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 Dwight Lyman Moody's 
 
 LIFE WORK AND 
 
 LATEST SERMONS 
 
 AS DELIVERED BY THE GREAT EVANGELIST. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH A BIOGRAPHY OF 
 IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 Handsomely Illustrated from Gustave Dore. 
 
 Edited by RICHARD S. RHODES. 
 
 "Son, remember."— Luke xvi: 25. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 RHODES & McCIvURE PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 1900. 
 
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■U.1 V>5 
 
 Library of CongreM 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 DEC 18 1900 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 SECOND COPY 
 
 DaUvwed to 
 
 ORDER DIVISION 
 JAN 10 1901 
 
 'if 
 
 ^V.\aI 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1900 by the 
 
 Rhodes & McClure Publishing Company, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
The Rev. pr. N. D. Hillis, ofl Plymouth Church, Brook- 
 lyn, says in a letterTo tlie'TEnfefior" of Dwight L. Moody's 
 life, work and sermons in part as follows : 
 
 "For the republic, the roll call of self-made men is long 
 and brilliant. Orators like Clay come in from the corn- 
 fields, statesmen like Webster come from the bleak hillsides 
 of New England, presidents like Lincoln come forth from 
 the university of rail-splitting, the inventors, merchants, and 
 editors come in from rural districts and villages, and all are 
 the architects of their own fortunes. But among all this 
 group of men whose life in low estate began on a simple 
 village green, none is more thrilling in its struggles, more 
 picturesque in its contrasts and more pathetic in its defeats 
 and victories than that of the great evangelist. An orphan 
 at four, one of the props of the family at nine, at nineteen a 
 clerk in a shoe store of Chicago, at twenty-three the foun- 
 der of a Young Men's Christian Association, where he slept 
 on the benches because he had no bed, and bought a loaf at 
 the bakery because he had no money for board. At twenty- 
 four, the superintendent of a Sunday school in a deserted 
 saloon, where his pupils were drunkards, tramps, ragamuf- 
 fins, mingled with street waifs and boys from a newsboys' 
 home ; at forty, the most widely-talked-about man in Great 
 Britain, where his friends were college presidents and pro- 
 fessors, authors, editors, statesmen, scientists, like Drum- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 mond and Lord Kelvin. Returning home, in Philadelphia 
 he found that merchants had erected for his meetings a 
 building seating ten thousand people, an event that was re- 
 peated in New York, Boston, Chicago, and many other 
 great cities in our land. At fifty-three he founded a training 
 school for young men and women in Chicago that has sent 
 out fifteen hundred workers ; a school for young women at 
 East Northfield, and for young men at Mount Hermon, in- 
 stitutions that now have for their work more than a score 
 of great buildings. Thrilling, indeed, this story. It repeats 
 the experience of young David, who passed from the sheep- 
 cote to the king's throne, and the scepter of universal sway. 
 " 'Where were the hidings of his power ?' you ask. From 
 nothing, nothing comes. Blood tells. A great ancestry ex- 
 plains a great man. The time was when men thought God 
 called the prophet. But when God wants a John the Bap- 
 tist, he calls not the son, but the father and mother, and 
 they ordain the child in the cradle, and before the cradle. 
 When the Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt, one mother 
 there was brave enough to dare the king and hide her babe 
 in an ark, amidst the bulrushes, and the mother's courage 
 repeated itself in the greatest of jurists, Moses. Hannah 
 was a dreamer who loved solitude, and walked the. hills 
 alone with God ; whose eyes 'were homes of silent prayer,' 
 and her religious genius repeated itself in her son Samuel, 
 one of the greatest of the judges. What was unique in 
 Timothy, Paul tells us, was first of all unique in his mother 
 Lois, and his grandmother Eunice. And the greatest evan- 
 gelist since Whitfield had his power through the ordain- 
 ment of a great ancestry. He was of the best New England 
 stock. His father had the fine old Puritan fiber, and his 
 mother, widowed with her little flock about her, exhibits 
 almost unparalleled heroism, courage and hope in the hour 
 of suffering and trouble. For the tides of power in this man 
 
 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 flow down from the anectral hills. Among his birth gifts 
 was the gift of perfect health and a perfect body, with stores 
 of energy that seemed well-nigh inexhaustible. 
 
 "His, also, was the gift of common sense, a mind hungry 
 for knowledge, a reason that saw clearly or saw not at all ; 
 moral earnestness, sincerity, self-reliance, courage, wit, 
 humor, pathos, an intuitive knowledge of men, the genius 
 for organization. Like Isaiah, he had a quenchless passion 
 for righteousness. Like Daniel, he had the courage of his 
 convictions in the face of fierce opposition. Like Paul, his 
 enthusiasm for men made him the herald of righteousness 
 to foreign nations. Like Bernard, his was the crusader's 
 heart, organizing his hosts against passion, ignorance and 
 sin. Without the eloquence of Spurgeon, without the fine 
 culture of Phillips Brooks, without the supreme genius of 
 Mr. Beecher, Mr. Moody was a herald, a man sent forth 
 from God, who called the unchurched classes to repentance, 
 who flamed forth on them the love of God in Christ. For 
 nearly six years, it is said that Mr. Moody's audiences aver- 
 aged five thousand each afternoon and evening, a record 
 that has never been surpassed in all the history of evangel- 
 ism. 'Our bishops,' said the London Telegraph, /have back 
 of them a state income, great cathedrals, a small army of 
 paid helpers and musicians, but where our bishops have 
 reached tens this man has reached hundreds.' 
 
 "If preaching is man making and man mending, then Mr. 
 Moody was a veritable prince among preachers. In view of 
 the great audiences of 15,000 people that thronged into, or 
 about, the hall in Kansas City, where he preached his last 
 sermon, all must confess that no preacher in the land since 
 Mr. Beecher's time was comparable to Mr. Moody in per- 
 sonal popularity, or in power to hold the masses. Any 
 student skilled in the art of reading human nature, who has 
 been upon the platform beside the great evangelist, and 
 
 3 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 while listening to his words has noted their effects upon 
 the faces of the vast audience before him, must make haste 
 to affirm that Mr. Moody knew the human mind and heart 
 as a skillful musician knows his instrument, and sweeps all 
 the banks of keys before him. In the addresses that were 
 given no element of great speech was lacking. Mr. Moody 
 moved his audience from tears to laughter; for laughter 
 and tears are outer signs of inner thoughts and feelings. 
 Life is determined by the emotions of the heart quite as 
 much as by the arguments of the head. No matter how 
 scholarly or intellectual the preacher may be, he is at best a 
 second-rate preacher whose truth burns with a cold, white 
 light. Truth in the hands of an intellectual philosopher 
 who has found his way into the pulpit cuts with a keen edge, 
 indeed, but truth in Mr. Moody's hands has been heated 
 red hot, and the edge of bis sword burns as well as cuts, like 
 the Word of God, dividing between the joints and marrow 
 and separating the sinner from his evil deeds. 
 
 "No misconception can be greater than to suppose that 
 Mr. Moody has succeeded in spite of his lack of theological 
 preparation. My old professor of dogmatic theology criti- 
 cised me harshly during my student days for going to hear 
 Mr. Moody on Sunday morning. Because the great evan- 
 gelist was a layman, and unordained, this distinguished 
 theologian said that he declined to attend any of Mr. 
 Moody's meetings during his great campaign in a city in 
 which this professor had formerly resided. It is true that 
 Mr. Moody had never crossed the threshold of college or 
 theological seminary. Moreover, in his enthusiasm he 
 often used the vernacular, homely idioms, and in every ser- 
 mon broke some of the laws of grammar or of rhetoric. But 
 nothing is risked in the statement that it was a great good 
 fortune for him that he never found his way into a theo- 
 logical seminary. Nevertheless, he was a past master in his 
 
 4 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 chosen art. He reached men, not because he knew so little 
 about preaching, but because he knew so much. Could 
 some scholar take a volume of Mr. Moody's sermons, and 
 condense his thoughts, methods, appeals and illustrations 
 into a volume of homiletics, the book would be so large and 
 comprehensive that the ordinary work on the art of preach- 
 ing would not make an introduction thereto. Taken all in 
 all, for the work of an evangelist this man represents more 
 culture and more thought about the methods of reaching 
 the common people than any other man in his generation. 
 To him it has been given to meet all the great preachers of 
 the day, and to work with them. His was also the power 
 of selection from each Spurgeon, or Maclaren, or Brooks, 
 or Beecher, and from each he selected his special gift and 
 excellence. Having spent eight months of each year in 
 working with the foremost pastors at home and abroad, he 
 has had four months in summer for study and conference. 
 Those who have seen Mr. Moody's library know that this 
 man has been a student of books as well as men. Super- 
 ficial, indeed, the judgment of those who think that Mr. 
 Moody was without education, or training, or logic, or 
 knowledge of preaching as a science. With him preaching 
 became a fine art, an art that conceals the art. Did our 
 theological seminaries multiply, their three years of study 
 by two, they could not hope to equip their students as long 
 study and experience with men and books have equipped 
 Mr. Moody. The methods the great evangelist adopted 
 gather up the experience of twenty years of working with 
 the greatest preachers of England, Scotland and America. 
 Perhaps of all the arts and occupations in our age, not one 
 is comparable to the art of preaching. It demands the 
 highest talent, the deepest culture, tireless practice and 
 complete consecration. And happy the generation to whom 
 God gave this herald of good tidings, this friend of the 
 
 5 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 common people, this messenger to the unchurched multi- 
 tudes, who followed him as their leader along those paths 
 that lead to prosperity and peace, to Christ, man's Savior, 
 to God, man's Father." 
 
 "In his life and actions Mr. Moody was as bold and fear- 
 less as in his sermons and revival exhortations. There was 
 no place he would not go, no duty he would not undertake, 
 if he felt that he could accomplish good." 
 
 With the earnest prayer that God's blessing may accom- 
 pany the reading of the great evangelist's life, work and 
 sermons, this volume is dedicated to the public. 
 
 RICHARD S. RHODES. 
 
 Chicago, 111., January i, 1900. 
 
PAGE 
 
 Biography of D. L. Moody i 
 
 Moody and Sankey in Great Britain xiii 
 
 Moody and Sankey in the United States xxiii 
 
 Mr. Moody at Northfield xxvii 
 
 Mr. Moody's Sickness and Death xxxiv 
 
 The Funeral at East Northfield xxxviii 
 
 Biography of Ira David Sankey xLii 
 
 The Work of the Holy Spirit..... 447 
 
 God's Service and the Holy Spirit 456 
 
 Elements of True Prayer. 471 
 
 Thy Will, Not Mine, Be Done 480 
 
 Trust in God Brings Perfect Peace 493 
 
 Watch, Fight and Pray 507 
 
 The Influence of the Individual 516 
 
 That "Elder Brother" 530 
 
 Obedience to God's Commands 545 
 
 "No Room for Christ" 556 
 
 How To Be Saved 569 
 
 Sowing and Reaping 580 
 
 How to Convert Infidels 600 
 
 Excuse-Giving 621 
 
 The Work of the Shepherd 632 
 
 The Centurion at Capernaum 648 
 
 Our Victory Over the World 660 
 
 Forgiveness and Obedience ' 681 
 
 The Power of Faith 695 
 
 The Inspiration of the Bible 709 
 
 "God is Love" 721 
 
 The Best Way to Study the Bible 735 
 
 Walking with God 752 
 
 What Shall the Harvest Be? 769 
 
PAGE 
 
 D. L. Moody opposite i 
 
 Mr. Moody Preaching in the Royal Opera House, 
 
 Haymarket, London xiii 
 
 Chicago Tabernacle, Erected for Mr. Moody's Services. xxiii 
 
 Ira D. Sankey opposite xiii 
 
 Daniel Confounding the Priests of Bel 446 
 
 Paul at Ephesus...'. 457 
 
 Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives 470 
 
 The Crucifixion 481 
 
 Hagar in the Wilderness 492 
 
 Ezekiel Prophesying 506 
 
 The Good Samaritan 517 
 
 Joseph Sold into Egypt 530 
 
 Noah Cursing Ham 544 
 
 The Flight Into Egypt .'. 557 
 
 Christ in the Synagogue 563 
 
 The Disciples Plucking Corn on the Sabbath 581 
 
 David Sparing Saul 601 
 
 Lazarus and the Rich Man 620 
 
 The Martyrdom of Stephen 633 
 
 Jesus and the Tribute Money 649 
 
 The Burial of Sarah 661 
 
 Christ's Entry Into Jerusalem 680 
 
 The Trial of the Faith of Abraham 694 
 
 Isaac Blessing Jacob 708 
 
 Mary Magdalene 720 
 
 The Angel at the Sepulcher 734 
 
 The Journey to Emmaus 753 
 
 The Agony in the Garden 768 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 Dwight Lyman Moody, the lay evangelist, was born 
 in the town of Northfield, Massachusetts, on the fifth of 
 February, 1837. He came of the old Puritan stock; his 
 father's and mothers families being numbered among the 
 earliest settlers of that state. His father, Edwin, owned 
 a comfortable farm-house just without the town, and a 
 few acres of stony land, the whole encumbered by a 
 mortgage. When the building trade was brisk, he worked 
 as a stone-mason, and his leisure hours he spent in culti- 
 vating his little farm. But his spirit was crushed by re- 
 verses in business, and he died suddenly after an illness 
 of a few hours. Dwight was then only four years old, 
 but the shock of that death made an impression on him 
 which he declares he has never forgotten. This blow 
 was followed by the birth of a twin boy and girl a few 
 weeks later. Thus Mrs. Moody was burdened with the 
 care of seven sons, and two daughters, of whom the 
 eldest boy was only aged fifteen. Yet this widowed 
 mother refused to part with any of her little brood. She 
 bravely set about caring for them all, and contrived to 
 have the little hands earn something for their support, by 
 tilling the garden and doing odd jobs for the neighbors. 
 She taught them every day a little Bible lesson, and 
 always accompanied them to the Unitarian church and 
 
 Sunday-school. 
 
 i 
 
11 DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 Another sorrow came on the bereaved family, through 
 the oldest boy becoming a runaway. We give Mr. 
 Moody's description of this incident, as he told it in Eng- 
 land, and because of the insight it gives into his home 
 life. 
 
