him eighteen months. God heard her cry and answered her ]~)ra\er. I believe that many can be reached in that way who cannot be reached in any other. I would like to take a leaf out of ni}- own life to help those who have brothers very dear to them, but who are out of Christ. Many years ago, when God converted me, the first thing that came into my mind was my brothers. I began to pray that my six brothers and two sisters might be led to Christ. I re- member the first time I went home after my conversion. T thought I could tell them what God had done for me, and that I had only to explain it to have them all see the light. How disappointed I was when I left home that first time, after re- maining for a few days, to find that they did not see it at all. I was not experienced in pleading for souls then. Perhaps I did not go at it in the right way. Hut T kci)t on as best I could. A few years after, when I was in Chicago, a postman one day brought a letter that told me my youngest l^rother was given up by his physician to die. I went up into the fifth story of the building where I was em])loyed, and if ever I prayed earnestly in my life I did then that my brother might be spared. He was the Benjamin of the family. 1 le was born after my father died. The thought that he might die in his sins was too much for me to stand, and T wrestley the Grace of God," for that is the only way. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will take care of him if he will come to Him. If some poor drunkard is trying to break the fetters of strong drink and become a free man, Satan laughs at him. He signs the pledge, and swears (354) THE SCOLDING MINISTER. 355 by all that is good and holy that he won't drink again, but Satan still laughs, for he knows he will have him down again inside of twenty-four hours. But if he comes to the Good Shepherd He will take care of him. All we have to do is just to follow Him, and wherever He leads us we are safe. And that to me is a very precious thought — " He leadeth me." People say they are not able to keep Christ. He will keep all who conuuit themselves to Him. The Saviour's work is to keep you, and if you go astray to bring you back. The man who had the hundred sheep did not say he would let the one sheep that went astray find its way back. He went out and searched until he found it. and when he found it he did not beat it. but he gently put it on his shoulder and brought it back. I heard of a young minister who took charge of a church that had long been under the care of an old pastor. He began to scold and find fault with the people, and he kept that up for six months. One day one of the old deacons asked him home to dine with him. After dinner the deacon asked him if he had ever read the twenty-first chapter of John. " Read it ! I hope I have read every chapter in the Bible. Read it? Wliy, of course I have." But the old deacon got his Bible and began to read aloud. He read to where the Lord is sifting Peter and testing him. " Peter, lovest thou me more than these ? Beat my sheep. Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Maul my sheep. Peter, lovest thou me more than these? WALLOP my sheep." " Why," said the startled minister, " that isn't there, is it ? " " Well," said the deacon, " I just thought I would read to you about as you have preached to us for the last six months, and let you hear how it sounds." Feed my sheep ! I honestly believe we have too much preaching in the exhorting line. I believe that the church needs to be fed ; and where there is one sermon preached to the unconverted I wish wc had one hundred preached to church members. The sheep must be fed, and that is just what the Good Shepherd will do. 356 'fHE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD. Sonic old divine has said tliat all of God's sheep iiave three characteristics. First, they hear; second, the)- know liis voice; third, they follow Him. They know His voice. A great many people cannot tell the voice of God from the voice of a false shepherd. A friend of mine visited ]\Iount Lebanon some time ago, and two shep- herds with their sheep came down to the water, and he said he thought there were fully ten thousand sheep. The shepherds were talking while the sheep were drinking, and he wondered how they were going to get their sheep sejjarated. At length one shepherd got up, put on his turban, and spoke to the sheep, and they knew his voice. All his sheep followed him. He didn't drive them. The other shepherd called his sheep and they followed him. ]\1\- friend said to the shepherd, " Do all these sheep know you? Does each one of your sheep know you? " ■' \\'h}-, yes." " Can't you deceive them? " And the old shepherd laughed at the idea ; he thought it was too ab- surd. And my friend said, " Now, just let me try it. Let me have your frock and turban and you go behind a tree." He called out just as the shepherd had told him, " Mena, Mena." The sheep scattered in all directions. They knew it was a strange voice. The true sheep know a true shepherd. In Scotland I once quoted a passage of Scripture a little different from what it was in the Bible, and an old woman crept up and corrected me and said, " Mr. Moody, you said so-and-so." I might make forty misquotations in an American city, and no one would tell me about them. Two lawyers were wrangling in court and one said that the other didn't know the Lord's prayer. The other said he did, and he repeated, " Now T lay me down to sleep." " Well," said the other lawyer, " I give up. You do know it." Didn't either of them know it. Look for Christ and you will not be in the dark. Now, if men and women are in the dark to-day, it is because they have wandered away from the vShepherd ; because they are afraid of Him. Just draw near to the Shepherd if you want food, light, KNcnVINC; THE SHEEP BY THEIR FAILINGS. 357 peace, and joy. Just follow. When I was a boy and went to school it wasn't a matter of feeling, but obedience. What wc want is will power. The thing we are told to do is just to fol- low, and if we do we shall not walk in the dark. " He calleth them b}' name." I get a great deal of comfort out of the fact that the Shepherd knows me by name. He knew Saul of Tarsus. He knew little Samuel. The Good Shepherd knows us all by name. A friend of mine was traveling in Syria, and he found a shepherd who kept up the old custom of naming his sheep. My friend said he couldn't believe that the sheep understood when the shepherd called them by name. So he asked him if the sheep were all named and if they all knew their names. " I wish you would just call one or two," he said. The shepherd said. " Carl." The sheep stopped eating and looked up. The shepherd called out, " Come here." The sheep came and stood looking up into his face. He called another and an- other, until he had called up a dozen sheep and there they stood looking up at the shepherd. " How can you tell them apart? " " Oh, there are no two alike. See. that sheep toes in a little ; this sheep is a little bit squint-eyed ; that sheep has a black spot on its nose." My friend found that the shepherd knew every one of his sheep by their failings. He didn't have a perfect one in his flock. I suppose that is the way the Lord knows you and me. If a man is covetous, and wants to grasp the whole world, he needs a shepherd to keep down that spirit. If a woman has an awful tongue, and keeps the whole neighborhood stirred up, of if she is deceitful, she needs the care of a shepherd, or she will ruin her children. If a father, who wouldn't swear for all the world before his children, is sometimes provoked in liis business and swears before he knows it, doesn't he need a shep- herd's care? I would like to know if there is any one who doesn't need the care of a shepherd. Haven't we all got fail- ings? God would never have sent Christ into the world if wc didn't need His care. We all are as weak and foolish as sheep. I am not much of a shepherd. I was at home one night, in my native town, and was stopping at my brother's. A neigh- ^-8 SEEKING THE LOST FLOCK. bor came in and said to him, " Mr. Moody, your sheep have got out." And my brother got his lantern, put it under his coat so tliat we wouldn't scare the sheep, and we started out to find them. It was a very dark night, and we went mto the fields and kept groping around in the dark, and once in a while he would open his coat and let the light shine out to see where we were. By and by we came to the flock of sheep, and they fled in all directions. I could tell by the face of my l)rother that he was disappointed. " Never mind," I said, " open the gate and they will be home in the morning." " You know more about preaching than you do about sheep. They will be scattered all over the mountam side," he said. We had a hard time gathering them in. They were very stubborn. So are we. We don't like to be told we are stub- born, but we are a bad lot, the whole of us. We wander away from the Shepherd, and get into a great deal of trouble. I wish I had time to dwell on the tenderness of the Shep- herd. I find that Satan takes advantage of some people be- cause of His tenderness. Suppose a beloved child dies, Satan says to the afflicted ones, " Ministers talk about the tenderness and kindness and love of the Shepherd ; don't you see how He has wounded you?" My dear friend, don't let Satan get the best of you. A friend of mine in New York had four beautiful children, and scarlet fever came and swept them all away. The poor man tried to get comfort, but he couldn't find it. He traveled all through Europe, but couldn't get rest, and finally he went to Syria. One day he and his wife were near a stream and they saw a shepherd approaching with a flock of sheep. The sliephcrd went into tlie stream and called the sheep after him. They looked at him wistfully, but were afraid to follow. Finally he came out of the water and picked up two little lambs and put them into his bosom. The two old sheep, instead of looking at the water in fear, now looked up at the shepherd and began to bleat. They closely followed him into the stream be- cause their loved ones were there. By and by he got all the CROSSING THE STREAM. 359 sheep over into a greener pasture, into a better place, and when they were safely over he took the little lambs out of his bosom. The bereaved father and mother stood there and watched, and they said, " That is what the great Shepherd has done with our little ones. He has taken them across the stream into greener pastures, home to a better place." How many times the Good Shepherd has taken a little lamb to the hill-tops of glory, and then the father and mother have looked up and followed. Have you some loved one who has gone over the stream ? The Good Shepherd has taken that loved one that He may draw you to that world of light, where He has gone to prepare mansions for those who love Him. Shall we not just let our hearts and affections be set on the other side of the river? It is but a step ; there is but a vail be- tween ; we shall soon be in the other world. If we have the Good Shepherd, He will be with us in the dying hour. CHRIST THE COMFORTER. If I were to ask what Christ came into this world for, nearly every one would say " to save sinners," and there they would stop. A great many think that is all Christ came to do — to save sinners. Now, we are told that He came " to seek and to save that which was lost " ; but He came to do more, — He came to heal the broken-hearted. It is a mystery to me why those who have broken hearts would rather carry them, year in and year out, than bring them to this Great Physician. How many men and women are gomg down to their graves broken-hearted? For years and years they carry hearts weighted with trouble, and yet, when they open the Bible they can learn that He left Heaven and all its glory to come down to the world, — sent by the Father to heal the broken-hearted, to comfort all that mourn. There is no class of people exempt from broken hearts. The rich and the poor suffer alike. There was a time, when I used to visit them, that I thought all the broken hearts were to be found among the poor; but I have found there are as many ^5o HEART-SORROW EVERYWHERE. among" the learned as the unlearned, the cultured as the un- cultured, the rich as the poor. If you could go up one avenue and down another in any city, and could reach the hearts of the people living there, and get them to relate the inner story of their lives and experiences, you would be astonished at the history of every family. I remember a few years ago, on my return to the city after an absence of some weeks, I started out to make some calls. At the first place I called I found a mother whose eyes were red and swollen with weeping. I tried to find out what was troubling her, and she reluctantly opened her heart and told me all. She said : " Last night my only son came home drunk. I didn't know that he was addicted to the use of liquor, but this morning I found out that he has been drinking for weeks ; and," she con- tinued. " I would rather have laid him in the grave than have liad him brought home in the condition I saw him last night." 1 tried to comfort her as best I could. In the very next house I went to, where some of the chil- dren who attended my Sunday-school resided, I found that death had been there and laid his hand on one of them. The mother spoke to me of her affliction, and brought to me the playthings and the little shoes of the child, and the tears ran down her cheeks as she told me her sorrow. I hoped I should see no more family trouble that day ; but the next visit I made was to a home where I found a wife with a sad story. Her husband had neglected her for a long time. She said : " My husband has left me, and I don't know where he has gone. Winter is coming on, and I don't know what is going to become of my family." I tried to comfort her, and prayed with her. and endeavored to persuade her to lay all her sorrows on Christ. The next home I entered T foimd a woman crushed and broken-hearted. She told me her son had forsaken her, and she had no idea where he had "-one. GRIKF THK COMMON PORTION. 36I That afternoon I made five calls, and in every home I found a broken heart. This earth is not a stranger to tears, neither is tlie present the only time they have been found in abundance. From Adam's day to ours tears have been shed, and a wail has been going up to heaven from the broken-hearted. And I say it again, it is a mystery to me how all those broken hearts can keep away from Him who has come to heal them. For six thousand years that cry of sorrow has been going up to God. We find the tears of Jacob put on record, when he was told that his beloved son was no more. His sons and daughters tried to give him comfort, but he refused to be comforted. We are also told of the tears of King David. I can see him, as the mes- senger brings the news of the death of his son, exclaiming in anguish, " O my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee." When Christ came into the world the first sound He heard was of woe — the wail of those mothers in Bethlehem ; and from the manger to the cross He was surrounded with sorrow. We are told that He often looked up to heaven and sighed ; I believe it was because there was so much suffering around Him. Sufifering was on His right hand and on His left — everywhere on earth ; and the thought that He had come to relieve the people of the earth of their burdens, and that so few would accept Him, made Him sorrowful. I often think of the difference between those who know Christ, when trouble comes upon them, and those who know Him not. Several years ago a father took his wife and two children to Europe, and when in mid-ocean another vessel ran into their steamer and she went down. Previous to this, when I was preaching in Chicago, that mother used to bring these two children to the meetings every night. It w^as one of the most beautiful sights I ever looked upon, to watch those little children as they sat and listened, and see the tears trickling down their cheeks when the Saviour was preached. It seemed as if nobody else in that meeting drank in the truth more eagerly than those children. One night when an invitation 362 COMFORT IX AFFLICTION. had been extended to all to go into the inquiry-room, one of these little ones said: " JManima, why can't we go in, too?" The mother allowed them to come into the room, and a friend spoke to them, and to all appearances they seemed to under- stand the plan of salvation as well as their elders. When that memorable night came, and the steamer sank, that mother went down into the waters ; she was rescued, but the two children were lost. Upon reading the news I said : " It will kill her," and I quitted my post in Edinburgh — the only time I left my post on the other side — and went down to Liverpool to try and comfort her. But when I arrived, I found that the Son of God had been there before me, and instead of my comforting her she comforted me. She told me she could not think of those children as being in the sea ; it seemed as if Christ had per- mitted her to take those children on that vessel only that they might be wafted to Him, and had saved her life only that she might come back and work a little longer for Him. So if any of you have some great affliction, if any of you have lost a loved and loving father, mother, brother, sister, husband, or wife, come to Christ, because God has sent Him to heal the broken- hearted. I like a religion that gives me such comfort, that when I lay away any loved ones in the grave, I know they will by-and- by hear the voice of the Son of God calling them forth. I used to wonder how Christians had so much comfort in affliction, and used to question whether I could have so much ; but I have learned that God gives us comfort when we need it. I once stood beside the grave of a man T loved more than any one on earth, except my wife and family.* As he was laid in the grave and the earth dropped upon his cofifin, it seemed as if a voice came to me, saying: " He shall rise again." T like a religion by which we can go to the grave of our loved ones and feel that they will rise again. I like a religion that tells us although we sow them in corruption they will rise incorruptible ; that al- *Mr. Moody's youngest brollier. "BE YE ALSO READY." 363 though we SOW them in weakness they will rise in power and glory and ascend to the kingdom of light. Thank God for this : " I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come to you." O the blessed Gospel of the Son of God, what can we do without it? I was going into a cemetery once, and over the entrance I saw these words : Infidelity did not teach that ; we learned that from the Bible. There are three things which every mian should be ready for in this world ; ready for life, ready for death, and ready for judg- ment. Judgment after death is as sure as life ; judgment is as sure as death. " It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." It is of very little account how we die, or where we die, if we are only prepared for it. We ought to be ready any hour ; we know not what may happen any moment. Oh, my friends, the dying hour will come. We are hasten- ing on to death. If Christ is not your all in all, what is to be- come of you ? When I was on the Pacific coast, some years ago, I was told about a stage-driver who had just died. You that have been there know that years ago men who drove those mountain coaches attached a good deal of importance to the brake ; they had to keep their feet upon it all the time while going down steep mountains. As this poor fellow was breath- ing his last he cried out : " I am on the down grade, and I can't find the brake ! " Those were his last words. A friend of mine took his Sunday-school on an excursion on the cars. One of the little boys was allowed to sit on the platform of the car, when by some mischance he fell, and the train passed over him. The train had to go on half a mile be- fore it could be stopped. They went back and found that the poor little fellow had been mangled all to pieces. Two of the teachers went back with the remains to Chicago. Then came the terrible task of telling the parents. When they arrived at the house they dared not go in. They v.aited for five minutes before either of them had the courage to knock at the door. 364 A CHILD'S FEAR OF DEATH. But at last they ventured in. They found the family at dinner. The father was called out — they thought they would tell him first. One of the teachers said to him : " I have very bad news to tell you. Your little Jimmy has been run over by the cars." The poor man turned deathly pale, and rushed back into the room where the mother was, crying out, " Dead ! Dead ! " The poor mother sprang to her feet and ran into the sitting- room where the teachers were. When she heard the sad story she fainted away at their feet. " Moody," said that teacher to me, " I wouldn't be a mes- senger like that again for all I have ! " You can't help but say that was sad ; but what was the loss of that little child in comparison with the loss of those young men who have grown up to manhood and rejected the Son of God, died without hope, died without mercy, died without excuse ? Before I knew the Son of God as my Saviour death was a terrible enemy to me. In that little New England village where I came from, it was the custom to toll the bell whenever anyone died, and to announce the age of the departed by one stroke for every year ; seventy strokes for a man of 70, forty strokes for a man of 40, and so on. I used to think when people died at 70 and sometimes at 80, " Well, that is a good ways of¥." But sometimes it would be a child of my own age, and then it used to be very solemn. Sometimes, after the bell had announced a death, I could not bear to sleep in a room alone. Those were davs of darkness to me. Some nights I was afraid to go to bed — I was afraid of death. People may say I was a coward, but nevertheless I was afraid of death ; it was so terrible to me. I remember the first time I put my hand on the face of a corpse. A cold chill went through me. I remember once acting as pall-bearer to a schoolmate of mine, and I did not get over it for days and davs. Death used to trouble me. but. thanks to God. it does not trouble me now. If He should send His mes- TRIU.MPil OVER DKATH. 365 senger this hour to say to me, " Mr. Moody, your hour is come, I have got to take you away," it would be joyful news for me ; for though I should be absent from the body, I should be present with the Lord. Sometimes I used to go into a graveyard when some one was being laid in that narrow house, and when the sexton shoveled the earth upon the coffin it sounded like a death-knell to my soul. I would hear him say, " Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Now I can shout as Paul did : I can say, " O death, where is thy sting? " Oh, the grave is lost in victory! It is lost in Christ. CHAPTER XVII. TRUST IN GOD GIVES PERFECT PEACE. False Friends — Tlie Old Woman Who "Trusted the Lord Till the Harness Broke " — A Brave Missionary — " Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep " — Seizing the Last Rope — A Dangerous Feat — An Interesting Story of the Civil War — The Prayer of a Little Fatherless Girl — Asking God to Lend a Little House to Live In — The Story of Two Bibles Bought With Children's Money — Among Sick and Wounded Soldiers — A Soldier's Dying Message to His Mother — A Glorious Death — Mr. Moody's Experience in the Panic of 1857 — Starting Out as a Commercial Drummer — Three Kinds of Notes and How His Employer Marked Them — Expecting Something Dreadful — The Two Quakers — A Re- markable Incident — "Oh, Mamma, I Am so Tired !" — An In- cident of the Dark Days of the Civil War. I WANT to call your attention to one short word of five letters, T-R-U-S-T. You will find the word " Trust " is used in the Old Testament in places where the word " Be- lieve " is used in the New Testament. A great many people say, " Well, I will believe. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and yet I do not think I am saved. I don't feel any assurance. I have no peace in my belief. I don't get the victory over sin." And so what I want to call your attention to is this: I. Ulioiii not to trust. 2. Jriioiii to trust. 3. W'hcti to trust. 4. 1 1 01^' to trust. 5. lllio will trust. 6. The fntit of trust. Now to take up the first point: Whom not to trust. If we trust in anything human, we shall be deceived and disap- pointed. If we trust in ourselves, the time is coming when our own strength shall fail us. If we trust in friends, they may die and leave us, or they may turn against us. How many a (366) WHOM SHALL WE TRUST? 367 person can call to mind friends who once were true to them, but now friendship has ceased. You were disappointed in them; they betrayed your confidence. If we trust in wealth, it will take wings and fly away. A man once told mc that he would rather have a good bank account than have faith in Christ. I'd rather have faith in Christ than own all the banks in the world. If you trust in fame and reputation, some slan- dering tongue may blast them. Put your trust in something above, something beyond this life. Now, wJiom to trust ? Trust in one who has never be- trayed confidence in six thousand years. He has never be- trayed a trust in all these centuries, never has, never will. He cannot break one of His promises. He is sure to make it good. The God of the Bible is an unchangeable God ; and if you put your trust in Him, you will not be disappointed. Some people seem to think that trust is unreasonable. My dear friends, I think it is the most reasonable thing in the world that we should put our confidence in the God of the Bible. Some one said to me, " How can you prove that His promises are good and valuable?" I said, "They are fulfilled every day, right along." Suppose a man had promised me forty years ago that every year, on the first day of January, he would give me a thousand dollars, and every year that has passed since then he has actually given me the money promptly on the first day of every January, — would I not have pretty good reason to think that that man would fulfill all his promises? I could doubt my own existence as easily as I can doubt God. It is a safe thing to put your trust in God. It is a very easy and a very right thing. Now, zi'Iicn to trust? We are to trust Him at all times. We are to trust in the night as well as in the day. We are to trust when we cannot see how things are coming out as well as when we can see. There's a conunon saying, " I wouldn't trust that man out of sight." That is the way a good many ])ersons treat Almighty God. They don't say so in words, but they trust Him as far as they can see, and no farther. You 368 TRUSTING WHEN \VK CANNOT SEE. have heard of the old woman whose horse ran away with her. She " trusted in the Lord until the harness broke," and then it was " all up." She had trusted in the harness. Such per- sons trust only when they can sec that everything- is comint>[ out all right. A person once said to me," Your doctrine is unreasonable. How can you ask a sensible, reasoning man to believe, when he can't see how it is coming out? He can't see the end." j\[y dear friend, we are doing that constantly. You put con- fidence in a bank. You don't know whether the bank will fail or not, and yet you trust in it. Isn't that so? What do you know about the banking business? I don't know any- thing about it. Yet I would rather have my money there than in my pocket. It is a good deal safer there than with me. A mother has an only child very sick with scarlet fever. What does that distressed mother do? She calls a skillful doctor and puts the case in his hands. She does not know much about medicine, but she puts her trust in the skill of the doctor. That is trusting when she cannot see, isn't it? Here is a man who has a case in court. He knows nothing about Blackstone or law. but he puts the matter in the hands of a lawyer, and trusts the whole thing to him. That is trusting in the dark when you can't see how it is coming out, and when you can't reason the whole thing out, isn't it? Now, then, put yourself in the hands of God, and trust Him to keep you, and to do what He has promised. I met an old gentleman not long ago whom I looked at with a great deal of admiration. He was a returned mission- arv. It was necessary for liini to submit to a severe surgical operation ; and the doctor said to him : "Are you ready? " The old missionary straightened up and said: "Yes. Is everything else ready?" " Yes." "Well, wait a moment." And he repeated THE LAST OPPORTUNITY. o^g " Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take." Then he said, " I am ready." Of course he was. Thank God, otir mothers tattght ti.s tliat prayer. In reply to the question " IVhcii shall I trust Him ? " I answer, iioi^'. Trust Him to-day to do what He has prom- ised. You will never have a better time nor a better day than now, this very hour. Some of you challenge that statement and say, " I'll wait until I can break ofT my bad habits, or con- quer a bad disposition," and so forth. My friend, if you could go on from this day and not add another sin but the sin of procrastination, you would not be able to do more than you can now. Yoti can never trust in God better than now. A story is told of a man who was struggling in the current of a swift river. His boat had been capsized, and the stream vv-as bearing him swiftly on. There were three bridges across the stream; if he passed the third bridge it meant sure death to him. People rushed to the first bridge and threw a rope to him, but he passed under and didn't lay hold of it. And he passed the second bridge and didn't lay hold of the rope. And he came to the third bridge, — his last opportunity. But just as he was passing, he seized the rope, and was pulled out of the jaws of death. It may be that God is calling you now for the last time. Make up your mind that this is the day and hour that you are going to put your trust in Him. And now comes the point : Hozv to trust. The Bible tells us to " Seek Him zi.'it}i all tliy heart.'" 1 never see men and women seeking the Lord with all their hearts that they do not find Him; none seek the kingdom of God with all their hearts that do not get into it. You can trust. \\'ill you? It* is told of Alexander the Great that he had a favorite doctor who was always near him. One day Alexander re- ceived a letter which stated that his physician was going to poison him; that the next morning, when he took his medicine in a glass of wine, death would be in that medicine. The em- peror kept the letter in himself, and the next morning when the doctor handed him llir medicine in the wineglass, he took it and held it in his hand while he read the letter aloud : and hefore the doctor could deny the letter, the emperor drank the wine. That was to show the doctor that he had confidence in him, that he did not believe what was in the letter. That is what I call believing with all ymir heart. Xow, there might have been poison in that cu]); but do you think tliere is any poison in (lod's cup? He offers }ou the cup of salvation. Do vou think it is ]ioison and death to anyone that will take that cup? Do vou think anyone can ])erish who will trust God for salvation? I pitv those people who live in " Doubting Castle." You must get out of it. Don't say }-ou will " try " to trust. T have heard some people say, " Mr. ]\b)ody, I am going to Iry to be a Christian.' That means you won't. If 1 should sav to a friend that I would meet him to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, and he should say, " I will try hard to believe you," it would jirove that he did not trust mc. .\nd when a man savs, " I will Iry," let him change it to " I a'/// trust Him with all mv heart, whether T feel like it or not." And now, zclio will trust. They that know Him. Why is it that infidels do not trust in Cod? They don't know Him, therefore they don't trust Him. Whenever you find a man or woman who reads the I'ible, and studies the ])romises, you will find a man or woman who believes in Cod. They can't help it. But it is those who neglect the Ihlde and do not read about God who do not trust Him. Get acfpiainted with God, and then you will trust Him. The more you know of a true man, the more confidence you will have in him. The more you know of an untrue man. the less faith you have in him. A storv is told of some gentlemen in Scotland who wanted to get a certain kind cf c^<^s from a nest on the side of a preci- pice, and they tried to persundc r. ^-^^r boy to go over the clifT and get them. Thev offered him considerable money if he would get into a basket and let them swing him over the cliff. PEACK THK FRUIT OF TRUST. 371 liut though the money was a temptation, he decUned to do it. They said: " We are strong, and we will hold the rope." " Well," he said, " If you will wait until I get my father, and if he will hold the rope, I will go down the clifT in the basket." " We are stronger than your father," they said. " Yes, but I .don't knozv you." He knew that his father would not let go of that rope. He could trust his father; these strangers he could not trust. That is the trouble with people. They do not know Him. Get accjuainted with Him, and then you can't help but trust Him. Now I come to the last point : The fruit of trust. Man- kind is in pursuit of rest. That is the cry of the world. Probe the human heart, and you will find deep down in it the longing for rest. Where can rest be found? Here it is; right here. Put your trust in the living God, with all your heart, might, mind, and soul, and you will have peace, perfect peace. There is a passage in the Bible that I had never noticed until I was in Birmingham, England, a good many years ago. A prominent minister had died; he had received a large salary and had given it to the poor, right and left. He was stricken down in the prime of life, and when he lay on his dying bed, and thought of leaving his wife and seven children wholly un- provided for, great distress filled his mind. He was sorely depressed ; he could not rise above it. While he lay there a little bird perched upon the window-sill, and the thought came to him, " If God can take care of that little bird, He can take care of my wife and children." The confidence of a child came into his heart, the burden rolled away, and there came light and peace and joy, and he passed away triumphantly. He had committed his wife and seven children to the God of the Bible. The text I had never noticed before is in the forty- ninth Chapter of Jeremiah, the eleventh verse, " Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." .\s they bore the body of that good man 23 072 A CHILD'S FAITH. to the grave, the whole city was moved, both the rich and the poor, and all the way to the cemetery the streets were lined with people weeping; and his body was hardl}- laid to rest before a friend raised a purse of five thousand ptnmds ($25,000) for that widow. God took care of the widow and the fatherless chil- dren. M\- friends. I tell you I would rather have faith, and ]nU my trust in the God of the l!il)k', than have all the wealth of the world. During the first year of the Givil War I visited my Sunday- school scholars in Chicago, and I went into a home where the news had just come tliat the father had been killed in l)attle. The mother was the first soldier's widow I had met. She had two little girls, one about three years old and the other five. A few days after, the landlord came for the rent. She told him Ikt pitiful story. She didn't l^now what she could do to jiay the rent; slie didn't own a sewing machine; she must get her living with licr needle; and she didn't know whether she could find work. The landlord told her that if she didn't pay her rent on the first day of the month he would turn her out of doors. She began to weep. 1"he oldest little girl wanted to comfort her. Illessed little ones! They light up our lives and cheer us in our loneliness. The mother, grieving for the loss of her husband, and fearing the bleak winter that was coming, gave way. Hope seemed gone. And the little girl said: " Don't cry. nianmia. Won't God lake care of us? Won't He hear us? " " Oh, yes, ni}- child." "Well, then, \\hat makes you crw mannna? Mayn't I go and ask Him to take care of us? " She went into her room. The door was ajar, and the little one knelt down by her bed, and this was her prayer: " O God. ^'ou liave come and taken away m\- ])a])a, and my mamma hasn't any money to ]iay the landlord, and he is going to turn us out of doors. \Ve will sit on the doorsteps and catch cold and die. Won't You lend us a little house to live THE CHILDREN'S BIBLE. 573 in ?" Then she said to her mother, " Mamma, don't cry. I am sure God will hear my prayer. He will give us a home." 1 just made that known among the business men of Chicago, and a lot was bought and a house put up for that woman, and it was, I think, the first house put up for a soldier's widow in Chicago. Not long after this she brought her two little girls to see me. They had a penny bank, and they said: " We want to do something for the soldiers. We want you to take this money and buy a Bible, and take it into the army, and find a soldier who is not a Christian and give it to him so that we can pray for him." The father and husband was gone, but the widow and chil- dren wanted to pray for some one. I went to the Bible House and got two Bibles and took them with me into the army, and when in front of Richmond I stood uj) and told the story. I held up one of the Bibles and said: " If there is a soldier here who is not a Christian, who wants to come forward and kneel down and take this Bible, and have the prayers of that widow and those little children in Chicago, will he come forward? " It is pretty hard to get a soldier to move in that direction. But the}- came forward by scores. I gave only one Bible, and that night several, — I believe a great many, — started for the kingdom of God. The next night I was in another part of the army, and I told the story, and the soldiers sprang forward to get the Bible and the prayers of the children and the widow. I believe that God used this widow and her children to bring a good many into the kingdom of God. No man or woman who trusted in God was ever disap- pomted or ever will be. I once noticed a lady in one of our meetings who sat near the pulpit; and every time I looked down her eyes were riveted upon me. One day I said to her: " My friend, are you a Christian?" " Oh, no," she said, " I have been seeking Christ these three vears, but cannot find Him." 374 "IT IS ONLY TO TRUST HIM." • " There is some mistake about that," I said. '' Do you mean that I have not been seeking Him?" " Well, I know He has been looking for you for twenty \ears." " What am I to do, then? " " Do? Do nothing; probably the trouble is that you have been trying to do." " But how am I to be saved, then? " " You are to believe on Him, and stop trying." " Believe! believe! believe! I have heard that word until my head swims; everybody says it, and I am none the wiser." " Well," I said, " I will drop that word for another. The word " believe " is used in the New Testament, and the word " trust " in the Old. I will say to you, trust the Lord to save your soul." " If I say I will trust Him, will He save me? " she asked. " If you really do trust Him He will save you." " I trust the Lord to save me," she said. '* But," she added, " I do not feel any different." " I think you have not been looking for Christ; you have been looking for feeling. God does not tell you to feel; He tells you to trust Him; and you are to let feelings take care of themselves." " But I have heard people say they felt happy when they became Christians." " Well, wait until you become a Christian, and then you may talk about a Chri.stian's experience ; you must trust the Lord that He will keep you." She sat there five minutes, and then put out her hand to me, and said: " I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul." That was all there was to it. no praying, no weeping. The next night, while I was preaching, she sat in front of me; and I could sec joy written on her face, and the light from fields of glory shining in her eyes. At the close of the meet- ing .she was the first to go into the inquiry-room, and when I m ' ^ o — W (t ~n o n 3*rt ^ *^ 0 Jn'-— 3 ^ i^ (t Ul 3 B 1 £'5.10 c -• r, ., :5 c = E. M 5 S - ~j < 3 ~ (^~ - X » ?~ ^ 3 - ra — -3 7) tTi < 2 ?r-'h: [I! re y- - 3 ■■£• ^ ■3 75 re o en JO .'/- < = P n -^ .c S -— "3 5 S- °5 ^ O f n re ■ THK DVING SOLDIER. 'ly'j ' went in there she had her arm around a young lady's neck and was saying: " It is only to trust Him." She led more souls to Christ in two weeks in that church than any other worker. Oh, my friends, there is nothing to hinder your trusting Him! If you trust, when Death comes he won't be unwel- come; he won't terrify you. I remember coming down the Tennessee River after a battle, and we had four hundred and fifty wounded men on board the vessel. A good many of them were mortally wounded. A few of us had gone to look after their temporal and spiritual wants. \\> made up our minds we would not let a man die on the boat without telling him of Christ and Heaven — that we would tell them of Christ as we gave them a cup of cold water. We found one young soldier unconscious. His leg had been amputated, and he was sink- ing rapidly. I asked the doctor: " Will this man live? " " We have amputated one of his legs, and he has lost so much blood he will probably die." " Is there anything you can do to restore consciousness? " " Give him a little brandy and water, and it may revive him for a few minutes." I gave him the brandy and water. Then I said to the wounded soldier next to him : " Do you know this young man ? " His eyes brightened as he answered : " Yes, we came from the same town ; we belong to the same company ; we enlisted together." " Where do his father and mother live? " " His father is dead, and his mother is a widow." I thought the mother would be anxious to get some message from her boy, and I asked if she was a Christian. " Yes, she is a godly woman." " Has he any brothers or sisters? " " He is an only son : but he has two sisters." was the answer. I was anxious to get some message from the son to the widowed mother. Every once in a while I would speak the •5j8 LAST MESS ACE. young man's name, and after I liad spoken it a number of times, he slowly opened his eyes. " William, do you know where }ou are? " I said. " Oh, yes ; I am on my way home to mother." " The doctor has told me that you cannot live. Have you any mcssai^e to send home to your mother? " " Tell her I died trusting" in Christ," he said. Oh, how sweet it was! It seemed as if T were at the very gate of Heaven. " Is there anything else? "' 1 asked. He was sinking rap- idly, but he replied : " Yes, tell my mother and sisters to 1:)e sure and meet me in Heaven." In a few minutes he was unconscious, and in a few hours he died. What a glorious end ! " Tell my mother I died trust- ing in Christ." Some years ago a gentleman came to me and asked which I thought was the most precious promise of all those that Christ left. I could not answer the question. It is like a man with a large family of children, he cannot tell which he likes best ; he loves them all. But this is one of the sweetest promises of all : " Thou wilt keep him in perfect j)eace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." There are a good many people who think the promises are not going to be fulfilled. There are some that you do see ful- filled, and you cannot help but believe they are true. Now, re- member that all the promises are not given without conditions ; some promises are given with and others without conditions. After the Panic of 1857 I went to work for a business man in Chicago who was going to send me out as a commercial drummer. I was to collect debts as well as sell goods. The day I started out he was very busy looking over a lot of notes, and every time I went into his offlce I saw him working on those notes. Just before I started for the train he called me in and gave me my instructions. He said, " I have here three classes of notes. You will see there is a private mark at the THE WAY TO COME. 379 bottom of each note. One class is marked * B.' That is for your own eye. Tliat is a ' bad ' debt. Get ten cents on a dol- lar; get anything you can. and settle that up. Here is another class of notes. You will find they are marked ' D.' I am afraid the man is going to fail. Get all the collateral or security you can. Get another man's name on the note if you can. Fix it up some way. Here is another class marked ' G.' That stands for * Good.' Don't give any discount on them." They were all written the same, — all four months notes. It made all the difference who signed them. I find that the Church has divided up God's promises in pretty nearly the same way. Some they consider " Bad." But I want to tell you. always put down " Good " against every one of God's promises. It troubles many people a great deal as to how they should come to Christ. I have thought a great deal about that word " come," and tried to find a way in which I could make its meaning plainer to people, but I have at last come to the con- clusion that the only way to come is to come. One of the first things we were taught was to come. We were first taught to . look and then to come. The little child learns to come to its mother by pushing its chair along when its mother calls " come." So I say to you. come ; if you can't run, walk ; if you can't walk, creep ; but come, in some way. I was preaching in Chicago to an audience of women one Sunday afternoon, and after the meeting was over a lady said she wanted to talk to me. She said she would accept Christ, and after some conversation she went home. I looked for her for a whole week, but didn't see her until the next Sunday after- noon. She sat down right in front of me and her face had a sad expression. After the meeting was over I asked her what the trouble was. She said : " Oh, Mr. Moody, this has been the most miserable week of my life." I asked her if there was any one whom she had had trouble with and whom she could not forgfive. She answered : 38o FEARING TO CONFESS CHRIST. " No, not that I know of." " Well, did you tell your friends about having found the Saviour? " " Indeed I didn't ; I have been all the week trying to keep it from them." " Well, that is the reason why you have no peace." She wanted to take the crown, but didn't want the cross. " Why," she said, " if I should go home and tell my infidel liusband that I had found Christ I don't know what he would do; I think he would turn me out." " Well," I said, " go out." She went away promising that she would tell him. The next night I gave an address to men only, and in the hall there were eight thousand men and one solitary woman. After the services I went into the inf|uiry-meeting and found this lady and her husband there. She introduced me to him (he was a doctor and a very inlluential man), and said : " My husband wants to become a Christian." I took my Bible and told him about Christ, and he accepted Him. I said to her after it was all over : " It turned out quite differently from what you expected, didn't it?" " Yes," she said, " I was never so troubled in my life. I expected he would do something dreadful, but it has turned out so well." She took God's way and got rest. You may have rest. Two Quakers in Philadelphia attended our meetings, and every morning they talked about the sermons. One of them came forward and the Lord blessed him, and he wanted to tell liis brother, but didn't know how to do it. The next morn- ing as the l)rother came down to breakfast, he said : " I can't take up a paper that is not full of Moody, and if I could read of any one's being converted in riiiladeli)liia, I would myself be converted." " Look at me," said the brother, " 1 have been converted." " You don't mean it? " "BETTER AND BETTER." 381 " Yes, I do." Well, the poor fellow couldn't say anything. That was in 1875. I ^^'^5 "'' Philadelphia twenty-two years after and I met my Quaker friend, and I said : " How are you getting on ? Have you lost sight of Christ as your personal Saviour ? " "Thank God, no! It is better and better." He " yoked " himself with Jesus Christ. If there is any odium cast on Jesus Christ, take your share of it, and you will have your share of glory by and by. Don't sneak off like a coward. If a man has anything to say against Jesus Christ in your hearing, be ready to speak up for him. One day, in Wales, a lady told me this little story : An English friend of hers had a child that was sick. At first they considered there was no danger, but one day the doctor saw that the symptoms were very unfavorable. He led the mother out of the room and told her that the child could not live. The dreadful news came like a thunderbolt. After the doctor had gone the mother went into the room where the child lay and began to talk to her : " Darling, do you know you will soon hear the music of Heaven ? You will hear sweeter songs than you have ever heard on earth ; you will hear them sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Won't that be sweet, darling? " And the little child turned her head away, and said : " Oh mamma, I am so tired and so sick that I think it would make me worse to hear all that music." " Well," the mother said, " you will soon see Jesus," and she went on picturing Heaven as it is described in Revelations ; but the little child again turned her head away and said : " Oh mamma, I am so tired that I think it would make me worse to see all those beautiful things ! " Then the mother took her little one in her arms and tenderly pressed her to her heart. And the little one whispered : " Oh mamma, that is what I want ! If Jesus will only take me in his arms and let me rest," 382 SAVIXC; PRAYERS WITHOUT PRAYING. Dear friend, are you not tired and weary of sin ? Are you not weary of the turmoil of life? You can find rest on the bosom of the Son of God. When I hear a man say that he is a Christian, but is not at peace, I am always suspicious of his conversion. There are a great many men who want peace, but want to cover up some sin. You cannot liave peace until you have brought that sin to Christ and He has put it away. Years ago my little boy had some trouble with his sister and he didn't want to forgive her. At night after he had knelt down by his mother and said his prayers, I went up to him and said : " Willie, did you pray? " " I said my prayers." " Yes, but did }'ou pray? " " I said my prayers. " "I know you said them, but did you pray?" He hung his head. " You are angry with your sister? " " Well, she had no business to do so." " That has nothing to do with it ; you have the wrong idea, my boy, if you think that you prayed to-night." You sec he was trying to get over it 1)y saying, " 1 said niv prayers to-night." I find that many people say their i)rayers every night, just to ease their conscience. Then I said : " Willie, if you don't forgive your sister, you will not sleep to-night. Ask her to forgive you." " r)h, yes. I shall sleep well enough: I'm going to think about being out in the country ! " he said. That is the way that wc frc(|ucntly i\o \ we try to tliink of something else to get rid of tlic thought of sins, l)ut we cannot. I said nothing more to Iiim, but soon he called his mother and said : " Mother, won't you please go up and ask luinna if slie will forgive me? " Then I heard him murnuuMng in bed, and he was saying his prayers. And he said to me ; AB()\'K THK CI.orDS. ^g^ " Papa, you Nvcrc right. I could not sleep, and I cannot tell you how happy I am now." I remember attending a meeting- after the Civil War had been going on for about six months. The army of the North had ])een defeated at I'ull Run : in fact we had had nothing but defeat, and it looked as though the Repu])lic was going to pieces. We were much cast down and discouraged. At this meeting it seemed as if every speaker had hung his harj) upon the willow, and it was one of the gloomiest meetings I ever attended. Finally an old man with beautiful white hair arose to speak, and his face literally shone. " Young men," he said, " you do not talk like sons of the King. Though it is dark just here, remember it is light somewhere else." Then he went on to say that if it were dark all over the world, it was light up around the throne. He told us he had come from the east, where he had been up on a mountain to spend the night and see the sun rise. As the party was climbing up the mountain, and before it had reached the summit, a storm came on. He said to the guide, " I will give this up ; take me back." The guide smiled and replied. " I think w-e shall get above the storm soon." On they went ; and they soon reached a place where it was as calm as any summer evening. Down in the valley a terrible storm raged ; they could hear the thunder roll, and see the lightning's flash ; but all was serene on the mountain top. " And so, my young friends," continued the old man, " though all is dark around you, com.e a little higher up and the darkness will flee away." Often when I have been inclined to get discouraged, I have thought of what he said. Now, if you are down in the valley amidst the fog and the darkness, get a little higher up, get nearer to Christ, and know more of Him. CHAPTER XVIIL EXCUSES. The Three Men Who Were Invited to a Feast — The Five Yoke of Oxen — The Sunday Newspaper — Sunday and the Bicycle — Death-bed Repentance — The Bridge of Sighs — A Hard Master — Mr. Moody's Efforts to Release a Man from Prison — Putting On the Uniform of Heaven — Fliring a Model — The Beggar and His New Suit of Clothes — Too Well Dressed — The Barefooted Beggar Boy — How He Obtained Five Pairs of Boots a Day — The Reckless Sailor Who Longed for a Better Life — Some of His Experiences — Blackballed — Quacks and Shysters — Drink- ing " On the Sly " — "A Church Member Cheated Me " — " Lies " and " Shams " — The Troubled Scotchman — One Way of De- clining an Invitation to Dinner — Two Excuses Men Seldom Give — A Bereaved Parent's Letter to Mr. Moody. THERE were once three men who were invited to a feast. It was not an ordinary feast, but a royal feast. The common people do not have invitations to royal feasts. I have been in England a good many times, but I never got sight of the Queen, I believe, and no invitation came to me from Windsor Castle. But you have to-day a genuine invita- tion to a feast ; a King wants you there, and He wants you to come a thousand times more than you want to go. These three men, with one accord, " began to make excuse." Xow, notice the expression : " began to make excuse." They did not have an excuse, and so they manufactured one. Did you ever do that? You've been invited to places where you didn't want to go, haven't you? And you began to invent an excuse, didn't you? The first thing Adam did after he sinned was to make an excuse. To excuse ourselves we generally give the poorest one we can make. There never was a more cowardly excuse than .Xdam gave : " The woman whom Thou (384) FRIVOLOUS EXCUSES. 385 gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." He is a mighty mean man who hides behind his wife. You never saw a man who didn't have some excuse for his sin, and you can hardly find a man anywhere who has not an excuse ready on the end of his tongue. Ask a man why he does not become a Christian, and lie will have a ready-made excuse that the world never heard of; it will roll off his tongue like oil ofif marble. The first man who was invited to the feast said : " I have 'bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it." Why didn't he go and see the ground before he bought it? I have no doubt he had paced every rod of it lengthwise and across, but when the time came to go to the feast, he remem- bered that real estate transaction, and so gave that as an ex- cuse. Perhaps he sent word back to the King that there was no one in all the kingdom he would rather feast with, but " Business before pleasure, so I pray thee have me excused." Real estate and corner lots keep a good many men out of God's kingdom. The next man's excuse was equally frivolous : " I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them." Why didn't he prove his oxen before he bought them ? But he had bought his oxen, and he now hid behind them. Almost every one else would have said, " I would rather be at the feast than miss it ; " but this man must prove his oxen, and away he went. The last man said, — and what an excuse ! — "I have mar- ried a wife, and therefore I cannot come." Now, I want to ask you : Did you ever see a young bride in your life that didn't like to go to a feast? This invitation was not meant for the husband alone, but for the wife as well. Why didn't he take his wife with him ? But he wanted an excuse, and he said, " I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." Now, you laugh at these three men. To you their excuses look very flimsy. Let me tell you they are outright lies, every one of them. These men were lying and the whole thing was a sham. 386 THE MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE. It is a sad thing for a man to say that lie wants to be ex- cused from Heaven. Life is very dear to me. God has piled up l)lessings on top of one another, and I have never seen a time when I wanted to die. I want to live as long as God can use me. My work is sweet. God has given me a good and affectionate family. I would rather preach than be in Paradise. But. sweet as life is, I would rather be torn in pieces than hear sinners make frivolous excuses. Some people say, " Mr. Moody, the reason why I don't be- come a Christian is because there are so many things in the Bible I don't understand." Among such men I never found but one in all my life who claimed to have read the liible through, and he could only quote one verse, " Jesus wept." As for the mysteries in that I'ook, I am glad they are there. If I could read that Book as I do any other ])ook, I would have mastered it over forty years ago. I am glad there are heights and depths I have never been able to fathom, and lengths and breadths no man has ever been able to measure. If man wrote that Book, we could write another, and we could have thousands of different Bibles. If I could understand it all it would be pretty good proof that it did not come from God. Now, take the lawyers. How they dig at and study Black- stone, and after they have l)een studying it ten years they say they have not mastered it all. You never see men digging ten years at the Bible as lawyers dig at Blackstone. Here is a book that teaches not only the things of this life but of the life to come, and because j)eo])le cannot luiderstand the T.iblc as they do the alphabet they say it is full of contradictions and mysteries. You can never stand at the bar of God and give that old, bungling excuse for not becoming a Christian. Did you ever think how dark this world w'ould be without the Bible ? Mil- lions of men have gone down to the grave because of their loyalty to it. I thank (iod I live in a Protestant country where I can read the Bible ; and evOry man in America ought to thank God he has got this Book, and he should stand by it, THE HI 151, K OUR SAFEGUARD. ^g^ and hold on to it, and not i^ive up an inch. Anarchy and nihihsm would sweep this whole country, and neither property nor life would be safe if it were not for the Bible. They have tried to stamp it out, but God has raised up witnesses for it. I think it woultl be a master stroke of the devil to get us to con- sent to give up even a portion of it. W hen a man leads a moral life he has no trouble with the Bible ; but if he is immoral, it condemns his sins and he begins to talk against it. Another man says, " It is not that I am against the Bible, but I like to read the Sunday newspaper." It will be a dark day for this nation when the Bible is given up. and Sunday newspapers are read in place of it. No man will stand at the bar of God and give that as an excuse. " Well," another man says, " 1 haven't time to go to church because I must have some recreation, and I spend Sundays on my bicycle." That is a new excuse. Hundreds of people are now giving up the Bible on account of " bodily exercise." Put the bicycle down as an excuse that won't bear presenting in Eternity at the bar of God. Another very popular excuse is : "I don't become a Chris- tian because I won't give up all the pleasures of this life. If a man becomes a Christian he has got to put on a long face, and w^alk straight up and down, and he has no pleasure 'till he gets to Heaven." Those who believe that are deceiving themselves. I was going by a saloon the other day and saw a sign. '* Drink and be Merry." Poor, blind, deluded fellows, to think strong drink would make them merry. If you want to be merry you must come to the living fountain that bursts from the throne of God ; then you will have true pleasure. A man away from God cannot have true pleasure. He is continually thirsting for something he cannot get — thirsting for something that can quench his thirst, and he cannot get it until he comes to the living fountain. My friends, that excuse is just another wile of the devil to keep men from grace. It is false. The more a man is lifted up to heaven the more joy and peace and gladness he has. 388 TIIK WAV i)F THE TRAXSC.RKSSOR. A\ hen I was a boy I thought I would wait until I was about to die before I became a Christian. I thought if I had the consumption, or some lingering disease, I should have plenty of time to become one, and in the meantime I would enjoy the pleasures of the world. My friends, I was at that time under the power of the devil. The idea that a man has more pleas- ure away from God is one of the devil's lies. I don't know how many times some one has asked me, " Don't you think it is an awfully hard thing to live a Christian life ? " I wish I could say with tones of thunder : " No, I do not." I believe the Bible from beginning to end, and when it says, " The way of the transgressor is hard," I believe it. Go down to the brothel, or the gambling den, or the whiskey shop, and see there a man bound hand and foot. He is a cursed sin- nc", a slave to some passion, some uncontrollable sins have the mastery of him. Ask that man if he has an easy time. Ask the defaulter, taken from a beautiful home and from loving wife and children and put into prison, if the way of the trans- gressor is easy or hard. Go into the court-room, and see there the old white-haired father with his son, the latter awaiting his sentence. Go ask the young man, " Is sin a pleasant friend? " Sin always degrades and ])ulls down to ruin. Let no man tell me that the way of the transgressor is easy, and the way of the righteous is hard. There used to be in the old Toml^s in New York city an iron bridge that crossed from the court-room over to the city prison. I was told that it was called " The Bridge of Sighs." I asked the reason, and the answer was : " After criminals have re- ceived their sentence they go over that bridge to their cells weeping, and so it is called the " Bridge of Sighs." Over the door was written " The Way of the Transgressor is Hard." I met a young man on the street, in New York, one morn- ing. He had just crept out from one of the cheap lodging- houses, and he looked as if he had come out of the pit of hell. T said : "The devil works you pretty hard now, doesn't he ?" He said, " That's so ! " I pity the man who is led captive by Satan. SATAN A HARD MASTER. 389 For nian\ \ cars I had been trying- to get a man out of prison, and at last one New Year's Day the President granted our request. I cannot tell you the happiness I felt when I heard of the joy that came to that father and husband when he returned to the bosom of his family. Did it make that man gloomy to get his liberty? Take the man who is serving Satan faithfully, and then take one who is serving Jesus Christ, and has served Him for the last fifteen or twenty years, and let the two stand side by side. Then let them speak. Wouldn't their faces tell the story? If a man should say he had served Satan for forty years, and found him a good master, there is not a man that would believe him, not one. Let the man who has been in sweet fellowship with Christ for forty years tell of the joy he has found in His service, wouldn't his countenance prove the truth of what he said ? Instead of taking two men I will take two women ; for when a woman falls she falls lower than man. Why? Because God lifted her above men. When God created woman she was His highest workmanship. Now take a woman who has fallen the lowest, and let her stand here to-night, and then let the most saintly of women stand beside her. Would they need to speak, to testify that the devil is a hard master, and the Lord is a good master. ? Then, there is another very common excuse : " I am too wicked to come." A man might as well say, " I am too sick to have the doctor ; " but because he is sick he needs the doctor. Another man might say, '' I am too hungry to eat ; " and a thirsty man might say, " I am too thirsty to drink." It is be- cause he is hungry that he needs food ; it is because he is thirsty that he needs water. During the Civil War I was one of the delegates appointed by the Christian Commission to assist the doctors, and our instructions were to care for the worst cases first. If a man was slightly wovinded we passed him by ; but if a man was seriously wounded we helped him first. And so I believe it is on the battlefield of life, — the man furthest away from God 24 ^QO THE COMMON PEOPLE. needs help the most. Let no one believe that he is " too wicked " or " too bad " to come to Christ. If you can prove that you are a sinner I can jm-ovc that you have a Saviour. Christ came to call sinners. Suppose the prodigal said, " When I am better off I will go to my father." No, it was his poverty and rags that brought him to him. And so it is our need that brings us, or ought to bring us, to Him. The instruction was, " Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in." Make the halt and the l)lind and the outcast come. I once heard a man say : " There are hardly any ' cultured ' people at Air. Moody's meetings. His audiences are mostly made up of the common people." " Thank you for the compliment," I said. " My Master ministered to the ' conmion i)eople,' and when a man gets above the common people he isn't worth nmch." What we want to remember is that Jesus Christ is the friend of the conunon ])eople, like you and me, a true friend of sinners. If the Lord does not com])lain about your fitness or appear- ance, vou shouldn't look to see if you have on the right kind of clothes. I used to notice, during the Civil War, when en- listing was going on, that scMnetimes a man would enlist with a nice silk hat on, patent leather boots, kid gloves, and a fine suit of clothes ; and perhaps the next man who came would be a hodcarrier, dressed in the poorest and cheapest kind of clothes. Doth alike had lo strip and ])ut on the regimental uniform. So when you come and say you are not fit, haven't got good clothes, remember that He will furnish you with the uniform of heaven. I once heard of an artist who wanted to get a model to pose for a painting of the prodigal son. He went into almshouses and prisons, but he couldn't get one. Going through the streets one day he met a poor, wretched man, a l)eggar, and he asked him if he would pose for the picture. .\ bargain was made, anrl the artist gave him his address. The time for the appointment arrived, and the beggar duly appeared and said : COME AS voir ARE. 3gi " I have come to keep that appointment I made with you." " An appointment with mc? " replied the artist; " you are mistaken ; I have an appointment with a beggar to-day." " Weil."' said the man, " I am that beggar, but I thought I would put on a new suit of clothes before I came to see you." " I don't want you," was the artist's reply, " I , want a beggar." And so a great many people come to God with their self- righteousness, instead of coming in their rags and just as they are. Some one has said, " It is only the ragged sinners that open God's wardrobe." If you want to get a pair of shoes from a passer-by you would go barefooted, wouldn't you? I remem- ber a boy to whom I once gave a pair of boots, and I found him shortly after with bare feet again. I asked him what he had done with the boots I had given him, and he replied that he had put them on, but he found that when he was dressed up it spoiled his business ; no one would give him anything. By keeping his feet bare he got as many as five pairs of boots a day. So if you want to come to God, don't dress yourself up. It is the sinner as he is that God wants to save. Don't let any man say he is " too bad." It is the " bad " people we want. Jesus Christ can put His arm down deep into the pit and bring these bad ones out. How do I know ? Because I have seen Him do it. No agnostic or infidel can knock me ofif that foundation. I remember a sailor who led a wild, reckless life. When his mother was alive she used to pray for him, and perhaps his memory of her sometimes made him stop and think. Once when at sea a desire to lead a better life came over him, and when he got on shore he thought he would join the Free Masons. He made application, but, upon investigation, his character proved to be only that of a drunken sailor, and he was black-balled. He next thought of joining the Odd Fel- lows, but his application met with the same fate. While walk- ing up Fulton Street, New York, one day, a little tract was 592 RINGING TESTIMONIES. given him — an invitation to the prayer-meeting. He came, and Christ received him. I remember his getting up in the meet- ing and teUing how the Free Masons had l)lack-balled him, how the Odd Fellows had black-balled him. and how Christ had received him as he was. A great many orders and socie- ties will not receive you, but I tell you He will receive you, vile as you are — He, the Saviour of sinners — He, the Re- deemer of the lost world — He bids you come just as you are. I was once preaching in the large Opera House in Knox- ville, Tennessee, and a gentleman arose in the meeting, which was composed mostly of men, and said : " Mr. Moody, I want to say publicly that I will accept Jesus right here to-night." I like to have a meeting mterrupted in that way, and I said : " Is there any one else? " Another gentleman stood up and said : " Yes, sir. I accept Jesus to-night." " Any one else? " I said. And a young man about twenty-one arose ; he had a hand- some face, a clear, ringing voice, and was the picture of health. He said : " Mr. Moody, 1 accept Jesus Christ here to-night." That was on Thursday night. From Knoxville I went down to Chattanooga, and preached there the next Sunday night, and after the services a gentleman came u]) and said : " Do you remember that young man w ho spoke out in the meeting last Thursday night ? " " Yes, certainly," I said. " Well," he replied, " we all thought he was in perfect hcallli, but he died last night." I believe I shall meet first and last many who have settled this important question in my meetings. Speak out and say, " I will." Another very popular excuse is this : " I do not want to become a Christian because there are so many hypocrites in the church." I will not contradict that statement, but I will HYPOCRISY IN ALL PLACES. 393 say, if you don't become Christians until all the hypocrites are dead you had better give up all hope. The wheat and tares will grow together until the general harvest. There are people who have an idea that a man must join a church to be- come a hypocrite. Now, if a man is living an impure life and passes himself off as a pure man, when he is not, isn't he a hypocrite? If a man slinks into a saloon and takes a drink " on the sly," isn't he a hypocrite? If a man is dishonest in business, and cheats his customers every time he gets a chance, isn't he a hypocrite? Now, I want to make sure of this statement. You who do not want to go to church because there are so many hypo- crites, why not use the same argument about your business? Why not abandon your business because there are hypocrites in it? Is there any profession in which there are no hypo- crites? Why don't doctors say: "I'll not practice because there are so many quacks among the doctors.'' Are there not " shysters " among lawyers? I think you will find some hypocrites among the lawyers if you put on the same spectacles that you use to look at church-members. Are there no hypo- crites among the grocerymen? No adulterating goods and passing them off for pure articles? No short weights and short measures ? No manufacturer who puts a foreign label on goods made at home ? What political party do you belong to ? The Democratic party? Are there no hypocrites among the Democrats ? What are you, — a Republican ? Are there no hypocrites among the Republicans ? You say you are Pro- hibitionist. Can't you find hypocrites among them ? Are you an Odd Fellow? Are there no hypocrites among the Odd Fellows? None among the Free Masons? You won't go to church " because there are so many hypocrites there." Why not get out of your societies and clubs? Are there not a lot of men who stay there until midnight or until the morning, go home half-drunk, and yet pose as honorable citizens? One man says, " Well, I know a man, a member of a church, and he cheated me out of fortv dollars." 394 MokK FLIMSY I'RUlMIF.rS. This excuse has been liis " stock in trade " for the last ten years. Speak to him of the kingdom of God, and he says, " A church member cheated me out of forty dollars." Be- cause a man has cheated you out of money, will you let him cheat you out of Heaven ? Another man says: " I'll tell you the reason why I don't come to Christ now, there's too much excitement. I don't be- lieve in this sensational preaching. I never did. I want to l)e converted in regular order." Well, my friend, I don't care where or how you are con- verted so long as you are converted. Hunt up a church where there isn't any excitement. And if you can't find a church, there's a graveyard. Go to a graveyard and be converted. My friends, do you not see the " lie," the " sham " in this ex- cuse? There is more excitement at a race than in all the churches in six months. Men get so excited in the whiskey shops that they knock one another down ; and yet when one gets a breath from God in the churches, and tries to lift men up and save them, the people cry, "undue excitement;" " fanaticism ; " " this will do more harm than good! " Too much excitement ! ^^'ould to God there were a hun- dred times more. T pity a man that has knowledge, and has no fire back of it. I would rather have zeal without knowledge than knowledge without zeal. I pity men who have knowledge like Socrates, but wouldn't get a city or the world on fire. If you haven't a desire to help somebody else, don't throw stones at other people, and say they are " too zealous." If you see a man walking in his sleep on a precipitous mountain-side, wouldn't you wake him up and warn and try to help him? Another man says, " I have intellectual difificulties." When I w-as in Scotland I got hold of a Scotchman strug- gling with unbelief, and I asked him what was his trouble, and he said : " I can't believe." "Whom?" I said. " I can't believe," he replied. NO GROUND FOR UNBELIEF. 395 " Whom? " I said again. " You don't understand my case," he said. " I tell you I can't believe. I have intellectual difficulties." He began to smile, and was embarrassed, and said again : " I tell you I can't believe." " Can't believe whom ? " I said. '' I can't believe myself," he said. " Thank God," I said. " I am glad you've got so far along." A man has gone a good ways toward Calvary when he cannot believe himself. When a man tells me that he can't believe the Bible, I would like to have him put his hand on a single promise that God has not kept. The devil and man for six thousand years have been trying to break God's Word. Until you can prove God a liar you have no ground for your unbelief. I don't be- lieve a man has an inch of ground to stand on when he says he can't believe God. " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," but the God of that Book has never deceived any one. Then there is another excuse : " I am afraid I won't hold out." Oh, friend, if you had to depend on yourself you could not hold out. The Lord undertakes to do that for you. I've seen men who started years before I did, fifty or sixty years ago, and He has kept them all these years. What God has been doing all these centuries, can He not continue to do? If Satan comes along and says, " You won't hold out," tell him he is a liar. Here is another excuse. Many say they would like to be- come Christians, but they " don't feel like it." Suppose a friend should invite me to dinner, and I should say, " I don't feel like it." He would probably say : " Mr. Moody, are you sick ? " " No. I never felt better in my life." " You don't want to come? " " Oh, yes. There's not a man in the world that I would like to take dinner with more than you." 2q6 two kxcuses not often given. " Don't you think I want you ? " " Oh, yes. 1 know you want me." " Well, what do you mean? " " Well, 1 believe a man has got to have a certain kind of feeling', and I haven't got it. If 1 can work it up perhaps to-morrow I'll come around." Now, God invites me to a feast. Let " feelings " go to the four winds. The question is : Do you "a'aiit to come. If you do, you have feeling enough. There are two excuses that men do not often give. They keep more souls out of Heaven than any other two excuses. The first is a lack of moral courage. There's a wife wdio would like to become a Christian but dare not tell her husband. She is going to miss Heaven because she has not moral courage. May God give her courage ! Act up to your convictions. If the world wants to sneer, let it sneer. I have been laughed at more or less for over forty years, but it is like the dust lighting on my face, — I can brush it away. Infidels may mock me. ^\'hat do I care. They will soon perish, and their thoughts will perish with them. Men who ridiculed me over forty years ago when I came out for Christ have died long ago. When you see a man laughing at another because he turns his back upon sin and his old life, are you going to let that keep you from acting up to your convictions? Sometimes I get on a train of cars, and some one in my hearing begins to sneer at Christianity, and tlien I stand U]) for Christ. I don't know how a man can be laughed out of a principle. Many a man has gone down to a drunkard's grave because he didn't have courage to say " No " at the right limc. lie had some con- science left and wanted to refuse, but he couldn't muster up the needed courage. The other excuse is secret and besetting sin. There are men living in secret sins who howl against religious meetings, and say bitter things against the preacher. Rut the trouble is not with the preacher, nor with the doctrine he preaches. Such scoffers know thev are not fit for Heaven. If a man isn't THE TEST OF ETERNAL TRUTH. 3^7 fit for pure society down here, where is he going to when he dies ? When men are wilhng to turn from their sins, they will have no trouble with the preacher or with his doctrine. If you are living in sin, make up your mind that you will break away from it. If your excuse is a good one take it up to the bar of God. But if your excuse will not stand the test of eternal truth take the advice of a friend, give it up. I beg of you, do not make light of this invitation to the feast. Would to God I might say something to bring you to it. God wants you there. I can imagine some one saying, " Thank God, I haven't got so low down that I would make light of religious things. My mother was a godly woman, and her example has followed me, and I have never made a jest of religious things." But if you reject this invitation, and do not repent, is not that making light of religious things? I had been preaching in Glasgow several weeks, and on the last night I pleaded with those people as I had never pleaded there before. It is a very solemn thing to stand before a vast audience for the last time and think you may never have an- other chance to ask them to come to Christ. I told them I would not have another opportunity, and urged them to ac- cept, and I asked them to meet me at that marriage supper. After the sermon a young lady came into the inquiry-room and said : " Mr. Moody, I want to become a Christian." I asked a young Christian to talk to her; and when she went home that night she said, " Mother, I have accepted the invita- tion to be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb." Her mother and father laid awake that night talking about the sal- vation of their daughter. That was Friday night, and the next day (Saturday) she was taken ill, and a few days after I received this letter : "Mr. Moody — Dear Sir: It is now my painful duty to inform you that the dear girl concerning wiiom I wrote to you on Monday, has been taken away from us by death. Her departure, however, has 398 AN AFFECTING LETTER. been signally softened to us, for she told us yesterday she was ' going home to be with Jesus; ' and after giving messages to many, told us to let Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankcy know that she died a happy Christian. " My dear sir, let us have your prayer that consolation and needed resignation and strength may be continued tu us. and that our two dear remaining little ones may bo kept in health if the Lord wills. I re- peated to her a line of the hymn, ' In the Christian's home in glory, Tnere remains a land of rest,' when she took it up at once, and tried to sing, ' Where the Saviour's gone before me, To fulfill my soul's request.' " This was the last conscious thing she said. I should say that my dear girl also expressed a wish that the lady she conversed with on Friday evening should also know that she died a happy Christian." \Mien I lieard this T said to Mr. Sankey, " If we do nothing else we have been paid for coming across the Atlantic. There is one soul saved, whom we shall meet on the resurrection morning." CHAPTER XIX. GOOD NEWS — GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY. Reading a Death Warrant — People Who are Glum and Melancholy — Entering Richmond with Gen. Grant — A Thrilling Incident of the Civil War — Two i\Ien to be Selected for Immediate Exe- cution — Drawing the Names — A Startling IMessage that came to Richmond — Liberating Forty ]\Iillion Serfs — A Disappointed Preacher — An Empty Theater — "Herrings for Nothing!" — Incredulous People — Paying People's Debts — The ]\Ien Who Arrived Too Late — Anecdote of Mr. Spurgeon — The Postman's Knock — Farewell to the Little Emigrants — Anecdote of Chaplain Trumbull — Moments of Awful Suspense — The Name that Thrilled His Soul — The Governor's Visit to a Condemned Con- vict— A Thrilling Incident — Wrapped in the English and American Flags — " Fire on those Flags If You Dare ! " THE first time I was in Europe an old white-haired man who used to do as much to spread the Gospel as any man I knew — he gave me at one time ten tons of tracts to flood Chicago — said one day that he wished to ask a question of me. " What is it? " I said. "What is the Gospel?" he asked. " The Gospel is coming to Christ." I replied. " No," he said, " the Gospel is God's spell, or good spell." "Well," I said, "isn't that coming to Christ?" " No," he answered, " that isn't the Gospel. You are preaching the Gospel, and you do not know what it is." I went to work to find out what Gospel meant, and found that it is " God's spell " — or good tidings — the joyful tidings of salvation. No better news has come from heaven to earth, or ever will come, than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For eighteen (399) .QO A DEATH WARRANT OR A PARDON. hundred years men of God have gone up and down the earth proclaiming the glad tidings and telhng the good news, and yet only a few will believe that it is good news. I have been preaching day and night more or less for forty years. Sometimes I look over an audience expecting to see their faces light up, and, I declare, they look as if T had brought them a death warrant. A great many have an idea that the Gospel is the most doleful message that ever came into this world; and when you begin to proclaim it, some men look as though they had just been requested to attend a funeral, or witness an execution, or go into some plague-infested hospital. I once heard two or three ladies talking about the Bible. One lady said to another: " I saw some of my friends reading the Bible, and they looked so glum and melancholy." Turning to me she said: " I don't think people should be melancholy when they read the Bible; do you, Mr. Moody?" " Well," I replied, " It depends upon the kind of ]:)eople who read the Bible; if they are unsaved sinners they will." " But," she asked, " tell me why." " Because that book is the death warrant of an unsaved sinner; but if a man knows he is lost, that he is guilty and con- demned, and he comes to the Saviour, then the Bible is not a death warrant; it is a reprieve — it is a pardon — it is good news, glad tidings." Every man who is unsaved ought to be sad when he reads his own death warrant, and that is the reason why unsaved people don't like to read the Bible. During the Civil War it was my privilege to enter Rich- mond with General Grant's army. Now, just let us i)icture a scene on a beautiful day in spring. There are a thousand ])oor Union prisoners in Libby Prison. They have not heard what has been going on around Richmond; they haven't even heard of Lee's surrender. I can imagine one of these prisoners say- ing, " Hark, boys ! hark ! I hear a band of music, and it sounds as if they were playing AGONIZING SUSPENSE. 