 ' ' I can give you a little experience of my own family. 
 Before I was four years old, the first thing I remember 
 was the death of my father. He had been unfortunate 
 in business, and failed. Soon after his death the cred- 
 itors came in and took everything. My mother was left 
 with a large family of children. One calamity after an- 
 other swept over the entire household. Twins were 
 added to the family, and my mother was taken sick. The 
 eldest boy was fifteen years of age, and to him my mother 
 looked as a stay in her calamity, but all at once that boy 
 became a wanderer. He had been reading some of the 
 trashy novels, and the belief had seized him that he had 
 only to go away to make a fortune. Away he went. I 
 can remember how eagerly she used to look for tidings 
 of that boy; how she used to send us to the post-office to 
 see if there was a letter from him, and I recollect how 
 we used to come back with the sad news, ' No letter.' I 
 remember how in the evenings, we used to sit beside 
 her in that New England home, and we would talk about 
 our father; but the moment the name of that boy was 
 mentioned she would hush us into silence. Some nights 
 when the wind was very high, and the house, which was 
 upon a hill, would tremble at every gust, the voice of my 
 mother was raised in prayer for that wanderer who had 
 treated her so unkindly. I used to think she loved him 
 more than all of us put together, and I believe she did. 
 On a Thanksgiving day (you know that is a family day 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. Ill 
 
 in New England) she used to set a chair for him, think- 
 ing he would return home. Her family grew up, and her 
 boys left home. When I got so that I could write, I 
 sent letters all over the country, but could find no trace 
 of him. One day while in Boston, the news reached me 
 that he had returned. While in that city, I remember 
 how I used to look for him in every store; he had a mark 
 on his face, but I never got any trace. One day while 
 my mother was sitting at the door, a stranger was seen 
 coming toward the house, and when he came to the door 
 he stopped. My mother didn't know her boy. He stood 
 there with folded arms and great beard flowing down his 
 breast, his tears trickling down his face. When my 
 mother saw those tears, she cried, ' O, it's my lost son, ' 
 and entreated him to come in. But he stood still. ' No, 
 mother,' he said, ' I will not come in until I hear first 
 that you have forgiven me.' Do you believe she was not 
 willing to forgive him? Do you think she was likely to 
 keep him long standing there. She rushed to the thresh- 
 old, threw her arms around him, and breathed forgive- 
 ness." 
 
 Young Moody, at the age of seventeen, left North- 
 field, with his mother's permission, to seek employment 
 in Boston, where his uncle was in business, as a shoe 
 merchant. Mr. Holton engaged his country nephew with 
 some reluctance, and on two conditions. The lad agreed 
 to be governed by his advice, and to attend regularly the 
 Sunday-school and services of the Mount Vernon Con- 
 gregational church. Its pastor was the eloquent and 
 learned Dr. E. N. Kirk, who, in earlier years had ac- 
 complished much good as an evangelist. The lad was 
 not much impressed by the preaching, which he was not 
 
iy DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 qualified to comprehend; but the personal efforts of his 
 teacher, Mr. Edward Kimball, were blessed to his con- 
 version. Many years after, he told the story of how he 
 was saved. " When I was in Boston, I used to attend 
 a Sunday-school class, and one day, I recollect a Sab- 
 bath-school teacher came round behind the counter of 
 the shop I was to work in, and put his hand on my 
 shoulder, and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I 
 had not felt that I had a soul till then. I said, ' This is 
 a very strange thing. Here is a man who never saw me 
 until within a few days, and he is weeping over my sins, 
 and I never shed a tear about them.' But I understand 
 it now, and know what it is to have a passion for men's 
 souls and weep over their sins. I don't remember what 
 he said, but I can feel the power of that young man's 
 hand on my shoulder to-night. Young Christian men, 
 go and lay your hand on your comrade's shoulder, and 
 point him to Jesus to-night. Well, he got me up to the 
 school, and it was not long before I was brought into the 
 kingdom of God." Years afterward, when Mr. Moody 
 was preaching in Boston, he was permitted to lead to 
 the Savior a son of that teacher, who found peace in 
 believing just at his own age of seventeen. Thus the 
 seed sown on the waters bore in due time the sweetest 
 fruitage for the sower. 
 
 The young convert was unpromising enough at first 
 in outward appearance. He knew very little of the 
 Scriptures, and he was not grounded in evangelical truth. - 
 Besides, his bashful shyness in the presence of cultured, 
 refined Christians, his poor command of words to ex- 
 press his thoughts, and his broken, awkward sentences, 
 made him, in the language of his teacher, very "un- 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. V 
 
 likely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided 
 views of gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere 
 of public usefulness." Therefore, it was that he was not 
 accepted into membership until May, 1856, a year after 
 his first application. He remained but a few months 
 longer in Boston. He longed for a wider field of use- 
 fulness, where his energy in business and religious work 
 would be less trammeled. So, in September, 1856, he 
 betook himself to Chicago with testimonials, which 
 secured him a business engagement as salesman in the 
 shoe trade. He also entered the Plymouth Congrega- 
 tional church, and showed his earnest spirit by renting 
 four pews, which he kept filled with young men and boys. 
 He desired to work in the service of prayer; but the 
 brethren were not patient enough to suffer his crude ex- 
 perience, and suggestions were not infrequent that he 
 could best serve the Lord by silence. 
 
 Mr. Moody's first start in the work of reaching souls 
 was obtained through a little mission school. He offered 
 himself as teacher, and was told he might attend if he 
 would bring his own scholars. So that week he collected 
 together some eighteen ragged boys, and marched in at 
 their head on the next Sunday. He liked such work so 
 well that he set about further visitations in the by-streets, 
 and soon had the school filled. He also busied himself 
 in distributing tracts, and in looking after the good of 
 the seamen at the wharves. His ardent spirit soon im- 
 pelled him to set up a mission for himself, in a neglected 
 and degraded section of North Chicago. He paid for 
 the hire of an empty tavern, and gathered together the 
 unclean and rude children of the neighborhood for Sun- 
 day-school services, while the intemperate and ignorant 
 
VI D WIGHT LYMAN MOODYo 
 
 adults were reached in the evening meetings. The poor 
 little ones were won over to attention by gifts of maple 
 sugar, and a liberal lot of hymns and stories. Just at 
 this time, Mr. Reynolds, of Peoria, visited this humble 
 mission. His description of the service is invaluable, as 
 illustrating the progressive growth of the lay evangelist 
 in strength and usefulness. ' ' The first meeting I ever 
 saw him at," he said several years since, "was in a little 
 old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloonkeeper. 
 Mr. Moody had got the place to hold the meetings in at 
 night. I went there a little late, and the first thing I 
 saw was a man standing up, with a few tallow candles 
 around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to 
 him the story of the prodigal son; and a great many of 
 the words he could not make out, and had to skip. I 
 thought, if the Lord can ever use such an instrument as 
 that for his honor and glory, it will astonish me. After 
 that meeting was over, Mr. Moody said to me, 
 'Reynolds, I have got only one talent. I have no edu- 
 cation, but I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to 
 do something for Him. I want you to pray for me.' I 
 have never ceased from that day to this, morning and 
 night, to pray for that devoted Christian soldier. I have 
 watched him since then, have had counsel with him, and 
 know him thoroughly; and, for consistent walk and con- 
 versation, I have never met a man to equal him. It 
 astounds me when I look back and see what Mr. Moody 
 was, and then what he is under God to-day. The last 
 time I heard from him, his injunction was, ' Pray forme 
 every day; pray now that the Lord will keep me humble. ' ' 
 Henceforth, missionary efforts were the uppermost 
 concern in his daily life. The growth of his school led to 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. Vll 
 
 the occupation of the North Market hall, and John V. 
 Farwell, a liberal merchant, who supplied benches for the 
 scholars, had the grace to become its superintendent. 
 Under Moody's vigorous canvassing, the average attend- 
 ance was kept up to six hundred and fifty, and sixty 
 teachers were obtained. His engagements as a traveling 
 salesman were not suffered to interfere with these Sunday 
 duties, and he was rarely compelled to be absent. As 
 the hall was used till a late hour on Saturday night for 
 dancing, it was his custom for six years to clean out the 
 dirt, and put the room in decent condition for the ser- 
 vices. And he took care to let his light shine wherever 
 he went. He feared neither drunkards nor rumsellers, 
 deists nor infidels, for he felt himself a match for any ad- 
 versary when armed with the sword of the Spirit, and 
 strengthened by prayer. When the children of Roman 
 Catholic parents stoned his windows, he at once sought 
 redress of their bishop, and so won his confidence by a 
 devout simplicity of spirit that immunity was secured for 
 the future. His courageous avowal of his faith was 
 startling to timid believers. When he was solicitous 
 about the salvation of an acquaintance or a stranger, he 
 hesitated not to kneel, and offer prayer for his conver- 
 sion then and there, no matter whether they were out in 
 the streets or traveling in a railroad car. His faith and 
 spirit of consecration waxed stronger by the study of 
 God's word and the constant fruitage of his life in good 
 works. In i860, after a time of soul-searching in prayer, 
 he determined to give all his time to God as an evangel- 
 ist. When his employer inquired how he expected to 
 support himself, he replied, "God will provide for me if 
 He wishes me to keep on, and I shall keep on till I am 
 
Vlll DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 obliged to stop." His impulse in this personal work for 
 souls was derived from the zeal of one of his teachers, 
 who was dying of consumption, and who was permitted, 
 before his death, to lead every one of his large class to 
 the Savior. He reduced his expenses to a minimum by 
 doing without a home, so that he slept on a bench in the 
 room of the Young Men's Christian association, and 
 spent but little for food. After a time, contributions 
 came to him from friends, and he was appointed a city 
 missionary, so that his means for assisting the destitute 
 were much enlarged. He commenced then to fulfill a 
 vow by speaking to one unconverted man every day. 
 Sometimes his tender approaches were rejected with 
 scorn and cursing, but again and again persons who had 
 vilified him were drawn by the power of a conscience 
 under conviction to seek the intercession of his prayers, 
 that they might be led to the Savior. 
 
 In the spirit of reliance on the leading of the Lord, the 
 evangelist was married, on the 28th of August, 1862, to 
 Miss Emma C. Revell. This Christian lady was a help- 
 ful assistant in his meetings, and her sympathy made 
 their little fireside a refuge of rest to him amid his toils. 
 For years their home was a small and plain cottage. But 
 its hospitality become proverbial, for gospel-workers and 
 reclaimed prodigals were entertained without stint. The 
 gift of a daughter and a son made the father more sus- 
 ceptible to the thoughts and impulses of a child-life. He 
 took care always to remain in close communion with 
 their budding minds, and his sermons often have graphic 
 illustrations of the methods he took to make them familiar 
 with the fundamental truths of the faith. Meanwhile his 
 daily living was wholly committed to the providence of 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. IX 
 
 God. His mind was absorbed in watching over the souls 
 of the throngs about him, and he obeyed the Scriptural 
 injunction to take no anxious thought for the morrow. 
 He lived the placid life befitting a child of God, having 
 the trustful faith that his Father would supply his needs 
 while he was busy as a worker in His vineyard. One 
 morning he said to his wife, " I have no money, and the 
 house is without supplies. It looks as if the Lord had 
 had enough of me in this mission work, and is going to 
 send me back again to sell boots and shoes." But a day 
 or two later brought to him two checks, one of fifty dol- 
 lars for himself, and the other for his school. He ac- 
 cepted this gift as a token from the Lord that he was 
 held in favor. This instance was but one of many of a 
 similar character. His unselfish labors raised up for him 
 many friends, and these gave him, on New Year's day, 
 1868, the lease of a pleasant and furnished house. 
 
 This whole season was one abounding in labors. Be- 
 sides his army services, Mr. Moody was keenly alive to 
 the needs of his mission at the North Market hall. His 
 school numbered a thousand scholars. The congrega- 
 tion he had gathered together now contained three hun- 
 dred adults converted under his preaching. Thus had 
 grown up, wholly without human design, a stanch and 
 inseparable congregation under a lay pastor. This was 
 organized as an independent fold, on the basis of the 
 evangelical faith. In 1863, a church building was 
 erected on Illinois street, at a cost of $20,000. Never 
 had a people a more faithful and energetic pastor to 
 watch over their welfare. Nor was he in the least for- 
 getful of the Young Men's Christian association of Chi- 
 cago. By his efforts its noon services for prayer were 
 
X DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 attended steadily by a thousand people. When its mem- 
 bers were intent on obtaining a permanent hall, they 
 elected him president in 1865 . Their expectations were 
 fulfilled by the speedy erection of Farwell hall, and 
 its dedication on the 29th of September, 1867. That 
 building was destroyed by fire within a few months, but 
 his exhaustless energy soon reared a second edifice on the 
 same site. On Sunday evenings he used to preach in its 
 hall after spending the morning in his own pulpit, and in 
 the afternoon superintending ten hundred school children. 
 
 When Farwell hall was dedicated, as ' ' the first hall 
 ever erected for Christian young men," Mr. Moody con- 
 fessed his faith that, by the Lord's blessing, a religious 
 influence was to go out from them that " should extend 
 through every county in the state, through every state 
 in the union, and finally, crossing the waters, should help 
 to bring the whole world to God." 
 
 Mr. Moody has been for years peculiarly a Bible 
 Christian. Again and again friends have suggested to 
 him certain courses of study, or the reading of particular 
 books. But the pressure of his active duties as an evan- 
 gelist has always intervened and prevented him from 
 making any effort for the attainment of a theological 
 education. Hence, he has been providentially driven to 
 depend upon his personal study of the Bible itself, as its 
 own best interpreter. The solemn injunction of Holy 
 Writ to "preach the word," and the word only, was 
 impressed upon his mind by Harry Morehouse, ''the 
 boy preacher," of Manchester, who told him, " You need 
 only one book for the study of the Bible. Since I have 
 been an evangelist, I have been the man of one book. If 
 a text of Scripture troubles me, I ask another text to ex- 
 
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. XI 
 
 plain it; and if this will not answer, I carry it straight to 
 the Lord." He met this lad, then aged seventeen, in his 
 first visit to England and Ireland in 1867. A few months 
 later, Morehouse visited Chicago, and delighted Mr. 
 Moody by delivering seven Bible readings upon the love 
 of God. He brought a multitude of passages to illustrate 
 the depth of spiritual meaning in the text of John, iii, 16, 
 which Luther has well termed "the little Gospel." This 
 intercourse came to him as a new revelation of the won- 
 ders of God's word and love. From that time his two 
 accepted guide-books were Cruden's Concordance and the 
 little Bible text-books. These aids enabled him to trace 
 any word or doctrine through the Holy Scriptures. In 
 Mr. Moody's second visit to England, in the spring of 
 1872, he learned from the devout Plymouth Brethren to 
 appreciate and appropriate the promises which abound 
 in the Bible of the second coming of Christ. " I have felt 
 like working three times as hard," he has stated, "since 
 I came to understand that my Lord was coming back 
 again. I look on this world as a wrecked vessel. God 
 has given me a life-boat, and said to me, ' Moody, save 
 all you can.'" He was also impressed by the prediction 
 of Henry Varley, the Bible reader, ' ' It remains for the 
 world to see what the Lord can do with a man wholly 
 consecrated to Christ. " Again, at another time, he 
 heard one Christian ask another of himself, ' ' Is this 
 young man all O. O.?" meaning, " Is he out and out for 
 Christ?" He has confessed that this question burned 
 down into his soul, and taught him that it meant a good 
 deal to be O. O. for Christ. 
 