4OI ' The Star Spangled Banner ! long may it wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of tlie brave ! ' " By and by the sound conies nearer and still nearer. It is the Union army, — the boys in blue. Next, the doors of the prison are unlocked; they fly wide open and their comrades shout, " Boys, you're free ! " Wasn't that good news to them ? During that war many of our men were taken prisoners by the Southern army. These prisoners had been suffering in that prison for a long time, and were anxious to be released, and they waited day after day to hear the news that they were to be exchanged. One day word was brought to them that every man with the rank of captain was to be taken to the com- manding ofBcer's headquarters. The prisoners thought that the captains were to be sent home. Then every colonel wished he were a captain. He would like to come down in the ranks; and every lieutenant wished he were higher up. They were all congratulating these captains, for they thought they were going back to their wives and mothers. They were taken to headquarters; every one of them expected to be paroled. But the prison officer said: " Men, I have painful news to tell you. I am ordered to select two of your number for immediate execution." The feeling that came over that company VN-as terrible. The officers put the names of all the captains into a hat, and one of them put his hand into it and drew out the names of two men. He read the names he had drawn — they were Sayer and Flynn. The hair of one of these men turned gray during the next night. Our government heard what was going on, and they sent this word to Richmond: " If you take the lives of those men, we will take the life of the nephew of General Lee." All at once news came to the two doomed captains, " You are saved." Don't you think that was good news to them? Now, you know you are under sentence of death. We are all condemned to die! Yet there is liberty for every poor captive that wants it. 402 THE DAY OF LIBERATION. Once when I was returning from Europe I met Governor Curtin on board the steamer, coming back from Russia. I was much interested in the account he gave of the Emperor having hberatcd fort}' milHon serfs. We thought President Lincohi had done a great thing when he hberated our slaves; but it was far surpassed by that act of the Emperor of Russia. He called his imperial council together to devise some way by which liberty could be given to these serfs. They con- sulted together for six long months; and at last, one night, they sent word to the Emperor that it would not be expedient or wise to free them. That night the Emperor went to the Greek Church to partake of the sacrament. The next morn- ing he ordered out his guards, and they guarded the palace, and planted their cannon around it. At midday a ukase was issued by the Emperor proclaiming freedom to forty nnllion serfs. They were made free. That is the kind of proclama- tion I bring to you, and what you want to do is just to believe in its truth. Some years ago a man in Europe was converted, and after he had been a Christian a little while he got so full of the good tidings that he wanted to publish them and tell everybody all about it. He read in the papers that many of the factories in some of the nearby towns had closed, and he thought it would be a good time to go and tell the people of the good news he enjoyed. So he sent to one of the towns, hired a theater for one Sunday, and advertised that he was going to preach the Gospel. He expected to find the theater packed; but there wasn't a person there. He went on the stage, and there was not a soul to hear him. The keeper came to him, looked at him, and laughed. He thought it was a huge joke. The man didn't want to return home disappointed, so he thought he would go down to the shore and see if he couldn't get an audi- ence there. A good many people were walking up and down the beach, but no one would listen to him. V>y and by he saw a man walking along the beach, and he had on his head a basket of fish. He was crying : re w f^ n ;;S-£. 5 ni 3 - m S o M • C^ >-t n. 3 rtv; cl o '^ rt "<'2. 3 0-3 :» ^3 = ?3 £ f^ 3 (~ ;^s J; — re 3 C 3^^^ C BLS"" O 2 - "^ ^ 5 §■ ^ t/i S3- ^■-^ S S. 3- ?= — ixw S ":^^ ^ """re "^ Lri 9;o 3 - ClO o t^ "■ ^3 JC ft —^ : fp re ■< 3j5 o' o s r^ 3-~ai i re o — -r'o .2. ft Jit O- hp:rrings given away. 405 " Herrings, herrings, good fresh herrings, two for a penny !" " How much will yon take for the lot? " the man asked. He counted the herrings and said he would take eight shillings, — about two dollars. " Well," said the man, " if you will cry ' Herrings for noth- ing! Good, fresh herrings for nothing!' I will pay you for them." He accepted, and he went on crying: " Herrings for nothing! Good fresh herrings for noth- ing." But he couldn't get rid of a herring. He walked the whole length of the street, crying " Herrings for nothing! " but he finally stopped and said: " I didn't know there were so many fools in the world." The secret was. nobody believed him. Some were hungry and starving, but they didn't believe they could get those herrings for nothing. At last he saw a woman looking ear- nestly at him out of a window, and he said: " Madam, it is true; these herrings are given away." She came out of the house and he gave her a couple of herrings. Others were watching, and in a few minutes they had carried them all awa}-. Now the trouble was, they didn't believe, and that is the trouble in regard to our preaching. Men do not believe that you can get " somethmg for nothing." You can get the best thing in the world for nothing. It is as free as the air we breathe ; it is " Good Tidings of Great Joy." Another man was converted in Europe some years ago, and he liked the Gospel so well he thought he, too, would go and publish it. So he started out and great crowds came to hear him out of curiosity. He wasn't much of a speaker, and the next night there were not many present, and the third night he didn't have a hearer. Rut he was anxious to pro- claim the Gospel, and so he got some great placards and posted them all over the tow'n, announcing that if any man in that town was in debt, if he would come to his office between cer- 4o6 PAYIX(} THE DEBT. tain hours on a certain day with proof of the indebtedness he would pay it. \\\^11, of course tlie news spread all over the town, but nobody believed him. One man said to his neighbor: " John, do you believe this man will pay our debts? " " Oh, of course not; that offer is a great hoax." The day came, and instead of there being a great rush, no one came. About ten o'clock a man was walking up and down in front of the office; he looked this way and that to see if any- body was looking, and 1)}- and by he sneaked in and said: " I saw a notice that if any one would call here at a certain hour you would pay his debts. Is there any truth in it?" " Yes," said the man, '' it is quite true. Did you bring around the necessar}' papers? " " Yes." After the man had paid the debt he said: " Sit down, I want to talk to you." And he kept him there until twelve o'clock. Before twelve o'clock had passed two more men came in and their debts were paid. At twelve o'clock he let them all out, when they found other men standing around the door, who said, sneeringly : " Well, you found he was willing to pay your debts, didn't you?" " Yes, it is quite true, he has paid them." " Oh, if that's so, we'll go in and get our debts paid, too." And they went in, but it was too late. Now, it is a great wonder that there isn't a rush of men into the kingdom of God to have their debts paid, when a man can be saved for nothing. To every one who is a bank- rupt sinner — and you never saw a sinner in the world who wasn't a bankrupt sinner — Christ comes and He says, " I will pay the debt." Air. Spurgeon told me that he once went to his orphanage on a visit. He said that a great many of those orphans had "BECAUSE THAT'S IMEI 407 uncles and aunts and cousins and sisters who brought them Christmas presents. During this visit a httle boy came to him and said, " ]\Ir. Spurgeon, will you let me talk to you a minute?" "Yes, my boy. What is it you want?" "Mr. Spurgeon, suppose your father and mother were dead, and you didn't have any cousins, or aunts, or uncles, or friends to give you pocket money, and give you presents, don't you think you would feel bad — because iliat's )iic." Said Mr. Spurgeon, " the minute he said that, I put my hand right down into my pocket and took out the money." Because that's me! And so with the Gospel. We must say to those who have sinned, the Gospel is offered to them. I am sure there is not one, rich or poor, high or low, who does not like to hear glad tidings. In Ireland, at the house opposite the one where I was living, when a man came from the market with something that had been ordered he would ring the bell and stand waiting for five or six minutes before anyone would go to the door. Sometimes ladies and gentle- men would come and stand waiting for the door to be opened. But I always noticed that whenever the postman came and gave his double knock, three or four would rush to the door at once. Everybody is fond of good news — of glad tidings. I once went from London to Manchester to bid some friends good bye. When I arrived at the railway station I saw a group of boys around two little fellows who were going to America. Their coats were threadbare, with patches here and there carefully covering the holes. Some good mother, too poor to send them away in fine style, had tried to make them as neat and presentable as she could. The boys be- longed to a Sunday-school in London, and their schoolmates had come to bid them good bye. They shook hands and their Sunday-school teacher did the same, and all wished them God- speed. Then their minister came and took them by the hand. When they all had bade the boys good bye, a poor widow came up and put her arms around the companion of her son. Perhaps he had no mother, and she kissed him for her and 25 4o8 WAITING FOR THE MESSAGE. wished him good bye. Then she put her arms around the neck of the other boy, and he put his arms around her, and she began to weep. "Don't cr}-, mother," said the boy; "don't cry: I'll soon be in America, and I'll save money, and soon send for you to come out to me; and I'll have you with me. Don't cry." He stepped into the car and when the train was in motion he put his head out of the window and cried: "Farewell, mother;" and the mother's prayer went out: " God bless my boy; God bless my boy." Don't you think that when he sent the first letter to Eng- land that mother would run quickly to the door when the post- man came with it? How quickly she would break the seal. She wanted to hear good news. There is not one to whom a message of good news, of glad tidings, has not been sent — better news than was ever received by a mother from a son. It is a message of glad tidings from a loving Saviour — glad tidings of great joy. Suppose I should tell you that the angel Gabriel had come down from Heaven and commissioned me to say that just one man could be saved, and that he had given me the name. Ah, there would be intense excitement, and each one would say, " I hope it is my name. I hope the message has come that T may be saved." You would want to know the name, and }OU would like to have it your name. Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull once told me that when he was a chaplain in the army during the Civil War he was captured and taken to Libby Prison. There were nine hundred com- missioned of^cers in that prison while he was there. A little while before he was released he heard that his child was lying at the point of death. He could get no direct tidings from home, and he wondered whether his little one was dead or alive. One day the good news spread through the prison that one man was to be paroled. He said to himself. " I shall not iDe the fortunate one. There are Brigadier-Generals, and Colonels, and Lieutenant-Colonels here, men who outrank me. There's many a man in this prison who has more influence at GOOD NEWS FOR ALL. 409 Washington." The prison officer appeared, and Mr. Trum- bull said if every man had been stricken Ijy death there couldn't have been greater silence. Only one man was to be paroled. Only one man was to be set free. Only one man was to go back to his wife and children, only one. And at last the prison officer cried out "HENRY CLAY TRUMBULL!" He said the name never sounded so sweet before. It thrilled his very soul. My friends, I have better news than that. I have not been commissioned to say that only one man can be saved to-night. Oh, no, I have got good news. " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." There is salvation for every man. I want to tell you that Christ has made everything clear, right up to Heaven, if you will just take Him as your Lord, as your Bishop, your Prophet, your Priest, your King. You need not fear death. You need not fear the grave. He will deliver you from the power of sin if you will only let Him come into your heart and take up His abode there. There w^as a young man in a Pennsylvania prison whose death warrant had been signed. A great many had asked the Governor for a pardon for the young man, but he had refused. The Governor was a Christian, and he thought he would go to the prison and talk with the condemned man and tell him that God was merciful and would save his soul. He said to the sheriff, " I want you to take me to that young man's cell, but don't tell him who I am until I have left town." He was taken into the jail; the iron door opened and he passed into the young man's cell. He sat down on the iron bed and told the prisoner that, although he had been condemned to death by the law of Pennsylvania, there was a merciful God who could save him. He preached Christ, read a portion of the Bible, explained to him the way of life, and then he got down on his knees and prayed with him. Some days after, the sheriff v/as in th.e jail, axid the con- demned man said to him: " \\nio was that man who tahked and prayed with me?" 4IO INTKRCKDING FOR A PRISUN'KR. " That was the Governor of Pennsylvania." The man turned deathly pale, and said: " Sheriff, do you mean to say that was Governor Bullock? " " Yes." " Oh, sheriff, why didn't you tell me? Tf T had known that was the Governor, I would have fallen at his feet and begged him to pardon me. ()h, \\li\- didn't you let me know! If I had only known that, he would never have gone out of here without hearing my plea for pardon." ^h- friends, there is one greater than the Governor, and. thank God, He has a pardon for every soul. It is signed and sealed with His own blood. He wants to pardon every one of us. An English officer once told me the story of a young man who came to this countr\- from England, became a naturalized citizen, and afterward went to Cuba, and was there in 1867 when a war broke out. Einally he was arrested and taken be- fore the Military Court and condemned to be shot as a spy. The American consul heard of the case and called on the Eng- lish consul and laid the story before him. and they found that he was perfectly innocent. They went to the Spanish command- ing officer and told him the man was not guilty; but the Spanish officer said the law must take its course. There was no cable to Cuba then, and the consuls could not quickly communicate with their governments. The morn> ing came when the man was to be executed. The coffin was put into a cart, and the condemned man, sitting on his own coffin, was drawn through the streets of the city. A grave had been dug, and the coffin was placed beside it. The doomed man sat on the end of the coffin, the black cap was drawn over his eyes, and the Spanish officer was ready to give the order to the soldiers to fire, when the American consul and the English consul rode up. The Englishman sprang out of the carriage and took the British flag and wrapped it around the condemned man; at the same moment the .\mcrican threw the Star Spangled Banner around him, and as he sat there UXDKR TIIK I5AXXKR Ol" IIKAVKX. 41 [ wrapped in the flags of two great nations the consuls turned to the Spanish officers and said, " hire on those flags if you dare! " They dared not fire on them; there were two powerful nations behind those flags. ]\I\- friends, if you get under the bainier of lieaven, God will sav to y(Dur enemies, " Vou put your hand upon ^My ])eople and \ou touch ]\Ie; they are the apple of jVIine eye." CHAPTER XX. THE STANDARD OF MT. SINAI. A Woman Who Worshiped Herself — The Man Who Never Sinned — Swearing "From the I^Iouth Out" — A Negro Preacher Who Dechned to Preach a Sermon on Steahng — People Who " Squirm " — " Aly Boy Richard Thinks It's Wrong " — Sunday Newspapers — How Mr. Moody Kept Sunday When a Boy — Working Seven Days a Week — The Drunken Sailor Converted — " I am So Tired ! " — " That is My Washerwoman " — ■ The Vale- dictorian's Mother — Coming to Commencement in Her Old Turned Dress — The Farmer's Son at College — "Get Away, Old Man; I Don't Know You" — Tempted to Drink — The Meanest Kind of IMurder — " I Can't Go Into Court" — Story of the Opium Smuggler — ^ The Cashier's Mistake — " How Far Is It To Heaven?"- — An Arrow That Went to the Mark. OF ALL the agnostics, or infidels, or skeptics I have ever met, I have yet to find the first one who can find fault with God's law. " Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." If God created us, — and there must have been a creating power, — He certainly ought to have our ad- miration and our worship. We certainly ought not to worship a god made by our hands and by our own imagination. If God has created, then He should have the first place in our hearts. I believe that when we give God His i)]ace, and we take our place, then life begins in earnest, and we arc in a position where God can smile on us, and shower ui)on us luitold bless- ings. " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." I believe the devil is willing to let us worship the Bible, the saints, the angels, and the apostles if we do not worshiji the God of Heaven. We are to worship no image of God, but the God of the Bible. (412) KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS. 413 You need not go to China to find men worshiping idols. How many there are everywhere who bow down to the idols Business, Pleasure, Children, Wealth, Dress. How many have their minds continually on the question, " What shall I wear? " I was in a meeting once when a lady came in and took a seat near the front. I handed her a h_\nin book but she was so taken up with herself, looking at her dress, and admiring herself gcnerall}' — yuu could sec it in her eyes — that she had no thought of anything else. She worshijjed herself. That was her god. You can make a god of yourself as well as of some image th.at men make with their hands. " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy (jod in vain." Men frequently have more respect for their family than for the God of Heaven. I know a great many men who would not swear before their children, their wives, or mothers, but they swear like pirates when they get out of their sight. It shows that they have more respect for their famil)- than for God. A man can't show his contempt for God more than by swearing, cursing, and blaspheming. During the Civil War you could hear men cursing and swearing on every side; but when a mother came to look after her wounded son, or some saintly woman of the Christian Commission or the Sanitary Commission came through that camp, — and they were like angels passing by — the men would not swear; they had more respect for the wife, the sister, or nurse, than for the God of Heaven. I met a man once who told me he had never sinned. He said if he knew of any wTong he had done he would repent. I said : " Did you ever get angry?" " Oh, yes, but righteous indignation is all right." " Did you ever swear? " " Well," said he, " I wish you wouldn't ask me that. Oh, I don't mean anything by that. I only swear from the mouth out." God says He will not hold a man guiltless that taketh His 414 THE NKGRO PREACHER'S OBJECTION. name in vain, and when a man swears and thinks it is not a sin he is deluded indeed. No blasphemer shall inherit the kingdom of God. Do you believe a man cursing that holy name will have a desire to see Cod face to face? But some say, " I have tried to stop and cannot do it. When I get ex- cited, I swear." I once met a man in the South and I labored with him because he swore. He stuck to it, and he was a pro- fessed Christian, too. Xow, I believe if the Holy Ghost does not take the " swear " out of us our Christianity does not amount lo nnich. It is hard work to make me believe a man who swears is a true child of (iod. I heard of a negro during slavery times who was preach- ing with a great deal of power. His master heard of it and sent for him. " Sambo," he said, " I am told that you are preaching to the negroes with a great deal of power." ■' Yes, Massa, the Lord helps me right smart sometimes." " Now, I want you to take time enough to prepare a good sermon, and preach against stealing, because there's a great deal of that going on around the plantation. Study up, and preach a powerful sermon against stealing." Sambo's countenance fell at once. His master said: " What's the matter? What makes you look so downcast about it? " " Well, Alassa," Samlx) re])lie(l, " I don't like to preach on lliat sul)ject, 'cause it always throws a kind of coldness over the meeting." 1 notice it sometimes throws a coldness over the meetings when we preach the Ten Conunandments. My wife was once teaching our youngest boy his Sunday- school lesson. The lessons had been for a few Sundays on those kings that reigned in Israel after Solomon, and they had got as far as C)nu-i and .\h;d). Tlie kings grew worse and worse right along down, and Ahal) was the worst of the lot. \\'hen they came to .\hab, my wife said, " Now, Paul, notice that this King ( )nn-i was very bad, and his son was worse than A BOY'S EXAMPLE. 4'5 his father; they kept growing worse. Now, perhaps they be- gan l)y being disobedient ; " and she began to apply the truth to him. The httle fellow squirmed in his chair a little while and then said, " Mother, I think you are getting a good ways from the lessim." That is just the way with all of us; when the truth is foreed upon us how we sc|uirm. " Remember the Sabbath da}', to keep it holy." I think that is ver\- clear, and I believe that Law is as binding and as nnich in force to-day as wdien it was first uttered at Sinai. A\'hen I was in P'hiladelphia, Richard Newton of the Episcopal church told me his experience. He belonged to a Bible class, and the teacher was trying to lead him to Christ. His father kejit his grocer}- store open on Sundays, and he worked with him. ]')}• and b}- he made up his mind to come to Christ. After he became a Christian he told his father he was willing to work until midnight Saturday night, but he would not work on Sunda}-. His father said, " \^ery well, young man; if you are too pious to obey your father, you can get out." The next Sunda}' was the hardest da}' of his life. He couldn't bear the thought of going away from home. Monday morning he w^as lying in his bed wondering where he would go after break- fast, when his father came to the door and rapped, and said, " Richard, it is time to open the store." He said he never jumped out of bed and dressed himself so quickly before in his life. He worked all the week and did everything he could, and nothing was said about his going away. On Saturday he heard his father say to his customers, " My son Richard thinks it is wrong to keep the store open on Sunday, and you must buy all your goods to-day." The result was, that not only his father, but his brtjthers, were converted; all won to Jesus C"hrist just because he was willing to take his stand. People have changed the Holy dav into a holiday and a day of recreation. Now for a fact: If the Sabbath goes, the church goes. If we give up the Sabbath, we nnist give up the church. If the church goes, the home goes. That is the next thing. Destroy the church and you destroy the home. Keep 4i6 CHILDREN AT CHURCH. that in niiiul. 1 don't believe that hfe or society would be safe, tiiat property would be safe, even in the heart of a citw if it was not for the church. Now I come to the Sunday newspaper. Do you believe that I can glorify Ciod by reading- a paper that goes out with page after page of " fun," that has page after page of " society news," columns of " suicides and murders," and all the " adul- tery " cases they can rake uj) in the whole country? And if a minister has gone wrong in all Christendom, they keep the tid-bit for Sunday reading. Well, if you take such papers into your home, and your children acquire a taste for that kind of reading, do you expect that they are going to church Sunday morning if they can get out of it? I will tell you something more. I have traveled a good deal and I suppose I have been in the churches of this country as much as anv man; and I want to say that you can go from Maine to California and as a general thing you will see very few children in the churches. There arc exceptions, but as a general thing the children are not there. I think it is a beauti- ful sight to see a father and a mother coming in with seven or eight children behind them. I get hundreds of letters saying, " Mr. Moody, ask the people to pray for my drunken son." It seems to me the time to begin is when thev are children. I think fathers and mothers ought to bring their children to church with them. If the child goes to sleep, wake him up. You say: " They don't imderstand the sermon." What if they don't ! " But their feet don't touch the lloor, and they get tired." It will do them good. My mother started me (^IT to Sunday-school, and ke])t me going, and it was not to one ser- vice only, but to three. I went to church and heard the sermon; went in the graveyard where my father was buried and ate a little lunch that I took in my pocket; went back to .Smiday-school. and after Simday-school went to church again; and did it all uj) for the whole week. I w^as glad A LAND WITHOUT A SABBATH. 417 when it was all over, and when I got to Boston I declared that I would stop going to church; but I could not. When Sun- day came I was bound to go. And when I stood at the grave of my mother, one thing that I thanked God for was that she made me go. If I had come to the city at eighteen years of age, without that training, I think I should have gone down to ruin. You say that Sunday newspapers are prepared beforehand. Now. if the papers were anxious not to work on Sunday, they could get nearly everything ready on Saturday for the Monday paper. You know I haven't been around this world with my eyes shut. I know it can be done. They say there is no work done on these papers on Sunday. But see how maiiy trains are running for them, and how many boys are selling them. If you have a conscience, the next time you buy a Sunday paper I hope it will rise and smite you. We can get on with- out Sunday papers. You don't find in them wholesome Sun- day food for soul and body. People call me a " Puritan." I like that. I would rather stand alone than go with the multitude if they are^ going to_ ruin. I would rather be in the minority with God than in the niajoritv without Him. France gave up the Sabbath. How much have they made by it? In Paris I found skilled me- chanics, carpenters, bricklayers, all kinds of mechanics, work- ing for a dollar and a quarter a day. The capitalists and monopolists make them work seven days in the week, and if they won't they are ground down. The Sabbath is a boon to every workingman. I don't believe in strikes; I have no sym- pathy with strikes; but I confess I should be inclined to go in and fight if workingmen were compelled to do unnecessary work on the Sabbath. If you break down the Law of God it- will bring ruin. It is the most astonishing thing that people don't sec it. Take the criminals and you will find that almost every one of them began his career of crime by breaking the Sabbath. There are no people whose religious influence is felt more 41 8 THE BEST TLME IS NOW. than the Scotch. I don't beheve that any other four miUions in an}- part of the world have turned out so many stronj^ men as Scotland. Reverence for the Saljbath is (leei)-r()oted there. When I went to Cilasgow they jnU up a l)uil(lin,q- in the East F.iid and I used to stay at the West End. three or four miles away. They sent word to me that they thought I would do as much good to foot it on Sunday as to drive a cab four miles. They put me in that position, and T had .qreat respect for them. I used to think that I could work seven days in a week, and I w-as an older man at thirty than at sixty-two. T used to work so hard that the " spring " went out of me ; but w hen I saw that I was violating God's law I repented and turned around. You can't get anything out of me on Saturday. I take the whole day of Saturday to rest, and on Sunday I am as fierce to get at an audience as I was at twenty. I read a paragra])h in a newspaper the other day. that ministers are not wanted after they are fifty; that is the dead line. I don't believe ministers are worth much until they get to be fifty. People say the best is behind, that our heyday is the past. It is not so. 1 am growing young. I am only sixty-two. In a paper down in Texas, not long ago, an article was headed: "Old Moody here." I was shocked. Why. I never felt so young in all my life as I do now. What does the Bible say? " Willi long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation." There is no death to a true believer. My heyday is ahead of me. I pity those people who go around with their heads down. T don't know w^hy a man should be cut ofY at forty or fifty unless he violates God's law. You hear about ministers " overworking." \\W\. they do when they work seven days in the week. I believe that the professional man who w(jrks hardest with his brains is the pastor. Look at the sick he has to visit; at the funerals he has to attend. I wcndd rather preach twelve sermons than attend one funeral. If he has a heart in him a funeral saps his life. Two sermons a week, and then the pastoral calls. His work is never done. I am sorrv that most of them work seven davs KKSTIXC; ox THE SABBATH. 419 in the week; that is where they make a mistake. Give the ])od\ a rest. Does an\' one need it an\- more than a man enc;asj^ed in Christian work? Let the l)rams liave rest and _\ou can keep right aloiii^- twelve months in the year. 1 give my horses a rest If the}- have to work Sunday the}- get a rest on Monday. We have a good man}- horses connected with the Northficld farm; our r)0}-s' Scliool is four miles from the church, and the teachers have to ride. It was a problem to be decided how the}- could be conveyed to church ; but T came to the conclusion that the Lord would make it up to us if we let some of our horses rest one dav; and the horse that works Sunday gets his rest on Saturday or Monday. The horses are fat, and fresh, antl strong. A]:)pl}- the Golden Rule to the horse and the man that works for you. If you do they will speak well of you and testif}- for you. " Honor thy father and th}- mother." Do you think that a \oung n:an who spends his n.ights in whiskey shops; or a young man who spends his nights playing billiards, where there is a bar, to see wdio shall pay for the drinks; or a young man that goes to a brothel, is an honor to his father and mothei-? If a man is living a miserable, selfish life and never gives an evening to his parents, but is off to some club or fashionable resort, is he honoring them? NO. I have never known a young man to prosper who spoke contem])tuousl\- of his parents. There was once a young man whom I thought a good deal of, who once belonged to the Sunday-school I had in Chicago. lie was as fine a looking young man as I ever saw-. His father was a confirmed drunkard, and his mother took in washing in order that her children might have an education. He was a young man of great promise, and when he was in the High School he ranked as high as any pupil there. I had great hopes of that family. But one da}- the mother stood out in front of her humble home with her washing clothes on, talking with this son. He saw a young man coming up who attended the High School, and 420 DEXVIXf; HIS MOTHER. he left his mother and went forward to meet liim. And the other boy said : "Who is tliat woman you were talking with?" " Oh," he said, " that's my washerwoman." He was asliamed to have his companion know it was his motlier. When I heard of it my heart sank within me. I said, " That }oung- fellow isn't what I thought he was." T kept my eye upon him. Pie made an utter wreck of life. I lost hope for him from the hour he denied his mother. Dr. John Hall once told of a boy wdio had been sent by his mother ofif to school, and when the time came for him to graduate he wrote home that he wanted his timid, old, widowed mother to be there on graduation day. She wrote back she could not come; she hadn't a new dress, and had turned the skirt of her old one once and she couldn't turn it again. The boy said he could not graduate without her; she must come. He persuaded her to come. She wasn't dressed very well. When the people had assembled it was discovered that the best seat in the hall was reserved for somebody. Soon that young man came proudly down the broad aisle with his aged, widowed mother leaning on his arm, and he escorted her to that seat. She did not know that he had carried everything before him, that he was \'aledictorian of his class, and the most popular man in the whole school. When he won the prize and the medal was placed upon his breast, he slipped down and put it on his mother, and kissed her, and said, " I should never have had it but for you." There was nothing in President Garfield's life that touched me so much as when, the moment after his inauguration, he turned and kissed his aged mother. I say that man is a miserable, contemptible wretch who speaks sneeringly of his parents. A man ashamed of his old mother! — God forgive him. If you have a mother, treat her kindly. She is the best friend you have. If she is alive, make her last days as sweet as you can. When she is gone yr)u will realize that about haif the world is gone. AX rXC.RATEFUL SOX. 421 A poor farmer was toiling hard to keep his son at school. One day he went up to the city in his old " butternut " clothes to sell a load of wood. The l)oy was about fniishing his course and the father w^as trying hard to raise money to pay the bills. As he was going up the street he came suddenly upon his son, who was with some other young men, dressed in the height of fashion. The father eagerly rushed up to him and said: " I am so glad to see you, my boy." But the son rudely pushed him aside, and said: " Get away, old man, I don't know you." The father went home heart-broken — ■ his son was ashamed of him. God pity a young man who would treat his father in that way! When I see drinking saloons full of young men I think of the white-haired mother back in the country somewhere; I think of the father whose head is bowed with grief and shame. You who live in the city ought to do all you can to save these young men. Give them a kind word, a helping hand. I can't tell you how lonely I felt when I first came to the city. No Young Men's Christian Association or Public Library that I knew of. I didn't know where to go. The stores were closed at night, and I was out on the streets, and my feet well-nigh slipped. It is a privilege to live in some of these great cities, to help those who need help. Many a young man who has become a curse to his parents and his friends might have been a beacon light pointing to the City whose foundation is the God of Heaven. I remember the first time a young man asked me to drink. I said " Xo." T told him I had promised my mother that I would never drink. He said, " You are tied to your mother's apron strings." I turned round and gave him a blow that al- most knocked him down. T am now over si.xty years old, and I am not ashamed to say that I thank God I obeyed my mother. She had seven sons, and not one of us ever drank. Th.e last influence a man forgets is the teaching of his mother. Go to 422 TIIK WORST ol" MrRDKRKRS. prison cells — to the nicii confined there for life; tliev can't forget the training- and teaching- of fatlier mid mother. It follows them to tne last. " Thon shalt not kill." Hate is a nmrderer. T nsed to think that to the congregations I addressed it wonld he out of place to talk abont mnrder. If I get angry with a man and wish him dead and wonld like to hear that he was dead, that is mnrder. I think the meanest nmrderer is the \-oung man who will kill his own father and mother, and do it by inches ; go home night after night drnnk, and when the mother remon.- strates, have him cnrse her, and tell his father to " mind his own bnsiness"; he "will drink as nuich as he ])leases," and " come home when he gets ready." That is the meanest kind of a murderer. That man who murders me for my money is a prince to him. How many young men are murdering their parents? How many husbands are nuirdering their wives ])y their impure lives, by going ofi into all kinds of sin and bring- ing ruin u])oi-i their children; and the mother sees it. and her heart breaks, and she sinks under it and goes to the grave. Isn't that nmrder? When I see a young man breaking his mother's heart it breaks my heart. Once when 1 was preacliing in New ^'ork a boy was brought into court who had threatened the life of liis niotlicr. and she had handed him over to the ])olice. The next morn- ing she said, " I can't go into comi." and she fell dead in tlie hall. Didn't tliat bo}- nuu-der liis mother? ()f course he did. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 1 would like to ]iass over this commandment and not toucli n])on it. lUu 1 l)elieve that adultery is coming in upon us like a Hood, and I believe that we have got to cr}- aloud and spare not. Xow, there are very stringent laws against nmrder and stealing; and if I should be found guilty of stealing a hundred dollars 1 would be behind prison bars befcjre the sun went down to-night; and if I should deliberately push some one under an electric car. and he should lose his life. T would be arrested, tried for nuir- der, and would probably be hanged. But a young man may A DARK SIX. 423 make fair promises of iiiarriat;e and ruin a woman's soul and body, and yet hold his head high in society. In the sight of God isn't his sin darker and deeper than stealing, or even murder? And yet. how man_\- men make light of it. Think of the untold wretchedness and agony and woe caused 1)\- that cursed sin. I firmly believe that the most infernal sin that the sun shines on to-day in America is the way a so-called " fallen '' woman is treated. She has been wronged, ostra- cised from society, cast out and dragged down by the hounds of hell; and the man that wronged her holds his head high and walks down the aisles of the church. He is not ostracised. That is a sin that God will punish some day. Do you think the adulterer is going to get clear? Do you think God isn't going to bring him to judgment? I have not the shadow of a doubt. The Bible shows that no adulterer can inherit the kingdom of God. For a man or woman to profess to be a son or daughter of God and then turn awa}- into this sin and think that they are never going to be brought to judgment is to be under a terrible delusion of the devil. There is no escape from the law of God; He has appointed a day when He will judge the people in righteousness. Down deep in my heart I pity any man who has ruined a woman. God have mercy on him. And I pity any woman that will try to lead away an- other woman's husband, and blight a family, and break up a happy home. God have mercy on the woman that will do that. " Thou shalt not steal." Xo thief is going to inherit the kingdom of God who does not repent and make restitution. T believe a great many men and women are kept out of the kingdom of God because they are not willing to make some- thing right in their past lives. They have been guilty of some dishonest act. A great many men get into the church and never make any progress; they never grow. T have heard ministers say. " Isn't it strange? What is the trouble? " Ninety-nine times out of a hundred there was something in their past lives that they didn't straighten out. 26 424 OFF HIS CONSCIENCE AT LAST. I hope the time will come wlun a man will be ostracised just as much if he steals a large sum as if he steals a small sum. Suppose he is president of a bank, or jjresident of an insurance company, and steals money belonging to widows and orphans. I tell you that watering stocks and bonds and selling them to poor ])eoplc and then " freezing them out," as they call it. is stealing. There are a good man\- more thieves than some people imagine, and there must be a good deal of restitution in this country before we can have a very deep work of grace. If a man is a thief, treat him as a thief, and don't make fish of one and tlcsh of another. When I was in Canada a man told me that when he was a boy a man gave him by mistake a piece of money tliat was called in Canada a "ten shilling" piece; it was just al)out the size of a quarter of a dollar, and it was gold. Instead of giving the boy a silver one shilling, as intended, tlie man gave liini a gold ten shilling piece by mistake, and the boy kept it. The next day ihc man came back to the bo\- and said, " When i made change with you yesterda\ , didn't T give you a ten shilling piece instead of a one shilling piece? " " No, sir, you did not." For forty-three years that man had that on his con- science. At last the spirit of (lod got hold of him, and he just figured u]) the interest and handed principal and interest to an orphan asylum, and so got it off his conscience at last. If you have anything on your conscience, slraiglUen it out at once. If your mind goes 1)ack to some transaction with xour neighl)or in which you cheated him, pay back every dollar at once. I was preaching in liritish Colund^ia some years ago and a n'.an came to see me who said he wanted to become a Chris- tian; but he stated thai lie liad l)een snniggling o])iuni into the United States. He said: "It will take everything I have to make restitution. I have a young wife and little children, and I don't know what they will say." "I will tell you what your wife will say: she will tell you to do right," I said. MAKING RESTITUTION. 