 The terrible fire of October, 1871, which swept Chi- 
 cago into a whirlwind of flame, laid in ruins all the build- 
 
Xll DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 
 
 ings that were associated with his labors. It also sepa- 
 rated from him his yoke-fellow, Mr. Ira D. Sankey, who 
 had joined him as a gospel singer only four months be- 
 fore. But the evangelist was not cast down. Contribu- 
 tions came to his aid from his friends at the east in an- 
 swer to his appeals. Within three months he had a 
 large frame tabernacle erected, measuring seventy-five 
 by one hundred and nine feet. All his services were re- 
 sumed, and the building also served as a storehouse of 
 supplies for the impoverished district. His plans were 
 laid out for the completion of a permanent church edi- 
 fice, and an appeal for aid was made to the Sunday- 
 school children of the land. While this was in progress, 
 the two yoke-fellows, after a patient waiting on the 
 Lord for guidance, accepted an invitation to visit the 
 British isles as evangelists. Mr. Moody, after four 
 months of self-searching inquiry, had made an entire 
 consecration of his life to the Lord, and was fired with a 
 baptism of the Spirit which, as he avowed later, made 
 him eager * ' to go round the world and tell the perish- 
 ing millions of a Savior's love." 
 
< 
 w S 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 The mission of the gospel preacher and the gospel- 
 singer to the British Isles was one of implicit faith and 
 of unselfish zeal for the saving of sinners. The secret 
 motive of Mr. Moody was " to win ten thousand souls 
 to Christ." As far as worldly inducements were con- 
 cerned, the circumstances were such as to forbid, rather 
 than to favor, the venture across three thousand miles of 
 sea. No influential association had extended an invita- 
 tion to them, not a single individual had offered to help 
 meet their personal expenses. Nor did these two com- 
 panions, though they were about to take their families 
 with them, expect or desire such a guarantee. They 
 were united in the purpose to commit their ways entirely 
 unto the Lord. To that end, they agreed beforehand to 
 accept no payment for their services from any person or 
 committee, and as well to refrain from any collections 
 or enterprise for money-making. In such a spirit, they 
 set forth, and on the 17th of June, 1873, they 
 landed at Liverpool. There news met them that two of 
 the three gentlemen who had invited them to England 
 had died. The third, who lived at York, advised them 
 to delay a month, but instead they hastened to that town 
 the same night. All things human combined to dis- 
 courage them. But their utter weakness was the promise 
 
 xm 
 
XIV MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 of success, for it gave the Lord the opportunity to glorify 
 Himself by the mouth of His chosen messengers. 
 
 Mr. Moody stood forth a plain man of the people. He 
 was in thorough sympathy with the concerns of the great 
 mass of humanity, and able to express religious truth in 
 homely, vivid speech. He possessed a stalwart body, 
 and a grand vitality, which qualified him to undertake 
 tremendous toils without danger to. his health. A man 
 of excellent executive capacity, and trained in the details 
 of secular and religious business, he was able to organize 
 enterprises on a vast scale, and to direct a multitude of 
 assistants, so that congregations of many thousands 
 could be handled as quietly as an ordinary assembly. A 
 natural, self-reliant man, warped by neither pride nor 
 vanity, he was wont as a speaker to forget his own in- 
 dividuality in the hunger of his heart for the salvation of 
 his hearers. A student of the Bible alone, and an -un- 
 questioning believer of its every statement as coming 
 from the Lord; an evangelist bravely equipped for his 
 responsible calling by years of personal experience with 
 inquirers and doubters; a man of prayer, who was often in 
 secret communion with the Lord of Hosts, refreshing his 
 strength for the perpetual conflict of life; he was also, 
 as the full fruition of these characteristics, a Christian 
 closely conformed fo the image of his Master by the in- 
 dwelling Spirit of God, and because he had withholden 
 no part of his nature from an unreserved consecration to 
 His will. 
 
 This ministry for preaching and singing the gospel 
 began in the cathedral town of York. At the first 
 prayer-meeting, held on Sunday morning, in a small room 
 of the Association building, only four persons were pres- 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XV 
 
 ent; and Mr. Moody has characterized that as the best 
 service he ever attended. The clergy looked coldly on 
 the evangelists as intruders, and most of the churches 
 were closed to them. They labored on bravely against 
 these discouragements for a month, and were comforted 
 by seeing above two hundred converts to Christ. Their 
 work at Sunderland began on Sunday, July 27, at the 
 invitation of a Baptist pastor. The ministers still held 
 aloof, and even the Young Men's Christian association 
 eyed them suspiciously for a week before offering the 
 hand of fellowship. But the meetings steadily waxed 
 larger. 
 
 The evangelists were invited to Newcastle-on-the- 
 Tyne, by the chief ministers of that town, and were 
 heartily sustained by the leaders of the congregations. 
 And now Mr. Moody confessed his hope. " We are on 
 the eve of a great revival which may cover Great Britain, 
 and perhaps make itself felt in America. And why may 
 not the fire burn as long as I live? When this revival 
 spirit dies, may I die with it." His prophetic words met 
 an immediate fulfillment. All the meetings were thronged 
 with attentive listeners, and as many as thirty-four ser- 
 vices were held in a single week. A noonday prayer- 
 meeting was organized, while special efforts were made 
 to reach the factory hands and business men. An all- 
 day-meeting was held on September 10, wherein 
 seventeen hundred participated. One hour was spent in 
 Bible reading, another on the promises, and the last in 
 an examination of what the Scriptures teach concerning 
 heaven. The town was wonderfully awakened, and every 
 night sinners were drawn to the uplifted Savior. 
 
 Edinburgh was prepared for the manifestation of a 
 
XVI MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 signal blessing by a series of union prayer-meetings, held 
 in October and November, which softened and unified 
 the hearts of Christians of various names. Hence it 
 was that the evangelists were welcomed in such a spirit 
 of sympathy that captious criticism was unthought of. 
 The ministry of song was an unheard-of innovation. 
 Yet the rooted aversion of the Scottish people to the 
 singing of aught but psalms gave way quickly to the 
 evident testimony of the Spirit to the spirituality of His 
 messages and the tenderness of His voice. On the first 
 day, Sunday, November 23, the Music hall was thronged 
 with two thousand auditors, and many more were ex- 
 cluded. Five hundred met at noon on Monday for 
 prayer, and that attendance was soon doubled. Meet- 
 ings for inquirers was held after each service. Three 
 hundred in the first week confessed their sins had been 
 forgiven. Their ages ranged from seventy-five to eleven. 
 Students and soldiers, poor and rich, the backsliding, in- 
 temperate, and skeptical, were all represented. The 
 largest halls were found to be too small to accommodate 
 the eager audiences. A striking case of conversion was 
 that of a notorious infidel, the chairman of a club of free- 
 thinkers. He declared his utter disbelief in the value of 
 prayer, and defied Mr. Moody to test its power on him. 
 The evangelist accepted the challenge in faith, and re- 
 membered him continually in his petitions till he heard 
 of his finding Christ, months afterwards. An impressive 
 watch-meeting was held on the last night of the year, 
 1873, and a special blessing was besought for the British 
 people. The week of prayer, from the 4th to the 
 nth of January, 1874, was observed throughout all 
 Scotland, as a season of united prayer for invoking the 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XV11 
 
 Lord to visit the nation and the entire world in mercy. 
 The most remarkable feature of this revival has been de- 
 scribed as "the presence and the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, the solemn awe, the prayerful, believing, expect- 
 ant spirit, the anxious inquiry of unsaved souls, and the 
 longing of believers to grow more like Christ; their hun- 
 gering and thirsting after holiness." Similar characteris- 
 tics have marked the advent of these yoke-fellows in 
 every community. This mission in Edinburgh, which 
 lasted till the 21st of January, 1874, resulted in 
 adding three thousand to the city churches. 
 
 At Dundee, meetings were held in the open air, at 
 which from ten to sixteen thousand were present. Four 
 hundred converts attended the meeting for praise and in- 
 struction. The city of Glasgow was reached on Sunday, 
 February 8. The first audience consisted of three 
 thousand Sunday-school teachers; the prayer-meeting 
 opened with half that number. The Crystal palace, 
 which held above five thousand, was always crowded, 
 though admission could only be had by ticket. To meet 
 the emergency, special meetings were organized for 
 young men and young women, inquirers, workingmen, 
 and the intemperate. Seventeen thousand signatures to 
 the pledge were secured here. So the work of awaken- 
 ing went on for three months, steadily increasing in 
 power. On the last Sunday afternoon, a great audience 
 of some twenty or thirty thousand gathered in the palace 
 garden, and hung on the words of Mr. Moody, as he 
 spoke from the seat of a carriage. More than three thou- 
 sand united to the city congregations, the large propor- 
 tion of whom were under twenty-five. Short visits were 
 then made to Paisley, Greenock and Gourock. In the 
 
XV111 MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 summer a tour was taken through the Highlands, for the 
 sowing of the seed of the word. Meetings were held in 
 the open air at Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness and else- 
 where, and many souls were won. In Ireland, the com- 
 mon people heard the preacher gladly. The good work 
 began at Belfast, on Sunday, September 6, 1874. To 
 reach as many as possible, separate sessions were had for 
 women and for men, for professing Christians, for the 
 unconverted, and for inquirers, for young men and for 
 boys. Huge gatherings were also addressed in the Bo- 
 tanic gardens, a space of six acres being filled with atten- 
 tive hearers. On Monday, September 27, a remarka- 
 ble meeting of eight hours for inquirers was held, where- 
 in above two hundred young men came unto Jesus and 
 took His yoke upon them. And when the young con- 
 verts were collected into a farewell-meeting, tickets for 
 2, 150 were granted to such applicants. 
 
 Dublin, five-sixths of whose inhabitants were not Prot- 
 estant, awoke into a newness of religious life on the ad- 
 vent of the evangelists. From the 25th of Octo- 
 ber to the 29th of November, the whole city was 
 stirred in a wonderful way. The great exhibition palace 
 contained audiences in the evenings and on Sundays of 
 from twelve to fifteen thousand. At the prayer-meetings 
 and Bible-readings, the number often exceeded two 
 thousand. Many Roman Catholics were attentive 
 listeners, and parish priests as well. The" stillness of 
 these vast assemblies was very marked. Truly the Lord 
 was faithful in answering the prayer Mr. Moody continu- 
 ally offers in private, "O God, keep the people still, hold 
 the meeting in Thy hand." These labors ended with a 
 three days' convention, at which eight hundred ministers 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XIX 
 
 attended, from all parts of Ireland. Above two thousand 
 young converts confessed their new-born faith. 
 
 Manchester for eight months had besought a blessing 
 on its people; and these preparatory services were closed 
 with a communion in which two thousand Christians 
 united. The month of December was devoted here to 
 evangelistic work. In spite of the wintry weather, the 
 halls were crowded, and overflow meetings had to be 
 organized. Here, as elsewhere, the large proportion of 
 men in attendance was noticeable. The city was mapped 
 out into districts, and the duty of distributing cards at 
 every dwelling was assigned to a large corps of volun- 
 teers. On one side of these was printed the hymn 
 ' ' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by;" and on the other, a 
 short address by Mr. Moody, his text being Revelations, 
 iii, 20. The efforts of the Young Men's Christian asso- 
 ciation to purchase a suitable building met with a cordial 
 indorsement, and a fourth of the entire amount needed 
 was obtained at the first public meeting. 
 
 In Sheffield, the scheme of house-to-house visitation 
 had to be abandoned, in order to secure the co-operation 
 of the clergy of the Church of England. The opening 
 meeting was held on New Year's eve, and the address in 
 that watch-night service was upon ' ' Work. " The great 
 congregation, in response to Mr. Moody's request, finished 
 the old year and began the new on their knees. For a 
 fortnight, the dwellers in this industrial town collected in 
 such numbers as to pack the halls and the sidewalks 
 about them, so that the evangelist had frequently to 
 speak in the open air. The work at Birmingham, "the 
 toy-shop of the world," was also limited for lack of time. 
 The spacious Town hall was crowded on January 17, 
 
XX MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 1875; an d for the other gatherings, even Bingley hall, 
 which held twelve thousand, proved too small. Another 
 Christian convention was held, at which above a thousand 
 ministers attended. Sixteen hundred converts received 
 tickets to the special meeting for counsel. After pausing 
 a week for a vacation, these lay apostles began their 
 ministry of a month at Liverpool on February 7. Vic- 
 toria hall, a wooden structure able to shelter eleven 
 thousand, was expressly erected for their reception. It 
 was crowded at all the night services, while an average 
 of six thousand attended the Bible lectures and noon 
 meetings for prayer. These three services were held 
 every day except Saturday, when these devoted laborers 
 took the rest which their over-taxed energies so imper- 
 atively demanded. The house-to-house visitation was 
 resumed here, and efforts were made to have a personal 
 talk with the non-churchgoers. The corner-stone for 
 the new hall of the Young Men's Christian association 
 was laid, and a convention held for two days, which was 
 largely attended by ministers and laymen. 
 
 Four months were devoted to evangelizing the gigantic 
 metropolis of London. Four centers were selected for 
 preaching; Agricultural hall, at Islington, North London, 
 could seat fourteen thousand and give standing room for 
 six thousand more; Bow Road hall, in the extreme east, 
 had ten thousand sittings; the Royal Opera house, in 
 the west end, was in the aristocratic quarter of West- 
 minster; and Victoria theater, in the south, was used 
 until Camberwell hall was completed in June. This 
 gospel campaign — the mightiest ever undertaken by any 
 evangelist — was preceded by a course of union prayer- 
 meetings for five months, that the Lord might prepare 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XXI 
 
 the way for a glorious manifestation of His power by 
 purging the hearts of His own followers. A private con- 
 ference was also held in advance with fifteen hundred of 
 the city clergy, in order to explain the usual plan of pro- 
 cedure, and remove any misapprehensions that might 
 exist. The whole city was parceled out for canvassing, 
 and countless bands of yoke-fellows were sent out to 
 leave at every dwelling the tract drawn up by Mr. Moody, 
 and to tender an invitation to the services. Among these 
 laborers was an old woman aged eighty-five years, who 
 fulfilled her duties faithfully, and met everywhere words 
 of kindness. This wonderful mission was opened on 
 Tuesday evening, the 9th of March, at Islington. 
 For a time, the services were met with mockery and 
 ribald speeches without, by disorderly men and women. 
 But the demonstrations soon subsided, as the real piety 
 of the speakers became evident. Fully eighty thousand 
 attended the services of the first three days, and forty- 
 five thousand heard the three addresses on the Sunday 
 following. At the Royal Opera house, the nobility and 
 gentry of England were directly reached by Bible-read- 
 ing, and members of the royal family were frequently 
 present. The last gospel-meeting was greater than any 
 preceding, and a great number arose to receive the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. The final meeting of thanksgiving was 
 held at Mildmay Park Conference hall, on July 12. 
 Seven hundred ministers were present to say farewell to 
 the evangelist, whom they were so loath to see depart. 
 Dr. A. Bonar testified that the work of increase was still 
 going on in Glasgow, with at least seven thousand mem- 
 bers already added to its churches. Other ministers bore 
 witness to the abundant fruit of the revival. Then, after 
 
XXll MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 silent prayer, the two evangelists hastily withdrew, not 
 daring to expose themselves to the ordeal of parting with 
 so many dear associates. They had held 285 meet- 
 ings in London; these were attended by fully 2,500,000 
 people; the expenses were $140,000. These companions 
 came together at the final meetings in Liverpool. They 
 sailed homeward on the 6th of August, attended by 
 many loving prayers, and arrived in New York on the 
 14th. 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The gospel campaign in the union began at Brooklyn, 
 on Sunday, October 24, 1875, an d continued there until 
 November 19. The rink, on Clermont avenue, which 
 had sittings for five thousand, was selected for the preach- 
 ing services, while Mr. Talmage's tabernacle was devoted 
 to prayer-meetings. A choir of 250 Christian singers 
 was led by Mr. Sankey. 
 
 In Philadelphia, a spacious freight depot, at Thirteenth 
 and Market streets, was improvised to serve as a hall. 
 Chairs were provided for about ten thousand listeners, 
 besides a chorus of six hundred singers seated on the 
 platform. The expenses were met by voluntary con- 
 tributions outside, which amounted to $30,000. A corps 
 of three hundred Christians acted as ushers, and a like 
 number of selected workers served in the three inquiry- 
 rooms. At the opening service, early on Sunday morn- 
 ing, November 21, nine thousand were present, in spite 
 of a drenching storm. In the afternoon, almost twice as 
 many were turned away as found entrance. Henceforth, 
 until the close, on January 16, the attendance and popu- 
 lar interest never slackened. A special service was held 
 on Thanksgiving day, and a watch-meeting on New 
 
 xxiii 
 
XXIV MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Year's eve, from nine to twelve. Efforts were made to 
 reach all classes of the community, and the meetings for 
 young men were specially blessed. A careful computa- 
 tion puts the total attendance at 9,000,000, and the con- 
 verts at 4,000. Before leaving the city, a col- 
 lection was made on behalf of the new hall of the Young 
 Men's Christian association, and about $100,000 were 
 obtained. A Christian convention was held on the 
 19th and 20th of January, and pertinent sugges- 
 tions about the methods of evangelistic work were given 
 for the benefit of the two thousand ministers and laymen 
 in attendance from outlying towns. 
 
 For the mission in New York city, the hippodrome at 
 Madison and Fourth avenues was leased, at a rental of 
 $1,500 weekly, and $10,000 were expended in its pre- 
 paration. It was partitioned into two halls, one seating 
 6,500, the other 4. 000, the intent being to use the second 
 for overflow meetings, and so bring such large congre- 
 gations more completely under the speaker's control. A 
 choir of eight hundred singers and corps of lay workers 
 were organized. The deep concern of the people to hear 
 the plain gospel preached and sung was as deep here 
 among all classes as elsewhere, and the attendance was 
 unflagging from February 7 to April 19. Again a 
 Christian conference was convened for two days, at 
 which Christian workers from the north and east took 
 counsel together. At the final meeting for young con- 
 verts, 3, 500 were present by ticket. 
 
 Mr. Moody spent two weeks in May with his friend 
 Major Whittle, at Augusta, Georgia, while Mr. Sankey 
 took a rest at Newcastle. He preached with his usual 
 fervor to large congregations. He traveled northward 
 
MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. XXV 
 
 to Chicago by way of Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis 
 and Kansas City, holding meetings on the way. His 
 new church edifice on Chicago avenue was opened on 
 his arrival. It was a large brick building with stone 
 facings, measuring 120 by 100 feet, and having a bell- 
 tower 120 feet high. Its entire cost was $100,000, all 
 of which was paid before its dedication. August and 
 September were spent in a visit to the old Northfield 
 homestead, and in little tours to Greenfield, Springfield 
 and Brattleboro. 
 
 Chicago gave the heartiest welcome to its own Moody 
 and Sankey in October, where they resumed the mission 
 work suspended by them three years before. A taber- 
 nacle was erected which could shelter ten thousand, and 
 a choir of three hundred singers was organized. The 
 city pastors gave a most cordial support, and its populace, 
 many of whom had seen their homes twice burnt to the 
 ground, were eager to listen to the earnest messages of 
 free salvation. The great northwest was now moved, as 
 never before, especially when tidings came of the sudden 
 death of Philip P. Bliss and his wife, at Ashtabula, on 
 December 29. Within three months 4,800 converts 
 were recorded in Chicago. 
 
 The evangelical Christians of Boston had long been 
 waiting on the Lord for a special blessing on their city. 
 A permanent brick edifice was built on Tremont street, 
 able to seat a congregation of six thousand. Dr. Tourjee 
 gathered a body of two thousand Christian singers, and 
 organized it into five distinct choirs. The thoughtful 
 addresses of Rev. Joseph Cook were of use in preparing 
 that cultured and critical city for the advent of the evan- 
 gelists. And the result of the religious services was 
 
XXVI MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 almost beyond expectation. Instead of a single noon- 
 meeting for prayer, seven or eight sprang up throughout 
 the city, with numbers varying from two hundred to 
 i, 500. Ninety churches co-operated in a house-to-house 
 visitation, and two thousand visitors were enrolled into 
 these bands of yoke-fellows. Throughout all New Eng- 
 land, the quickened activities of the churches were un- 
 mistakable. And the evangelical faith met a more re- 
 spectful hearing from its thinking classes than had been 
 witnessed for a hundred years. 
 
MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Shortly after his return to America Mr. Moody had 
 decided to make Northfield his home, and for some years 
 was kept busy planning and executing the erection of insti- 
 tutes and schools that have in later years given Northfield 
 a world reputation. 
 
 Northfield is today the physical evidence of Moody's 
 greatness as an educator as well as an evangelist. When 
 in 1875 Moody, accompanied by Mr. Sankey, returned to 
 America after an epoch-making tour of revivalism in Great 
 Britain, it was expected that the evangelist would select 
 Chicago for his home, as it had formerly been. But Moody 
 had larger plans, and recognized that for the rest of his life 
 he was to be a world evangelist without an abiding city. 
 He would have to retire occasionally for a brief respite from 
 his public labors and provide a shelter for his family. It 
 was this twin purpose, as described by Mr. Moody himself, 
 that first turned his thoughts to Northfield, his birthplace, 
 as a permanent home. Nowhere could a more restful spot 
 have been found. The trees which line the long, wide ave- 
 nue in double rows on each side are tall and of vast girth 
 and in the hottest days create ample shade. The old-fash- 
 ioned white houses stand some distance from the road and 
 from each other, and are mostly surrounded with lawns 
 and flower beds. The old homestead which was Mr. 
 Moody's birthplace was occupied by his mother until her 
 
 xxvii 
 
XXV111 MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 death a few years ago. It is a plain, old farmhouse, front- 
 ing upon a country road which branches from the main 
 street of the village and winds easterly up the hillside tow- 
 ard a mountainous district. It looks out upon orchards 
 and meadows and has a large tree in its front dooryard. 
 
 When Mr. Moody decided to make a permanent home in 
 Northfield he bought for about $3,000 a plain but roomy 
 frame house, with grounds, at the north end of the town 
 near his mother's house. The building fronts on the main 
 road. To the building as Mr. Moody found it he made 
 additions from time to time as they were required. His 
 study was on the first floor near the entrance. Here was 
 his working library. A fine clock, much admired by vis- 
 itors, was sent to him by a lady in England who had been 
 helped in the Christian life by Moody's illustration of a 
 pendulum. Everything about the house was characterized 
 by simplicity and the best conditions of effective work. In 
 the heart of Northfield Rev. Dr. Pentecost of Brooklyn also 
 purchased a commodious residence, and still further south 
 is a modest white cottage which Mr. Sankey also bought 
 and fitted up as a summer home, to be near his fellow 
 evangelist. 
 
 Mr. Moody was no sooner domiciled in Northfield than 
 he began to turn his attention to remedying the lack of 
 educational facilities for the young people of the neighbor- 
 hood. He was still a tremendous worker in the outside 
 evangelistic field, but whenever he returned to Northfield 
 the desire to benefit the young with schooling facilities was 
 uppermost. His own early education had been deficient, 
 and it became a fixed purpose of his life to remove a similar 
 deficiency for the new generation of young people growing 
 up in Northfield and vicinity. He first planned a school 
 for girls. He built a small addition to his own house, with 
 room for eight girls, and when twenty girls had been ad- 
 
MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXIX 
 
 mitted to these cramped quarters, with others seeking 
 entrance, he built a small brick dormitory and classroom 
 on the other side of the street. This was also soon over- 
 crowded, and Mr. Moody, with the help of H. N. F. Mar- 
 shall, a retired Boston merchant, bought a hillside farm 
 adjoining his own and his mother's holdings to the north. 
 Plans for a building were begun and in 1879 the handsome 
 brick building now known as East hall was erected. 
 
 Its situation is more commanding than arty of the other 
 buildings put up later. It affords a superb view to the 
 west and north. The foreground is the eastern slope of 
 the Connecticut valley and the river can be seen at inter- 
 vals throughout many miles of its winding course. The 
 western slope of the valley, partly wooded, culminates in a 
 range of forest-clad hills. In the direction of Vermont is 
 a wide landscape, fading into distant mountain peaks. East 
 hall cost about $30,000, was designed as a dormitory and 
 accommodates sixty students. The small brick building 
 near Mr. Moody's house was for some time used in con- 
 nestion with it as a recitation hall. An additional dormi- 
 tory was remodeled out of a large dwelling house farther 
 north and named Bonar hall, after Rev. Dr. Bonar of Glas- 
 gow. This latter building was destroyed by fire in March, 
 1886. 
 
 From the first Mr. Moody had kept down the charge of 
 board and tuition for his girls to $100 a year. The ex- 
 pense for each student was about $160 a year, the balance 
 being made up by benevolent contributions. Applications 
 increased at such a rate that it was decided in 188 1 to build 
 another large dormitory. Moody was himself absent in 
 England during most of the next three years, but during 
 his absence American friends and coworkers put up a large 
 brick dormitory, costing about $60,000. The building was 
 finshed in 1884 an d was named Marquand hall. Its site is 
 
XXX MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 to the northwest of East hall. The building is used entirely 
 as a dormitory and accommodates about eighty students. 
 About midway between Marquand hall and East hall a 
 handsome building of brick and granite, called Recitation 
 hall, was completed in 1885. The cost of the latter build- 
 ing, like a similar one afterward put up at Mount Hermon, 
 was borne by the hymn-book fund. Moody used to say 
 when pointing to either structure: "Air. Sankey sang that 
 building up." 
 
 In fitting up Recitation hall it was arranged that parti- 
 tions could be removed and the whole thrown into one 
 auditorium. This hall has been the scene of many of the 
 most memorable gatherings in Xorthfield of later years. 
 In the same building are chemical, physical and botanical 
 laboratories. A library building has also been given by 
 generous friends. Improvements have been made on the 
 grounds, which now have a parklike aspect. Winding 
 drives connect the buildings with the main thoroughfare. 
 The seminary grounds include more than 250 acres. There 
 is an artificial lake, whose cost was borne by John YYana- 
 maker of Philadelphia. Many additions and improvements 
 have been made within recent years, but the seminary rules 
 are the same as at the institution's humble beginning. In- 
 stead of scores the pupils are now numbered by hundreds. 
 The curriculum is as thorough as in most girls' schools, 
 with the addition of specific Christian training. A graduate 
 of Wellesley college, Miss Ewlyn S. Hall, organized the 
 original teaching staff, which is still noted for proficiency. 
 
 While the Xorthfield seminary was still in its infant state 
 Air. Moody decided to have also a school for boys. His 
 first purchase for this end was a 400-acre farm in the town 
 of Gill, about four miles from Xorthfield, in a southwest- 
 erly direction, across the Connecticut. He bought 200 
 acres first for $7,000 and a little later the other 200 acres 
 
MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXXI 
 
 for $5,500. The Connecticut River railroad traverses the 
 site. The height upon which Mr. Moody decided to build 
 his boys' school is now called Mount Hermon. There is 
 a picturesque drive from Northfield to Mount Hermon. 
 The river is crossed by a wire-rope ferry and there is tele- 
 phone communication between the buildings of both insti- 
 tutions. The money with which the Mount Hermon prop- 
 erty was bought was the gift of Hiram Camp, who wrote 
 his check for $25,000. 
 
 At first the old farmhouses found upon the place were 
 used as dormitories. A small wooden building was first 
 put up to serve as a recitation hall. When more dormi- 
 tory room was needed Mr. Moody concluded to try the 
 family system. Instead of housing a large number of boys 
 in one building they were divided into groups of not more 
 than twenty and housed in small cottages, each under the 
 charge of two matrons. In 1885 a large building of brick 
 and granite, called Recitation hall, was completed and dedi- 
 cated. It contains class and recitation rooms, library, 
 chapel and museum. There is a splendid view from the 
 cupola of this building. After a few years Mr. Moody 
 changed his plans and raised the age of admission for his 
 boys to 16 years and enlarged the course of study. This 
 broke up the family system to some extent, and hew build- 
 ings on a large scale were begun in 1885. In June, 1886, a 
 large dormitory, called Crossley hall, was dedicated. Later 
 a large brick dining hall was erected, and within recent 
 years there have been many additions, making the Mount 
 Hermon seminary one of the best equipped boys' schools 
 in the east. 
 
 Mr. Moody always had strong views as to the admission 
 and training of his scholars of both sexes. At Mount Her- 
 mon the cost of board and tuition was also placed at $100 
 a year, so that none was barred on the ground of expense. 
 
XXX11 MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 At Mount Hermon the students have always been required 
 to perform a certain amount of manual labor in addition to 
 class work. Some are employed on the farm, some in the 
 laundry and some in housework. The students are for the 
 most part a picked body of young, vigorous Christians, 
 who have been drawn to Mr. Moody's school from all parts 
 of the earth. There are students from Germany, Scandi- 
 navia, Turkey, and even American Indians and Japanese. 
 Of course the main body of students is of American extrac- 
 tion, and a large proportion of them are in training for 
 missionary work. Whenever he was at Northfield Mr. 
 Moody gave regular courses of lectures at both of his 
 schools, and distinguished educators from all other seats of 
 learning have been frequent lecturers. 
 
 Besides his schools, Northfield, under Mr. Moody's direc- 
 tion, became the center of gatherings of religious workers, 
 culminating in the famous summer conventions which were 
 begun in 1880. For nine months of every year up to the 
 last year of his life Mr. Moody was engrossed in arduous 
 evangelistic labor in various parts of the country. His 
 idea of a vacation was to throw himself into his Northfield 
 educational work and to plan big conventions which made 
 Northfield a summer city. He called his first convention 
 of Christian workers in 1880. The only large building 
 then constructed was the one now known as East hall, be- 
 hind which a capacious camp was pitched. Under this 
 canopy from day to day were held meetings whose influ- 
 ence was world-wide. 
 