425 " Will you go up and see her? " he asked. " Yes," I said, " I will go." His home was prettily furnished with good furniture, paid for with the money that he had got by smuggling. I said to his wife: " Are you willing to have all this sold and start life over again?" The tears ran down her cheeks, and she said: " Mr. Moody, I am willing to give up everything T have to get right with God, and to have my husband get right with Him. I knew my husband had been smuggling." Everything in that house was sold, and that woman took the last penny out of her pocketbook and added it to the restitution money. They owned a building lot over the border line, in Seattle, and the man sold it for twenty-five hundred dollars, and I brought the money on to Washington. The light broke in upon that family. That is the kind of Chris- tianity we want. If you have stolen, make restitution. Some years ago I met a prominent banker who said, " I want you to tell me how to become a Christian." I told him, and I thought he came out for Christ in a very decided way ; but one night we iiad a Consecration meeting, and he went away. Just as he left me he said, " I didn't enjoy that meeting. It seems as if God does not want me or anything I have." I said, " My friend, there's something wrong in your life. Go alone and ask God to reveal it to you." The man w^ent away, and in his closet, on his knees, he remembered he had swindled the government in a transaction in Montana. He figured up the amount, went down to the express office and sent fifteen hundred dollars to the United States Treasury as " Conscience Money." He said, " Xo sooner had that money gone from my hands than my conscience gave me the greatest joy." If you have stolen, go at once and make restitution. If you have a penny that belongs to some one else, return it. Perhaps some clerk has taken money from his employer, successfully covered up his tracks, and no one knows it but the all-seeing eye of God. But he can't be converted unless 426 CONFESSION AND RKl'ARATlON. he makes restitution. It may be that he has sciuandcred the money, and can't make restitution; but it is his duty to go right to the man he injured and confess it. A man who had rob])ed his emjjloyer of five hundred dollars came to one of our ministers and told the story. lie wanted to become a Christian, but there was the five hundred dollars right in his mind all the while. " Well," said the minister, " your path is very clear; you must pay back the money." " But," said the man, " I can't ])ay it back." " Then vou nuist go to your empk)yer and confess it." " JUit my employer is a hard-hearted man, and if I confess it he will put me in prison." " Well." «aid the minister, " I will go and see him." He went into the office of the man and told the story. " Now," the minister added, " I have reason to believe that that man has been converted of his sin. I believe if you will forgive it and give him a chance you may save his soul, and he will work and pay back the money." Hie eni])loyer said: " He shall never hear a word from me." The result was that the man became a Christian. I was once perfectly amazed at a (piestion that was put to me to decide. A man went to a bank and received ten dollars more than he asked for, and, ui)on discovering the mistake, he took the ten dollars back. His friends called him a " fool." They said the cashier had made the mistake; and the man asked me if I didn't think he had made a mistake in taking the money back. What kind of a conscience has a person who asks such cpiestions as that? Of ccnu-se the money didn't be- long to the man who took it. Apply the Golden Rule. The idea of asking such a question, and asking me to decide the case, as if I were judge, jury, and lawyer. One of the students in our institution at Chicago rode on a street car and got off before the conductor came along to get his five cents. His conscience troubled him. He hap- pened to know the face of the conductor, and he tool< the five A (JOOI) INVESTMENT. ^27 cents to him. The conductor called him a " fool." Was he a "fool?" He would have been a thief had he retained it. He had had his ride, and that five cents didn't belong to him. It belonged to the company. I will tell you the sequel of that. The conductor called him a " fool," and the student answered, " I am a Christian." And the conductor asked him to his house, and he and his wife were converted. The conductor had confidence in the young man. He believed in him. When the people of Ciod set their faces to do right, the world will have confidence in their Christianity. It is these little, mean tricks we are con- stantly doing, — things not upright, that hurt the cause of Christ. Some time after, the student with some others attended a meeting. They had their Bibles with them, and as they got on a car a lawyer who wanted to make fun of them stepped up to this young man, and said, in a sneering way: " How far is it to Heaven? " And the young man replied: " Just one step. Out of Self into Christ." As the young men got off the car, the student whispered to the lawyer: " Generally when a man is inquiring about the distance to a place he is traveling towards it. I hope you are traveling that way." The arrow reached its mark. Weeks after, the lawyer came to the institution and wanted to find that young man. He didn't know his name, but he described him as best he could. They found him, and the lawyer said: " I want you to pray for me. I have not had any peace since that night." All came from the five cents. It was a good investment. A man once came into one of our meetings who wanted to become a Christian, but he said he had taken money belonging to his employer, and he wanted to know if he could not go into business and pay that money back. " No." 428 THE STOLKN MOXKY. "Why not?" " Because you can't pray over yuur business and ask God to help you. You can't pray over stolen money." I'he next night he wanted to make a com])romisc. " No, the only thing- is to pay back that money." " I haven't got enough." he said. " Pay all you've j^ot. Live on ])read and water and jiay back." He didn't like the terms. T'inally, he came with a long^ envelope in which was nine hundred dollars and his watch. He had cleaned himself out. I got the two partners together in a private room and told them Ikuv he had been taking money from them, and I said: " That is all he has left. There is the nine hundred dollars. There is his watch. There is the money that his wife had in her pocketbook. And \et it is short. Xc] When Paul spoke about the third heaven that is what he meant___ I firmly believe that Stephen was not the last man that looked into Heaven. Many in your day and mine have had a glimpse of that world. I knew an infidel, whose wife was an infidel also. They had one little girl, and the father told me himself that he didn't know where she ever heard the name of God. excepting in blasphemy. At length the father, mother, and a neighbor stood around her dying bed, and a heavenly glory illumined her face. She was so young she could not speak plainly. Her name was Julia. Just before she breathed her last she reached out her little thin hands, and said, " Dulie is 'CARRY ME OVER THE MOUNTAINS." 445 coming, God ! "' Didn't that little girl look into the Eternal City? How many times have we seen loved ones passing away, and it seemed as if Heaven burst upon us. Many have looked into Heaven since Stephen did. I knew a mother whose ItTITe boy, as he was dying, said : *' W^hat mountains do I see yonder, mother? " '' There are no mountains there, my child." she said. " Yes, there are, mother, don't you see them? Please take me over in your arms." And the mother knelt and prayed, and told her boy that Jesus would be with him. Then he said : "Mother, don't you hear them? " " Hear whom, my child? " " Hear the angels, mother. They are just on the other side of the mountains. Carry me over the mountains, mother." " I can't do that, my child," she said. " The Saviour will take you over. Jesus will be with you." And then he breathed a little prayer, and faintly said: " Good-bv, mother, Tesus has come to carrv me over the mountains." and the little sufferer was gone. If we were filled with the spirit. Heaven would be very real to us. A soldier in a soldier's meeting during the Civil War related this incident. His brother came to him one day and said he had enlisted. He went to the recruiting ofBce and put his name down next to his brother's. They had never been separated. They were in the same Company, marched to- gether, tented together, messed together, and were in a number of battles together. At last, in the battle of Perryville, a bullet passed through his brother's body. He could not stay with him, but putting his knapsack under his head he made him as comfortable as he could, and started on. As he turned re- luctantly away, his brother called: " Qiarlie. comeback/' " ^yhat do you want, brother? " '' Kiss me on my lips." he said. ' and take that kiss home t£» mother, and tell her I died praying." 446 A GLIMPSE OF THE GLORY BEVONU. As he was turning away lie heard his wounded brother say: " This is glorious! " \Miat is glorious? " »" Oh, I see Christ in Heaven! " Lying in a pool of his own life blood, he looked up and caught a glimpse of the glory beyond. I believe if we are in the Spirit when the hour of death conies we may catch a glimpse of the glory, too. There is a class of people who say that the soul becomes unconscious and sleeps until the resurrection. I cannot be- lieve that._ There is another class who tell us that there is no h.crcafter at all, and that when wc die that is the las^of us. V Xow, if a man receives eternal life when he is converted, and ^ * » that is what God says he receives, how are you going to bury ^ -."'^ eternal life in the grave? All the undertakers in the world couldn't build a cof^n big enough to bury eternal life. That life cannot go into the grave. That life cannot sleep until the resurrection. It is life without end — eternal life, and that cannot die. Now, it is clear that Christ is in Heaven. 1 believe that is what is going to make Heaven so attractive. It is not the pearly gates, nor the jasper walls, nor the river bursting from the throne of God, nor the streets of gold, nor the tree that l)ears twelve manner of fruits, witli its leaves for the healing of the nations, nor the angels and the archangels, ^y hat makes.. Heaven so attractive is that we are going to see the Father who gave the Son for us, and the Son, face to face. What makes home attractive? Is it beautiful statuary, or costly paintings on the wall' Is it handsome furniture, or beautiful grounds? I tell you many such homes are nothing but gilded sepulchers. No joy there, no light there. I re- member going home some years ago. For fifty years I had frequenth' gone to ni\- home, and T always found mother tlu-re. Once I thought I would surprise her, and so I didn't let her know I was coming; but when I arrived, she had gone away, and home was as desolate as it could be. I thought it was 2 c - J THK CHARM OF H(JME. a^q liome that was attracting me, but it was my mother. After she had passed away, I went off on a preaching tour, and on ni\' return I went home again, and lier room, her chair, were \acant. The plants had been tenderly cared for, and the fire in the room was burning brightly, and everything was just as it had been when she was with us. I said to my brothers, " It was my custom to pray with mother, and talk with her Sunday afternoons, and if you will agree, we will keep it up." What makes home so attractive? It is_tlie_ loved ones there. How eagerly we look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, when families come together again. I believe that is what Heaven is going to be, a great Christmas where fami- lies will be reunited.^ I have been told of a little girl whose mother was very ill, and one of the neighbors took the child away to stay until the mother was better. She grew worse, and died, and they thought it was better that the child should remember her mother as she was when living. After the funeral was over, and everything suggestive of death had been removed, they made the home as bright and cheery as possible, and brought the little one back. She had cried herself to sleep every night, and was full of joy to be at home, and she ran with childish delight from room to room, calling : " Mamma! Mamma! " When she had gone all over the house, and could not find her mother anywhere, she sat down and cried as if her heart would break. " Take me away," she said. " I don't want to stay here. Mamma isn't here." It was not the home that the little one was longing to get back to; it was the moth.er. ^ Take Christ out of Heaven and what would it be? What makes Heaven so attractive is that Christ is there. In China, it is said, when a man comes into court they have two great books, one a black one, called the " Rook of Death," and another, a white one, called the " Book of Life." If a man is found innocent, they put his name down in the Book of Life. .-Q THE BO(^K OF LIFE. If he is found guilt}-, his uaiuc is ])ut down in the liook of Death. Every name is this hour either in the Book of Life or in the Book of Death. Where is your name? _ A man said to me some years ago, " What's the use of talk- ing such foolishness as that, as if our names are kept in a book in Heaven?" I looked through the lUblc. arnl was surj)rised to find how frequently l)Ooks are spoken of in Scripture; in Daniel, in Revelation, etc. We find Paul writing and sending greetings to certain ones, whose " nariijC3 are in the^Book of Life." Once when in England I was invited to sit with a judge on the bench while he was trying some cases. A prisoner was brought in, and the clerk asked him if he had ever been arrested before. He said, " No, sir." An officer opened a book and said, " Yes, sir, this man was arrested at such and, such a time." It was the fourth or fifth timej^ and when the man saw the record he turned_[)^ale. Every man nnist meet his record. I believe God makes every man write his owm record, and by and by he must meet it. A lady friend of mine was retm-ning to this country a few rears ago, and she left London for Liverpool with (juite a large company of Americans to take the same steamer. They went to the Northwestern Hotel, at that time the largest hotel in Liverjiool, and found that all the rooms had been engaged; and all but this lady were compelled to search for other lodg- ings. She said that she had secured rooms. " Why," the rest exclaimed, " they have all been taken for several days." " Yes," she said, " but I sent my name ahead and engaged rooms." That is just what Christians are doing — sending their names in ahead. Dgj-ou want a room in Heaven? Set your heart and your affections on things above, and not on thiiigs on earth. T would rather a thousand times have my name written in the Lamb's Book than have all the wealth of the world rolling at my feet. A man may achieve fame in this world, but it will THE DYING MOTHER'S CHARGE. 451 fade away ; he may aceunmlate wealth, but it will i)rove a bubble. He may belong to a good many churches; he may be an elder, or a deacon, and be a bright light in his church, and yet he may not have his name written in the Book of Life. Judas was one of the twelve, and yet his name was not written in the Book of Life. A man in a temperance meeting was urged to sign the pledge for his mother's sake. He said, " She is dead." "Ah, but she may see you from Heaven." If your boy is in Heaven, try and get some other mother's boy in. If your Ijoy is wandering from God, and is so far away that you can't reach him, try to get some other mother's boy into the kingdom, and while you are helping him some one may be helping your son. I entreat you, parents, to be sure and have your children's^ names in the Book of Life. That should be your aim, rather t han to buy and sell, and leave millions of money to make t h e_ way to perdition easy for them. LoQ|<__into the results where. men have w^orked for years to leave property to their children^ It has often been a means of swift destruction to them. A mother lay dying in one of our Southern cities. When she found her end was near, she requested the father to bring the children in separately, that she might give them her dying blessing. The oldest of the seven was brought in first, and the mother talked to him, and gave him her blessing, and a motto to carry through life. Then she took the next, and the next, and she kept on till the last, a little infant, was brought in. She kissed it over and over again, and gave a message to the father to keep until the little one was old enough to under- stand it, and then it was to be given to the child. It was very hard for the mother to part with the baby. She seemed to wish to hold it to the last. They took the child from her, and she looked up into her husband's face and said, " I charge you. bring all these children home with you." And so God charges us. The promise is to ourselves and to our children. We can have our names written in the Book 452 ANSWERING THE CALL. 4 of Life if \vc w ill, and then 1)\- ihc grace of God we can call our children to us and know that their names are also recorded there. That great roll is being called, and those whose names are recorded are summoned every day, every hour. It is being called to-day. If your name were called, could you answer with joy? You have heard of the soldier who fell in battle in our Civil War. While he lay dying, he was heard to cry: ^Here! Here!" Some of his comrades ran to him, thinking he wanted water, but he raised his trembling hand and said: /^'Hush! They are calling the roll of Heaven, and I am answering to my name." Then in a faint voice he whisi)crcd: " Here! " and passed awaw If your name should be called to-da}-, are von ready to answer " Here! " It doesn't take long to tell where a man's treasure is. Take a man whose heart is set upon money, and tell him how to make a few th<.nisand dollars, and how his face will light up. Take those who make pleasure their god, and tell them where they can have a night of pleasure, and see how their eyes will brighten. That is where their heart is. If my treasures are laid up on high, I do not need a minister to come along every week and prci)arc me to live in Heaven, because I am already living there; where the treasure is the heart will be also. Some one asked an old Scotchman if he w^as on the wav to Heaven, and he said: " Why, man, I live there; I am not on the way." If you lay up your treasures this side of Heaven, — I don't care what the treasures are. or where they are laid up, you are doomed t(j disa]i])()intnK-nt. When you leave this world, you cannot take a penny with you. They tell a story of Stewart and Astor, the New York millionaires, meeting in the other world. Astor met Stewart at the bank of the river and wanted to borrow money enough to get over, and Stewart said he hadn't got a cent. Roth left millions behind them, but after they died they had nothing they could use in the other world. A BEGGAR THROUGHOUT ETERNITY. 453 There is such a thing as being rich down here and being poor { through all eternity; rich in this world and an eternal beggar t in the world to come. The richest man is the man who lays up his treasures where they will last. During the Civil War a friend of mine visited one of those great Western farms, for the purpose of getting a donation of grain for wounded soldiers. The owner took him up into the cupola of his house, and said: ' — ^^/uj " Do }'ou sec those herds of horses and cattle? There's thirty miles of fencing around that pasture. See what a great farm it is. There's enough raised on it to feed thousands and thousands of men, and there's not a mortgage on it. This is all mine." After he had pointed out his earthly treasures, he was asked how old he was, and, on being told, my friend said: " Then you are living on borrowed time. My friend, what have you got up yonder? " " What do you mean? " "What have you got beyond this life? Have you any treasures laid up in Heaven?" " No, I can't say that I have." " Well, is it possible that a man of your shrewdness, enter- prise, and judgment should make such a wreck of life? Are ^ } 7 you going to be rich here for a few short years, and be a beggar /— ' • in eternity? " " It does look rather strange if you look at it in that way, doesn't it ? " He died as he had lived, and his children quarreled over his possessions, and the lawyers got the most of them. Once, wdien in a Sunday-school in California, I asked if there was anyone present who could write a plain hand. " Yes," was the answer. So we put up a blackboard, and the lesson proved to be from the text, " Lay up for yourselves treas- ures in Heaven." I said. " Suppose we write upon that board some of the earthly treasures. We will begin with ' gold.' " The teacher readih' wrote down gold, and thev all 454 HEAVENLY TREASURES. comprehended it. " Well, we will put down ' houses " next, and then ' land.' Next we will put down ' fast horses.' " They all understood what fast horses were — they knew a good deal more about fast horses than they knew al:)out the King- dom of God. " Next we will put down ' tobacco." " The teacher seemed to shrink at this. " Write it dowai," said I, " many a man tl^inks more of tobacco than he does of God. Xext we will write down ' rum.' " He objected to this — didn't like to write it down at all. I said, " Down with it." Many a man will sell his reputation, his home, his wife, chil- dren, his present and eternal welfare for it. _ " Now," said I, " suppose we write down some of the heav-_ enly treasrires.^ Put down ' Jesus 'to head the list, then ' Heaven.' then ' river of life.' then ' crown of glor\-.' " So we went on till the column was filled, and we drew a line and showed the heavenly and the earthly things in contrast. They could not stand comparison. We could not but see the superiority of the heavenly over the earthly treasures. Well, it turned (jut that the teacher was not a Christian. He had gone to California on the usual hunt — gold; and when he saw the two columns placed side by side, the excellence of the one over the other w-as irresistible, and his soul was won for God. It makes all the difference in the world where your heart is. _ An old minister in Kentucky had a son in Chicago in thereaJ ^.state business, and with hirnit was " real estate," " real estate," morning, noon, and night. The old father came to visit him, and he found his boy's mind full of real estate. He had lost all his Christianity. He could talk of nothing but corner lots, corner lots, corner lots. He seemed to live on corner lots. The old gentleman was very nnich grieved. One day he went down to the office and his son said, " Father, I am going out for a few minutes, and if any one comes in. you can tell them there is a very good lot here that is worth so much; and here is anotlicr nice loi that is worth so much; and here is a good one that is worth so much ; " and so on. The old gentleman didn't have much heart for the business ; his THIS EARTH NOT OUR HOME. 455 thoughts were somewhere else. By and by a gentleman came in to inquire about a lot, and the old minister said, " My son says this lot is worth so much. And here's another one worth so much. I don't know anything about them, but I tell you, my friend, I would give more for standing room in the new Jerusalem than for all the corner lots in Chicago/' The old gentleman had set his heart on the new Jerusalem, and Chicago hadn't a grip on him. And the son came in and found that his father had gone to preaching. You can telL where the heart is by what it is set upon. It is a good thing to be sure of standing room in the new Jerusalem. Now, people say, How are you going to set your affections on things above ? How control your thoughts ; how get them into a heavenly channel? If you were interested in France you would get books and read up on French history, literature, art, and politics, and you could get so full of France that you couldn't talk about anything else. Our soldiers in the Civil War thought tents were good enough for them; they wanted to do their fighting and get home again. Home was away back in the North. So we are down here fighting the battles of the Lord. We are not going to stay here. We are only pilgrims and strangers. Our home is up yonder. The crowning time is coming. I like to look ahead to the time when I shall hear the words, " Good and faithful servant, enter thou into the jov of thy Lord." Our friends are there. Those who served Christ on earth, those who have been true to God, have been gathering there for six thousand years. Abel was the first to enter that world. He was the first to sing the Song of Redemption. What a choir has been gathered there since ! Once on my return from England, I received a letter from a young man there, w'ho was greatly attached to his mother. In England they have a custom, when a friend dies, of sending out mourn- ing cards with wide l:)lack borders, announcing the death. When the card came announcing the death of liis mother, in- 456 "forevp:r with thp: lord." stead of a black border, it had a gold border, because the mother had gone to a cit}- of gold. Some one sent him these lines: " I shine in the Hght of God; His likeness stamps my brow; Through the valley of death my feet have trod, And I reign in glory now! " No breaking heart is here, No keen and thrilling pain, No wasted cheek where the frequent tear Hath rolled and left its stain. " O friends of mortal years. The trusted and the true, Ye are watching still in the valley of tears, But I wait to welcome you. " Do I forget? O, no! For memory's golden chain Shall bind my heart to the hearts below Till they meet to touch again. " Each link is strong and bright. And love's electric flame Flows freely down, like a river of light, To the world from whence I came. " Do you mourn when another star Shines out from the glittering sky? Do you weep when tlie raging voice of war And the storms of conflict die? "Then why should your tears run down. And your hearts be sorely riven. For another gem in the Saviour's crown. And another .soul in heaven?" Those lines came to him a.s il tlicv had been sent from Hr-aven by his sainted mother; and he said. " If she has gone into that life of love and glory, I think T ought to leave ofif the black border and put on one of gold." I cannot tell you with what joy I read that ])oem when my own mother passed away. I (U)n't think of my mother as dead. She is " forever with the Lord." Very often people come to me and say: " Mr. Moody, do WE SHALL KNOW EACH OTHER THERE. 457 you think we shall know each other in Heaven?" Often the question comes from a mother who has lost a dear child, and who wishes to see it again. Sometimes it comes from a child who has lost a mother, or a father, and who wants to recognize them in Heaven. A great many people are anxious to know where their loved ones are, and whether they shall know them when they see them again. There is just one verse in Scrip- ture in answer to this question, and that is: "I shall be satis- fied.'1 It is all I want to know. If I do not know my rnother in Heavem do you think I shall be " satisfiedj_' ? My brother who went up there I shall see. because I shall be satisfied. We _ shall see all those we loved on earth up there, and if we loved them here we shall love them ten thousand times more wheiT__ we meet them there. Who gave me love for my mother? Who put that love into my heart? Then will He not satisfv that love? I shall know her, and better than T did here-, You will know that child of yours when you get there. If we are not going to know our loved ones in the here- after I think that is where love must end. But I tliink love is going to increase, and we are going to know them far better than we ever knew them in this world. I shaj] see Abrahani^ Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom nf Gnd _Thev do not lose their identity. Moses had been gone from this world fifteen hundred years when he came back to the Mount of Transfig-_ uration^ Doesn't it look as if Peter and James and John kne\v him? Elijah had been gone nine hundred years, and thej^;^ knew him. _I believe that when I get to Heaven I shall know Moses without any introduction. I haven't any doubt but that I shall know all these men whose acquaintance I have made in the Bible. We are clearly taught that God the Father is there, and that He is a person, that He has a location, that He lives in Heaven, and that we shall see Him and be with Him, be- cause we find all through the Scriptures that Christ is with the Father, and They are one, and Flis prayer was that His dis- cij2ks_ might be with Him. Surely wc shall know each other there. 28 CHAPTER XXIII. THE OVERCOMING LIFE. An Incident in London — Mr. Moody's Experiences wlien He was Converted — " Trouble with D. L. Aloody " — At the Outbreak of the Civil War — Going to War with a Whoop — Self Control — "Mother, Where's j\Iy Collar?" — Taking a Dose of Unpleasant ^ledicine — Ofifering His Wife a Bouquet Instead of an Apology — A Story of Anger and Contrition — A Manly Apology — Story of Three Millionaires — Waking Up and Finding Himself a Rich Man — Mean and Contemptible People — The Jealous Eagle and Its Fate — The Boy and the Echo — A Wise Mother — The Rival Merchants, and How They Were Reconciled — ]\Ir. i\Ioody's Experience at a Dinner Party — A Sad Sight — A Father Playing Cards for Money — Washing out Religion with a Bucket of Cold Water — Men Whose Religion is Only Skin Deep. WHEX I was converted I thought that the battle was fought and the victory was won. I soon found out that I was mistaken, and that the battle had onlv just l)egun. In the P.ible the life of the Christian is called a war- fare, a conllict. He is like a new recruit in tlie army ; he has to go on long marclies, is subject to strict military discipline, and must learn a good many things l^efore he liecomes a real, true, faithful soldier. If you have never taken the pains to study what is called " the two natures," you will fmd it a very liealthful exercise of the soul. I was a great myster\- to my- self when I was converted : I thought the old nature wotild be made over into a new one ; but I found I had two natures : one the higher nature, and the other the lower: one carnal, the other spiritual. Thtn the conllict began. I had no conflicts within myself until 1 was born of Heaven; in fact, I thought I was about as fine a character as the world ever produced. \\'hen the new life dawnecl upon me, the new creation, then I (45S) OUR CRKATEST ENEMY. 459 fouiul that the spirit lusted against the ilesh, and the tlesh against the spirit, and I had more trouble with D. L. Moody of the old creation than any man who ever crossed my path. There may be meaner men in the world, but I never had as much troul)le with any of them as 1 did with myself. There was, some years ago, a very promising man in Lon- don, who proved to be one of the most earnest laymen of the time. He was a great star in fashionable society, but he came out for Christ. Some time after he had been converted a devoted Christian lady said to him, " What have you found to be your greatest enemy since you became a Christian ? " He said, " Well, I think the greatest enemy that I have found is myself." " Ah," said the deeply-taught woman, " The King has taken you into His presence, for it is only in the presence of the King that we are taught that lesson." If a man has obtained self-control, has achieved victory over the old nature, the carnal nature, he has had a hard fight. I can't tell how great a spiritual uplift I received when that truth dawned upon me. God didn't take away my old nature. I found I was tempted just as much after I was converted as I was before. There came such a gush of life into my soul that for months the old nature was overcome, but one day there came a flash of temper. I thought my temper had gone. If you think that your temper is gone, if you think the old man is dead as soon as you are converted, you are greatly mistaken. It is by faith that we are going to overconie. When the Civil War broke out there were men who really believed it would be over in a few months. William H. Seward, then Secretary of State, declared that the war wouldn't last over ninety days ; and young men enlisted and went to war with a whoop; they were going down to thrash the South, and were going to make quick work of it. They were four years about it, and on both sides about 500,000 men went to their graves. What was the trouble? They underestimated the strength of the enemy, and overestimated their own strength. It wasn't quite so easy to overcome as they thought. 460 ROWING AGAINST THE CURRENT. The reason why so many men and women fail in their Christian Hfe is because they don't stop to count the cost ; they don't reahze that the Christian hfe is a conflict, and that no man can win the victory without supernatural power. I thought when I w-as converted that I could lay my oars in the bottom of the boat, fold my hands, and sweep right into the arms of God's love ; but it was not long before I found I had got to row against the current, not with it. That is what makes character. If w'e get into the boat and just float along toward that eternal shore, and there is no struggle, it will not develop character. We have got to go against the current. There is no escaping that. The men and women that over- come are the ones that make character. Some have more to overcome than others. Some people are pretty bad, and are obliged to struggle hard ; some are pretty good ; and there are some men and women who seem to have been born with beauti- ful traits ; but I have a good deal more respect for one who overcomes a jealous, mean, selfish dis])osition than I have for those who have not had that struggle. Joseph was a beauti- ful character; he didn't have so nuich to overcome as Jacob. Lot had a very weak character that had to be bolstered up by his Uncle Abraham, the great, sturdy oak. You will find about a million Jacobs where you find one Joseph ! Josephs are scarce ! It is folly for any man to attempt to overcome the world around him unless he has overcome the world within him first. If wives want to control their husl)ands they must get control of themselves first. A wife that has self-control will manage the whole house ; but if she hasn't self-control, she can't control anybody. A mother who cannot control her- self cannot control her child. What we want is to get control of the enemies within. I believe that the greatest victory a man or woman can achieve on earth is to conquer self. He that ruleth his own spirit is mightier than he that taketh a city. Alexander had the whole world at his feet, but he found that he couldn't control Alexander. Napoleon would have had control of the world, but he couldn't control Napoleon. PATIKNCt: AND SELF-CONTROL. 461 The lust of the flesh is appetite. I must either control my appetite or it will control me. Suppose a man has an appetite for opium, or for strong drink, or for anythmg that is mjurious, and it lias gained the mastery over his will, I can assert that no slave ever had a harder master than that man. The question is, have you got control of the appetite, or has it got control of you ? Paul admonishes us to be sound in faith, in charity, in pa- tience, in love. You wouldn't have a preacher that was un- sound in the faith. But if he was unsound in temper, or un- sound in love, you might still call him a splendid man. There is the same authority to be sound in patience as there is to be sound in faith ; and if you begin to use discipline on church members who are not sound in patience, what would become of the church? You wouldn't have many members, and many ministers would be without pulpits. I don't want you to think I don't sympathize with you ; I do sympathize. I know how it is with that mother who has a large family of children ; I know how she is pulled this way and that. James comes in and says, " Mother, where's my collar? " John comes along and asks, " Mother, what have you done with my shoes ? " and Mary comes along and says, " Mother, where's my hat? " Mother is pulled this way and that, and she gets out of patience and frets, and the children fret, and the husband isn't much better. Sunday morning he says, " Mary, why are you not ready for church ? " lie hasn't done a thing to get the children ready for church ; the mother must get all of them ready on time, and get herself ready, and all he has to do is to put his hat on and go. The minister who hasn't patience and can't control his temper had better get out of the pulpit. I know lots of minis- ters who are not w'orth a snap of my finger ; they can't control their tempers ; they go into the pulpit and scold and find fault with their people, and lose their power and lose their influence. We must control ourselves if we ever expect to control our families, our enemies, or any one else. A person without temper is like a piece of soft steel, not 462 HOW TO OVERCOME. good for anything. When steel has lost its temper you throw- it a\va\ . Peoi)Ie that have r.o temper have no force of char- acter. Peter had temper, Paul had temper, and Elijah had temper; and what we want is to bring our bodies under and get control of our temper. People call it a weakness or a mis- fortune, or, worst of all, excuse it as being inherited. That is the meanest of all ! You talk about inheriting these things from your father and mother; if you have got all they liad and haven't lost anything, that is no excuse for you. You ask, " How am I going to overcome bad temper? " When you find yourself saying or doing a mean thing, say to the one you have wronged that you are sorry. And when you have done that twenty-five times you will stop doing mean things. It takes a good deal of courage to say, " I am wrong." That is " keeping the body under." y\s Paul said, " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." 'ilie tempted person may speak of his temper as a misfortune or a weakness. He is mistaken. It is a sin. Put some one says, " You know nothing about it." I do. It was once a word and a blow with me, and the blow came pretty quick, before the word cooled ; nothing would satisfy me better than knocking the man down. I w'as very much like the Irishman, who said he was " never at peace unless he was fighting somebody." A lady once came to mc and said : " Mr. Moody, I haven't got as much patience as I had five years ago ; instead of growing in grace I have been losing ground; I wish you would helj) me." " I should like to help you," I said, " but I am afraid you won't like the medicine; it isn't very pleasant to take. The next time you lose your temper, or lose control of your tongue and say sharp, cutting things, as soon as you realize that you have done it, go to the person you have wronged and ask for- giveness." " Oh, no," she said, " I wouldn't like to do that." "No," I said, "of course you wouldn't; and there is the trouble, but vou will never win the victorv until vou do." STAMPING OUT LIES. 463 I have known a husband to give his wife a good scolding and go out ot the house in a mad fit, but before he had gone far his conscience would smite him. Then he would say to him- self, " I didn't treat my wife right this morning, and when I go home I will take her a big bouquet." Tons of bouquets won't cover that thing up ! If a man wants to conquer that habit let him go to his wife and say, " I feel mean and contemptible for speaking as I did this morning, and I want you to forgive me." After he has done that half a dozen times he will be cured. You say, " I should like to see you try it yourself! " I have tried it, and I know how it works. I want to tell you another thing: Some people seem to think that the preachers who have nothing to do but write sermons and preach them ought to be very angelic ; but they have the same things to overcome that you have. Preaching isn't going to make me any better, and talking for half an hour isn't going to give me self-controi ; I must get it as other people do ; it is a conflict, it is a battle. A lady came to me some time ago and said : " Mr. Moody, I have got so in the habit of exaggerating that some of my friends accuse me of lying. I feel very badly about it, and I have tried hard to overcome it, but I can't." " I think you could," I said, " if you tried in the right way. I tlunk there is a way if you really want to try it." " Pray, tell me what it is? " she said. " The next time you exaggerate to anyone go and tell them you lied to them, and ask them to forgive you." " Oh," she said. " I wouldn't like to call it lying." " A lie is a He, and you have got to stamp it out ; after you have made half a dozen confessions of lying, you won't lie any niore," I said. Confession is crucifying to the flesh ; people don't like to confess, but if you are going to gain the victory over sin you have got to do it. A minister's sister married a lawyer who was a very promi- nent man, but an infidel. She thought that she was going to win her husband to Christ, and she was constantly holding up 464 HEROISM IN CONFESSING. her brother as a most lovable and beautiful character, a man with a great deal of self-control. This irritated the husband, and he said to himself, " I will bring that man down. I will show my wife that her brother is not so angelic as she thinks he is." So one evening the lawyer accused the brother of doing a very disreputable thing. The minister denied it, but the lawyer insisted that the evidence against him was well supported. The brother flew into a rage and said : " I won't stay in the house if you think that of me ! " He got up and went out. and slammed the door after him. After he had gone the lawyer said to his wife : " Your brother is very angelic, isn't he ? I tell you, he's no better than the rest of us." The next morning about five o'clock a servant knocked at the infidel's door and told him that the minister, his brother-in- law, was down stairs and wanted to see him right away. He dressed himself and went down. The minister said : " I want to apologize for speaking to you as I did last night ; I am very sorry I lost my temper, and I want you to forgive me." The infidel had to admit that he had accused hnn unjustly ; and when he went back he said to his wdfe : " I believe your brother is a Christian if there ever was one. I never would have done that ; I believe in Christianity of that kind." And he, too, soon became a Christian. It takes a hero to confess ! Then there is covetousness ; that is another inward sin. Many a man is a slave to his money ; money is his god ; it has got him by the throat, and it holds him right there. A good many Christian men and women go on i)iling up wealth year after year until it gets complete mastery over them. Mr. Durant, the man who established Wellesley College, told me that the greatest trouble he had was with covetousness. One day he awoke to find that he was a rich man, and the question came up, whether he would let money be his master, or be master of his money? He said the battle raged in his luind OVERCOMIXO COVETOUSNKSS. 465 for some time, and at last he won the victory, and out of that victory came Wellesley College. There is more said in the Bible against covetousness than against drunkenness. Men bow and scrape to a covetous man, and kick a drunkard out of society. W'q must overcome covetousness or it will over- come us. Once when I was j^reaching in I'altimore John W. Garrett told me about George Peabody and Jolms Hopkins. When young men both were clerks together in Baltimore. Both were bachelors, and they were rivals to see which would be the richer. They went on piling up millions and millions. One day both Hopkins and Peabody were at Garrett's table together. And Hopkins said to Garrett : " Peabody is giving away lots of money." "Yes," said Peabody to Garrett, " I wish aou would tell Hopkins to make his v.ill. Pie has no one but nieces and nephews, and they do not need his money. It would be a pity to have him die and not give away his money." " Nothing makes me so angry," Plopkins replied, " as to have people tell me what to do with my money. If anybody comes and asks me for money I never give anything. I only give as I please." Garrett dichi't propose to be choked off that way. With- out looking at either of them he said : " Peabody, which have you enjoyed the most, making money or giving it away ? " He looked up and saw Hopkins pricking up his ears and listening. And Peabody said : " Well, Garrett, that is a hard question to answer. There is a great deal of satisfaction in making money, and there's a deal of excitement about it ; and then the possession of money gives a man power. But I looked ahead a few years ago, and I got to thinking, and I knew that I could not take it away with me, and that many people with large fortunes have been ruined. After thinking it over I decided that it would be a blessing to better the condition of the London poor. I did not believe in ^(jS the joy of giving. giving them money, but I could make their homes better. So I got a few men together as trustees and I cut a shce off the loaf, and I never did anything that hurt me so much as when that money went out of ni)- hand. Well, they got the building done. The rooms were all filled, birds were singing in the sunlight, plants were growing in the windows, and little chil- dren were playing in a ward in the center instead of in the streets. As I walked through that building, a feeling came over me that I had never experienced before, and from that hour I have enjoyed giving far more than making." Inside of forty-eight hours Hopkins was making out the will that handed over his millions to the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, and to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, covering thirteen acres, the largest on the continent. I believe what the Bible says is true: " It is more blessed to give than to receive." Jealousy is an enemy to be overcome. Have we not con- tempt for a really jealous man, or a jealous woman? Haven't we ? Have you ever had trouble with anything of that kind ? There is a fable of an eagle that could fly a little higher than another eagle ; and the other was so jealous that he asked a hunter to bring his rival down. The hunter said, " I would if I had a feather to wing my arrow." So the eagle gave him a feather, and he took aim at the other eagle, but didn't hit him. Then he said, " I will try again if you will give me another feather." So he kept on shooting and missing until every feather w as gone, and then he shot the jealous eagle. If you see somebody a little higher uj) than you are, and you want to bring him down, let me tell you it is a mean, contemptible thing to do. People sometimes thiids: they have overcome jealousy, and the first tiling the}- know u]) it comes from a different direc- ti(jn. If y(ju find other people doing things that you condemn, it is a good thing to take a look at yourself and see if you are not guilty of the same thing. I have found myself doing that lots of times — condemning people for doing certain things, and then found I was doing exactly the same things myself. Some one has compared this life to an echo, because, they TilK LESSUN OF THE PXilO. ^^-j say, other people treat us just about the same as we treat them. A story is told of a little boy who had never heard an echo. One day he was out at play, and he heard over in the woods his own voice. He shouted : " Hello there ! " and the echo came back : " Hello there ! " " Who are you? " " Who are you? " " You are a mean boy ! " " You are a mean boy ! " " I am going to whip you ! " " I am going to whip you ! " He ran and told his mother that there was a very bad boy in the woods that was going to whip him. His mother under- stood how it was, and said : " I don't think he's a bad boy at all ; go out and speak kindly to him and see if he doesn't speak kindly to you." So he went out again and tried it once more : " Hello there ! " " Hello there ! " " Who are you ? " " Who are you ? " " You are a good boy ! " " You are a good boy ! " " I love you ! " " I love you ! " Then he went back and said to his mother : " After all, he is a good boy ; I was mistaken about him." Treat people kindly, and they will treat you kindly ; snap at them and they will snarl at you. Two merchants were rivals and a great deal of jealousy existed between them. One of them became converted and he went to the minister and said, " I am still jealous of that man, and I don't know just how to overcome it." " Well," said the minister, " if a man comes into your store to buy goods, and you cannot supply him, just send him over to your neighbor." 468 A CURE FOR JEALOUSY. " Oh," he said, " I wouldn't Uke to do that." " Well," said the minister, " you do it and you will kill jealousy." He promised he would, and when a customer came into his store for goods which he did not have, he would send him across the street to his neighbor's. By and by the other merchant began to send customers over to this man's store, and it was not long before they became firm friends. That is the way to overcome jealousy. Now we come to outside enemies. After we get victory inside we are ready to engage enemies outside. A woman who is strong at home is strong all around. When a man gets self-control it seems as if he coidd go out and conquer the whole world ; but if he is weak here the world will trip him up. If he has not won the victory over himself he needn't talk about gaining it over outside enemies. Custom is one of the outside foes we have to meet. It is common to hear people say it is the " custom " to do so and so ; never mind, if the custom is a detriment to us we will go against it. Fashion is an enemy. How many people say it is the " fashion " to do so and so. Never mind ; I will go dead against fashion if it is going to weaken my influence or cripple my testimony; I will overcome it. A friend of mine was once placing cards with another gentleman, and he thought he would play for a small amount of money. But he noticed that his little son got intensely excited, and was very anxious that his father should win. The father went to bed and got to thinking, and he said to his wife, " Our son was terribly excited over that game, and I'm afraid it won't be long before he, too, will be playing for money." And he went to his son and said, " You were very much excited over that game." " Yes, I was," said the boy. " Well," said the father, "I did wrong; I am never going to ])lay cards any more." That man was an infidel ; yet he had sense enough to see that he was ruining his son. I would to God that the fathers and mcjthers would wake up and see the danger of going "THIS IS NO PLACE FOR ME." 469 too far. What is the harm of this game or that ? My friends, I will never play a game of chance as long as I live. I would not run the risk. Many years ago while I was in London I was invited to a dinner party in a Christian family, given in honor of two or three American friends. It was the custom to drink wine, and there were no less than seven kinds of liquor on that table. At the table sat an elder, and near him was a young lady whom he urged to drink. I saw her face already flushed with the wine, and she kept declining, but he persisted in urging. It was late and I thought a good many of them ought to be in bed. I said, " This is no place for D. L. Moody," so I asked to be excused. I left the table, and the man of the house fol- lowed me up stairs. " What does this mean? " he said. " There is altogether too much drinking here for me," I replied. " You are no gentleman, sir," he said, angrily. " I hope I am a Christian, if not a gentleman. I am not going to sit there and countenance that," I answered. And I stepped out. Whenever anything comes into my life that separates me from. God, and robs me of peace and joy and love, and hides His face from me, I must give it up. I don't care what it is. It is the custom in some places, on some occasions, to ofTer wine to young people. A lady told me only a short time ago that she had to strike several families ofif her visiting list be- cause she would not have her children go where wine was offered to them. I am talking about " Christian people." When drunkenness is everywhere, and the wretchedness and woe it causes are so plainly to be seen don't you think you ought to take your stand against it, and throw all your influence against such a dangerous custom? People say "They all do it." They don't. Make up your mind that not all will do it, if you stand alone. " Oh, but," some one says, " a man is very weak if he can't resist temptation." A man may be made of 470 A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT. iron and have a giant will; he may be able to drink just so much and stop when he pleases ; but he may have a son who does not possess the will-power of his father, and if he attempts to follow his father's example he may be ruined. It is a dangerous experiment. A little breath of opposition or of persecution may overcome us. A man once arose in one of our meetings and said he had been serving Christ for six months, but that a deacon had thrown a bucket of cold water over him and it had taken the religion all out of him. I said, " My friend, religion never struck in very deep if a bucket of cold water could take it out." It was only skin deep. If you have got a strong inside fire, cold water won't overcome you. CHAPTER XXIV. PERSONAL WORK IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. Enthusiasm Essential to Success — Teachers Pulling One Way and Parents Another — ■ The . iscouraged Superintendent — People Who are Like a Bundle of Shavings — Taking Hold and " Holding On" — A Touching Incident- — The Little Girl Mr. Moody was Proud Of — A Rich Young Woman's Choice — An Amazed Father and iMothcr • — " Can You Give Me a Class? " — The Shoe- maker's Boy — "None of Your Business " ^ — -Gaining a Raga- mufhn's Confidence — " If you Go There again I'll Flog You" — Taking His Floggings in Advance — President Lincoln's Visit to Mr. Moody's Sunday-school — Feeling Two Inches Taller — A Class of Frivolous Girls — A Pathetic Story — Working and Dying — A Night Mr. IMoody Never Forgot — How He Lost His Ambition for Business — An Affecting Parting — "I Will Meet You Up Yonder."' FOR years I was superintendent of a Sunday-school in Chicago, and I learned one thing- — that any man or woman who ever took charge of a class without en- thusiasm did not succeed. It is sometimes very discouraging when you have been pulling seven days in the week one way to get children inter- ested, and their parents have been doing all they could to pre- vent yott from prosecuting your work. I notice that those who get discouraged, and give up their classes, and go from one scliool to another, from one field to another, are never success- ful ; but those who persevere day after day, week after week, month after month, are always blessed. I met a young man in Chicago who had been toiling for years in the Sunday-school without having any restilts, so far as conversions were concerned. There were about fifty boys in his class, and only a few of them were Christians. He came regularly to our meetings, was one of the ushers, and every (471) 472 AN UNFAITHFUL LEADER. once in a while there would be a request for prayer for that class. After a while their hearts were moved, and out of one hundred and eighty scholars — the class having grown to that number — over one hundred had been converted and were Avorking for the Saviour. " Ye shall reap, if ye faint not." If we will only take this for our motto, and never despair even if we do not see any fruit to-day. or next week, or next month, we shall not be discouraged. Hold on to God's promises, and believe that He can reach the hardest heart. In one city where we preached, a Sunday-school superin- tendent came to one of our morning meetings ; he felt that he was not faithful enough, and he was greatly troubled. He went to his pastor and said : " I want to resign my position as superintendent ; I do not feel that I ought to be superintendent any longer." "What is the reason; why do you want to resign?" the minister asked. " \\'ell," said he, " I am afraid I am not converted. If I am, I am so cold no one would know it ; I am not fit to pilot sinners to life eternal, not fit to be superintendent." " Don't you think that, instead of resigning, you ought to ask God to bless you? " the minister said. And the minister knelt with him right there, prayed with him, and in the course of two or three days he found relief. and peace, and liappiness, in believing; and instead of want- ing to give up his school, he wanted to get his school blessed likewise. His heart hadn't been right, and that was the reason why his Sunday-school work had not been successful. He confessed this to his school, telling tlum that he had not been faithful, but that he had at last got right with God. Mark the result. The teachers confessed that they were in the same con- dition their superintendent had been in. y\ll the teachers in that school re-consecrated ihcmselves to God and His service. The pastor of that church told me that he took one hundred and thirty into that school, after the superintendent and the teachers were ready for their duties as Christian workers. PERSEVERAXCK — PUNCTUALITY. 473 In some cities where we have been, teachers have come to me and said, " Mr. Moody, pray for ni\- Sunday-school schol- ars; " and I would just take the teachers aside and point out their duties and show how they themselves ought to be able to pray for their pupils. \'ery often they would come to the next meeting, and the prayer would go up from them, " (lod bless my scholars." Let me say to you, young converts who have just com- menced a Christian life, go out into the vineyard at once and find some work to do for the Master. Just persevere, and if the work does not seem to prosper, go right on. God never uses Christians that get discouraged and disheartened, and His kingdom is never built up through them. What we want is courage to pcrsci'crc. Bring your classes together, and pray to God to convert them. Suppose all our Sunday-school teachers should say : " I will try to bring my children to Christ," what a reformation we should have ! Let no one say that that boy is too small, or that girl is too puny or insignificant to come to Christ. Every one is valuable to the Lord. I like these men who take hold of classes and don't give them up ; who attend their own church every Sunday, and are not drawn away by some elocjuent preacher from abroad who happens to be filling a neighboring pulpit. They are right there fifty-two Sundays in the year ; you know where to find them ; they are always at their post of duty ; all the while their influence increases. But these teachers who are all the time running here and there never accomplish nuich. A good many people are like a bundle of shavings — a spark falls, and quickly the shavings are gone, and there's scarcely any ashes left. My friends, ten thousand such Christians are not worth one who makes constancy liis motto. W^e don't want any revival Christians — got enough of them; don't want any Sunday Christians — got enough of them. What's wanted are men who are established in good works, ;//(';; fliat hold oil. A man who does one thing well is a man of power. 29 474 A FAITHFUL TEACHER. The man wlio tries a hundred things generally fails at evcr\- thing. If God calls me to Sunday-school work 1 will stand by my l^ost. If God calls me to lead a prayer-meeting or read the Bible I must hold on, and it w'on't be long before God will l)ring success, for He has promised that " Vc shall reap if ye faint not." God will try you; you will have some things to dis- courage you, but you must Jiold on. How God uses weak things! Ralph Wells tells a touch- ing incident of an old lady who lived in New York State during the Civil Wslv. She was poor, seventy-five years old, had a Sunday-school class, and she lived two miles from the church. One Sunday when it stormed very hard she thought she could not possibly go to Sunday-school, because it was so far away. She said: " It storms so hard I think I won't go; " but the thought came to her, " .Suppose some of my scholars should be there. If they come through this storm it will be because they are interested." So the old lady walked two miles in a bitter, driving storm, and she found one young man of her class present. She talked with him about the Saviour and ])ra\e(l for him. It is good sometimes to come down to one ])U])il. Where there are a great many in the class each one ma\- think you mean sonic one else when you talk to them all, but when only one is ])resent there can be no mistake. lie knew that the teacher meant him. The next Sunday he was not there, and she made in- quiries and learned that he had enlisted in the army. Two years after she learned that he was dying in a .Southern hos- pital, and he sent word to her that that stormy Sunday was the turning point in his life. He had tried to forget it, but could not. The thought that she had come two miles in that terrible storm to do a little good made a deep impression ui)on him, and led him to the Saviour. He sent back a rejoicing message. Was she not repaid for walking that two miles in a winter storm? What she accomplisheil would have paid her for going a himdred miles. That .'"^unday-school scholar and his teacher are in glory now. CllILDRKX AS WURKKRS. Aye Little children are apt to be overlooked ; but they, too, must be led to Christ. Children have done a great deal in His vine- yard. They have led parents to Jesus. Christ can find useful work for these little ones. A teacher in Southern Illinois who had taught a little girl to love the Saviour said to her, " Cati'i you get your father to come to Sunday-school? " Her fath.er was a swearing, drinking man, and the love of God was not in his heart. Uut under the tuition of that teacher the little girl went to him and told him of Jesus' love, and finally led him to the Sunday-school. What was the result? He was instru- mental in fcDunding over seven hundred and eighty Sunday- schools in southern Illinois. What a great privilege a teacher has — the privilege of leading souls to Christ. Let every teacher say : '' By the help of God I will try to lead my scholars to Christ." A little girl only eleven years old once came to me in a Sunday-school and said : " Won't you please pray that God will make me a winner of souls? " I felt proud of her, and my pride was justified, for she became one of the best winners of souls in this country. Suppose she lives threescore years, and goes on winning four or five souls every year ; at the end of her life's journey there will be three hundred souls on the way to glory. How long will it be before that little company swells to a great army. Don't you see how that little mountain rill keeps swelling till it carries everything before it ? Little trick- ling streams have run into it, till now, a mighty river, it h^s great cities on its banks, and the commerce of all nations float- ing on its waters. So w-hcn a single soul is won to Christ you cannot see the result. A single one multiplies to a thousand, and they into ten thousand. Perhaps a million souls will be the fruit, we cannot tell. We know that the Christian who has turned so many to righteousness shall shine forever. If a .Sunday-school teacher does not love his scholars — if he hurries through the lesson as if it were something he wished to get through with, it will not be long before they find it out. Tliey will see it in his eyes, in his face, in his actions. 4/6 WlXMXt; SOl'LS TIlKurc.ll I.(»\'K. A few years ago a little bo)' eanie to one of our mission Sunday-schools. His father moved to another part of the city about five miles away, and every Sunday that boy went ])ast thirty or forty Sunday-schools to the one he attended. ( >nv Sunday a lady who was out gathering scholars met him and asked him why he went past so many schools. " There are plenty of others," said she, " just as good." "They may be just as good, but they are not so good for me," he said. " \\'hy not? " she asked. " I because the}- love a fellow over there," he answered. Ah! love won him. " ]U'cause they love a fellow over there! " How eas\ it is to reach people through love! Win the affections of your scholars if you would lead them to Christ. I have been told of a \oung lad\ whose i)arents were very wealthy and who sent her to be educated in the best schools tliex- could find. They were very anxious that she should move in tlie highest circles of society. Among her teachers was a lady who worked for Christ. \\y constant labor she won this young girl's heart, and pleaded with her to become a Christian. She succeeded, and the young lady became a worker in the vineyard of the Lord. She labored with her schoolmates, and God used her in winning a number of young ladies in that school to Christ. She returned home, and her father and mother wanted her to shine in fashionable society. They were amazed that she had no desire for worldl\' things, and that the}- couldn't get her interested in them. She went to a Sunday- school superintendent and said, " Can you give me a class in your Sunday-school? " He was surprised to liear her ask for a class, and he told her tliat he had none that he could give her then. She went away with a resolve to do what she could out- side of the school. One day she saw a little boy running out of a shoemaker's shop, and behind him was an old shoemaker witli a wooden last in his hand chasing him. I fe had not run far w lun llie last was thrown at him, and he was struck in the back. 'Hie bov i-ixDixc. A rri'iL 477 stopped and began to cry. Ihc spirit of God tonchcd that young lady's heart and \vhis[)ercd. " There is )our work." She stepped u{) and spoke to him kindlw asking him if lie was hurt. " None of yoiu' I)usincss." lie said. She went to work to win his confidence. She asked him if he went to school " Xo." '■ Well \\h}- don't }OU go to school?" '■ Don't want to." " If you will come," she said, " 1 will tell you beautiful stories and you can hear the singing." " Well, they will laugh at me if I go." " If you will come you can be in my class, and I won't have any one in my class but yourself, and I won't laugh at you," she said. At last she gained his confidence, and he promised to go. .She agreed to meet him on the corner of the street, and the next Sunday, true to his promise, he waited for her at the place designated. She took him by the hand and led him into the Sunday-school. He had no shoes on, his hands and face were dirty, his clothes were ragged, and his hair was not combed. " Can you give me a place to teach this little boy? " she asked of the superintendent. He looked at the boy, but they didn't have any such looking little ones in the school. A place was found, however, and she sat down in the corner and tried to win his soul for Christ. She had found something to do for the Master. When he went home he told liis mother that he had been among the angels ; that he had never heard such sweet singing in his life. But when his father found out where he had been, he said : " That is a Protestant Sunday-school, and if you go there again I'll flog you." The next Sunda\' the boy slipped in to the .Sundav-schoo! again, and when the father found it out he flogged him. and told 478 IXTERKST STRtlNC.KR THAN FEAR. liini he would flog him cvcr\ time he went there. He kept going-, however, and took the Hoggings. One Sunday he said to his father : I wish you would l1og me before 1 go and then I won't be thinking about it all the time I'm there." Al}- friends, there is something stronger than the fear of punishment. Get hold of a person's heart, and he will brave all kinds of opposition. When the father found that he couldn't flog it out of him he said : " If you will give up the Sunday-school I n'ill give you every Saturday afternoon to play, or you can have all you can make by peddling." The boy went around to see the teacher and said : " Father says I may have every Saturday afternoon if I will keep away from the Sunda}-school, and I have been thinking, if you are willing, I would say to him that I would give it up. Then I can come around and spend Saturday afternoons with you, and we will have more time together than we would on Sunday." " Certainly," the teacher said. " I will do it." So she gave up her Saturday afternoons to him. If she was invited out on those afternoons, she was always engaged; if she had callers, she was engaged. She gave herself up to teaching that boy the way into the kingdom of God. She labored with him earnestl\-, and at last the light of God's spirit broke upon his heart. One day while he was selling his wares at the railroad sta- tion he slipped and fell from the platform as a train of cars was approaching, and the whole train passed over both of his legs. A physician was summoned, and the little sufiferer looked up into his face and said : " Doctor, will I live to get home? " " No," said the doctor, " you arc dying." " Will you tell my mother and father that I died a Chris- tian?" They bore the little fellow's mutilated body home, and with MR. MOODY'S SUNDAY-SCHOOL. ^yg it his last message that he died a Christian. Oh, what a noble work was that young lady's in saving that little wanderer! How precious the remembrance to her ! I wonder how many young ladies there are who would give up their Saturday fternoons just to lead one boy into the king- dom of God ! I think they are very scarce. I have found them very scarce who will begin work of that kind and hold on to it. I don't believe there is a child anywhere that could not be led to Christ if some godly man or woman would work earnestly to get him. I want to tell you how God woke me up. I used to be active in general Christian work ; but I had no experience in this personal work, this individual work ; like a man talking to another about being one of Christ's disciples, or a teacher talk- ing to Sunday-school scholars on Sunday, and then going around and talking to them one by one during the week. At one time I hired five pe\ws in the church and filled them every Sunday ; but I never spoke to one of the men I got there. I thought the real orthodox way of preaching sermons was the best; I never spoke to one of them. No one called my atten- tion to it, and I was perfectly satisfied with my work. I soon got permission to use the large Music Hall — the city gave me the use of it — and I worked to fill it ; if I could run that school up to twelve or fifteen hundred, I was greatly elated ; if it ran down below a thousand I was depressed. I would work all day Sunday to get scholars in. I remember when President Lin- coln came and visited that school I felt two inches taller ; I thought I was doing a great work. If you had asked me how many had been converted I would have said: " ^^'ell, we are just sowing; the reapers are coming on behind." But some how or other we did no reaping. When a boy got to be fifteen or sixteen years old he drifted away from us and the world got him. Yet I toiled on in that way perfectly satisfied. I will tell you what woke me up. T had a class in that school, and there wasn't a single person that could manage it, and it was a class of girls. It seemed as if they were born 48o THE DYING TEACHER. laughing- and giggling. I finally gave them over to a teacher, and told him if he would just keep them cjuiet that would satisfy me. One Sunday he was absent and I took the class, but they laughed in my face, and I had a great mind to open the door and just order them all out. That week the teacher came into the store to see me. I noticed as he came in that he was very pale and weak, and as he took a seat on a box he said : " I have come to bid you good-bye." "Why?" Tasked. " I have had a hemorrhage of the lungs, and the doctor tells me I can't live here ; I am going home to my widowed mother to die." " You are not afraid of death, I hope? " " No, it isn't that." " What is the trouble ? " " Moody," he said. " I don't know of anyone in this world that I ever led to Christ, and none of my Sunday-school class is converted ; I can't bear the thought that \\ hen I get up yonder I shall not meet one that has ever been made better because of my life. What shall I say when I come to give an account of my stewardship? " I began to feel rather awkward myself; what should / say if I was called to give an account of my stewardship ? I said : " Suppose you go and see them and tell them just how you feel?" " When I had strength," he said. " I didn't go, and now I can't." I got a carriage and helped him into it and we started out. I don't believe I should be here now if it had not been for that day's experience ; God gave me a revelation that day. I drove up to the first house and we got out, and he reeled across the sidewalk and went into the house. He knew every one of his girls by name. He said to this one : " Mary, I must leave Chicago ; I can't stay here any longer ; but before I leave I want you to become a Christian." After he had talked a while, he prayed, and then I prayed. Tin-: CLASS WON TO CHRIST. 481 W hen lie got tired out 1 took him home, and the next day I took him out again ; and for ten days he labored in that way, sometimes alone and sometimes I went with him. We visited every member of the class. Do you know, those frivolous girls suddenly became very serious. One day he came into the store, his face beaming, and said ; " I have good news to tell you ; the last one of my class has yielded her heart to Christ to-day, and I am going home to- morrow. I have come to bid you good-bye." " You are going to be here to-night, you say ; wouldn't you like to meet the class all together before you go? " I said. He said he would ; and I sent a message to all the girls. That night (iod kindled a fire in my soul that has never gone out. I can't tell you \\hat a night it was! The dying teacher told those girls how God had helped him. After he had talked a while and read the Bible, he kneeled down to pray ; he prayed for me as superintendent of the school ; after he prayed I prayed ; and when I was about to rise, to my surprise one of those scholars began to pray, and she, too, prayed for the superintendent. Before we rose from our knees every one had prayed. It seemed as if heaven and earth came together in that room. The next day I w^ent back to the store, but, to my great amazement, I had lost all ambition for business. Up to that hour I had made everything bend to succeeding in Imsiness ; that was the height of my ambition. That day I couldn't take any interest in l)usiness ; I felt as if I would like to bid that teacher Godspeed. I went down to the railway station to see him off. It was a beautiful summer evening, and every one of the class was there. While we stood there we sang a Sunday- school hymn : " Here \vc meet to part again. But when we meet on Canaan's shore, There'll be no parting there." There stood the engineer and fireman with tears trickling down their faces. When the conductor shouted " All aboard," the 482 'f^^ LUXURY OF PERSONAL WORK. teacher stepped up on the platform, and as the car moved off, with his fing-er pointing lieavcnward, he said: " I will meet you up yonder." The work that began then in that school has been going on ever since. Sometime afterwards, when I was preaching in California, I recognized a lady in the audience, and after the service I said to her : " Have you ever lost sight of Christ since that dying- teacher led you into the kingdom? " " No," she said. " A\'hat are you doing for Christ ? " I asked. " I have a Sunday-school class of a hundred scholars." " Have you ever given up Sunday-school work since that time? " " No, sir." Those scholars scattered over different parts of the Lord's kingdom, but not one of them that I ever heard of turned back again to the world ; I believe they were all true to God. I honestly believe that I should never have given up Inisiness if it had not been for that experience. Life is very sweet to me, but I would rather die to-night than to go back to that time when I was only a nominal Chris- tian and didn't know the luxury of personal work. I j)ity the man or woman that has never had a taste of this personal work. If you haven't had it may God give it to you. CHAPTER XXV. THE GOOD SAMARITAN. The Man Who Fell Among Thieves — The Priest Who Passed Him By — John Wesley's Motto — A Cry for Help — Criminal Selfish- ness — Driven Out of Town — Too Many Committees — The Levite — The Good Intention — "Drawing" Church Members — Blaming the Usher — The Chinaman and the Hoodlums — Race Prejudice — The Kind-hearted Samaritan — A "Blowing Up" — A Year Wasted — Binding Up His Wounds — A Worker in the Seven Dials — Gathering in the Outcasts — Giving Time, Money, and Personal Effort — The Fiddling Infidel — Paying the Inn- Keeper — A Pung Full of Boys — " Hitch On " — Watching for a Chance to Ride — " Get Away ! Get Away ! " — The Hopeful Mother — A Serious Case of Homesickness — No Comfort in Looking at Jackknives — The Beautiful New Cent — Kindness Never Forgotten — Lending to the Lord. 1 REMEMBER hearing Dr. Kirk once speak at a convention in the West. He opened his address by giving a picture of Heaven. I said, " That's the finest thing I ever heard ! " But he stopped and said, " My friends, that's not what we are here for. We have come to decide what we will do to have the world converted." I shall never forget that part of his speech. I believe, if the truth was known, that every man's life is planned by the Almighty, and away back in the councils of eternity God laid out work for each one of us. There is no man living that can do the work He has laid out for me to do. No one can do it but myself. And if our work is not done we shall have to answer for it when we stand at God's bar. It seems to me that every one of us ought to take this question home to our hearts : " Am I doing the work that God meant for me to do? " Now, you -will notice in the parable of the good Samaritan, (4S3) ^84 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. that Christ brings four men to that skeptical lawyer's consider- ation. The first was a wounded man who had been stripped by thieves ; the next was a priest ; the next was a Levite ; and the next was a good Samaritan. It is a good thing to take a good look at these four men. The wounded Jew had gone from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and misfortune overtook him. You will find plenty of such people ; they have fallen among thieves, and they need help. The priest came down that way. He had probably been ofificiating at Jerusalem. He was, per- haps, in very high standing. If we had him here now we should probably give him high-sounding titles, — Rev. Levi, D.D., LL.D. Perhaps he said as he saw that poor wounded Jew, " Poor fellow, I pity him. If he were in my parish I would look after him. But I've not been appointed to look after men between Jerusalem and Jericho." I once asked a minister to pronounce the benediction, and he said he wasn't in his own parish, and he couldn't do it. I felt sorry for him. What was the motto the mighty man, John Wesley, gave us? "The World is My Parish." Never stop to ask whether the man who needs your help is a Jew or a Gen- tile. He is your brother. I have no doubt that priest was full of pity in his head, but empty of pity in his heart. He saw that wounded man lying there suffering and dying, and he spoke no word to him. There might have been a spring near, but he never gave him a drop of water, and he " passed by on the other side." " Let him die ; he is nothing to me." A few years ago there was a man who fell through the ice into the water. It was a bitter cold night in winter, and a man living on the shore near by heard the drowning man cry ''Help! Help!" And the man in the house said. "I don't want to be disturbed this cold night," and he left the poor man to his fate. Tlic next day the body of the drowned man was found. When it was known that the man on the shore had done such a mean, contemptible thing his neighbors hounded him out of town. But we hear the cry of the poor and lost all arotmd us, lost I'ASSINc; BV — LOOKING ON. 485 for time and for ctcrnit}-, and we " pass by on the other side." " He doesn't belong" to my parish ! " '' I'm a Methodist, and I look after the Methodists! " " He belongs to the baptists. I look after them ! '" " He is a Congregationalist ; let the Congregationalists look out for him ! " I say, if a man is in troul^le, HKLP him ! The priest passed on. Perhaps he was going to dedicate a synagogue in Jericho, and he must hasten down there to attend to his " ecclesiastical " duties. I have been told that " we have so many committees and divisions in our churches that we haven't time to do the Lord's work." The Levite came after him.. He would be a deacon in New England, or a church warden. He was of a dififerent turn of mind. He looked at the wounded Jew, and he, too, " passed by on the other side." But he stopped long enough to " look " at him. I don't know but he put his hands in his pocket, and said : " I pity that man. I know him. He lives on a back street and has a wife and ten children. Won't it be a dark day for them when he is taken away? Perhaps he has been wont to put some money into the treasury. I will go down to Jericho and see if I can get somebody to help. I will call it ' The Jerusalem and Jericho Committee to look after wounded Jews between Jerusalem and Jericho ' ; and I will give five dollars as a salve to my conscience. I will see if I can't get some of the leading men of the Jericho synagogue to appoint more soldiers to guard that road. It is a burning shame that a man can't go down from Jerusalem to Jericho without falling among thieves." Such things are going on in our cities all the time. Alen are dying for want of our help. I am told that I can find ten thousand priests and Levites easier that one good Samaritan. They are mighty scarce. How many times the question is asked, " How shall we get a 'drawing' minister?" What we want is "drawing church- members." Put a rich man at the end of a pew, and if a work- 486 THE OLD Py^RTV Sl'IRlT. ing- man is ushered in to sit beside him the pew-owner will very likely say to the usher at the first opportunity: " What did \ou put that man in my pew for? I pay fifty dollars a year for that ])cw." The pew has probably been half empty for five years, but the usher gets a blowing up for seating a poor man in it. Talk about " difficulties " and " obstacles." No obstacles in God's way. " Go and do likewise," and you will " reach the working- men." There's no trouble. Take a man that's down and help him up, and it is worth hundreds of sermons. I was in California some years ago, and a Chinaman was walking up the street quietly, when one of the hoodlums took him by his cue and pulled him down on the sidewalk and threatened to kill him. I said : " That man has never done you any harm. What do you want to kill him for? '" A gentleman told me I came near being killed myself for saying so. The hoodlum replied : " That dog ain't got no soul." Samaritans to the orthodox Jews were about the same. We know that the Samaritan was the only man under Heaven that could not become a proselyte to the Jewish faith. The Jews would not buy or sell to a Samaritan. Now, the Jew must have a pretty poor opinion of a man if he won't sell to him, when there is a possibility of making anything out of him. I recently heard an incident related illustrating this preju- dice. A colored woman got into a street car and sat down near an Irish woman. The Irish woman drew up her skirts and edged along ; and by and by a Chinaman got in and sat down near the colored woman, and she drew up Jirr skirts and edged along. It's easy enough to talk about the Jews not liking the Samaritans, but there's some of that feeling left yet. Once in a while, when we are trying to get a man on the right road, and we ask some one to help us, he says, " I am a ]\oman Catholic." " Well," we say, " we are Protestants." So we give no assist- ance to each other. The party spirit of old has not all rXITV IX HKU'I-TLXHSS. 