 In 1 88 1 a convention was called for bible study and 
 continued for thirty days. Rev. Dr. Bonar of Glasgow, 
 who had just served as moderator of the general assembly 
 of the Free church of Scotland, was a principal figure at 
 this gathering. Dozens of equally prominent clergymen 
 and evangelists attended and Mr. Sankey conducted the 
 
MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXX111 
 
 singing. For the next three years, owing to Mr. Moody's 
 absence in England, there were no conventions, but in 1885 
 there was another August convention. Every year since 
 they have grown in interest. The attendance has averaged 
 from 300 to 500 from a distance, and with the people of the 
 vicinity the meetings often averaged 1,500. Moody was 
 always the life and soul of these conventions and of late 
 years many of the most prominent regular pastors in Eng- 
 land and America have taken part. Special conventions 
 of college students have also been held under Mr. Moody's 
 personal leadership. Whether the great evangelist's death 
 will lessen the fame of Northfield as a convention city is a 
 melancholy problem for a host of his friends and co- 
 workers. 
 
MR. MOODY'S SICKNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 The famous evangelist was stricken with heart trouble 
 in Kansas City on Nov. 16, 1899, while holding revival 
 meetings at Convention hall. He was compelled to give 
 up his work, and on the day following started east in the 
 care of a physician. 
 
 Mr. Moody addressed great crowds during his stay at 
 Kansas City. The meetings began on Sunday, Nov. 12. 
 The crowds were immense, thousands of people filling the 
 hall afternoon and evening each day. The strain on Mr. 
 Moody was great. He preached his last sermon on Thurs- 
 day night, Nov. 16, fully 15,000 people listening to an ear- 
 nest appeal which many stamped as one of the evangelist's 
 greatest efforts. He was stricken the next morning at his 
 hotel, but laughingly declared he was all right, and that he 
 would be able to preach that afternoon. 
 
 After he reached Northfield eminent physicians were con- 
 sulted and everything was done to prolong life. 
 
 Conscious up to the moment his eyes closed, well know- 
 ing his last sleep was about to begin, he died at 1 1 :5o 
 o'clock, Dec. 22, 1899. The end came quietly, peacefully, 
 at his home in this village, which he loved so well and near 
 to the scenes of many of his triumphs. 
 
 Mr. Moody first knew that the end was very near at 8 
 o'clock the previous night. He was satisfied that he would 
 
 xxxiv 
 
MR. MOODY'S SICKNESS AND DEATH. XXXV 
 
 not recover, and when the doctor confirmed his own opin- 
 ion he said : 
 
 "The world is receding and heaven opening." 
 
 During the night Mr. Moody had a number of sinking 
 spells. Despite his suffering he was kindness itself to 
 those about him. At 2 o'clock in the morning Dr. N. P. 
 Wood, the family physician, who slept in the house, was 
 called at the request 'of Mr. Moody. The latter was per- 
 spiring, and he requested his son-in-law, A. P. Fitt, who 
 spent the night with him, to call the physician that he might 
 note the symptoms. 
 
 Dr. Wood administered a hypodermic injection of 
 strychnia. This caused the heart to perform its duties 
 more regularly, and Mr. Moody requested his son-in-law 
 and Dr. Wood to retire. Mr. Moody's oldest son, Will R. 
 Moody, who had been sleeping the first of the night, spent 
 the last half hour with his father. 
 
 At 7:30 o'clock in the morning Dr. Wood was again 
 called. When he reached Mr. Moody's room he found 
 his patient in a semi-conscious condition. When Mr. 
 Moody recovered consciousness he said, with all his old 
 vivacity : 
 
 "What's the matter ; what's going on here ?" 
 
 "Father, you haven't been quite so well, and so we came 
 in to see you," a member of the family replied. A little 
 later Mr. Moody said to his sons : 
 
 "I have always been an ambitious man — not ambitious 
 to lay up wealth, but to find work to do." 
 
 Mr. Moody urged his two boys and Mr. Fitt to see that 
 the schools at Northfleld, at Mount Hermon and the Chi- 
 cago P)ible Institute should receive their best care. This 
 they assured Mr. Moody they would do. 
 
 During the forenoon Mrs. Fitt, his daughter, said to 
 him: "Father, we can't spare you." Mr. Moody's reply 
 was: 
 
XXXVI MR. MOODY S SICKNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 "I'm not going to throw my life away. If God has more 
 work for me to do I'll not die." 
 
 Dr. Wood says Mr. Moody did not have the slightest 
 fear of death. He was thoroughly conscious until within 
 less than a minute of his death and told his family that as 
 God called he was ready to go. iVt one time he told the 
 attending physician not to give him any more medicine to 
 revive him, as calling him back simply prolonged the agony 
 for his family. In his closing hours there was no note of 
 sadness, but one of triumph. 
 
 Mr. Moody knew he was going, and he was most serene. 
 Wednesday night he sent the members of his family out of 
 his room and sent for his brother, and when the latter came 
 in he said : 'You know what this means." He told his 
 brother what he wanted done in many affairs. Friday at 
 7 45 a. m., when alone with Will Moody, he said : "Earth 
 is receding ; heaven is opening ; God is calling." Will told 
 his father it was not as bad as that, and that he was dream- 
 ing, but Mr. Moody replied : 'No, I am in the gates. I 
 have seen the children,' referring to his two grandchildren, 
 who died last year. 
 
 "The family was hastily summoned, and as they gath- 
 ered about his bed he said : 'No pain ! No valley ! Is this 
 death? This isn't bad; it is sweet; this is bliss.' Later 
 he said: 'This is my coronation day, and I have been look- 
 ing forward to it for years.' Mrs. Moody seemed on the 
 point of breaking down, and he said to her : 'Mamma, you 
 were always afraid of sudden surprises. Brace yourself.' 
 
 "He told his daughter, Mrs. Fitt, that he was going, and 
 when she said they could not spare him he answered, sim- 
 ply : 'God calls.' He was conscious almost to the last, but 
 when the final summons came he was unconscious. His 
 family knew when the end was close at hand, and all the 
 members were present. His last breath was as one breath- 
 ing in a peaceful sleep. 
 
MR. MOODY S SICKNESS AND DEATH. XXXV11 
 
 Dr. Wood says the cause of his death was heart failure. 
 He adds that the walls surrounding the heart were growing 
 weaker and weaker. 
 
 While it is true that Mr. Moody had symptoms of 
 Bright's disease a few days ago, his death was due, the 
 physicians say, to dilation of the heart. There had been 
 dilation in a gradual way for the past nine years. The 
 family had been told some time ago that Mr. Moody might 
 get out and about, but still he was liable to drop away 
 at any time. 
 
 There were present in Mr. Moody's chamber when he 
 died his wife, his daughter, Mrs. Fitt, and her husband, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Will R. Moody, Paul Moody, the youngest 
 son; Dr. N. P. Wood and Miss Powers, the nurse. Mrs. 
 Moody has carried herself during the sickness of her hus- 
 band with the greatest bravery and patience, but when 
 death came she was prostrated. Will Moody's wife is a 
 daughter of D. W. Whittle, the evangelist. Paul Moody 
 is a student at Yale. 
 
FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. 
 
 The funeral, which was held at his late home Dec. 26, 
 1899, was in keeping with his life. It was without show, 
 yet was characterized by deep earnestness. The services 
 at the house and at the grave were carried out according 
 to his wishes, and the body was laid to rest in Little Round 
 Top, where he had conducted so many meetings during his 
 conference work. 
 
 The services began with prayer at the house shortly 
 after 10 o'clock in the morning. The Rev. Dr. C. J. Scho- 
 field, pastor of the village church, read Mr. Moody's favor- 
 ite texts from the scriptures, and the Rev. Dr. R. A. Torrey 
 of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, offered prayer. 
 The service was held in the parlor and was attended by 
 many of the men who had been associated with Mr. Moody 
 in the last years of his .work. In the chamber directly 
 overhead was the family, with the body of the deceased.- 
 Outside were gathered thirty-two members of Mr. Moody's 
 school. 
 
 At the close of the service they placed the casket on a bier 
 thirty feet long and ten feet wide and covered with black, 
 and bore it to the Congregational church, a mile distant. 
 A. P. Fitt, who married Mr. Moody's only daughter, scat- 
 tered white roses over the casket and bier before the pro- 
 cession started for the church. In advance of the students 
 
 xxxviii 
 
FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. XXXIX 
 
 carrying the bier walked the Rev. Dr. Schofield and the 
 Rev. Dr. Torrey, and in the rear were those who had been 
 among Mr. Moody's closest friends and associates in his 
 life work, among them Ira D. Sankey. 
 
 Close to Mr. Sankey were George C. Stebbins and D. B. 
 Tower, who for years had led the singing at Mr. Moody's 
 Northfield conferences. Other well-known men in the 
 procession were R. C. Morse, representing the International 
 Young Men's Christian Association ; Dr. W. Mc Williams 
 of New Jersey, and W. J. Ordman and George C. Need- 
 ham of Philadelphia. 
 
 It had been arranged that the body should lie in state 
 at the church from 10 o'clock until after the service, but it 
 was nearly noon before the sorrowful procession arrived. 
 The body was placed in front of the little old-fashioned 
 pulpit and the casket opened. On the plate was the in- 
 scription : 
 
 DWIGHT L. MOODY, 1837-1899. 
 
 A floral offering from the bible institute of Chicago was 
 placed at the foot of the casket, but there was no marked 
 display of flowers in the church, it being Mr. Moody's wish 
 that there should not be. The little church was crowded 
 to the doors, all classes and conditions being represented. 
 Mr. Moody's favorite hymn, "Rock of Ages," was sung by 
 the Mount Hermon male quartet. 
 
 The eulogy was delivered by the Rev. C. J. Schofield, 
 who said of the dead evangelist: 
 
 "We are met, dear friends, not to mourn a defeat^ but 
 to celebrate a triumph. 'He walked with God, and he was 
 not, for God took him.' There in the west, in the presence 
 of great audiences of 10,000 of his fellowmen, God spoke 
 to him to lav it all down and come home. He would have 
 
XL FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. 
 
 planned it so. This is not the place, nor am I the man to 
 present a study of the life and character of Dwight L. 
 Moody. No one will ever question that we are to-day 
 laying in the kindly bosom of the earth the mortal body 
 of a great man. 
 
 "Whether we measure greatness by character, by quali- 
 ties of intellect, or by things alone, Dwight L. Moody must 
 be accounted great. The basis of Mr. Moody's character 
 was sincerity, genuineness. He had an inveterate aversion 
 to all forms of sham, unreality and pretense. Most of all 
 did he detest religious pretense, cant. 
 
 "Along with this fundamental quality Mr. Moody cher- 
 ished a great love of righteousness. His first question 
 concerning any proposed action was Ts it right?' but these 
 two qualities, necessarily at the bottom of all noble char- 
 acters, were in him suffused and transfigured by divine 
 grace. Besides all this, Mr. Moody was in a wonderful 
 degree brave, magnanimous and unselfish. Doubtless this 
 unlettered New England country boy became what he was 
 by the grace of God. 
 
 "The secret of Dwight L. Moody's power lay: First, in 
 a definite experience of Christ's saving grace. He had 
 passed out of death into life and he knew it. Secondly, 
 Mr. Moody believed in the divine authority of the scrip- 
 tures. The bible was to him the verse of God, and he made 
 it resound as such in the conscience of men. Thirdly, he 
 was baptized with the Holy Spirit and knew that he was. It 
 was to him as definite an experience as his conversion. 
 Fourthly, he was a man of prayer. He believed in a living 
 and unfettered God. But, fifthly, Mr. Moody believed in 
 work, in ceaseless effort, in wise provision, in the power 
 of organization, of publicity. 
 
 "I like to think of Dwight L. Moody in heaven. I like 
 to think of him with his Lord, an4 with Elijah, Daniel, Paul, 
 
THE FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. XL1 
 
 Augustine, Luther, Wesley and Finney. Farewell, for a 
 little time, great heart. May a double portion of the spirit 
 be vouchsafed to us who remain." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Torrey followed Dr. Schofield. His 
 eulogy was based upon Mr. Moody's life exemplifying the 
 grace of God. Following Mr. Torrey, remarks were made 
 by the Rev. H. G. Weston of Crozier Theological seminary, 
 Chester, Pa. ; the Rev. A. T. Pierson of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; 
 Bishop Mallalieu of Boston and the Rev. J. W. Chapman 
 of New York. 
 
 The body was then carried to the burial place at Round 
 Top. The chorus sang "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and 
 after prayer and a benediction the body was lowered to its 
 resting place. 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 In the good providence of God, the gospel preacher 
 was given the gospel singer, that they might go forth to- 
 gether, like the first disciples sent out by the Lord — double 
 for fellowship, single in heart; to labor as yoke-fellows 
 in the harvest-field in the world. The first, as we have 
 seen, had been trained in the rugged school of adversity 
 and self-denial, that he might bebold, self-reliant, patient, 
 fearless, venturesome in deeds of faith, and tireless in 
 labors of love, His companion, on the contrary, was 
 reared under the hallowing influences of a happy, Chris- 
 tian homestead, so that his whole character was mellowed 
 by the sweetening experiences of a childhood and man- 
 hood developed harmoniously and joyously. So strangely 
 diverse was their training as individuals, yet so wisely 
 ordered were all the events of these isolated lives by the 
 Master's hand, these two Christian workers, when joined 
 together and tested, were found to be admirably fitted 
 to supplement each other's deficiencies, and thus to con- 
 stitute a human instrumentality which the Lord could 
 use for glorifying Himself and extending His kingdom 
 upon earth. 
 
 XLli 
 
IRA D. SANKEY PRESIDING AT THE ORGAN 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLlll 
 
 Ira David Sankey was born on the 28th of August, 
 1840. His birthplace was the village of Edinburgh, 
 Lawrence county, in western Pennsylvania. On the 
 paternal side, he came of English stock, and on the ma- 
 ternal of Scotch-Irish. His parents were natives of Mer- 
 cer county, and were members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church. Out of their family of nine children, only 
 three sons and one daughter grew up to maturity. David, 
 the father, was well off in worldly circumstances, and in 
 such good repute among his neighbors that they re- 
 peatedly elected him a member of the state legislature. 
 He was also a licensed exhorter of his own church. Thus 
 the means and the character of this household were such 
 as to insure ample advantages for culture in general 
 knowledge and spiritual truth. 
 
 Ira, from his childhood, was noted for his joyous spirit 
 and trustful disposition. The sunshiny face that is so 
 attractive in his public ministry has been a distinguishing 
 feature from early boyhood, and very early won him the 
 praise of being " the finest little fellow in the neighbor- 
 hood." His father states, " There was nothing very re- 
 markable in his early or boyhood history. The gift of 
 singing developed in him at a very early age. I say gift, 
 because it was God-given; he never took lessons from 
 any one, but his taste for music was such that when a 
 small boy he could make passable music on almost any 
 kind of instrument." An old Scotch farmer, named Frazer, 
 early interested himself in the little lad, and of his good 
 influence Mr. Sankey thus spoke, at a children's meeting, 
 held in the town of Dundee, Scotland. "The very first 
 recollection I have of anything pertaining to religious 
 life was in connection with him. I remember he took 
 
XL1V IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 me by the hand, along with his own boys, to the Sab- 
 bath-school, that old place which I shall remember to 
 my dying day. He was a plain man, and I can see him 
 standing up and praying for the children. He had a 
 great, warm heart, and the children all loved him. It 
 was years after that when I was converted, but my im- 
 pressions were received when I was very young from 
 that man." 
 