487 vanished yet. The Protestants will have nothing" to do with the Catholics ; the Jews will have nothing- to do with the Gen- tiles. And there was a time — but, th.ank God, w-e are getting over it — when a Methodist wouldn't touch a Baptist, or a Presbyterian a Congregationalist ; and if we saw a Methodist taking a man out of a ditch, a P)aptist would say, " Well, what are you going to do with him ? " " Take him to a Methodist church." " Well, I'll have nothing to do with hi"m." A great deal of this has gone by, and the time is coming wdien, if we are trying to help a man out of the ditch, and others see us tugging at him, and we are so weak that we cannot get him out, they will help him, too. And that is \\'hat Christ wants. Do yoti suppose w hen you go to Heaven that the Lord will ask whether you came from Boston or New York, whether you are a Jew, Gentile, Catholic, or Protestant ? Let's get above these things. I can see that good Samaritan coming along, with eyes bright, and a sunny face. He hears the sufYerer groan, and dismounts at once and goes into the bush, and there the wounded Jew lies dying. And the Samaritan says, " I see. He is a son of Abraham." If he had been like some I know^ he would have said : " I'll give that fellow a lecture. I'll give him a piece of my mind. I'll help him by-and-by, but I'll give him a draught of vinegar first, and I wnll put oil in his wounds afterward. You have called us Samaritans. I'll help you, but I want you to understand that you deserve just what you've got." A gentleman in Chicago often used to give me a good " blowing up," but he always gave me a check afterwards, but that blowing up always came first. Some people carry a bottle of vinegar around with them, and then always wonder why people are not " drawn towards them." It is a wonder, isn't it? That good Samaritan didn't bring out the vinegar, and he didn't stop to ask " Who are you ? " " Where did you come from?" "AMiere are you going?" But he said to himself, " The man is dying. He needs help. I must attend to his 488 LIVING SERMONS, needs, and get him up from hero." He (hchi't stop to discuss his faults and criticise him. He didn't read a manuscript forty minutes long. There is a class of men who think the world is going to be lifted up by manuscripts, brethren, we want some- thing besides written sermons. We want a few sermons with hands and feet. That poor fellow didn't care to hear an essay just then. The Samaritan might have pulled out a manuscript and said, " Now I will tell }ou just when sin came into the world." " But," the poor fellow would have said, " I am dying. Help me! " " Oh, but first let me tell }on the origin of sin." I once said to a young man : " Go out and work for God. You have health and strength. Go and expound the word of God up and down the land." " Well," he said, " I would like to do it, but I haven't had much encouragement in our university this year. We have been the whole year trying to find cmt who wrote the Penta- teuch." Think of a class that spent a whole college year trying to find out who wrote the Pentateuch ! \\'hat did that poor wounded Jew want then? He wanted " oil." It is a good thing to carry oil with you, and if you find a wounded man pour in the oil. Pic did not want a lecture. He wanted sympathy, and something to keep him from dying. The hot rays of the sun were pouring in upon his wounds, and he wanted them bound up. I don't know where the good Samaritan got his bandages. Mcu don't usually carry bandages with them. I think he must l.ave torn up some of his garments. He took more prejudice out of that Jew in thirty minutes than was ever taken out of one before in all the history of the world. IIcl[^ iJic fcUoi^' li'lio is (Io':^'ii, and he will believe that you have got a religion that is worth having. When I was in London I became acquainted with one of the most remarkable men I ever met. He was a young man brought up in the best society. His father moved in what the world calls the upper circle. This young man was well acquainted with the Royal family, but when he was con- RESCl'K WORK IX LOXDOX. 489 vertctl he went down into the Seven Dials, a locaht}' full of dark alleys and the lowest dens of infani}-. He would go out on those dark narrow streets until midnight, and oftentimes stay until two and three o'clock in the morning. There he met ragged boys Avithout homes, lying around on boxes, barrels, and stairways, and he would gather them together, give them a supper, good shelter, and a bed, and stay there and sleep with them. He left his beautiful mansion, and seven nights in a week he went down to what I might call the very borders of hell, for it seemed to me the darkest sight I ever saw. He went not only one or two weeks, but for eight or nine years, spending every night among the most abandoned people, trying to bring them up out of their deep degradation. In 1872 he had eighty- five boys in Canada, all of whom had been converted, and they were all doing well. When I was in London the last time it was my privilege to stop at his house. He has since married, and his wife told me that he gave five nights out of the week to that work at the Seven Dials. He put up a building costing about $75,000. Not only did he spend his money, but his time. A good many people are willing to help the Lord in a patroniz- ing way, by giving a hundred dollars or so to the church, and they are perfectly willing to let others do the work ; but this man was willing to go right down among the lowest of the low to get hold of them ; and I don't know a man so blessed as he. I had another friend in London who went into one of these " closes " — a court with tenements built all around it — every Sunday afternoon to preach. There were two infidels living there, and one of them would fiddle and fiddle, and try to drown the preacher's voice. Rut my friend had the John Bull per- severance and he held on. Ry and by the cholera and the plague struck that " close." and one of these two infidels was stricken down and died. ]\Iy friend went in and provided for the man's wife and children, and the other infidel was the first convert he got. His talks and sermons did not win him. but his acts of kindness did. T don't believe that there is a man in all the world who cannot be reached by kindness. 30 490 'iiiTcii ON," Axi) "(;kt away Let 1110 go hack to that good Samaritan. \\ hat did lie do for the poor Jew? He hfted him on his own beast, and he " footed " it. He brought him to tlie inn and said, " I'll pay for all he needs." The next morning the Jew was a good deal better. Tlien the good Saniariiaii said to tlie inn-keeper, " I don't know how much it will cost, but here is fourteen pence. If that's not enough I am responsible. I will repay. Don't let the man want for anything." Don't you believe that Jew's prejudice against the Samaritan disappeared for time and eternity? 'J'here's not a philosophic skeptic can make you or me believe that he was iu)t a good Samaritan. It is a good thing to meet a Samaritan, — a good one. I was in New Juigland once when tlie first fall of snow came, and the boys were out with tluir sleds. An old man with a dilapidated old pung came along. 1 le looked like Santa Clans, and the pung was full of ])<)ys " inside and out," as the Irishman would say. Ihe boys hung on to the runners, and they tied the ropes on until there was a long string of sleds l)ehind. " Hitch on, hitch on, boys," said the oh\ man. But one little fellow stood off. I le could not hitch on. He looked as if he had lost all his friends. Just then he saw an- other man with a sleigh who lonkctl like a good Samaritan. I shall always rememl)er how the boy watched and watched to see if he was truly a good Samaritan, I le onuld not (|uite tell. but finalh- he hitched on. The iii.ui turned round, and shouted : " Get aw ay I ( iet aw ay ! " and he ga\ e him a crack with his whip, and the bo}- began td cvy. I said to mvself, " That's about the way it is in life. Some men go through the world and say ' I litch on. boys, hitch on ! ' And others, * Get away ! Get away ! ' " I want to tell you of the first good Samaritan i ever met. Ah, it brings the tears to my eyes every time 1 think of it. My father died before I can remember. There was a large family of us. The little twins came after his death, — nine of us in all. He died a bankrupt, and the creditors came in and took every- AX ANXIOUS MOTHER. 491 thing as far as the law allowed. We had a hard struggle. Thank God for my mother ! she never lost hope. She told me some years after that she kept bright and sunny all through the day and cried herself to sleep at night. W'e didn't know that, or it would have broken our hearts. We didn't know what trouble our mother was passing through. Thank God ! He gave her a rest in the evening of life. But my brother, a year and a lialf older, had gone to Greenfield, and had done " chores," and he was so homesick that he was constantly writ- ing for me to come. He wanted me so much that he wrote that he would come home for me. I said I wouldn't go. But one cold day in November, — I have never liked November since, — a day of leaden skies and frozen ground, my brother came home, and said he had found a good place for me, and T must go down and spend the winter in Greenfield. I said I wouldn't go. But as my mother and I sat by the fire, she said : " Dwight, I think you will have to go. I don't think I shall be able to keep the family together this winter." \'ery little that dear mother had to keep us on. It was a dark night for me. But mother's wish was enough. If she said I ought to go that settled it. I didn't sleep much that night. I cried a great deal. The next morning after break- fast I took my little bundle and started. I was about ten years old. When we got a mile away from the house we both sat down and cried. T thought I should never get back as long as I lived. We footed it over the frozen ground thirteen miles. I have never been so far from home since. I thought I should never get back over those thirteen miles. ^ly brother intro- duced me to the old man and his wife with whom I was to live. I was to milk the cows, go on errands, and go to school. There was not a child there. Th.at afternoon I looked the old man all over, and I saw he didn't care for boys. He was kinder than I thought he was. but he could not sympathize with a child. Afterwards I took a look at his wife, and I thought she was crosser than he was. T was homesick. I heard a man say the other dav that the onlv home he cared for was under his hat. I 492 A I'ERSUXAL RKMIMSCENCE. pity a man if that is his idea of life. I never could get over being homesick. So I said to my brother: " Brother, I'm going home." " What are you going home for? " " I'm homesick." "You'll get over it if you stick it out." " No, I won't. I don't v.ant to get over it. I can't stand it. I don't like those people here, anyway." " Dwight, come out and take a walk with me," my brother said. He took me out near the courthouse scjuarc, led me to some shop windows, and showed me some jackknives. What's the use of looking at jackknives if a fellow hasn't any money to buy them with? ]\Iy eyes were full of tears. I didn't care for these things. " I'm going home," I said. " No, it'll be dark," said my brother. " Well, I'll start to-morrow morning before daylight. I will tell the old man to get some one else to milk his cows." All at once my brother, who was looking ahead, brightened up, and said : " There comes a man that will give you a cent." " How do you know? " " Why," said he, " he gives a brand-new cent to every new boy that comes to town, and he will give you one." My tears went away as I saw the old man come tottering along the sidewalk, his face all lighted up. He reached me just in the nick of time and, looking down, he said : " Why, this is a new boy, isn't it? " My brother straight- ened up and said : " Yes, sir, he is my brother, just come to town." And the old man put his trembling hand on my head and looked down upon me. He got hold of my heart, and as he held my hand he told me that God had an only Son in Heaven, and that He loved this world so much He died for it. He went on talking about Heaven, and told how the Father loved me, CHEERING WORDS. 495 and how my father on earth was hfted up, and how I had a vSaviour up there, and he told me the story of the Cross in about five minutes. Then he put his hand in his pocket, and he gave me a brand-new cent. I had never seen such a bright and l)eautiful cent l^eforc, and T ahnost thought it was gold. He put it in my hand, and I never felt as I did then before or since. That act of kindness took the " homesickness " out of me. I felt from that hour that I had a friend. I thought that man was God, almost. I don't know what has become of that cent. I have often wished I had kept it ; but I can feel even now the gentle pres- sure of those trembling hands on my head. I never walk the streets of Greenfield and hear a child crying that I don't in- stinctively put my hand in my pocket for a cent. And it gives me joy. Oh, when you give to the poor your help, your sym- pathy, a loving word, you are " lending to the Lord." Let us all be good Samaritans. Let us not pass by on the other side. CHAPTER XXVL THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. People Who Pick at the Bible — Critics and Cavillers — Jonah and the Whale and Some Other Doubted Stories — The Scotchman's Answer to a Modern Philosopher — The Boy Skeptic Who Wanted to Argue with Mr. Moody — Ministers who Delight in Picking the Bible to Pieces — The Only Verse He Could Quote — The Bible Judged without Examination — The Minister's Cut Bible — "I'm Going to Hold On to the Covers '" — Cutting Out what You do not Agree With — The Supernatural Things of the Bible — The Bible in Three Hundred and iMlty Different Languages — Tele- graphing the Entire New Testament to Chicago — Issuing Fifteen Hundred Bibles an Hour — Wonderful Spread of the Gospel — Wonderful and Interesting Instances of Fulfilled Prophecy — People Who Can't Believe the Bible. I DO not believe we are (itialified lo work for God until we understand a i)art of the Bible, at least. I have yet to find a successful worker, in the i)ul])it or out, who d()ul)ts the truth of any portion of the Bible. If a man begins to pick at the word of God it don't take him a great while to become an unbeliever. I have often said that if 1 were going to give up any portion of the Bible I would give it up altogether. What is the use of being five years in doing what you can just as well do in five minutes? If a man or woman begins to pick at the Bible it won't take five years to pick it to pieces. T have known of ministers who began to criticize the l^iblc, and it was not long before they were out of the pulpit and out of the ministry, and had made shipwreck of their faith. If 1 under- stand the r.ible. one portion of it comes to mc with tlu' same authority that any other portion does. Some people say they believe in the New Testament, but not in the Old Testament ; that there are things in the Old Testament they cannot believe, (496) BKLlK\IN(i AS CHRIST BELIEVED. 497 Do you know that the very thinj^^s people cavil about to-day are the thinj^s that Christ set His seal to when here upon earth? Some say, " I don't believe in Xoah and iiis ark ; 1 suppose that old story was exploded long ago." When I give up that story I give up the sermon on the Mount. When a servant gets to be above his master he liad l)etter go and serve someone else. The Saviour believed it : " But as the days of Xoe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.'" Men say to me : " Mr. Moody, you don't really believe the story of Sodom and Clomorrah, do you?" Certainly I do; Christ connected that with His revelation : " Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ; they did cat. they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded ; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed tliem all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Men say, " I don't believe the story of Moses lifting up a brazen serpent on a pole, and the Israelites being healed when they looked at it, do you ? " A'^es ; He connected that with His own cross: " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man l)e lifted up." " But you don't believe that the children of Israel were fed in the wilderness for fort)- years ; that (iod really sent bread out of heaven for them to eat ? " Certainly I do, as much as I believe the si.xth cha])ter of John, where Christ says: " Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness." " You don't believe that story of the widow of Sarepta and the cruise of oil? " Yes, I do; Christ taught it: " But unto none ot them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, imto a woman that was a widow." ' But you don't believe that Xaaman went into the Jordan and was healed of leprosy ? " Certainly ; Christ believed it and referred to Xaaman : " .\nd man}' lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet ; and none of them was cleansed, saving Xaaman the Syrian." " But vou certainlv don't believe in the storv of |onah and 498 BIBLE STORIES AND BIBLE TRUTHS. the whale? " " Yes, I beheve tliat too." When I give that up I am going to give up the doctrine of the re.surrection of the dead. As you get along in life and i)erhaps have as many friends on the other side of the river as you have on this side, you will get about as much comfort out of the story of Jonah as any other story in the liible. J\Iay (lod help us to hold on to it! Jesus connected that story with His own resurrection. In Matthew they said thrice, " Show us a sign " .And He said that the only sign would be the story of Jonah in the whale's bell}-. Christ believed that Jonah went into the whale's belly, and are you going to be His disciple and be wiser than He? Alen say, " It is a physical impossibility for a whale to swallow a man." The Bible says, " God prepared a great fish." That is enough. If God created a whale, couldn't He create a fish large enough to swallow a man ? There is no trouble when you bring God in to prepare the lish. God could j^repare a fish large enough to swallow the whole world — take us all in at one swallow. Any trouble there? I don't see any. The idea that God couldn't make a whale with a mouth large enough to swallow Jonah ; I never heard of such an absurdity. A friend of mine from Scotland was returning home on a steamer, and a couple of modern philosophers stood on the deck talking together, and the vScotchman stood right near tliem where he couldn't help hearing what they said. One of them said : '' You know the r>ible has got to go down : it is only a question of time when it will be abandoned altogether. It can't stand in the light of science." " Yes," said the other, " it has got to go down." Then the oilier said : " Did you ever hear anything so absurd as the story that P.aalam's ass spoke? Now, I am a scientific man, and T have taken pains to examine the mouth of an ass. and it is so formed that it couldn't s])eak." My Scotch friend stood it just as long as he could, and finally said, " Ah, man, you make the ass and I will make him speak." The idea that the God who made the ass could not make him speak! And yet we hear such stuff right in New Engfland ! THK MAN WHO WANTED A NEW BIBLE. 499 A friend once said to me : " Air. Aioody, 1 wish you would go and talk to that young man." lie was a mere boy, and warn i ijcgan to taik with him he wanted to have an argument, but I wouldn't argue with him. I said : " You are a skeptic ? " " Yes, sir, I am." " How long have you been a skeptic? " " A number of years." " Now," I said, " may I ask you how old you are ? " " Fourteen." " Would you tell me what a skeptic is ? " To save his life he couldn't tell ; he had heard some infidels talk about being skeptics, and he thought he would be one. Most men who are talking against the Bible don't know any more about it than that boy did about skepticism. They hear some of the sentiments of infidels, and they go about reporting them, and don't know a thing about it. A man in Montreal was once talking to me, and said : " The fact is, Mr. Moody, we have got to have a new Bible. This old Bible was well enough for the dark ages, but it won't do for the nineteenth century." " Well," I said, " before you give up the Bible we have, let us see how much you know about it ; which is the first book in the Bible, Genesis or Revelation? " " Well, I can't tell that." He couldn't answer that (luestion, but he had " got to have a new Bible." I want to tell you something : The men whom you hear talking against the Bible don't look inside of it once in six months ; they know nothing about it. I contend that there is no book in the wide world that is so misjudged as the Bible. Some ministers seem to derive a good deal of pleasure in going into the pulpit and picking the Bible to pieces. If you have such a minister I advise you either to get him out of the church or go out yourself. I wouldn't stay in a church that 500 HOLDIXCi OX TO THK CO\ERS. had a man in the pulpit who picked the Word of God to pieces, not by a good deal, i heard of a young man who called on his pastor, and said he wanted to show him the minister's Ihhle. " What makes you call it my iiible? " said the minister. '• Well," said the young man, •' I have sat under your preaching for five years, and when you si)oke of an\ thing in the Bible as not being authentic. I cut it out." And he had cut out all of the book of Job, all of Revelations, and the Songs of Solomon. About a third of the liible was gone. The minister said : " Let me have that Bible." He didn't want his people to see the book in that condition, liut the man said: " nil. no! 1 have got the covers and T am going to hold on to them." Tf ministers have a right to cut out what they don't like, and I have a right to cut out what I don't like, and if everybody else should cut out what they don't like, we should have a wonderful Bible! The adulterer reads in the Bible that no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of heaven, and he says, " Cut it out ! " The drunkard reads that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of heaven, and he says, " I don't'want that," and he cuts it out. The thief reads. " Thou shalt not steal," and he says, " T don't want that," and he cuts it out. My dear friends, take the w hole book, not a part of it ! Is all of it inspired ? No, T don't say that all of it is inspired. All Scripture is given by ins])iration, but it is not all inspired. When the devil told a lie in ImKu, he wasn't inspired to tell a lie. but some one was inspired to write about it. When the devil told the lie about job he wasn't insjiired to speak, but some one was inspired to record it. \\ hen .Miab got those four hundred pro])hets together to speak their prophecy, they were not inspired to speak a lie, but somebody was inspired to write about it. Another class says, " Well, Mr. Moody, you know 1 be- lieve all that corresponds with reason ; 1 believe the natural things of the Bible, but I don't believe the supernatural things." A SlM'F.RXATrkAL kKC-()KL). 501 There isn't any part of the Bible that doesn't teach supernatural things. If God is a supernatural being He must have a super- natural book to tell about Himself. We read in Genesis that God talked with Abraham. Now, if that did not take place, then the man who wrote Genesis knew that he was writing a lie, and out goes Genesis. Take Exodus, and there we find the story of the ten plagues, the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea. water flowing out of a rock ; and if those things did not take place, one after another, the man who wrote Exodus knew that He was writing a lie. Read Numbers, and there is Moses making a brazen serpent, and putting it up on a pole, and the people bitten of fiery serpents look upon it and are healed. If that didn't take place then the man that wrote Numbers knew that he was writing a deliberate lie, so out goes Numbers. You can go through the wdiole Bible, and you will find supernatural things all through it. The last portion of the Bible that a man gives up is the four Gospels, and a man that does not believe in the supernatural things recorded in them has got to give the Bible up altogether. There was hardly a day in the life of Christ that He did not do something super- natural. Five hundred years before He was born, an angel told Daniel that He was to come. An angel told Zacharias that he was to be the father of the forerunner of Christ. An angel told the X'irgin that she was to be the mother of Christ. Angels came to the shepherds to announce His coming ; the Holy Spirit came upon Simeon so that he recognized Him in the temple. From the beginning of Christ's ministry, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Hini in the form of a dove, to the time when His resurrection body passed up through the clouds into heaven, something supernatural was taking place. He spoke to the sea in a tempest, and the sea recognized Him and obeyed His voice. He spoke to the barren fig tree, and the tree withered away. He spoke to leprosy, and leprosy obeyed Him. He spoke to death, and death fled before Him. When He died the sun refused to look upon that scene ; this old world recognized Him, and the earth reeled and rocked like 502 THE NEW VERIFIES THE OLD. a drunken man. The earth knew Him. That was super- natural And when He burst asunder the bands of death and came out of Joseph's sepulchre that was supernatural. The great Welch preacher, Christmas Evans, said " Many reformations die with the reformer, but this reformer ever liveth to carry on His reformation." Thank God, he is not dead ! I know a good many people arc trying to make us think that Jesus is in Joseph's sepulchre yet! They want us to throw away the supernatural things of the Bible ! My dear friends, if you throw away the supernatural things, you have got to throw away the whole Biljle. I thank God that our Christ is a supernatural Christ, and that the Bible is a super- natural Book ; and I thank God that I live in a country where it is so free that all men can read it. There is another thought I want to call your attention to : People say they believe the New Testament, but they do not believe the Old. Do you know that there are only eighty-nine chapters in the four Gospels, and there are one hundred and forty quotations from the Old Testament in them? There are sixty-five quotations in Matthew alone from the Old Testa- ment. How are you going to believe in the New Testament and not believe in the Old ? There are twenty-five quotations from the Old Testament in Luke alone ; in the two short epistles of Paul to the Corinthians there are sixty-five quotations ; in Colossians there are sixteen quotations ; in Hebrews there are eighty-five quotations — not just isolated passages, but great blocks of quotations; in Revelations alone, the book upon which the skeptics cast so much discredit, there are two hun- dred and forty quotations ; and yet, people say, " I believe the New Testament, but I won't believe the Old." Christ said of the law, " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ful- filled." Now, when Christ said that, the Old Testament was all they had ; there was no New Testament. Then Christ says : " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." When Christ said that, there were no reporters WORDS THAT WILL NEVER DIE. cq^ following Him around to take down every word He said ; there were no printing-presses or publishers to bring out volumes of His sermons every year. It is said that Spurgeon had manuscripts of all the sermons he ever preached in London ; but when Christ was on earth, there was no one taking down His sermons and putting them away in manuscripts ; and yet He says : " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but Mv words shall not pass away." He was looked down upon bv the church of that time as the vilest of imposters ; all the religious teachers sneered at Him. His followers were onlv a few de- spised women of Galilee, and a few unlettered fishermen for disciples. I can imagine a modern free-thinker standing by and hearing that remark, and saying, with a scornful curl of his lip : " Hear the Jewish peasant talk ! Did you ever hear such conceit ? ' Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away.' " My friends, nearly nineteen hundred years have passed away since those words were spoken, but have His words passed away? They have been put into three hundred and fifty different languages, and they have gone to the farthest corners of the earth ! There is not a nation on the globe to which missionaries have not carried the Word of God, and they have made the greatest sacrifices and gone through the severest liardships in order that they might do so. Suppose that when Christ taught on earth, some prophet had prophesied that a continent would be found sixteen hundred years after Jesus Christ left this world, and that somebody would take the lightning and flash His words right across that continent, would anybody have believed it ? And yet that has been done in your day and mine. When the revised version of the New Testament was published an enterprising concern set ninety operators at work on private wires and telegraphed the whole New Testament from New York to a Chicago newspaper, and it all appeared in the paper the next morning ; and natives and foreigners. Christians and infidels, were reading it. This happened nearly nineteen hundred years after Christ left the 504 INCRHASIXG DKMAND PT)R IMHLKS. world, and yet we arc saying that the Word of Ciod is getting out of date. What you and 1 want is to know how to handle it. Do )ou know that the sun shines to-day on more Bibles than it has ever shone on before. 1 was in New York a little while ago, and an editor of one of the leading daily papers there wanted to know if there was any demand for Bibles now- a-days (1899). He said the people had given up the Bible and gone to reading newspapers. Well, there have been more Bibles sold in the last three years than at any other time. There never has been such a demand for Bibles. Bibles that I used to pay eight and nine dollars for can now be bought for four and five, and you can buy a good one for seventy cents. I don't know how they do it, but they do. Do you know that the American Bible Society and the liritish and I'"oreign Bible So- ciety issue 1,500 Pdbles every hour? Thank (lod, the liibles are not going out ; they are just coming in ! More Bibles have been printed in the last few years than in the past 1800 years. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Are His words passing away? No. and tliank God they are not going to pass away. "S'ou and I will pass away, and the world will pass away, but His words shall live and endure.* * Mr. Moody's statement that the Ameiicai) and Hiilisli Uible .Societies issue "1,500 Bibles every hour," needs e.vplanation. Probably he meant to include Bibles and integral books of the Bible circulated (as well as printed) in all lands. Including its issues in foreign lands, tiie American Bible Society in one year (1S98-9) put into circulation 1,380,892 " Bibles, and Testaments and integral Portions of the Bible," and in the same year the Britisli and Foreign Bible Society issued 4,479,439 volumes of Scripture; a total of 5,860,331. How manythis is for each hour depends on the number of hours in a year on which the computation is made. Probably Mr. Moody would say that he meant busi- ness hours. Now, allowing 310 working days a year, of eight hours each, we have 2.4.80 hours, thus giving on this basis a total output of about 2,363 volumes for each working hour; or nearly 670 for eacli of the twenty-four hours of the day throughout the entire year, including Sundays and holidays. These figures show the annual output of Bilile societies alone. In addition to them are many large publishing houses in the United States and England whose annual sales of Bibles aggregate hundreds of thousands, so that the a(5tual number of Bibles, and integral books of the Bible, sold each year, is nnirh greater than the figures above tpiotcd. It is stated on uiupieslioncd authority that the Bible Societies alone have rULFII.LKI) PROPHECIES. 5O5 I sav. take the whole Ilible. A large part of the Bible was written by prophets, but you seldom hear a sermon on proph- ecy, fulfilled or unfulfilled. Do you know that there are over two hundred prophecies that have been remarkably and literally fulfilled in regard to Jesus Christ ? There was nothing that happened to Jesus Christ when He was here on this earth that was not prophesied of Him. We read in the second chapter of Luke that Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem to be taxed. When Augustus Caesar sent out his decree that all the world should be taxed, that decree brought the parents of the child Jesus up to Bethlehem, where it had been prophe- sied that He should be born. Tt was prophesied that He should be spit upon. Did they not spit upon Him ? Isaiah said that they should smite Him. Did they not smite Him? Take those two hundred prophecies, and look them over carefully, and you will find that every one of them has been literally ful- filled. Yet, people say they can't believe the Bible ! There are a great many prophecies in the Old Testament that history proves to have been literally fulfilled ; for instance, the prophecies concerning Ninevah, Babylon. Egypt, and Jeru- salem. Infidels may talk as much as they like, but I don't know of any portion of Scripture that will stop their mouths as quickly as fulfilled prophecy. When I was a boy I was taught to believe that all the land west of the Mississippi River was a vast and barren desert of sand. But, later, when they had taken a hundred millions of dollars in silver out of that desert, people began to rub their eyes and wake up to the fact that the land was worth something ; and that territory was found to be, at that time, the richest in this country. There arc some portions of the Bible that have never been explored, yet there is some of the purest gold of heaven there. If you study the Bible you will find it the most interesting book in all the world. distributed, since 1804, in round figures, the enormous number of 280,000,000 of Bibles, Testaments, and Portions ; while ten years ago the estimate was 214,000,000. — [Ed. -o6 ON THE SITE OF BABYLON. Here are a few passages about those great cities that were flourishing at the time the prophets prophesied : Isaiah 13. 19: " And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. " It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. ■' But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. " And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." Now, mark the fulfillment. A friend going through the valley of Euphrates with a dragoman tried to induce him to pitch his tent near Babylon, but he couldn't get that dragoman to pitch his tent anywhere near the ruins. The prophet said that Arabs wouldn't pitch their tent there ; no shepherd would dwell there. The prophecy has been literally carried out. as you will find to-day in traveling through that country. Nahum 3. 6-7: "And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. " And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? " For 2,500 years Nineveh was buried, covered up. Now, we have gone down into the ruins and are digging up the re- mains of that old city and bringing them to Constantinople and Paris and London, and people from all parts of the world gaze at these fragments of the ruins of Nineveh. " I will make thee a gazingstock of nations." That prophecy has been literally fulfilled, and yet it was uttered that Nineveh was a great and mighty city. A gentleman who went around the world a few years ago told me that when he came to the place where old Tyre used to stand, he took oiU his r.il)le and turned to Ezekiel 26. 3. As he stood among the ruins that night on the very spot where the citv once stood, he read : WIIKAT GROWING ON MOUNT ZION. 507 "Therefore saith tlic Lord God; Behold. I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. " And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. " It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations." He said the sun was going down, and the fishermen were bringing their nets up out of the sea and spreading them on the bare rock where once stood that great city, and the prophecy was Uterally fulfilled. Take the prophecy concerning Jerusalem, in the nineteenth chapter of Luke : " And when He was come near. He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, tiic things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side." Didn't Titus do that? Didn't the Roman Emperor do that very thing? " And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another." I do not know when I was ever more impressed than when I was in Jerusalem, as I recalled the prophecy, " Thus saith the Lord, I will plow Zion like a field." I plucked the wheat right there on Mount Zion ; it had been plowed and sowed just as it was prophesied that it would he plowed hundreds of years before. As I went through Eg}'pt I saw every day the fulfillment of prophecy : Ezekiel 29. 15: " it shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." That was prophesied when Egypt was a great and mighty nation. Is there a baser nation on the face of the earth to-day ? 31 ro8 'I'JII' WORTH OF A BIBLK PROMISE. It has been trying to get up in your day and mine ; but the moment it tries to lift its head up, all the nations jump upon it to keep it down. Yet, some people say they can't believe the Bible ! That is because they don't know anything about it. they do not study it. It is easy for some to laugh at the Hible : but the hour is coming when one promise in that old P)Ook will be worth more than ten thousand ^\•orlds like this. Tt is easy for some to sneer at it, but the hour is coming when they will need it. In prosperity and health it is easy to laugh and sneer, and get infidels to scoff at God ; but the hour is coming, and that quickly, when everyone will want a Saviour. CHAPTER XXVII. TH]<: BIBLE AND HOW TO STUDY IT Different Ways of Studying the Bible — Digging Deep for Heavenly Truths — An Infidel's Challenge to Mr. Moody — Using a Con- cordance — The Man Who Wanted a Book on Assurance — Study- ing the Bible with a Telescope — Characteristics of the Gospels — How I\Ir. Moody Held the Attention of the Northfield Students — Studying the Bible with a Microscope — A Real and an Artificial Bee — Preachers with Flippant Tongues — Mr. Moody's Inter- leaved Bible — Marking the Bible — ^Ir. Moody's Recollections of the Family Bible — Looking to See when Dwight was Born — Mr. Moody's Embarrassment in a Boston Sunday-school Class — " Greeney From the Country " • — The Importance of Knowing How to Handle the Bible. IT IS very diffictilt for one person to tell others how to study, or how to use their minds, for there are no two minds that work exactly in the same groove. God made great varietv in the luunan race; no two persons look exactly alike. You very often hear people say of twins, " Those two boys look as near alike as two peas; " but the mother knows them. It is a good thing to have varict}' in this world. I am glad that there is no other man in the world like me; T don't want to see another one like me. You can make up your mind that there is no other person just like you. T will give some hints on the study of the lUble which per- haps will be helpful to you. I consider it a great calamity that anyone who has been a child of (Sod a great many years can- not get some help from that book for himself. When my youngest boy was able to carry his sjioon to his m<^iuh without spilling the contents the other children clapped their hands and shouted, " Look, papa, Paul can feed himself." T think it is (509) ^lo now TO sTunv the bible. a j^reat pity if a child of God is not able to feed himself. I know people forty years old who never get anything out of the Bible except what they get on Sunday. If the minister gives them geology, and botany, and metaphysics, they liave to go hungry; but if he gives them the Word of God they are fed. What we want is to know how to study the Word of God and feed ourselves. Xow there are different ways of studying the T.ihlc. I re- ceived from George Miiller the idea of taking one book of the Uible at a time; I found that plan was very helpful to me. If I hadn't nnich time I would take a short Epistle, or one of the minor prophets, and read it at one sitting. Another good way is to take one of the longer books; take Isaiah, or Jeremiah, and read it through. If my wife wrote me a letter eight pages long and I should read one i)age a day I should forget what was on the first page l^efore I got to the eighth. I sometimes think it is a calamity that the books of the Bible have been divided uj) into chapters and verses. People read a cha])ter and the)- think that is the end of llie subject, when in reality they have just touched upon it; it may be a week before you come back to reading on that subject again, and 1)\- that time you have forgotten what \ou read be- fore. I rememljer when I was a ])oy and used to hoe corn I did it so ])oorl}- that I had to put a stick in the ground to tell wliere I left off one day. so that 1 wouldn't go over the same ground llie next da}'. I've traveled around a good deal, and many times have stopped where they had family worship. The head of the house would take down the Bible, and there would always be a mark in it. B.ut if there was more than one mark, or if the mark had got changed, he woiddn't know where to read, and he would say to his wife, " Didn't we read this chapter yester- day?" And she wouldn't know, and so he would read the same chapter he had read the previous morning. A good man\- ])eo])le don't know where they leave off luiless they put a mark in the place where they read the Bible last; and then KEYS AND TVl'KS. 511 they wonder why it is they don't get hold of the iiible, — why they don't understand it. I don't beheve they will ever under- stand the Bible in reading it that way. \Ve have got to dig in order to reach these heavenlx' truths — not dig a little here and a little there, ])ut keep right on digging in one place until we find the truth. If people make up their minds that they are going to get interested in Bible truths, they arc going to dig away until they find them. Each book has a key, and you want to find the ke\- to help in its study. If }ou take up a modern book you will often find at the beginning a preface which gives you the key to the book. There are only sixty-six books in the Bible, and it won't take long to get sixty-six keys. Take Genesis; that is the seed-plant of the whole Bible; you will find nearly every- thing in the Bible foreshadowed in the book of Genesis. Then take Exodus; that is the book of redemption; then Leviticus, the book of sacrifices; then Numbers, the book of wanderings; then Deuteronomy, the book of directions for the conduct of the children of Israel after they get into the promised land. Christ quotes more from that than from any other book, and that is the reason wh}- the devil attacks it so much at the jiresent time. Then take up Bible characters as types of Christ, and see if you can find any likeness in any of them to Christ Himself. Abel was a type of Christ; Enoch, Abraham, and Isaac are types of Christ. Perhaps one of the best types was Joseph. He was hated by his own brethren; so was Christ. He was stripped of his raiment; he was sold for twenty pieces of silver; he was betrayed and misjudged; cast into a pit and into prison. Did not Christ's enemies treat Ilim much the same? At God's appointed time Joseph was brought out of prison and made governor over all Egypt. Did not God take Christ out of the sepulchre and place Him on the throne of Heaven? A good w^ay to study the Bil)le is to take it up topically. T think I have received more help in that way than any other. There is a book that I think every Christian ought to have, 512 sTrnvixc. the bibi,k iiv toi'Ics. and that is a Concordance. IVrliaps all teachers and ministers ha\'e them ; l)ut I tell }()u everyone oug'ht to have certain books. If you can't have a whole li])rarv von can at K-ast have a few books that will be g'reat helps. I remember, in Roston. an infidel once picked me up on a (piotation T had made from the lJil)le. He said it wasn't in the liible, and he handed me a P>ible and asked me to find it. He might just as well have asked me to hunt for a needle in a haymow ; I couldn't find it. Often the question comes u]) if such-and-such a passage is in the TJible, and y(iu may hunt hours without find- ing it; but if you have a Concordance }ou can find it in three nn'nntes. Suppose, for instance, you look uj) every passage in the Bible on Assurance, and study the subject until you have mastered it. You get the whole drift of the subject and it will go with yoit all through life; and twenty, thirty, or forty years hence it will be a feast to you. A man once said to me: "Can you reconnnend a book on Assurance?" '' Yes. There is a very fine one on Assurance, written by a man named Johr." " An Englishman? " " Xo. Son of Zebedee." ■■ Where can I get it? " ■' At any bookstore." "What shall T call f.n-? " " It is in the Bible, bound u\^ with some other works. Tt is better than all the infidel books ever ])ublished. You had better read and study it." If a ])erson \vill studv that e])istle a few weeks he w ill lind out whether he is in the kingdom of Clod or not. Then take up the doctrine of the ;\tonement and see what the Bible has to say about it. The whole P)ible teaches the doctrine of Atonement. I renieml)er at one time speaking on Heaven, and a lady came to me and said. " Mr. Moody, I never knew there was so much in the Bible about Heaven." 