 Thus reared in a genial, religious atmosphere, liked 
 and respected by all who knew him and accepted as a 
 leader by his boyish comrades, Ira lived on till past his 
 fifteenth year, before his soul was converted to Christ. 
 His conviction as a sinner occurred while he attended a 
 series of special services, held in a little church, three 
 miles from his home, and of which Rev. H. H. Moore was 
 then pastor. At first, he was as gay as his curious com- 
 panions. But an earnest Christian met him each evening 
 with a few soul-searching words; and after a week's hard 
 struggle, he came as a sinner to the Savior and found 
 peace in acceptance. Soon after, when his father re- 
 moved to Newcastle, to assume the presidency of the 
 bank, Ira became a member of the Methodist church 
 and also a pupil at the academy at Newcastle. 
 
 This young Christian was richly endowed with a talent 
 for singing spiritual songs. His pure, beautiful voice 
 gave a clear utterance to the emotions of his sympathetic, 
 joyous nature, and was potent in carrying messages from 
 his heart to the hearts of his hearers. It now became 
 his delight to devote this precious gift to the service of 
 his Lord, and it was his continual prayer that the Holy 
 Spirit would bless the words sung to the conversion of 
 those who flocked to the services to hear him. Before 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLV 
 
 he attained his majority, he was appointed superintend- 
 ent of the Sunday-school, which contained above three 
 hundred scholars; and it was blessed with a continual re- 
 vival. His singing of the gospel invitations in solos 
 dates from this time. The sweet hymns were sung 
 in the very spirit of prayer, and the faith of the 
 singer was rewarded with repeated blessings. A class of 
 seventy Christians was committed to his charge, and 
 this weighty responsibility made him a more earnest 
 student of the Holy Bible. He encouraged his class to 
 tell him of their condition in Bible language, as texts 
 abounded for every state of grace, and every description 
 of religious feeling. The choir of the congregation also 
 came under his leadership. Young as he was, he insisted 
 on conduct befitting praise-singers in the house of God, 
 and on a clear enunciation of each word sung. 
 
 The congenial religious duties were suspended for a 
 time by the call of the nation to arms upon the fall of 
 Fort Sumpter. Mr. Sankey was among the first to vol- 
 unteer for three months, and he served out his term of 
 enlistment. Even in camp he gathered about him a 
 band of singers, and was an earnest worker in the prayer- 
 meetings of soldiers. Upon his return home, he became 
 an assistant to his father as collector of internal revenue. 
 He held that position with credit till his voluntary resig- 
 nation, nearly ten years later. On the ninth of Septem- 
 ber, 1863, he was married to Miss Edwards, a helpful 
 member of his choir, and teacher in his school. Their 
 happy family now contains three sons, of whom the 
 youngest was born in Scotland, while the eldest, Henry, 
 is already a boy evangelist, 
 
 Mr. Sankey is an artless, and not an artistic singer. 
 
XLV1 IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 It has chanced that he has never studied music under a 
 cultured teacher, and hence he has always relied upon 
 his intuitive genius for song. He sings just like a nightin- 
 gale, and pours forth his whole heart in a flood of melo- 
 dy. And he does this, not for the sake of winning praise 
 for the skill of his execution, or for the beauty of his rich 
 baritone voice. Such a use would be a profanation of 
 the talent which he has dedicated to the service of his 
 Savior. His sole aspiration is that his song may be 
 blessed to the bearing of gospel truth into the hearts of 
 his audience. Hence he makes each articulation dis- 
 tinct and audible, sings with the whole wealth of his 
 heart, and hallows the hymn for good unto souls by se- 
 cret prayer. 
 
 As he sought only to honor his Lord, the latter has 
 honored him before men. Conventions and other re- 
 ligious gatherings became eager to have him lead their 
 services of praise, and he kept all such engagements with- 
 out making any charge. He assisted in organizing a 
 Young Men's Christian association at Newcastle, and 
 was elected president. In June, 1871, he was appointed 
 its delegate to the international convention, which met 
 in Indianapolis. It was there that he first met Mr. 
 Moody, and heard a call from him to give his whole time 
 henceforth to working for the Master. At the early 
 prayer-meeting, the singing was dull and doleful, until 
 Mr. Sankey was called forward to act as leader. His 
 sweet voice and fervid spirit at once brought the bold 
 evangelist to his side. " 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? " "To 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLV11 
 
 help me in my work in Chicago." "I cannot leave my 
 business." " You must; I have been looking for you for 
 the last eight years. You must give up your business, 
 and come to Chicago with me." " I will think of it; I 
 will pray over it; I will talk it over with my wife." 
 
 Prayer and reflection deepened the conviction which 
 this call made on Mr. Moody's heart. With painful re- 
 luctance, he -severed the associations so dear to him, at 
 his home, and in the spirit of faith joined Mr. Moody in 
 his vast labors as an evangelist in Chicago. His tender 
 sympathy and loving manner qualified him to give just 
 the sweet melody needed to modulate the fiery boldness 
 of the lay preacher. Here they worked together in har- 
 mony, and were blessed with many souls as their hire, 
 until the city of Chicago was swept by a storm of fire in 
 the following October. These companions then lost all 
 their possessions and had to separate. Mr. Sankey now 
 rejoined his family in Pennsylvania, and set about sing- 
 ing for conventions again, until a telegram from Mr. 
 Moody, three months later, to " come at once," recalled 
 him to the work of the new tabernacle in Chicago. This 
 disaster strengthened instead of shattering the trustful 
 faith of these evangelists, for it opened the hearts of the 
 people more readily to receive their message of the Savior's 
 love, and made the frame building a sanctuary for re- 
 lieving the bodily and spiritual wants of multitudes of the 
 homeless. 
 
 Just in the midst of this season of trial Mr. Sankey 
 was very much encouraged by the testimony of a little 
 dying girl. This incident, which was destined to have 
 an effect upon his whole after life, was thus narrated by 
 him at Dundee, Scotland. ' ' I want to speak a word 
 
XLV111 IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 about singing, not only to little folks, but to grown peo- 
 ple. During the winter, after the great Chicago fire, 
 when the place was built up with little frame houses for 
 the people to stay in, a mother sent for me, one day, to 
 come and see her little child, who was one of our Sab- 
 bath-school scholars. I remembered her very well, hav- 
 ing seen her in the meetings very frequently, and was 
 glad to go. She was lying in one of those poor little 
 huts, everything having been burned in the fire. I ascer- 
 tained that she was past all hope of recovery, and that they 
 were waiting for the little one to pass away. ' How is it 
 with you to-day?' I asked. With a beautiful smile on 
 her face, she said, ' It is all well with me to-day. I wish 
 you would speak to my father and my mother.' 'But,' 
 said I, ' are you a Christian?' ' Yes.' ' When did you be- 
 come one?' Do you remember last Thursday in the ta- 
 bernacle, when we had that little singing meeting, and 
 you sang, "Jesus loves even me?" 'Yes.' 'It was last 
 Thursday. I believed on the Lord Jesus, and now I am 
 going to be with Him to-day.' That testimony from that 
 little child in that neglected quarter of Chicago has done 
 more to stimulate me and bring me to this country 
 than all that the papers or any persons might say. I re- 
 member the joy I had in looking upon that beautiful 
 face. She went up to heaven, and no doubt said she 
 learned upon earth that Jesus loved her from that little 
 hymn. If you want to enjoy a blessing, go to the bed- 
 sides of these bedridden and dying ones, and sing to them 
 of Jesus, for they cannot enjoy these meetings as you do. 
 You will get a great blessing to your own souls." 
 
 The joy of having this first convert through his own 
 ministry of song led the gospel singer to a more thor- 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLlX 
 
 ough reliance on the leading of his Master, and a still 
 deeper study of God's word. When Mr. Moody paid a 
 visit to England in the spring of 1872, his yoke-fellow 
 was naturally left to act as leader in the services at the 
 tabernacle. His leisure hours, at this time, were spent 
 in gathering a number of spirited hymns that appeared 
 to be adapted for evangelistic services, and in fitting a 
 few of them with appropriate music. These were ar- 
 ranged into a "Musical Scrap Book," and that was the 
 only book, besides his Bible, that he took with him on 
 the voyage of faith across the Atlantic. Among these 
 sacred songs were P. P. Bliss' "Hold the Fort," " Jesus 
 Loves Even Me," and " Free from the Law;" Mrs. Dr. 
 Griswold's " We're Going Home To-morrow;" Mrs. E. 
 Codner's " Lord I hear Showers of Blessing;" Mrs. 
 W. S. Ackerman's " Nothing but Leaves;" Rev. S. Low- 
 ry's " Shall we Gather at the River?" Miss Anna War- 
 ner's "One More Day's Work for Jesus;" Kate Har- 
 sley's " I Love to Tell the Story; " Mrs. A. S. Hawks' 
 " I Need Thee Every Hour; " Mrs. Lydia Baxter's 
 " Take the Name of Jesus with You;" Mrs. Emily S. 
 Oakey's " Sowing the Seed by the Daylight Fair; " Fan- 
 ny J. Crosby's "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" and "Pass 
 Me Not, O Gentle Savior;" Rev. Joseph H. Gilmore's 
 " He Leadeth Me; " and Rev. W. W. Walford's "Sweet 
 Hour of Prayer." 
 
 Two other chief favorites of his selection were " Nine- 
 ty and Nine" and "Jesus of Nazareth PassethBy." The 
 first of these was written' by Miss Eliza C. Clephane, of 
 Melrose, Scotland, in 1868, and was printed a little 
 while before her death, in the Daily Treasury, edited by 
 Dr. Arnott. Six years elapsed before it came, providen- 
 
L IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 tially, to Mr. Sankey's notice, while he was in Scotland. 
 It chanced that he bought among other religious week- 
 lies a copy of The Christian Age, of London, of the date 
 of May 13, 1874, and found the "Ninety and Nine" re- 
 printed as a poetical waif. He was at once so im- 
 pressed with its value for his mission of gospel song that 
 he composed an air for it, and sang it three days later in 
 the Free Assembly hall, Edinburgh. A letter of thanks 
 from the sister of the poet gave him the facts of its au- 
 thorship, and led to receipt of one other precious hymn, 
 " Beneath the Cross of Jesus." Miss Campbell was the 
 author of "Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." Her heart 
 was deeply moved by a revival at Newark, N. J., in 
 1864, and her imagination was fired by an address by R. 
 G. Pardee, on the reply to blind Bartimeus: "They 
 told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." The 
 second stanza is given herewith, as it is omitted in the 
 common version: 
 
 " E'en children feel the potent spell, 
 
 And haste their new-found joy to tell; 
 
 In crowds they to the place repair 
 
 Where Christians daily bow in prayer, 
 
 Hosanna's mingle with the cry; 
 
 ' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.' " 
 
 In the spring of 1873, two paths of usefulness were 
 opened to the choice of Mr. Sankey. His brother evan- 
 gelist desired his aid for a gospel visitation to Great 
 Britain, while Philip Phillips offered him brilliant pros- 
 pects for a singing term of six months on the Pacific 
 coast. His decision was destined to be of great moment 
 to the welfare of his generation. He looked to prayer 
 for guidance, and then was led to adopt this advice of a 
 friend: " Two workers in the same line, especially two 
 singers, are sure not to agree. Go with Moody; then 
 you can do your work, and he can do his, and there will 
 be no occasion of conflict between vou." So attended 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. Ll 
 
 by his little family, he trustfully set forth on a journey 
 of four thousand miles, on a mission of gospel evangel- 
 ization which was to attain far grander results for good 
 than one could dare to hope. 
 
 The joyous, prayerful singing of the gospel in hymns 
 by Mr. Sankey came like a revelation of unexpected 
 truth and grace to the Scottish and English peoples. In 
 Scotland, especially, to the sujprise of all who are ac- 
 quainted with the cautious, distrustful and clannish char- 
 acter of the followers of John Knox, the masses were 
 moved with an indiscribable impulse. The unimpas- 
 sioned worshipers, who had been accustomed for gener- 
 ations to reject as uninspired all other services of praise 
 than their own rude, unpoetic version of the psalms, 
 now listened with a hungry delight to the testimonies of 
 the most gifted Christian singer of the age, His intense 
 earnestness made the old, old story enter as a divine 
 message into the consciences and hearts of those who 
 came to hear him out of curiosity, or as doubters. Thus 
 the singing of hymns and the use of a melodeon as an ac- 
 companiment were welcomed at sight with a heartiness 
 that dissipated the prejudicies of centuries. 
 
 One of his hearers, Mrs. Barbour, thus described the 
 abiding impressions made on his audiences at Edinburgh: 
 "Mr. Sankey sings with the conviction that souls are 
 receiving Jesus between one note and the next. The still- 
 ness is overawing; some of the lines are more spoken than 
 sung. The hymns are equally used for awakening, none 
 more than 'Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.' When you 
 hear the ' Ninety and Nine ' sung, you know of a truth 
 that down in this corner, up in that gallery, behind that 
 pillar which hides the singer's face from the listener, the 
 
Lll IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 hand of Jesus has been finding this and that and yonder 
 lost one, to place them in His fold. A certain class of 
 hearers come to the services solely to hear Mr. Sankey, 
 and the song throws the Lord's net around them. We 
 asked Mr. Sankey one day what he was tc sing. He 
 said, ' I'll not know till I hear how Mr. Moody is clos- 
 ing.' Again, we were driving to the Canongate Parish 
 church one winter night, and Mr. Sankey said to the 
 young minister who had come for him, ' I'm thinking of 
 singing, ' I am so glad to night.' ' O,' said the young 
 man, please do rather sing, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' An old 
 man told me to-day that he had been awakened by it the 
 last night you were down. He said, ' It just went through 
 me like an electric shock.' A gentleman in Edinburgh 
 was in distress of soul, and happened to linger in a pew 
 after the noon meeting. The choir had remained to 
 practice, and began ' Free from the Law, O happy con- 
 dition.' Quickly the Spirit of God carried that truth 
 home to the awakened conscience, and he was at rest in 
 the finished work of Jesus." 
 
 "The wave of sacred song," she added, "has spread 
 over Ireland, and it is now sweeping through England. 
 But, indeed, it is not being confined to the United King- 
 dom alone. Far away off on the shores of India, and in 
 many other lands, these sweet songs of a Savior's love 
 are being sung. Mr. Sankey's collection of sacred songs 
 has been translated into five or six languages, and are 
 winging their way into tens of thousands of hearts and 
 homes, and the blessing of the Lord seems to accompany 
 them wherever sung. " 
 
 At a noonday prayer-meeting, when the hymn 
 
 " Sowing the seed by the daylight fair," 
 
IRA DAVID SANKEY. ' Llll 
 
 was announced for singing, Mr. Sankey spoke as fol- 
 lows: " Before we sing this hymn, I will tell you one 
 reason why we should sing these hymns. It is because 
 God is blessing them to many a poor wanderer who 
 comes to this building night after night. Last week a 
 man who had once occupied a high position in life came 
 into this hall, and sat down. While I was singing this 
 hymn he took out his pass-book and wrote out these 
 words — 
 
 '* 'Sowing the seed of a lingering pain, 
 Sowing the seed of a maddening brain, 
 Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
 Sowing the seed of eternal shame; 
 O, what shall the harvest be?' " 
 
 "Last night, that man in the inquiry-room went on 
 his knees, and asked God to break the chain that had 
 dragged him down from such a high position to the low- 
 est of the low. He said he had resolved when he went 
 out of that praise-meeting that he would cease to indulge 
 in the intoxicating cup; but before he went home he went 
 into a saloon, and broke his resolution. We prayed for 
 him last night. He is now praying that God may break 
 his chain. I want to pray that this brand may be 
 plucked from the burning, and that God may use these 
 gospel hymns to turn the hearts of sinful men." 
 
 A touching account has been given in an English jour- 
 nal of the last hours of a young girl only ten years old, 
 who had listened in delight to Mr. Sankey's singing. 
 " O, how I love those dear hymns," said she. "When 
 I am gone, mother, will you ask the girls of the school 
 to sing the hymn: 
 
L1V IRA DAVID SANKEY. 
 
 " 'Ring the bells of heaven! there is joy to-day, 
 For a soul returning from the wild; 
 See! the father meets him out upon the way, 
 Welcoming his weary wandering child.' " 
 
 The night before her death she said: "Dear father 
 and mother, I hope I shall meet you in heaven! I am 
 so happy mother! You cannot think how bright and 
 happy I feel." Again, " Perhaps Jesus may send me to 
 fetch some of my brothers and sisters. I hope He will 
 send me to fetch you, mother." 
 
 Half an hour before her departure, she exclaimed, 
 "O, mother, hark at the bells of heaven! they are 
 ringing so beautifully." 
 
 Then, closing her eyes awhile, presently she cried 
 again, "Hearken to the harps! they are most splendid. 
 O, how I wish you could hear them!" 
 
 Then, shortly after, she spoke again, "O mother, 
 I see the Lord Jesus and the angels! O, if you could 
 see them too! He is sending one to fetch me!" 
 
 She had been counting the hours and minutes since 
 she had heard the mill-bell at half-past one p. M. , long- 
 ing so earnestly to depart, yet expressed a hope she might 
 see her dear father (then absent at work) before she went. 
 At last, just five minutes or so before her expiring breath, 
 she said, 4 ' O mother, lift me up from the pillow — high, 
 high up! O, I wish you could lift me right up into 
 heaven!" Then, almost immediately after, as doubtless 
 conscious that the parting moment was at hand, " Put 
 me down again — down quick!" Then calmly, brightly, 
 joyously, gazing upward as at some vision of surprising 
 beauty, she peacefully, sweetly, triumphantly breathed 
 forth her precious spirit into the arms of the ministering 
 angels whom Jesus had sent to fetch her; and so was for- 
 ever with the Lord she loved. 
 
Daniel Confounding the Priests of Bel. 
 
MOODY'S 
 NEW GOSPEL SERMONS. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 I suppose there is not a real Christian here, this after- 
 noon, but that has a desire to be used of God. If you 
 have no desire, no longing for usefulness, I should say 
 there is something wrong in your life. It seems to me 
 that the first impulse, the first aim of a new-born soul is 
 service. " What shall I do? I want to do something." 
 This desire is not of gratitude to Him who has saved you. 
 I cannot conceive of a subject more important than the 
 one before us. When Christ had finished his work, the 
 last thing He did was to teach His disciples of the 
 coming of the Holy Spirit, and what He would do when 
 He came. When He handed over His work to them, 
 then it was He told them that the Spirit was coming 
 to help and to work with them. It was this that helped 
 those early Christians, and it will help us. There is 
 not a man or woman to-day who may not be helped 
 if he will. But first, there must be a willing mind and 
 heart; we must know the mind of the Holy Spirit, give 
 ourselves up wholly, to be led and guided and filled with 
 the Spirit. 
 
 447 
 
448 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Now, in the first place, it is well for us to remember 
 that the Holy Spirit is a person. I think I was a Chris- 
 tian for a number of years before I knew that. If I had 
 ever heard it, it had slipped from me and left no impres- 
 sion. I remember, the first time I was awakened upon 
 this subject while listening to an old minister talking about 
 honoring the Holy Ghost. I had always up to that time 
 looked upon Him in the light of one of the attributes, 
 like justice, mercy, love. But when this old divine talked 
 about His personality, I really thought the old man had 
 gone a little out of his head. It seemed so strange that 
 I had never heard of it before! I went home and read 
 my Bible in order to find out everything that the book 
 said about the Holy Spirit. I found that it always spoke 
 of the spirit as " He," never as an influence. There is 
 one verse in the fourteenth chapter of John, where the 
 word " He" occurs four times. I haven't time to dwell 
 upon the personality of the Holy Ghost, and will not say 
 anything more about it. I only want you to understand 
 that He is distinct from the Father and the Son. When 
 Jesus came down to the earth, the work that He did was 
 distinct from the work of the Father. 
 
 But now let us come to what His work is. In the first 
 place His work is to convict of sin. You often hear people 
 say, k< Why is it so few people are converted under our 
 minister? He is cultured, refined, intellectual, eloquent, 
 but yet there seem to be very few conversions." Well, 
 now, my dear friends, if you are going to look to your 
 ministers to convict and convert people,' you are going to 
 be disappointed. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to 
 convict of sin. I have often said that I had rather do 
 almost any manual work than that which I am doing, if 
 
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRITo 449 
 
 I have got to convict the people of sin. It is God's work 
 to carry home conviction to the heart, not man's work. 
 When He shall come, He shall convict and convince men 
 of sin. I have seen people who, when the spirit of God 
 has been working mightily, would get up and go out, 
 and slam the door after them in a bad passion. Not 
 a bad sign. I would a good deal rather have them do 
 that than make no sign at all. 
 
 When I was preaching in Philadelphia, some time ago, 
 a man and his wife attended my lecture one night. They 
 went home, and the man went to bed without speaking 
 to his wife. The next morning he got up, and ate his 
 breakfast, and went off without saying a word to her. 
 All that day she moaned, that she had made a mistake 
 in taking her husband to the meetings. He came home 
 at noon and did not speak to her, and at night again. 
 And he kept that up for a whole week. At the end of 
 the week he said, ''Wife, why did you tell Mr. Moody 
 all about me? " His wife replied that she had not spoken 
 a word to Mr. Moody about him. " Then you must have 
 written him about me." "No, I haven't written him 
 anything about you." " Well, then, he must have heard 
 it from some one else. That impudent wretch held me 
 up before thousands of people and told them all about 
 me." 
 
 Well, then, after a man has been convinced of his sins 
 and is willing to give them up, the next thing the Spirit 
 does is to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts. A 
 great many people are always trying to make themselves 
 love God. You cannot do it. Love must be spontaneous. 
 You cannot love by trying to make yourself love. You 
 have got to have power, and that power comes from the 
 
450 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Spirit. When we have that love, then we have the 
 spirit of Jesus Christ. Once I asked a lady who was 
 mourning, because she didn't love God, if she loved her 
 mother. She said, "Yes, I cannot help it." "Well," 
 I said, "that is it exactly." When that heart has been 
 filled with the spirit of God, you cannot help loving Him. 
 But you cannot make yourself love. More love is just 
 what we want to-day. If you should ask me what the 
 church needs, I should say " love." 
 
 Then another thing that the spirit does is to impart 
 hope. You never saw the spirit of God working in a 
 church that wasn't hopeful. Another thing the spirit of 
 God does, is to give liberty. Where the spirit is, there 
 is liberty. In a good deal of our church work there is 
 almost everything but liberty. A good deal of our work 
 is forced work. Sometimes it takes a good deal of 
 strength to get out a word. Why? Because the atmos- 
 phere isn't right. The Holy Spirit has got to have the 
 right atmosphere to work in. You take the atmosphere 
 out of this room, and my voice wouldn't be heard three 
 feet away from me. You have got to have air to convey 
 sound, and you have got to have the spirit prepare the 
 ground in order to carry home the truth. If you get into 
 a certain atmosphere where the spirit isn't working, you 
 will not have liberty. 
 
 If a minister hasn't got liberty, it isn't always his fault. 
 I want to emphasize that. The fault may be down there 
 in the audience. I venture to say that an archangel 
 couldn't have had liberty under such circumstances. Why? 
 Because of the fault-finding, back-biting and criticism. 
 Supposing Andrew and Philip had a row and were, not 
 on speaking terms, do you think there would have been 
 
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 45 1 
 
 any liberty? There is not the right atmosphere, and, 
 I do not care who you put in the pulpit, there will be no 
 liberty. You want some new church members down there. 
 You get them straight, and the minister will be all right. 
 Supposing James had turned to John and said, " John, 
 I really don't think Peter is preaching as well to-day as 
 usual"; and John had replied, "Why, he has the most 
 influential congregation I ever saw. The greatest men 
 of the city are here. " I will venture to say that you have 
 had ten thousand better sermons preached than Peter 
 ever preached. Suppose those people had gone on pick- 
 ing Peter to pieces. Do you think there would have 
 been any power? But the one hundred and twenty held 
 Peter right up to God, and, if you will allow me to use 
 the expression, he swung loose that day. It takes neither 
 brains nor heart to find fault. Anybody can do that. If you 
 doubt what I say, just go into a crowd and. hear a stranger 
 talk. You will hear it said, " Well, what do you think of 
 him?" "I must confess that I was greatly disappointed. 
 He isn't as good as our own minister." Another comes 
 along and says, ' ' He wasn't logical. I have a logical 
 turn of mind, and when I go to church I want to hear 
 logic!" Another says, " He wasn't philosophical. Don't 
 know what it means, but philosophy is what he wants. " 
 Another says, " It was all brain. Now, I am using my 
 brain all day long, and when I go to church, I want some 
 one to appeal to my heart." 
 
 I wish we could get this spirit of criticism out of the 
 church, and then there would be something done. But 
 perhaps the fault is not with the man in the pulpit. When 
 you go home and look in the looking-glass, perhaps you 
 will see the guilty person. What he wants is to get out 
 
452 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 of the business of fault-finding. It is a poor business, 
 my friend. Just get to praying. You need the spirit of 
 God just as much as the minister. You business men 
 need it; the Sunday-school teachers need it; there are 
 men and women who confess God, who need it. You will 
 have liberty to walk and talk with, and work for Christ, 
 if you have His spirit. 
 
 His work is also to testify of Christ. What we want 
 to-day is love of Christ. That's all. Let these ministers 
 go into the pulpits and lift up Christ, and let speculation 
 go. The world can get on without speculation and 
 theories, but this old world cannot go on without Jesus 
 Christ. Therefore we want to preach Him and hold 
 Him up. There is no class of men that Jesus Christ 
 won't draw, if He is lifted up. 
 
 Then, another thing the spirit of God does is to teach 
 you. " He shall teach you all things. " He is a wonder- 
 ful teacher. There is not a thing that I want to know 
 about future life that God cannot teach me. Any spirit 
 that does not want that book, you may know is a lying 
 spirit. " He shall teach you all things." Now, if we 
 have got a teacher sent down here from heaven, to teach 
 us all things, are we not dishonoring Him if we run after 
 other teachers? People often come to me and ask me to 
 go to other teachers, call up some departed spirits, and 
 have the chairs and tables turning around. I tell them, 
 " No." When the Lord converted me, He took me out 
 of darkness. In secret, my Master taught nothing. I 
 don't want anything of these teachers that are going to 
 teach us in the dark. I don't know what they are. They 
 may come from hell. 
 
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 453 
 
 And then He shall guide you into all truth. Wonderful 
 guide, isn't He? That is what He is down here for, to 
 guide us through the wilderness. He is here to look 
 after us. 
 
 Now, I want to call your attention to a fact. You 
 never in your life saw a man full of God who wasn't full 
 of Scripture. 
 
 You see a minister in the pulpit that is filled with the 
 spirit of God, and he will talk Scripture right along. Mary 
 was filled with the Holy Ghost, and that Magnificat flowed 
 from her lips. And any man full of the Holy Ghost 
 will talk Scripture. 
 
 I believe Christ never spoke of His death but what He 
 said, "On the third day I will rise again." And yet, 
 when the time came His disciples had forgotten all about 
 those words. It has always been a mystery to me where 
 the family of Bethany was. You would have thought 
 they would have remembered and been at His grave. 
 His enemies had better memories than His own disciples. 
 They were at the door of the sepulcher; but they never 
 did a better thing for Christianity than to roll that stone 
 up against the door. 
 
 But when the Holy Ghost came, then we are told that 
 they remembered the words of the Lord Jesus. Their 
 memory was long enough then. I tell you, when you 
 are filled with the spirit of God, Scripture will come rush- 
 ing into your mind. One text upon another, comes 
 rushing into your mind saying, " Use me, use me." 
 
 And then, " He shall comfort you." There is not a 
 broken heart to-day that He cannot make whole. There 
 is not a sorry one that He will not comfort. "If I go 
 not away, the Comforter will not come." 
 
454 Moody's sermons. 
 
 I want to say to the singers, that there is great honor 
 put upon music. When the Levites were praising God, 
 then it was that the Shekinah came and filled the temple 
 with glory. If the members of the choir had been at 
 enmity with each other, and had not been on speaking 
 terms, do you think there would have been any harmony? 
 You want your singing in harmony with the preaching, 
 and the singer wants to keep his heart as well tuned as 
 the minister, if he is going to sing well. I don't know 
 what angel it was that got down to the plains to tell the 
 shepherds that Christ had come, but I have an idea that 
 it was Gabriel. But they sung, " Glory to God in the 
 Highest; Peace on earth, Good will toward men." And 
 let me say to the singers that I believe they are doing as 
 much as I am. You sing the gospel, and I will preach 
 it. I believe John Wesley did as much good as Charles. 
 One preached and the other sung the gospel, halfway 
 around the world in a very short time. I believe I 
 should be at my wits' ends if you asked me to quote any- 
 thing that Charles Wesley ever said, but I think I could 
 repeat several of John Wesley's hymns. Let us praise 
 God as well as pray. Let us be thankful for what we 
 have got. 
 
 Sometimes, when we get to praying, the Holy Ghost 
 comes. I like to go into a meeting when you cannot sing 
 or say anything, and when you feel as if you don't want 
 any one to say a word. The Holy Ghost can do more in 
 one day than you and I can in five years. I hope He will 
 come and work in each of our hearts to-day. 
 
 And this is His dwelling-place, in these bodies that 
 you and I inhabit. When we have been near the Son of 
 God, then it is that these bodies become temples for the 
 
THE WORK OF THE. HOLY SPIRIT. 455 
 
 Holy Ghost to dwell in. Jesus says, "He shall be in 
 you. He shall abide with you." And Paul says, "Know 
 ye not that ye are the temples of God, and that the 
 spirit of God dwelleth in you?" We have been bought, 
 not by silver, but by the precious Son of God; and these 
 bodies are the temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. 
 Therefore, let us keep the temple pure and sweet. I want 
 a baptism for my own soul. I don't want to begin this 
 year without a fresh anointing for the service. I should 
 like to have all of you have the same desireo 
 
GOD'S SERVICE AND THE UiA.Y SPIRIT. 
 