1 had talked for half an hour about Heaven, and she thought T had TKLESCOPIC STUDY OF THE BIBLE. SI3 told all there was in the Bible about it. You can spend a whole month on Heaven, and you won't exhaust the subject. I renienil)cr giving sonic time to the study of the subject of Grace. T don't know how long I was on that subject, but I got so full of it that I had to go out and talk about it. You know that when a vessel is full there must be an outlet. So I went out on the street and spoke to the first man that came along, and asked him if he knew anything about the Grace of God. I suppose he thought I was crazy. If you will study in this way you will get so full of these subjects that it will not be hard to take up personal work in the kingdom of God; be- cause when you get your very soul on fire you can't help working for Him. Take up some of these grand doctrines and study them for yourselves. I once thought I could turn Chicago upside down if I could only get faith, and so I used to pray for faith. I had an idea that it was going to come right down from heaven and strike me like lightning, and T should jump right up frcjui mv knees full of it; but it didn't come. Then T read in the tenth chapter of Romans that " Faith cometh by hearing, and hear- ing by the word of God," and it came to me like a revelation from heaven. Ever since I began to study the Ilible my faith has been growing. "\'ou can't get acquainted with these promises and feed on them without having your faith grow stronger. Another good way to study the Bible is to study it with a telescope. What I mean by studying it with a telescope is to get the drift of the whole book. Take the book of Matthew, and you have a whole lecture. Tf you are going to stop to take account of the essential points of the book there are five re- markable sermons in it. Matthew was a sort of short-hand reporter, and he rei)orted the sermons more fully than the rest. Get those five sermons in the Book of Matthew and you have a pretty good idea of the whole book. Then take INIark, and you will find that there isn't a long sermon in it. It is supposed to be written for the Romans, SH FOUR DIFFERENT STANDPOINTS. wlio would not have received it if it had been made up of long sermons; it is full of pith}' points. Matthew begins with Abraham and writes to the Jews. i\Iark commences with Malachi's prophecy; Luke begins with John the Baptist; while John begins with Christ in the bosom of the Father. If I wanted to prove the divinity of Jesus Christ I would go to John. Matthew tells us of the resurrection of our Lord, but he does not tell us how He left this earth. Mark gives His resurrection and ascension, and Luke also gives His resurrection and ascension, and reappearance with the promise of the Holy Ghost. In John we have all these, and the promise of His return. Those four men wrote from four different standpoints; get those standpoints and study each Gospel from that light, and \-ou will find all the Gospel we have in them. I have over eleven hundred students at the school in Xorth- field. I found it very difficult to open services with morning- prayer. We had only about fifteen minutes to get and hold their attention before the}- had to go into their classes and recite in Latin and Greek. Every mind was on the alert to be able to recite, and they would have been tempted to look into their books had there not been a kind of unwritten law against it. I couldn't get hold of those eleven hundred students when their minds were occupied with thoughts of their studies, and I hit upon this plan: I said to them one morning, " To- morrow morning I am not going to open the Bible, but I want you to tell me what is in the first chapter of John." I had to go to studying m}self; }OU can't conunit to memory when you are as old as I am as easily as you can when you are younger. We committed to memory the verses that were assigned for that morning, and. more than all, it became very interesting before we had gone very far. The students committed those verses to memory and carried them with them through life. When we got into the second chapter they became very much interested in the miracle at the marriage in Cana, where the mother of lesus said to the servants, " Whatsoever He saith A WONDERFUL GOSPEL. 515 unto you, do it.'" When we got into the third chapter of John we had hard work to get out of it. We spent the most time on the sixteentli verse, " For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believcth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." In the fourth chapter we got around to that well of Sychar. I don't T)elieve we ever had a more blessed time in the school, until we got into the fifth chapter, w^here were the witnesses that Christ brought to prove that He was divine. The sixth chapter we called the " Bread Chapter." The seventh chapter we called the " Water Chapter." The eighth chapter we called the " Light Chapter." The ninth chapter we called the " Sight Chapter." A man may have plenty of light, but he must have his eyes open if he wants to sec. The tenth chapter we called the " Good Shepherd Chapter." The eleventh chapter tells of the Shepherd going to find the sheep that had strayed and bring it back to the fold. The twelfth chapter gives Christ's farewell to the people. The thirteenth chapter teaches humil- ity. The fourteenth chapter tells of the mansions in Heaven. The fifteenth chapter tells of the True Vine. The sixteenth chapter tells of the promise of the Holy Ghost. The seven- teenth chapter tells of Christ Jesus in prayer for His disciples. The eighteenth chapter tells of His arrest. The nineteenth chapter tells of His crucifixion. The twentieth chapter tells of His resurrection. In the twenty-first chapter He is with His disciples again, then He ascends to the Father. There isn't a book that you cannot study with a telescope; that is, take a bird's eye view of the whole thing. Then study it with a microscope. What I mean l)y study- ing the Bible with a microscope is to take up one word, or one thought, and trace it through the whole book. Take the word *' Walk," as in Ephesians : walk in obedience, walk in love, walk worthy of the vocation, walk circumspectly, walk as chil- dren of light, walk in good works, walk not as the Gentiles walk. Take the " No mores " of Revelation. Take the eight " Overcomes " of Revelation ; I could almost shout before T 5i6 THE FACE ON THE STONE. got through. "He that ovcrconieth shall inherit all things; and 1 will Ije his (lod, and he shall be ]\ly son." When I was in IJoston 1 went into a ehronio establishment. I wanted to know how the work was done. The proprietor showed me a stone several feet sf|uare, one of many stones used in printing a portrait, from whieh he took an impression on paper ; l)ut w hen he took the jjaper off the stone T eould see no sign of a man's face ; the pa]H'r was just tinged with a little color. I said I couldn't see any sign of a face there. " Wait a little," he said. He took me to another stone, but when the paper was lifted I couldn't see any indication of a face. He took me to eight, nine, ten stones, and at last I coidd just see the faintest outlines of a portrait. He went on until he got up to about the twentieth stone, and I could see the face dis- tinctly, l)ut he said it was not perfect yet. Well, he went on imtil he came, I think, to the twenty-eighth stone, and a per- fect face appeared, and it looked as if it could speak. If }OU read a cha])ter of the ljil:)le and don't see anything in it, read it a second time, and if you cannot see anything in il read it a third time. Dig deep. Read it again and again, and even if you have to read it twenty-eight times, do so, and nou will see the man Christ Jesus, for He is in every page of the Word. I honestly Ix-lieve that the coming minister is going to be a man who will ex])lain the Word; 1 believe what this nation is crving for is expository ])reachers. I know some ministers who onlv use the P.ible as a book to take a text from. They \\-ill give \()U meta])liysics, and geology, and ])otany, and as- trononi}', and I don't I- now what else, and then wonder why people don't love the liible. 1 don't wonder. A man made an artificial bee that was so like the real bee that he challenged a man to tell the difference, ^\'hat did the man who was chal- lenged do? He dro])ped a little honey near the l)ees : the arti- ficial l)ee went l)uzzing around, and made a great noise, l)Ut took no ncjtice of the honey. No life in it ! The real bee went for the honey. There are a lot of artificial Christians in these da\s : the\- know nothing about lione\' ; lhc\- talk about the A FAMOrs SC'OTCH PREACHER. 517 honey of the WDrd. l)ut they know nothing about it, because they are artificial. So many of these Christians want an elo- quent or ])onibastic preacher, a man who has great oratorical gifts or makes striking gestures! You hear such people say: " I went to hoar so-and-so preach ; never heard such a Gospel sermon in my life." Wasn't an ounce of Gospel in il from beginning to end ! If a man has got a flippant tongue, many people think he is just wonderful! \\'hat we want is to know what God wants us to do. Dr. Andrew I^onar wasn't what would be called in this country a star preacher, — he had a very weak voice ; but I never heard a man who brought such sweet things out of the Word of God as he did. When I was in Glasgow I heard a great deal about him. His church held about 1.300, and for twenty-five }ears it was full every Sunday of people taking- notes ; sometimes these notes were sent across the sea to me, and I never received one of those outlines that wasn't a feast to my soul. Jt was a coiumon thing when we met one of Dr. Bonar's people to fiud the man carrying a Bible, all ready for work. When the Doctor called on his people, he would often read one of the Gospels or one of the Epistles, and take time to explain the whole thing. The result was that he had a church full of theologians. I preached six months in Glasgow, and there wasn't a ward in that city where I didn't feel the in- fluence of that man. Every man and woman ought to have each a Bible for themselves. I use my Bible to preach from. It is an inter- leaved Bible ; every other page is a blank, and I use it as a note- book. If a good thought comes to me I put it down, and if T am called upon suddenly to speak on any topic — and I don't care what the subject is — I have got something to say. I turn the leaves over and see what some one else said on that subject. I declare, I have heard men preach and T didn't kuow what they were talking about, and I wondered if they did themselves. Like the young couple who got married and went to house- 5ii GOLDEN THOLKillTS. keeping, and they agreed to balance the cash every Saturday night. One night the husband said : " Well, dear, 1 must go away to-night, and you make up the accounts yourself." \\'ell, the cash didn't balance, so she charged " G. K. W. $2.00," " G. K. W. $2.50," " G. K. W. $3.50," and so on. ^^'hen the husband returned, he said : "WhoisthisG. K. W.?"' " Well," she said, " T couhhi't make the cash come out straight, and so I just put down (i. K. W. for 'Goodness Knows \\'hat." " It is a good thing to direct your thoughts and meditate. Take your Bible and just say to God, " Speak to me ; " and when you get a good thought it will wake you up and do you good. Transmit that thought ; conununicate it ; if you get a thought that has given you joy, don't keep it, pass it on. I heard some time ago of a young man in London who never went to bed at night without putting down the best thought that had come to him during the day. This idea of recording our best thoughts has been a great help to me. I have tried to introduce the plan of treasuring up one good thought each da\'. livery good thought you get will help. If you want to get your thoughts full of heavenly things, talk and read about them. I Tow coidd people know anything about the Klondike if they (li(hrt read about it. I am astonished to see so many Christian peo]')le spend so nnich money for tobacco and so little for good books. Let me give you some things I have jotted down. 1 don't remember where I got all these things. Mere is something: " Justification, a change of state, a new standing before God ; Repentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God ; Regen- eration, a change of nature, a new heart from ( iod ; Con'i'ersion, a change of life, a new life for God ; . Idoption, a change of fam- ilv, a new relationship towards God ; Sanctificatioii. a change of service, a separation unto God ; Glorification, a change of place, a new condition with God." QUAINT COMPARISONS. 51f) Then here is another things I will give you : " FAITH gets the vwst; HUMILITY keeps the most; LOVE tvorks the most:' Take up the Word of Ciod in the morning and get a thought hkc tliat and it will help you all through the day. I want to tell you how I was blessed a few years ago, upon hearing a discourse upon the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs. The speaker said the children of God were like four things. The first thing was, " The ants are a people not strong," and he went on to compare the children of God to ants. They pay no attention to the things of the present, but go on steadily preparing for the future. The next thing he compared them to \vas conies. " The conies are but a feeble folk." " Well," said I, " I wouldn't care to be like a coney." But he went on to say that they built upon a rock. The children of God were very weak, but they laid their foundation upon a rock. " Well." said I, " I will be like a coney, and build my hopes upon a rock." Like the Irish- man, who said he trembled himself, but the rock upon which his house was built never did. The next thing the speaker compared them to was locusts. I didn't think much of locusts, and I thought I wouldn't care about being like one. r>ut he went on to read : " The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands." There were the Congregationalist, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Methodist bands going forth without a king ; but by and by our King will come back again, and these bands will fly to Him. " Well, I will l)e like a locust ; my King's away." I thought. He next compared them to si)idcrs. I didn't like that at all ; but he said if we went into a gilded palace filled with luxury, we might see a spider holding on to something. ol)livious to all the luxur\- below. It was laying hold of the things above. " Well," said I, " I will be like a spider." I heard this a good many years ago, and I just put the speaker's name to it. and it makes the sermon. But take your Bibles and mark them. Don't think of wearing them out. It is a rare thing to find a man wearing his Bible out now-a-days. !;20 THE FAMILY I51BLE, Sunday-school teachers ought to carry the whole Bible into their classes. Twenty-five years ago we compassed sea and land to get up question-books, and now you will find a Sfood nian^- Sundav-schools that never have a Bible in them. I heard of a class that wanted to refer to the Bible to settle a disputed question, and they went into the church and looked in all the pews without finding one, and finally they had to get the pulpit Bible and carry it into the liible-class to decide the point. I do not object to " lesson helps," they are all right in their place ; but when you go into the P.ible-class, take the whole Bible along with you. I was l)rought u\) on t)ne of these ques- tion-books. I didn't have a Bible at all. ^^'e had a family Bible that mother used to keep in the spare room because she was afraid we would tear it, and once in a great while we were allowed to look into it. 1 used to look and see when Dwight was born. 1 saw these titles at the head of some of the pages, " Births." " Marriages." " Deaths." 1 always turned to " Mar- riages " first, for that showed when father and mother were married ; and then I would turn to " llirths " to see wlien my oldest brother and sister were born ; but what used to make my eves sparkle was to get down to where the record showed when Dwight was born. That is all 1 saw of the liible. Do you know whv so many young nun hang around our Sunday- schools and don't want to go into a Bible-class? They don't want to expose their ignorance of the ]^>ible. I went to Boston when T was seventeen. 1 had scarcely had a Bi])le in m\ hand. I was assigned to a Bible-class with some young students from Harvard College. I went in there as big as life! I tell you what, you think }()U know a1)(JUt everythin;;- when \-ou are about seventeen ; you know more tlian your fatlur, xour grand- father, and all your relations! Well, they said the lesson was in John, and they handed me a I'.ible. \\'hat did T know^ about John? I thought it nmst be in tlie minor ])rophels. 'I'hose Harvard students began to nudge one another and wliis])er, " Greeny from the country." T said to myself, " Wliat a fool I am to be caught in this scrape." 1 u(.)idd have gone out very THK HI!! I F. IX TIIK I'RW 521 (|uickly if I could have done so withcnit bcinq- noticed. 'I'hc teacher saw ni\ embarrassment and lianded me his Bible, opened to the place, and I stuck my thumb on it so I shouldn't lose it. I had been to Sunday-school ever since I was a little boy, but I didn't have a I)il)le and didn't know how to handle one. Take a person who has never used a JJible, and put it into his hand and tell him that it will show him the way to heaven, and you might almost as well put a dictionary or IMackstone's commentaries in his hand. It is very important that our chil- dren should know how to use the Bible. Thank God! we live in a land where the Bible is sold so cheap that almost everv- body can buy one, and if you can't buv, the Bible Societ\' will give you one. It is a good thing- to see a Bible in each pew in cliurch so that when the minister reads, the people can read with him ; the whole congregation will follow the minister right along, and the result is that a child ten years old will know better how^ to use a Bible than the young man who goes to college, if he hasn't Ijeen in a Bible-class where they use the whole Bible. If I had my life to live over again I would spend not less than half an hour every day in studying the Bible all alone. I have yet to find the first man who knows the Bible through. I have yet to find a man full of the Holy Ghost and full of the spirit of the Bible of whom God did not make use. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE STORY OF THE DELUGE — TO FATHERS AND MOTHERS. An Awful Communication — Noah Considered a Lunatic — Jeered at by His Neighbors — The Man Who Claimed that Force and [Matter Work Together — Rocks Made of Sand, and Sand Made of Rocks ^ — "Noah and His Folly" — Sending Reporters to "Write Up" Noah and His Ark — "No Signs of a Storm" — Confidence in a Father's Piety — The Beasts and Fowls Flock to the Ark — A Warning Always comes Before the Blow — " You Can't Get In " — The Last Day and the Last Hour — " Are All the Children In?" — A Wealthy Land-owner and His Dying Son — "Father, Have I Got to Die?" — The Father's Remorse — " I Shall be With Jesus To-night " — On the Brink of the Dark River — " Father, Won't You Go With Me?" — A Terrible Rail- road Accident — The Hymn Book Stained with Blood. N( )AH received the most awful coninuinication that ever came from heaven to earth. I don't believe any man ha.s ever received anything; so terril)le since, — a mes- sage that God was going to utterly destroy tlie world on ac- count of its wickedness. The Spirit of God strove with thai antediluvian world oni' hundred and twent}' years. I ha\c no doulu that, if there had been one honest cr\' for mercy during those luuidred and twenty years, (jod would have heard that cry. But they laughed at the idea that ] le was going to destroy the world by a flood. The\- mocked and scoffed and jeered at llie thought of God's destroying the world on account of its wickedness. Probably we have not the faintest suspicion of the awful wickedness of that first two thousand years. God has not left a record, for fear, T suppose, that we might cop\- some of those hellish acts. ATen lived nearly a thousand years then. They had time to mature in sin. I don't know what would happen (522) NOAH, THE F-ANATIC. 523 if men lived a thousand years now. But the time alloted to man now is only three-score years and ten. But, mark this. Sin leaped into the world full-grown. The first man born of a woman was a murderer, and the wickedness went on, and the world became so corrupt and so vile that God sent word that He was going to destroy it ; and Noah, at His command, went to work to build an ark. I have no doubt that Noah was considered the greatest lunatic on the face of the earth. I have no doubt that there were atheists then, as now, and perhaps there were lecturers running up and down telling people that there was no God ; that Noah was " daft " ; that he was a fanatic ; that there was no such thing as God's destroying the world. I once got hold of one of these modern philosophers, who took the ground that there is no God. I asked him how this world came into being, and he said that force and matter worked together, and by chance the world came out. I said, " That is singular. I wonder that your tongue is not set on the top of your head, and one half of you is not going one way and the other half another way." It seems marvelous that man happened to be thrown together just as he is. I take a watch, and say : " This watch made itself. There is gold, and glass, and metal, and they just threw themselves together." No one could make an intelligent person believe that a watch made itself. Yet here was a man running up and down the country saying that this world made itself. I met such a j)hilosopher in Scotland. I said : " Where do these rocks come from? " " I am ashamed of you," said he. " Any schoolboy can tell you that. Why, they're made out of sand." '" Well," said I, " what is the sand made of? " " Rocks." "Where did the first rock come from?" " Sand." " Wheie did the first sand come from?" " It came from rock." 32 r24 INTEREST IN "NOAH'S FOLLY." He had it all worked out, as " clear as nuul." Tliat was the kind of stuff atheists taught in Noah's day. There is another class of people who take the ground that there is a God, but He is too merciful to punish sin. The wicked and the righteous are coming out alike. Or, in other words, God came down in that flood to sweep them all into Heaven, and left Noah, the only righteous man. to live through the deluge. Suppose the governor of your state was so merciful that he could not bear to have any one suffer, and should set all the prisoners free. You would have to impeach him. These very men who talk about God's mercy would rise up and say, " That man shall not be governor of this state." Von would have him out of offtce as soon as possible. Then, no dou])t, there was a class of people who said. " There is a God. He is merciful. But if there comes a Rood. I won't go into that ark anyway. All we have got to do is to climb up on the hills. God couldn't bring a flood big enough to cover the mountains. The ark would go to pieces." If they had theaters in those days, no doubt they had " Noah's Ark " acted out on the stage. If they happened to see Noah walking the streets, the women jjcrhaps said, " He is not in his right mind. Look at his eyes." And if they had newspapers, they would, probably, every once in a while pub- lish a dispatch from the Associated Press, headed : " NOAH AND HIS FOLLY," and reporters would be sent to " write up " Noah and his ark. Every once in a while people would have an excursion, or make a picnic to go and visit the ark. Visitors came to look at it. You can see them looking around ; going up into tlic different stories of it. If they saw Noah around, they would say, " That's him, that's him there ! " Once in a while they would pass by. and would not hear the sound of the carpenter's hammers. Noah had stopped work, and gone off on a preaching tour. Doubtless they told him he had better go back to his old ark. Suppose he had been adver- tised to speak in a great city, would he have drawn an THK LOXC.-DKLAVED STORM. 525 audience? Not much. They didn't believe in his foil)-. Men went on buyin;;- and selhnq; and getting^ S^in. They kei)t l)uy- ing- and selhng their bonds and stocks, and tlie builders kept right on putting up their buildings. Business men said. " Noah must be wrong, because he is so greatly in the niinoritv." lUit Xoah was right after all. x\ hundred years rolled away. If there had been weather prophets in those days they would have looked into the heavens and said there were no signs of a coming deluge. The stars looked just the same, and the sun shone as brightly as ever it did. The lambs skipped upon the hillside, children played in the street, and everything moved on as it had been moving for all time past. Methuselah died, and he didn't say anything about a coming storm. The great scholars said. " There is no sign." The geologists said. " We can see no sign in the earth of any coming storm. Things have been going on for a thousand years as now." Others said. " Why, if God is going to destroy the world, does he let us have such prosperity? We don't believe it." So a hundred and twenty years passed without a sign. I don't know at what time of the year the storm burst. It might have been in the spring, when men were busy with their affairs, and everything was going on finely. And people said : " I don't believe there is any danger." That's what they say now. The world is growing better all the while. Everything is progressing. Of course our sins do not hinder the progress of science and literature and invention. I can imagine, one morning — perhaps it was beautiful and clear — the whole community was startled by Xoah's moving his household into the ark. The people gather around him and say. " Noah, what is your hurr_\? You don't think there's any danger of a storm coming to-day. do you '' ^^"hy are you moving into that un- comfortable ark ? You have only one window in it. There'll be time enough when the storm bursts upon us." Noah says nothing, but goes right on. Some one has suggested that he must have been deaf or he would not have endured the gibes 526 MOVING INTO THE ARK. of his neighbors. If he was deaf, he was not so deaf but that he could hear when God spoke to him. There may be stich a tumult in this world, that we cannot hear the voice of God. But Noah moved in. I have great admiration for any parent who lives so that his chiltlrcn have confidence in his piety. It seems to me if ipy children did not believe in my religion it would break my heart. Noah's children had con- fidence in their father, and when Noah went in his sons went in after him. What would have been his feelings if one of his sons had been left out? jMothers, just think of it. Get all your children into the ark of safety. Make it your life busi- ness to get them in. After Noah had gone into the ark, and all his family were safely in, I can imagine that the first thing that alarmed the scofifers was one morning when, to their sur- prise, they saw the heavens black with the fowls of the air, com- ing from the four corners of the earth, two by two, mated by God, and as they came to the ark Noah took them in. And the animals came from their dens and caves, from the four corners of the earth, and they came up to the ark two by two. The lion and tlie lamb passed in side by side. And as the people looked down on the ground they could see insects creep- ing towards that ark two by two, as if guided by an unseen hand. I can imagine some of the people crying. " Merciful God ! what does all this mean ? " They may have gone to their wise men and philosophers and statesmen, saying, " What does this mean? " They answer, " We don't know, but there is no danger. If the flood really comes we can make rafts better than that ark. Or we can flee to the mountains, and we shall be far safer there than in the ark." Listen. After Noah and his family were all in and the hun- dred and twenty years were up, God gave the people seven days of grace. During these seven days, if there had been a cry for mercy, God would have heard it. I don't believe you can find an instance in history where God has not given a warning before the blow came. bJeforc the Civil War a wave of righteousness passed over this country that brought half THE CLOSED DOOR. 527 a million souls into the church. It was the voice of Grace and of Mercy calling them in. Seven days of grace, but not a man believed it. The windows of heaven were open, and the fountains of the deep were broken up. The sea burst its bounds and leaped over its walls. The rivers began to swell. People living in the lowlands fled to the mountains and high- lands. They fled up the hillsides. And a wail went up : " Noah ! Noah ! Noah ! Let us in." They leave their homes and come to the ark now. They pound on the door. TIear them cry : " Noah ! Let us in. Noah ! Have mercy on me." " I am your nephew," " I am your niece," " I am your uncle." Ah, there is a voice inside, saying : " I should like to let you in ; but God has shut the door, and I cannot open it ! " Ah, God had shut that door! Their cry came too late. Not a solitary man outside of Noah's family believed that the last year, the last month, the last week, the last day had come. Ay ! the last hour and the last minute. Do }'Ou know when that minute came? Listen. When God Almighty came down and shut the door of the ark. He shut the righteous in, and shut the wicked out. There was no more hope. The day of grace was over. The doom of the old world was forever sealed. No angel, no man, no one but God himself shut that door. It was an awful fact. At one time when I was preaching in Boston, a business man came down from Maine to attend one of the meetings. He was late, and the policeman at the door said to him, " You can't get in. The door is shut." The man was so impressed by that utterance, that he was convicted of sin and was con- verted. If your life should end to-day, would you die inside the ark or outside ? We may be spending our last year on earth. The last month has come ; the last week is coming, and to every one of us comes the last day, the last hour, and the last minute. It is coming to you, young man. It is coming to you, fathers 528 BRING THE CHILDRKX IX. and mothers ; it is coming to me. It cannot he evaded. Death is on your track and mine. Do you know wliy I took this text? I will tell )'ou. It was not so much to go back to Noah's time as to come down to the present day. I took it because I want to say a few words to fathers and mothers. I want to ask, fathers and mothers, are \ou in the kingdom of God yourselves? Are you sure you are in the ark? If not, let me plead with you. Don't rest until you get there. The door stands wide open ; God calls you. If you have children that are not in, don't rest until you get the whole family in. Get that boy of yours in. Make it your business. Mothers, you will be gone by and by. If you don't look after your boys while you are living, who will look after them when you are dead and gone? Father, who will if you do not? I don't believe that it is the will of God that our chil- dren should wander into the saloons ; that our newspapers should be filled with such reports as we see daily. I appeal to every Christian father and mother. Would to God I could wake them up, and have them get their children into the ark. Some years ago someone sent me a ])aper, and marked the heading, " Are All The Children In ? '" The article was about an old mother, nearly a hundred years old. Her husband was sitting by her side, as she lay dying, and he was watching the flickering life go out, when all at once she opened her eyes, and looked around, and said : "Why! it is dark." '■ Yes, dear.'" " Is it night? " " Yes, dear, it is night." . " Arc all ihc cJiihlrcii i}\? " That dear old nujther was living life .over again. The youngest child had been in his grave twenty years ; but the old father and husband said : " Yes, wife, they are all in." And then she fell asleep in Christ. Mothers, are all the children in ? Are they ? PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 531 I never yet have seen a truly earnest father and mother whose hearts were set upon training their children to Christ, and who really strove to have their children come, but that those children were saved. The impression has gone out that the religion of the parents has very little relation to the religion of their children ; that the children of pious fathers and mothers are sometimes worse than those of other people. A man who had heard this once took a certam district and can- vassed it, and got the names of every family in the district, and the stand that they took in respect to religion and conduct. Where he found both the father and mother were Christians, he found that the j:)roportion of the children over ten years of age who were professed Christians was two-thirds ; where he found only one of the two parents a Christian, one-third of the children over that age were church members ; and whefe neither father nor mother were Christians, only one-twelfth of the chil- dren were Christians. I believe if we are only consistent in our lives we shall have all our children with us in the ark at last. Every one of them will be brought into the ark, if we pray and work earnestly for it. A man living in the West spent all his time and energy in accumulating wealth. He wanted to buy all the land that ad- joined his. He kept on buying till he became one of the greatest land proprietors in the West. One day his son was brought home in an unconscious state, and after the doctor had ex- amined him, he turned to the father, and said : " I am afraid this is going to prove fatal." It was an awful shock to the father. He said : " I can't believe he is going to die. You don't think he is, do you? " " Yes, T think so." " Will he never regain consciousness ?" " I am afraid not." " Oh ! I cannot have him die without speaking." At length consciousness returned, and the father said : " My son, do you know this is going to prove fatal? " 532 THE PRAYERLESS FATHER. "Father, am I dying?" " Yes, the doctor says so/' " \\'ell, father, won't you pray for my soul ? You've never prayed for my soul ! You've never prayed for my soul ! " The father l^egan to weep, and said he could not pray. In a little while the boy was again unconscious, and that night he died. A friend of mine said, that when that wealthy man turned away from the g: ave of his son, he exclaimed : " If I could call him back and make one prayer for him, I would willingly give all I have." Oh, prayerless fathers and mothers, may God luring you on your knees before Him ! How do you expect \our children will be saved if you don't pray, or set them an example ? A gentleman had a little boy who was very sick. When he went home one (la_\' he found his wife weeping, and she said : " Our boy is dying ; he has had a change for the worse. I W'ish you would go in and see him." The father went into the room and placed his hand upon the brow of his dying boy, and he could feel the cold, damp sweat gathering there ; the icy hand of death was feeling for the chords of life. " Do vou know, my boy, that you are dying? " asked the father. " Am I ? Is this death ^ Do you really think I am dying? " " Yes, my son, your tnd on earth is near." The little fel- low smiled and said : "Well, father, I shall l)e with Jesus to-night, shan't I?" " Yes, you will socju be with the Saviour," and the father broke down and wept. " Father, don't you weep, for when I get there I will go straight to Jesus and tell ITim that all my life you have been trying to lead me to Him." My friends, come into the ark. Rear in mind that you are to come iiozc. I canncjt say you may come to-morrow. I cannot say you may come next week. T do not know what may happen before then. Oh, will you not be gathered into the IN THE HOUR OP' DYING. 533 arl< of Christ to-day? Will yon not this very day erect a family altar, and call your children around you, and bid them to come into the ark? Thus you may gather them all in, and you will have them w ith you when the morning' of the Resurrec- tion dawns, and when Christ shall come to make up his jewels. Are }ou in the ark yourselves ? Why not come in and then try to bring the children in ? It seems to me that parents are asleep, and while we are asleep our children are wandering down to death. We hear of their dying every day ; we hear of their being suddenly taken away, dying outside of the ark, while we as parents sleep on. If there seems to be a dark mountain between you and the ark, press through the moun- tain. Though it is a mountain, it is at the same time but the devil's mountain, and the devil's mountains are nothing but smoke and fog. Say to yourselves, " This day I will ^o into the ark ; this day I will call my children in ; I will not stay out and let them perish." A young woman was dying. Her father and mother were wealthy. They had brought her up with every wish gratified. She had lived in luxury. Her parents bestowed upon her all that wealth could buy ; but at last she was taken sick, and when she drew near to the bank of the river she said : " Father, mother, won't you go with me, it is dark ? " They wept bitterly over the dying girl, but they told her they could not go. Then she wanted them to pray for her, but they didn't know how to pray. The father and mother stood at her bedside and sent for a minister, but it was too late. Wlien he arrived she was dead. My friends, that dark hour will come to all of us. We must pass through the valley of the shadow of death, and if we have not Christ it will be very dark. \\'hen I was in Edinburgh, I was pleading with the people to come to Christ. A young lady made up her mind she would press into the ark of God. The next day she went to one of the ministers and said, "Can't you give me something to do?" He gave her some tracts to distribute. She went to work and distributed the tracts, and the next dav she came to the meet- 534 THE GATE THAT STANDS AJAR. ing for the last time. The next morning she took tlie tram from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, to go home to her widowed mother. She took her liymn-book with her, and on her way home she was singing from it. There was another lady in the car who had come to the meeting the night before, and had heard about Christ, and was convicted and converted. Tiiere was a collision, and the young convert was killed instantlw and the other girl was mortally wounded. She had her h}nin- book open and it was stained with her blood. As she was dying she was heard to sing: " There is a gate that stands ajar." I would to God I could say something that would in- duce you to come into tlie ark. " TluTo is a gate that stands ajar. And through its portals gleaming, A radiance from the Cross afar, The Saviour's love revealing. Oh! depth of mercy! Can it be That gate was left ajar for me? For me, for me? Was left ajar for me? " The gate's ajar for you, and all can enter who will. CHAPTER XXIX. THE RICH FOOL. The Biblical Meaning of " Fool " — Working and Planning from the Cradle to the Grave — Living for this World Only — Pulling Down the Old Barns — Making Plans for the Future — A Visit at the Silent Midnight Hour — Pleading With Death — Stricken with Grief — The Epitaph on the Monument — A Terrible Mis- lake — The Mother and the Little Blind Child — One of Mr. Moody's Reminiscences — The Sailor's Pertinent Question — A Mother's Ambition for Her Only Son — The Prickings of Con- science— A Promise to a Dying Mother — The Graves of the Household — The Heavenly Vision — " Father, Come this Way " — The Little Beckoning Hand — Looking Across the River — Where will You be Next Year? OUR Saviour once spoke a i)arable, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plenti- fully : And he thought within himself, saying, W'liat shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do : T will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will t bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Hut God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee : then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? " When a man is called a fool in the Bible, it means that he lacks spiritual discernment; or that he is living without (iod; or that he makes a mock of sin ; or that he says in his heart " there is no God." This man was. in the sight of men, a very successful man. He was one whom many parents would hold up to their sons (535) 536 A GOOD BUSINESS MAN. as a model. I have no doubt that he stood well in the com- munity where he lived. He was a farmer, and 1 don't know of any more honorable occupation than that. You can't find any fault with that busi- ness. Now there are some things he was not : We are not told that he was a dishonest man, or untruthful, or that he speculated in stocks, or that he brought about ])anics, or shaved notes ; or that he cheated widows ; or that he got up corners on grain ; or that he paid fifty cents on a dollar ; or rented his property for drinking saloons, or that he was dishonest in any respect. I will venture to say that, of you had lived near him, you would have heard his neighbors speaking very highly of him. He had the reputation of being a shrewd, long-headed, upright business man. He had some good live stock from Egypt and some from Syria. No man gave better attention to his stock. He had the best horses, the finest flocks, and the best sheep that could be found in the valley. His farm was well kept up; it was adorned with beautiful shade trees and lawns, and everything was trim and tidy. Perhaps some of you would say, " That man is good enough ; let him alone." I will venture to say that if he had lived in New England he would have been a leader, an elder, or a deacon in the Church. A man with a record like this, — a shrewd, successful, prosperous man, — who doesn't get drunk, against whom there's nothing to be said, whose " word is as good as his bond," whom all his fellow men speak well of, may be called a " good " man. And yet the Saviour called this man a POOL. What's the trouble ? It strikes me that tlie trouble is right here : That man worked and planned from the cradle to the grave and lived and died for just this brief life. He knew nothing about, and cared nothing about, another life. Death and eternity had no part in his plans. He probably went to church ; and he might have gone to Jerusalem to all the religious feasts. He gave his " tenth " ; he was an " orthodox " Jew. He observed the outward forms, because that gave him great respectability. SUMMONED BV DKATII. 537 and standing-, and position. And yet the Saviour says he was a FOOL. I picture this man in his drawing-room one night. A master builder has come in and l^rought some plans. The rich man is going to take down all his old barns and build greater. Well, there is no harm in that. It is a great deal better to build good barns than to drink them up. A drink- ing man would Iku'c druid< up the whole property. How his face lights up as he talks about " the best farm in the whole valley." He is going to have the best barns in the whole valley of the Jordan. His wife and children retire ; but he sits up past midnight laying plans. He is going to build his barns larger, and then say to his soul, " Take thine ease." The clock strikes the hour of twelve. But the rich man is too much interested over his plans to sleep. He is going to sit up longer. And I can imagine, after midnight, when the servants have closed all the doors and fastened them securely, and the house is quiet and still, a stranger suddenly makes his appearance, and the rich farmer looks up in terror, and says : " O Death ! You haven't come to call me away so sud- denly ? " " Yes. This night thy soul shall be required of thee." " O Death ! do not take me so soon ! Let me have a little time to get ready. Let me have a little time to set my house in -order, — to prepare to meet my God." " Ah, but you have had year after year, and the time is up. You must go to-night." " O Death ! stay thy hand. Give me but another year." " No, you can't bribe me." " But you never warned me." " Yes. Your father is gone, and he died younger than you. Your mother is gone, and your first-born. Didn't I give you warning when I took them ? You have attended the funerals of your neighbors for the past twenty-five years. I ought not to be a stranger to you. You knew I was coming, but you didn't take me into vour calculations." 538 AN" I'NAX'All.IXC. IM.KA. But () let nic call my family, and kt iiu' hid them adieu." " Xo. I must take you now." And he lays his cold hand upon his heart and it ceases to beat, and in a little time his l)od\- turns cold ; liis head drops upon his breast, and he is dead. His wife and family hear no sound. Death has come in so silently that none of the family have heard his step. The morning breaks, and the servants ])egin to move around that hoiue. And the servant whose business it is to. put the house in order comes into the drawing- ,*room. She opens the door and she sees her master in his chair, and says : " Oh, my master is asleej) ; I'll not wake him." lUit soon the wife awakes. " Where is my h.usband? " She is alanued. She calls her servant. ' " Have you seen the master?" " No." She calls the servant that had gone to the drawing-room. " ( )h. yes," this servant says, " the master is asleej). He fell aslee^iin his chair last night." The wife is anxious and hastens to the room, and puts her han(j on her husband's forehead, — it is cold as marble. He has' been dead for hours. The alarm soon spreads through the house. The children come in weepitig. The sorrowing neighbors hasten to the house of mourning. In that hot country they cannot keep his body, and that same day they lay him away in his grave. Perhaps an oration is delivered, and he is held up as a beacon light to young men, that they may follow in the footsteps of one who has been so successful in this life. It may be tliat they erected a great monuiuent to his memory: but an angel conies down, and writes ujion that monument one word, — "FOOL." My dear friends, if you could see what ( lod has written ui)on the tombstones in cemeteries, how man_\- tiiues you w^ould read the word " FOOT.." You and I may try to make out that this luan was wise, a Till': LITTLl-: BLIND CHILD. 539 man to be held up as an example, but just see what the Son of man says about him. He says such a man is an abomina- tion to God. The Son of man says : " ihou h'ool." He wrote his epitaph, and it has been handed down to us as a warnini^. I want to call your attention to the mistake that this man made, — that of neglecting- his soul's salvation. The greatest calamities of life come upon us by simple neglect ! 1 was once in the Chicago Eye Infirmary and a mother came in with her bab}-. " Doctor," She said, " my baby hasn't opened his eyes for a number of days. T did not like to open them, for it seemed to hurt him. Will you see what the trouble is? " As the doctor took the little one and lifted its eyelids the child screamed with pain. He said, " Your child is blind. He will never see again! " And when the terrible truth dawned upon the mother there came a wail from her heart that made the doctor and myself weep ; we could not help it. She pressed the child to her bosom, — "Oh, will my darling child be blind? \\"i\\ he never see his mother again? " And her grief was uncontrollable. But the doctor told me that if she had brought the baby there a few days before, its sight could have been saved. The mother had neglected the child until it was too late. There is not a mother whose heart does not go out with pity towards this aiTlicted mother. Rut it is ten thousand times worse to neglect a child's soul. What is sight in com- parison with the soul? Yes, I would a thousand times rather lose my sight on earth and see God in Heaven, than have my sight here and darkness beyond the grave. Many years ago I returned to my native town to live, and my mind traveled up and down one long street, and I fountl that in twenty years death had been in every house. There was not a single street that death had not entered ; ni}- own house had been entered ; every neighbor's house up and down the street had been entered. Ah, how many homes have been entered by death in the last five, ten, fifteen, twenty years? Had we not better prepare for death ? A sailor was telling a man that his father and his grand- 540 A PERTINENT gUESTlUN. father and his g^rcat-grandfather \vcrc all drowned at sea, and the man said : " Why don't yon prepare to die ; you, too, may be drowned any day ! " "Where did your father die?" inquired the sailor. " On land." "And your grandfather?" " On land." " Are you prepared to die ? " " Well, no." " Why don't yoii prepare for death? " asked the sailor. The man didn't think that he was in danger himself, but only that the sailor was. What are you living for? What is }our aim ? Is it to buy and sell? To accumulate money? To die a millionaire? Some time ago a man of means married a Christian woman. They had one child. The man died. He had been very liberal, but after his death the widow hoarded up the money, and said, " My mission now is to have my boy a millionaire when he is twenty-one." That was a pretty low aim, wasn't it? I venture to say there is no person who is not living under some broken vow. In some hour of your life _\'ou made a vow, but you haven't kept it. I^ven now }our conscience reminds you of that hour when you made a promise. It might have been at the midniglit Ikhu-. rerha])s a ra]) came to your door, and you were awakened out of a sound slee]) to be told tliat your mother was dying. When you reached her bedside she was conscious, and she told you she was going to another world ; and she took your hand, and \ou promised to meet her in Heaven. You shed many tears at her grave, and you told the minister that you would be a Christian. Are there not many who have made such a vow? When your wife was taken from you, didn't you say, " I can't call her back, but I will serve her God." When vour child was taken from you didn't you make some vow of that kind ? Life seems to me now like going up a hill and (hen coming GRAVKS THAT MARK THE WAY. 541 down ; we go up the hill slowly, but we come down very fast. Days fly away now like hours. A week glides away like a day. Months seem like weeks. Look back at the cradle from whence )ou started. It seems only a little while ago, but as you look down the hill you see a tombstone. It marks the resting-place of some loved member of your family. You stood by that open grave and took a solemn vow. You promised yourself and \our friends that you would lead a dif- ferent life from that time on. Why not pay your vows now? Why not say, " I will ! God helping me, I will keep that vow. I will make it good to-day." But you mark another grave. It is not that of mother or father, but a little short grave. A little child came into your home and lived for a few years, and was the joy of your home ; like the ivy twining around the oak it twined itself around your iieart. Then death came and took the little one, and a solemn feeling came over you, and you said, " I cannot call my child back, but I will go to meet him." Didn't you make such a promise ? Are you keeping that vow ? I remember, a great many years ago, I went from Chicago to a little town to try to preach. A Sunday-school convention was being held there at the time. I was a perfect stranger in the place, and on my arrival, a man stepped up and asked me if my name was Moody. I told him it was, and he invited me to his house. After escorting me to his home he excused him- self, saying that he had to attend the convention, and he asked me to excuse his wife also, as she, not having a servant, had to attend to her household duties. So he left me in the parlor and told me to amuse myself as best I could till he came back. The room was dark, and I could not read, and, getting a little tired, I thought I would try and get the children of the house- hold and play with them. I listened for the sound of child- hood in the house, but could not hear a single evidence of the presence of little ones. A\'hen my friend returned I said : " Haven't you any children ? " " Yes," he replied, " I have one, but she's in Heaven, and I am glad she is there, Moody." 33 542 A BEREAVED FATHERS AXGUISH. " What ! glad that your child is dead ? " x es. " How is that ? Was she deformed, or was anything wrong with her?" " No, she was as perfect as could be ; " and he brought me a portrait of a beautiful girl, with golden curls falling down her neck, and she looked more like an angel than a child. I asked how old she was. " Seven." " What do you mean by saying you arc glad she is in heaven ? " " Well," said he, " I worshiped that child ; I was making money for her ; she was the idol of my heart. One day she was taken ill, and in a few days she died. She melted away like a snowflakc. I accused God of being unjust, and refused to be reconciled. I would have torn God from His throne if I could. For three days and nights I neither ate. nor drank, nor slept. I was almost mad. On the third da}' I buried her, and when I came home my house and my heart were as deso- late and dark as the grave. I had lost my child. As I walked up and down the room almost frantic I thought I heard the voice of my little one, but I said, ' No, it cannot be; that voice is hushed forever.' Then I thought I heard her little feet com- ing towards me, and I said, ' No, I shall never hear those little feet again.' Before that time I had not wept ; my agony had been too great, but now I threw myself on the bed and began to weep. Nature gave way and I fell asleep. I suppose I had a dream, but it has always seemed like a vision that God gave me — a vision and a voice. I thought I was crossing a barren field, and I came to a river that looked so cold and dreary that I drew back from it ; but, looking across, I saw the most beauti- ful land my eyes had ever rested upon. And I thought sick- ness and death never entered that land. Oh, T would like to be in a land where death cannot come ; where there is no separa- tion, no parting! Then T saw a company on the other side, and among them my darling child. She came to the bank of "COME RKtHT this WAY, FATHER.' 543 the river, and waving her little angel hand, said, ' Father, come right this way ; it is so beautiful here.' I went to the water's edge, and thought I would plunge in, but it was too deep for nic — I could not swim. I thought I would give anything to cross. I tried to find a boat, but there was none. I looked for a bridge, but there was none ; and while I was wandering up and down the little angel voice came across the stream, ' Come right this way, father ; it is beautiful here ! ' All at once I heard a voice as if it came from heaven, saying, ' I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometli unto the Father but by Me.' The voice awoke me from sleep. I thought it was God calling me, and that if I would ever see my child again I must come to God through Jesus Christ. That night I knelt beside my bed and gave myself to God. Now I no longer look upon my child as sleeping in her grave, but I see her in that beautiful land, and every night when I lie down I see her beckoning me heavenward, and I hear her sweet voice saying, ' Come right this way, father,' and every morning I hear her repeating the same words. Now my wife is a Chris- tian ; I am superintendent of the Sunday-school, and eighty- one children have been converted, and I am trying to get as many converted as I can to go with me to heaven." A father was on his death-bed, and he called in his son. The boy was careless ; he would not take death into account. He wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life, and he took no heed of the future. The father said : " My son, I want to ask you one favor. Promise me that when I am dead you will come into this room for five minutes every day for thirty days. You are to come alone, not to bring a book with you ; and sit here." The young man promised to do it. The father died. The first thing the boy thought of when he went into that room was his father's prayers, his father's words, and his father's God, and before the five minutes expired he was crying out, " God, be merciful to mc." Tt seems to me if T could get men to ask themselves. "What is going to be my end?" "Where am I going to 544 COME TO IIIM TO-DAY spend eternity? " it would not be long before they would come to Christ. You may be moralists, you may be proprietors of a prosperous business, you may be what the world calls suc- cessful men, yet, Where are you going to spend eternity? Can you tell me where you will be next year? Can you tell me where you will be ten years hence? Am I speaking to mothers whose children have been taken from them? If they could speak from that world of light they would say, " Mother, come this way." Am I speaking to fathers whose children have gone across the river? If these departed little ones could speak they would beckon and say, " Father, come this way." Nineteen hundred years ago our Saviour crossed that river. May He help you to come to Him to-day ! CHAPTER XXX. INFIDELS AND INFIDELITY. Sending His Daughter From t'lc Room — " I Did not Think it Would do Her any Good to Hear What I Said" — A Crooked Path — A Son Gone Astray — " Father, I Am Dying " — " What is to Become of Me? " — Farewell Forever — Full Inspiration of the Bible — Crying for Mercy — A Broken-hearted Wife — The Dying Infidel — •• What Have I Got to Hold On To?" — Last Words of Lord Byron and St. Paul — A Wife's Request — Mr. Moody's Visit to an Infidel — Laughed at for His Pains — Asking for Just One Favor — "When I Am Converted I Will Let You Know" — After Thoughts — A Mental Struggle — A Night of Agony — "Try Your Hand On Me" — Remarkable Answer to Prayer — Eighteen Infidels Converted. S()i\IE time ago I went into a man's house, and when I began to talk about reHgion he turned to his daughter and said: " You had better go out of the room ; I want to say a few words to ]\Ir. Aloody." \\'hen she had gone he opened a per- fect torrent of infidelity upon me. " Why," said I, " did yott send your daughter oitt of the room before you said this?" " Well," he replied, " I did not think it would do her any good to hear what I said." My friends, his rock was not as our Rock. Why did he send his daughter out of the room if he believed what he said? It was because he did not believe it. Why, if I believed in in- fidelity I would wish my daughters and my sons, my wife, and all belonging to me, to be sharers in the same belief. I would preach it wherever I went. But infidels doubt what they ad- vocate. If they believe it, why. when their daughters die, do (545) 546 >>'0 HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. they send for a true Christian to administer consolation? \\'h_v, wlien they make their last will, do they appoint a Chris- tian to carry it out? It is because their rock has no founda- tion; it is because in the hour of affliction or adversity, in spite of all their boasts of the grandeur of infidclitv, they cannot trust their infidel friends. " Their r(xdx- is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." An atheist denies the existence of God. I contend that his rock is not as our Rock, and will let atheists be the judges. What does an atheist look forward to? Nothing. He is taking a very crooked path in this world. His life has been dark and full of disappointments. When he was a young man ambition beckoned him on to a certain height. He has at- tained to that height, but he is not satisfied. He climbs a little higher, and perhaps he has got as far as he can go, but he is still dissatisfied, and if he takes a look into the future he sees nothing. Man's life is full of trouble. Afflictions are as numerous as the hairs of our heads, but when the billows of trouble and adversity are rising and rolling over him an atheist has no God to call upon ; therefore, I contend, his rock is not as our Rock. An atheist has all the natural affection it is possible for a father to have for his children. He has a son — a noble young man — who starts out in life full of promise, but he has not the will-power of his father, and cannot resist the temptations of the world, and he goes astray. That father cannot call upon God to save his son. He sees him go down to ruin step by step, and by and by he ])lunges into a hopeless, godless, Christless grave; and as the father looks into that grave he has no hope. His rock is not as our Rock. Look at him again. He has a daughter lying low with fever and racked with pain, but the poor atheist cannot offer her consolation. As he stands by her bedside she says: " Father, I am dying; in a little while I shall be in another world. What is going to become of me? Am I going to die like a dumb beast? " CRYING TO THE CHRISTIAN'S GOD 547 \\'ould an atheist say: "Yes, I love you, my daughter; but you will soon be in the grave and eaten up by worms, and that will be the end. There is no heaven, no hereafter; it is all a myth. People have been telling you there is a hereafter, but they have been deceiving you." Did you ever hear of an atheist telling his dying child such monstrous stuff as that? My friends, when the dark hour of affliction comes they call in a Christian minister to give con- solation. Why does not the atheist preach no hereafter, no heaven, no God, in the hour of affliction? But there is another class called deists, who don't believe in revelation — who don't believe in Jesus Christ. Ask a deist who is his God. " Well," he will say, " He is the begin- ning— he who caused all things." These deists say it is of no use to pray, because nothing can change the decrees of their deity; God never answers prayer. Their rock is not as our Rock. In the hour of affliction they, too, send for a Christian minister to administer consolation. But there is another class. They say, " I am no deist; I am a pantheist; I believe that God is in the air; in the sun, in the stars, in the water." When we talk to pantheists we find them no better than deists and atheists. It was one of this sort that Sir Isaac Newton used to talk to. He argued with him, and tried to win the pantheist over to his belief, but he couldn't. In the hour of his distress, however, he cried out to the God of Sir Isaac Newton. Why don't they cry to their own God in the hour of trouble. I used to be called on to attend a good many funerals. I would inquire what was the man's belief. If he was an atheist, or a deist, or a pantheist, and if, at the funeral or In the presence of his friends, I said one word about that man's doctrine, they would feel insulted. Why is it that, in the trying hour of affliction, after they have been talking all the time against God, they then call upon be- lievers in that God to administer consolation? An infidel's rock it not as our Rock. He doesn't believe in the inspiration of the Bible. These men are very numerous, 548 MEN WHO DOUBT THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. and they feel insulted when we call them infidels; but the man who does not believe in the inspiration of the Bible is an in- fidel. A good many of them are in the church, and not a few of them have crept into the pulpit. These men would feel in- sulted if we called them infidels, but if a man says — and I don't care who he is or where he preaches — that the Bible is not inspired, he is an infidel. That is their true name, although they don't like to be called by it. Now in the Bible there are five hundred or six hundred prophecies, and every one of them has been fulfilled to the letter; and yet men say they cannot believe the Bible is inspired. Those who cannot believe it have never read it. I have heard a great many infidels talk against the Bible, but I haven't found the first man who ever read the Bible through carefully that remained an infidel. I was once trying to influence an infidel in my town, and I finally got him to promise to read the New Testament. I met him a few days afterwards and said to him: " How do you get on with that book? " " Well," he said, " I have come to the conclusion that John the Baptist is a greater character than Jesus Christ; why don't you preach in John the Baptist's name? " " Well, I will start ofY preaching in Christ's name, and you start out preaching in John's name, and see how we get on." " Oh, people are superstitious, and they believe that Christ was divine, and all that kind of thing, and you would do more good than I would." " Well, I will tell you the difl'erence between the two: they beheaded John and put his body in the grave, and he hasn't got out of that grave yet ; but Christ w^nt into the grave and rose again. We worship a living Christ, not a dead Christ." Did you ever hear of a Christian recanting in his dying hour? You never did. Did you ever hear of Christians re- gretting that they had accepted Christianity, and in their dying hours embracing infidelity? I would like to see the man who could say he had. But how many times have Christians been WHAT INFIDELITY DOES. 549 called to the bedside of an atheist, or a deist, or an infidel in his dying hours, and heard him crying for mercy? In that hour infidelity is gone, and he wants the God of his father and mother to take the place of his atheism. What does infidelity do for a man? "Why," said a dying infidel, "my principles have lost me my friends; they have sent my wife to her grave with a broken heart; they have made my children beggars, and I am going down to my grave without peace or consolation." I never heard of an infidel going down to his grave happily. How many young men are turned away from Christ by them? Let infidels remember that God will hold them responsible. A few infidels once gathered around one of their dying friends, and they wanted him to hold on to the end and die like a man. They were trying to cheer him, but the poor in- fidel turned to them and said: " Ah, what have I got to hold on to? " My friends, let me ask what have you got to hold on to? Every Christian has Christ to hold on to — the resur- rected man. Thank God, we have some one to carry us through all our trials. But what has the infidel got to hold on to; what hope has the atheist, the deist, or the pantheist? I want to draw a comparison between almost the last words of Lord Byron, and those of Saint Paul. Byron died very young — he was only thirty-six — after leading an ungodly life, and here are some of his last words: " Aly days are in the yellow leaf, The flower and fruit of life are gone; The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone." Compare these words with those of St. Paul: "I have fought a good fight, T have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- eousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." What a contrast! What a difference! As I was coming out of a daily prayer-meeting in one of our Western cities a lady came up to me and said: 550 THE SKEPTIC'S SNEER. " I want you to ask my husband to come to Christ." I took out my memorandum book and put down his name. She said: " I woultl Hkc to liave you go and see him." I recognized the name as that of a learned judge, and so I said to her: " I can't argue with him. He is a good deal older than I am, and it would be out of place. Then, I am not much on an infidel argument." " Well, Mr. Moody," she said, " that is not what lie wants. He's had enough of that. Just ask him to come to the Saviour." She urged me so hard that I consented to go. I went to the ofifice of the judge, and told him what I had come for. He laughed at me. " You are very foolish," he said, and he began to argue with me. " I don't think it will be profitable for me to hold an argument with you," I said. " I have just one favor I want to ask, and that is that when you are converted you will let me know." " Yes," said he, " I will do that. When I am converted I will let }ou know " — with a good deal of sarcasm. I thought the prayers of that wife would be answered if mine were not. A year and a half after, I was in that city again, and a servant came to my door and said: " There is a man in the drawing-room waiting to see you." I found the judge there. He said: " I promised I would let you know when I was converted." I had heard it from other lips, but I wanted to hear it from his own. He said his wife went out to a meeting one night and he was at home alone, and while sitting by the fire he thought, " Suppose my wife is right, and my children are right; suppose there is a heaven and a hell, and I shall be separated from them." His first thought was, " T don't be- lieve a word of it." The second thought was. " The God that created me is able to teach me, and give me life." He was STRUG('.LIN! " God cannot use you until you are willing to have the world point the finger of scorn at you. Tf the world hasn't got anything to say against us it is pretty sure that Christ won't have much to say for us. Some- body once spoke to a young convert who was trying to preach in the street, and said, " You ought to be ashamed of yourself." " Well," he said, " I am, but I am not ashamed of my Saviour." There is a story told of a man back in the ninth century, I think, who undertook with a little handful of men to attack a king with an army of 30,000; and when the king heard that he had only five hundred men, he sent a message to the young general — perhaps he thought he was an enthusiast and was mad — that if he would surrender he would be very merciful to him and spare his life. The young general heard the messen- ger, and when he got through he said to one of his soldiers, "Go leap into yonder chasm," and over he went into the jaws of death. Then he called another, and, handing him a dagger, said, " Take that and drive into your heart." And the soldier drove it into his heart, staggered forward, and fell dead. Then he turned to the messenger and said, " Go back and tell your king that T have five hundred such men; tell him we die, but never surrender." When the king heard that five hundred such men were before him, his army became demoralized and fled. That story is recorded in history. Whether it is true or not, T don't know. But " one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." I have seen it verified. .\ man full of fire and enthusiasm is worth a thousand others at any time. The trouble is. a great many are looking at the ob- stacles and the army that is against us. Some men arc to be counted just as you would count penny pies, or tin soldiers; other men vou've got to weigh. 624 CHEER ON THE WORKERS. I think I liear some of yon with silver locks saying, " I wish I were young, how I would rush into the battle." Well, if you cannot be a fighter, you can pray and encourage the others. There are two kinds of old people in the world. One kind has become chilled and sour, they have no warmth of feeling; but the others light up .every meeting with their genial presence, and cheer on the workers. Draw near, old age, and cheer on the workers, and take them by the hand and encourage them. There was a building on fire. The flames leaped around the staircase, and from a three-story window a little boy was seen, crying piteously for help. The only way to reach him was by a ladder. One was obtained and a fireman ascended, but when he had almost reached the boy, the flames broke from the window and leaped around him. He faltered and seemed afraid to go further. Suddenly some one in the crowd shouted " Give him a cheer," and cheer after cheer went up. The fire- man was nerved with new energy, and rescued the child. Just so with our young men. Whenever you see them wavering, cheer them on. If you cannot work yourself, give them cheers to nerve them on in their glorious work. Some years ago I heard of a man who accomplished some- thing when he was seasick ; and that's the time a man doesn't usually attempt to do anything for anybody else; he is too much occupied with himself. One night while this man was very sick, he heard the startling cry on deck, " Man over- board! " " Poor fellow," he said, " I wish T was well, and then perhaps I could do something to save him." It was dark, and all at once the thought occurred to him : " If I hold the light at the porthole it may do some good." So he held a light at the porthole; and by and by he heard that the man was saved. The man who had held the light laid down again and had an- other turn at being seasick. By and by he crawled up on deck and got into conversation with a man. After talking with him awhile he found, to his surprise, that he was the very man who had fallen overboard. The man said he was going down the third time and had given up all hope, when someone put a light KKKl'IXG AT IT. 625 at the porthole and the sailors just saw his hand and seized it. That light at the porthole had saved his life. My dear friends, you can hold the light for someone else, can't you? You can do something if you will. The next thing is PERSEVERANCE. Spurgcon used to call it " Stick-to-it-ive-ness." That's what we w^ant. If we don't succeed to-day. we will go at it all the stronger to- morrow; if we don't succeed on Sunday, we'll try again on Monday; if we don't get it in February, w^e will go at it in March; and if we fail in March, we will try it in April, and we will not let up all summer. There's no calendar in Heaven. Don't stop work in summer. Saloons and all the haunts of vice are wide open every day and every night in the week, and while we are sleeping Satan is doing his work. I remember years ago I got discouraged because I could not see much fruit from my work. One morning, when I was in my study, much depressed, one of my Sunday-school teachers came in and wanted to know what I was discouraged about, and I told him it was because I could see no results from my work. " By the way." he said. " did you ever study the character of Noah?" I thought I knew all about Noah, and I told him so; but he said. " Xow. if you have never studied Noah carefully, you ought to do it, for I cannot tell you what a blessing his example has been to me." After he went out I took my Bible and commenced to read about Noah, and the thought came stealing" over me, " Here is a man who toiled and worked a hundred years and didn't get discouraged; if he did, the Holy Ghost didn't put it on record." The clotids lifted, and I got up and said. " If the Lord wants me to work without any fruit I will work on." That day I went down to the noon prayer-meeting, and when I saw the people coming to pray I said to myself, " Noah worked a hundred years, and he never saw a prayer-meeting outside of his own family." Pretty soon a man got up. right across the aisle from where I was sitting", and said he had come from a little town where a hundred had imited with the 1 '' 626 TAKING A DECIDED STAND. church the year before. And I thought to myself, " What if Noah had heard that! He preached so many, many years and didn't get a convert, yet he was not discouraged." Then a man got up right behind me, and he trembled as he said, " I •am lost. I want you to pray for my soul." And I said to myself, "What if Noah had heard that! He worked a hun- dred and twenty years, and never had a man come to him and say that; and yet he didn't get discouraged." I made up my mind then, that, God helping me, I would never get discour- aged again. I would do the best I could, and leave the results with God, and it has been a wonderful help to me. Now, if we are going to be successful, we must take our stand for God, and let the world know we are on the Lord's side. I have great respect for the woman who started out during the war with a poker. She heard the enemy was coming and she went out to meet them. When some one asked her what she could do with a poker, she said she would at least let everyone know which side she was on. That is what we want; and the time is coming when the line must be drawn, and those on Christ's side must take their stand. It is a fact that all men like to rule. A business man says, " If lean stand at the head, commercially, I shall be satisfied." Go to the great universities and you will find men there who are striving to stand at the head of their profession. Every newspaper wants to outdo the others. Every true soldier wants to be at the head of the army. Statesmen have their eves fixed on the White House. A mother sends her boy to school, and if he receives high honors she manages to let everybody know it. It is natural to want to be at the head. I was in Paris many years ago, when Napoleon III was reigning in all his glory. When he went through the streets there was great excitement. You could hear the cheers of the populace all along the line. I went into the Exposition, and when the Prince Imperial entered, men almost went crazy. They seemed to have lost their heads over that young prince. Onlv three or four years after that a little narrow house two THE LITTLK LK.IIT IN THK WINDOW. 627 or three feet wide and seven feet long was all that the great Napoleon needed. His name was soon almost forgotten, and to this day France has not allowed his dead body to be brought back. The body of the Prince Imperial has never been taken back. That, my friends, is a sample of the glory of this world. It soon fades — soon passes away — and the place that knows von now shall soon know you no more. Your names will soon be forgotten if you live only for this world. A man in Minnesota, some years ago, was caught in a blizzard, — and a blizzard out there is a blizzard indeed. On those great rolling prairies the wind seems to come right from the North Pole with nothing to stop it. After wandering in the blinding storm he got lost, and was ready to lie down and die, when he saw a tiny light in a log cabin. The people living there thought there might possibly be some one in danger of ])erishing in the storm, and so had put a light in the window. He made his way toward it, and his life was saved. He after- wards became a wealthy luan and bought the farm where that log cabin stood, and put up a lighthouse on top of the house, hoping to save others. I like that, don't you? I used to have a rule, and it was a wonderful help to me, never to let a day pass without speaking to somebody about his eternal welfare ; and if I did no good to anybody else, it was good exercise for me, and helped to keep my heart warm. When I was living in Chicago a good many years ago. I re- called the fact, one night at ten o'clock, that I had not that day personally said a word to direct an}bod}' to the kingdom of God. I went out and saw a man standing by a lamp-post. Stepping up to him and laying my hand on his shoulder, I said: " Are you a Christian? " Pie flew into a rage, clenched his fists, and threatened to knock me into the gutter. He said: " That's none of your business." Well, I didn't know that he knew me, and I went on talk- ing to hiiu. He went to a good friend of mine, an elder in the church, and said: 528 ZEAL, OR KNOWLEDGE? " Do you know that man Moody is doing more harm in Chicago than any ten men are doing good?" He said I was an impudent fellow to stop a man on the street to ask about his soul. The elder came to me and said: " Moody, you are too zealous. You do more harm than good, you know. There's such a thing as having zeal with knowledge." "Well," I said, "I'd rather have zeal without knowledge than knowledge without zeal." The elder labored with me, but, thank God, he never stopped me. I had had a taste of the work and liked it. There is no joy like the joy of helping others. About three months after, — this was before I was mar- ried,— I was sleeping in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. I was janitor. Superintendent, Presi- dent, and Director, and really the only one to do the work. One bitterly cold morning in winter, at daybreak, I heard some one knocking at the door. I woke up, went to the door, and said: " Who is there? " " A stranger." "What do you want?" " I want to talk to you about my soul." I opened the door, and there, to my astonishment, was the man who cursed me for speaking to him as he leaned against the lamp-post. He was very pale, and trembled all over. I didn't know but he had delirium tremens. He said: " Do you remember stopping a man some months ago at ten o'clock at night on Lake Street, and he got angry, and cursed you? " " I do." " Well," he said, " I am that man. I am very sorry. I have had no peace for three months. Your words have haunted and troubled me. I could not sleep last night, and T have come to ask you to pray for me. I want to become a Christian." OBEDIENCE AND FAITHFULNESS. 629 That man accepted Christ, and the moment he had done so, he asked: " Can't I do something for Christ? Won't you give me some work to do for Him? " I took liim over to my Sunday-school. He went hard at work with a class of rough boys, and taught them until the Civil \\'ar broke out, when he enlisted in the army. He was one of the first to fall in battle, but not before he had given ringing testimony for God. Some one has said that if an angel should be sent to earth to sweep the streets, or to rule an empire, it would be all the same to him. That is just what the Lord wants men to do, — obey his commands. If you want eternal salvation you can have it to-day. What are the terms? Obedience. W^ill you obey? If He tells you to repent, then repent. Does He say. Go preach? Then go and preach. " \Miatsoever He saith unto you, do it." But be sure He says it. Do not follow your own will, your own ideas. A negro saw a sign which read " G. P. C." He said that meant " Go Preach Christ," and he proposed to leave his work and go to preaching. But another negro came up and said, " No, that ain't it. It's ' Go Pick Cotton.' " If your work is to preach the Gospel, then preach; if it is to pick cotton, then pick cotton. I remember hearing of a person who was always trying to do some great thing for the Lord, and because he could not do a great thing he never did anything. A man dreamed that when he died he was taken by angels to a beautiful temple. After admiring it for a time, he discovered that one little stone was missing. He said to the angel. " \Miy was the stone left out?" The angel replied. "That place was left for you, but you wanted to do great things, and so it was left unfilled." He awoke, and was startled, and resolved that he would become a worker for God; and he always worked faithfully for Him after that. A good many years ago a railroad superintendent tele- graphed to a man who had charge of a drawbridge not to open 630 A FATAL ERROR. it until after an extra train had passed. A friend came and persuaded him to open the bridge to let some boats through. He thought there would be time to let the boats pass and swing the bridge back before the train came. But he had hardly opened it before he heard the train approaching, and he didn't have time to get the bridge back before the train plunged into the river. The man realized what he had done, and his brain reeled. Thc}' sent him to a madhouse, and for years he walked up and down that madhouse saying " If I only had; if I only had! " Had what? Obeyed orders; that is all; been obedient. People seem to think obedience isn't very important; T don't know of anything that is more im- portant. Disobedience has destroyed families and wrecked nations. A story is told of Stephen Girard and an Irishman who came to his place of business and wanted work. Mr. Girard liked his looks, and said: " Do you see that pile of bricks in the yard?" " Yes, sir." * " Pile them uj) in the other end of the yard." He did it. The work was done, and well done. Pie said to Mr. Girard: " Can you give me work to-morrow?" " Yes, come back." The next morning he came back, and Mr. Girard told him to go and pile up the bricks where they were at first. He did it without a word, and at night asked if he could have more work. " Yes, come again." And he came and was bidden to pile the bricks up again. And Girard kept him piling up the bricl