 This evening I want to continue the subject we had this 
 afternoon. There may be some here who were not pres- 
 ent this afternoon. Therefore, I will briefly outline the 
 points discussed then. We were talking about the office 
 work of the Holy Spirit, and I tried to show that His 
 office work was to convict of sin, to impart the love of 
 God, fill us with hope and courage, to give us liberty to 
 testify of Christ, to teach us all things, to guide us into 
 all truth and convert us. 
 
 Now, I want to go right on and show that it is His 
 work to fill us, and qualify us for God's service. There 
 was one denomination in this country a few years ago 
 that reported that there had not been a single conversion. 
 Now, I believe that every church can be fruit-bearing if 
 it will, and I believe that this very subject we have be- 
 fore us to-night will show us how we can bring forth 
 fruit. I don't believe that any church need return at the 
 end of the year and say, ' ' We have toiled all the year 
 and gained nothing." I believe that it is clearly taught 
 in the Scriptures that it is the privilege of every true 
 child of God to bring forth fruit. " Herein is my father 
 glorified that ye bring forth much fruit." Now, there are 
 a good many sons and daughters of God that are without 
 power. I think there is not one here that will deny that. 
 
 456 
 

 Paul at Ephesus. Acts, xix, 17-20. 
 
god's service and the holy spirit. 459 
 
 I do not think that I slander the church when I say nine- 
 tenths of the church members to-day are without power. 
 I think if you take one-tenth of them you will have about 
 all that have got real Holy Ghost power. Now, I don't 
 believe that ought to be the state of the church. I think 
 it would be a good idea when a man or woman wants to 
 join the church to ask him if he wants to be a member 
 with or without power. If he says, " Without power," 
 it would be well to say, "We have plenty of that kind 
 of church members. What we want is a few with power." 
 I believe you can all have it if you will. The power is 
 here. This old book teaches us how we can get it. Now, 
 I do not know that I am right, but I think you will find 
 three classes of Christians represented in the Bible, and 
 I think you will find them in all our churches. The first 
 is represented in the third chapter of John, where Nico- 
 demus came to Christ by night and got life. But he only 
 barely got it. He didn't get it in all its abundance. Nico- 
 demus worked while Peter, James and John were enjoying. 
 They heard all the parables, saw all the miracles, ate with 
 Him, slept with Him, and they were just lifted up into the 
 third heaven, as you might say, while poor Nicodemus 
 was living on sawdust. He didn't get any food for his 
 soul. And yet I suppose he reasoned in this way: " I 
 am a high member. I am a member of Sanhedrim, and 
 if I should identify myself with that despised Nazarene I 
 should lose my power and influence." He might have 
 become one of the twelve had he taken the stand. We 
 have got to stoop if we are going to conquer, and when 
 a man is not willing to take a low place to get power 
 with God, he is not going to get it. There is a good 
 deal of difference between social power, political power, 
 
460 Moody's sermons. 
 
 and a kind of religious power. But these are not the 
 kinds of power that I am talking about. I am talking 
 about Holy Ghost power. Strength is one thing, and 
 power is another. The giant of Gath had strength, but 
 David had power. 
 
 In the fourth chapter of John you will find a higher 
 type of Christian. That woman that came to the well 
 to get water. She got the whole well. She got so much 
 of the living water that you couldn't have kept her in the 
 Sanhedrim. She went back into town and told what 
 Christ had done for her. She drank deeper than Nico- 
 demus did. Isn't a well better than just a little water? 
 If I have a drop of water in a tumbler I can truly say I 
 have water, but there would not be any bubbling up. 
 
 In the seventh chapter of John, you will find the high- 
 est type, and that is the class I want to belong to. If 
 we could only just get this whole audience into the 
 seventh chapter of John, this city would be turned up- 
 side down. On that last day He said, "If any man 
 thirst, let him come unto Me and drink, and out of his 
 belly shall flow rivers of living water. " A man once said 
 he had- a good well but for two things; it would dry up 
 in summer and freeze up in winter. Every child of God 
 ought to be like rivers. I used to quote it " river " until 
 one day an old man asked me where I got the word 
 "river." I said I found it in my Bible. He said he 
 didn't find it that way in his Bible, that he read " rivers." 
 And now I always say "rivers." Why? Rivers shall 
 flow through men and women that are filled with the 
 Holy Ghost. We have an idea that the apostles belonged 
 to another race of beings. Not a bit of it. They got so 
 filled with the Spirit of God that rivers actually flowed 
 
god's service and the holy spirit. 461 
 
 from them. And you needn't go back to those old 
 apostles, not even one hundred years, to Wesley and 
 Whitfield. Go right back to London. Look at Spurgeon. 
 For nearly forty years he preached to the largest congre- 
 gation any man has preached to since Christ left this 
 earth, and his sermons have been translated into nearly 
 every language under the heavens. On every Thursday 
 thirty thousand of his sermons were scattered through 
 the world. I know that out in the Rocky mountains 
 where there are no ministers, men have gathered together 
 and read Spurgeon's sermons. I venture to say that 
 there are very few ministers in Christendom that haven't 
 some of Spurgeon's sermons in their libraries. He had 
 a society sent out to evangelize. He had a pastor's col- 
 lege where he had men trained who are now preaching 
 in every nation in the world. I cannot begin to tell of 
 the streams that flowed out from that one man. I don't 
 believe that any four walls are going to hold any man's 
 influence. It is the privilege of every one of us to be 
 filled with the Holy Spirit's power. Now, mark you, it 
 is a command to be filled. You know that for years and 
 years we got all our water out of the old wells. I re- 
 member that in my day I had to pump, pump, pump, 
 until that arm was ready to drop out of its socket. And 
 I didn't get much water out. Why? Because there 
 wasn't much in. Now, you have got to get water before 
 you can get it out. Have you ever seen an artesian well? 
 I don't see so many of them in the east as I have in the 
 west and south, but in a great many places I have found 
 them. They don't stop when they come to water, but 
 go on drilling, and by-and-by the water comes to the 
 top of the ground. But even then they don't stop, but 
 
462 Moody's sermons. 
 
 go on and on, until they strike a deeper strata, and the 
 water comes bubbling up and up. And so I believe it is 
 the true position of every child of God to be so filled that 
 you haven't got to pump all the time. All you have to 
 do is to open the gates and let the stream flow on, and 
 on, and on. And it will never give out. All God wants 
 us to do is to get filled. 
 
 Now, I want to put this question to the audience. Isn't 
 it the time of need, great need? I think one of the most 
 lamentable things of this day is that Satan can walk right 
 into some of our best Christian homes and families, and 
 haul the children down into the deepest and darkest 
 depths, and we haven't got the power to reach them and 
 bring them back. I don't believe that it is the will of the 
 Almighty that the devil should walk into my home and 
 drag my children down. If we were filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, we could call power down from heaven and save 
 the tempted ones. We haven't got the Holy Ghost 
 power. May God open your eyes now! Perhaps the 
 question comes up, is there any promise that we can lay 
 hold on? Listen, "Blessed are they that hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Do 
 you know what heaven's measure is? Good measure 
 pressed down and running over. I remember when we 
 used to sell a man a bushel of oats; we used to take a 
 stick and scrape over the top so that he shouldn't get a 
 grain over measure. The Lord just shakes it down and 
 lets it run over; and when a man is full of the love of 
 God, he has power to resist temptation. When the heart 
 is filled with the Holy Spirit, and Satan comes to put in 
 an evil thought, he throws off the temptation. People 
 come to me and say, " Mr. Moody, don't you think you 
 
god's service and the holy spirit. 463 
 
 ought to preach against this and that?" li No," I say, 
 il get the people baptized and it takes them clean out of 
 the world." A young man came to me once and said, 
 '■' Don't you think I ought to get out of the world now 
 that I have become a Christian?" And I said, " No. 
 You won't have to leave the world if you just give a good 
 ringing testimony for the Son of God. " And when a 
 man gets filled with the spirit, he won't always be talk- 
 ing about doing this thing and that thing. God wants 
 to fill you. But the moment you begin to talk about 
 being filled, people say, " If you are full of conceit and 
 your own righteousness, full of envy, evil and hate, and 
 all those things, how is the Lord going to fill you?" 
 Take this tumbler; it is filled with air, and you are won- 
 dering how you are going to get the air out. [Here Mr. 
 Moody poured water into the tumbler until it ran over.] 
 There! Any air there now? " I will pour water upon 
 him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." Is 
 it dry here in this city? Let us ask God to open the 
 gates and let the flood come in upon us to-night. Come, 
 friend, let the heart be opened to-night. Just pull back 
 that bolt and let the door be thrown wide open. Say to 
 God, " Here am I." And if it is real, honest desire that 
 He should come, He will do so and fill you. 
 
 When I was out in Colorado I saw strawberries and 
 peas, and here and there a farm where every blade of 
 grass was green, and everything was fresh and blooming; 
 but just over the fence there would be another farm 
 where everything would be dried up. And I said to a 
 man on the train, " What does this mean?" He looked 
 at me and said, " You are a stranger here. One man 
 brings water down from the mountains and waters his 
 
464 Moody's sermons. 
 
 farm, the other man does not." That explained it. One 
 had plenty, and the other didn't have anything. You go 
 into some churches and you will find some men that are 
 very dry, and a man right next to him with a sunny face, 
 and there all is fresh and bright. Why? Because one 
 has got the anointing, has got the blessing, and the other 
 sits there where the rain is pouring down and doesn't get 
 under it at all. Let's get under the pierced clouds, and 
 then just keep the heart full. It is no sign you are full 
 because you were so two years ago. That is the trouble. 
 A good many are trying to work with the anointing they 
 got three years ago. They are a lot of Samsons around 
 who have lost their hair. How many sermons have you 
 heard of which you cannot remember a single word? 
 What is the trouble? Why, you were not in the right 
 spirit; or, perhaps, the man in the pulpit was not in the 
 right spirit, and the sermon didn't lay hold on you. When 
 the Spirit of God is in a man the fire just burns. But, 
 thank God, although Samson lost his strength it came 
 back to him. And some of you Samsons that have lost 
 your power can get it back again if you will. God used 
 Peter far more after He restored him than He did before 
 his fall. I trust there are some here who may become a 
 flame of fire. Why not? Don't you want that power? 
 You can have it if you will. It is for you. The Lord 
 wants to give it to every one. Let's have it. You will 
 remember that after Christ rose He met His disciples in 
 a little room, and He raised His pierced hands and said, 
 " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And right after that He 
 said, "I am now going to leave you, and I want to come 
 back here and pray until you have become imbued with 
 the power from on high." And one of His disciples an- 
 
god's service and the holy spirit. 465 
 
 swered, ''Lord, I have the power." And then he said, 
 " Ye shall receive the power after the Holy Ghost has 
 come upon you." You want to wait for the power. I 
 believe that is where the church has gone astray; there 
 are hundreds of church members who never think of ask- 
 ing God for power. They are children by birth, sons 
 and daughters of God, but they are without power. Let 
 us seek this power. When the Holy Ghost had come, 
 there were more people converted than had been during 
 the three years of Christ's ministry. O, I hope the 
 Christians here to-night will get power and baptism, and 
 then this whole community will feel the power. 
 
 But, again, the power came in the second chapter of 
 Acts. I have heard a good many people say, " Why, I 
 don't think it right to ask the spirit to come." Didn't 
 He come eighteen hundred years ago, and isn't He with 
 the church to-day? I honestly believe that the place 
 might be shaken as it was in the second chapter of Acts. 
 These men were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, peo- 
 ple say that you may preach all you like, so long as you 
 do not preach in His name. But those preachers could 
 not get on without His name; it was their capital in 
 trade, all they had. They had just commenced their 
 ministry, and they couldn't preach on science and higher 
 criticism. They knew nothing about astronomy, geology 
 and botany, and I don't know what else that is preached 
 about these days. All they knew was that Jesus Christ 
 had lived there, they had seen Him die and ascend, and 
 the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they went about 
 preaching in His name. I tell you a man might preach 
 with all the eloquence of Demosthenes, and yet not touch 
 the hearts of the people. But let the Holy Ghost come, 
 
466 Moody's sermons. 
 
 and there would be a mighty stir. Some one says, "A 
 lie will get all around the world before the truth gets its 
 boots on to contradict it." Now, mark ye. John and 
 Peter were rilled in the second chapter, and again in the 
 fourth. Now, they had either lost some of their power 
 or had greater capacity. If Peter and John needed to 
 be filled again so soon after Pentecost, don't you think 
 you and I need to be filled again? The house in Jeru- 
 salem was shaken twice. Those men were filled again 
 and they preached with greater power, and I want to say 
 that I haven't any sympathy with the idea that this mir- 
 acle could not be repeated again. May God grant that it 
 may be repeated. Why shouldn't there be fires here? 
 Can you give a reason why? But go on. Ten years after 
 there was a meeting down at Cesarea, and I believe that 
 was the only meeting that was all planned in heaven. 
 Peter was brought from Joppa, thirty miles away, and 
 the people sat there and heard what the Lord had to say. 
 And Peter stood up and preached. In the eleventh 
 chapter of Acts he gives an account of that preaching ten 
 years afterward. 
 
 Now, if the Holy Ghost fell twice in Jerusalem, and 
 ten years after in Cesarea, why shouldn't it fall to-night? 
 Why shouldn't the Holy Ghost come now? I believe, if 
 we could only get this cursed unbelief out of here, that 
 God would lift the tide-gate, and let the flood come in. 
 That is what we want. People say, " What shall I do 
 to get this blessing?" Give yourself up fully, wholly and 
 unreservedly just now, this minute; make a complete sur- 
 render and say, " Here am I, Lord, take me and use me 
 for Thyself," and I tell you, if the motive is pure and for 
 the glory of God, the blessing will come. But if you are 
 
god's service and the holy spirit. 467 
 
 selfish about it and want it just for your own sake, you 
 are going to be disappointed. A great many mothers are 
 mourning because their children are not saved. Do they 
 ever mourn because other children are unsaved? Are we 
 not selfish? 
 
 If any of you to-night really want this blessing and 
 feel down deep in your hearts that you must have it, and 
 you are going to lay yourself out for it, I would like to 
 pray with you for it. I see some aged men here. Would 
 not you like to leave a ray of light behind you? Wouldn't 
 you like to see all your children and grandchildren 
 gathered into the kingdom before you go? Before you 
 go, wouldn't you like to see the kingdom extended right 
 here in your midst? There is not a man so old but that 
 God can use you. Come! There are none so young 
 that God cannot use you. 
 
 You remember that when Elijah was to be taken up, 
 he was down at Gilgal with Elisha. And Elijah said 
 unto Elisha, " Tarry here, for I go to Bethel;" but Elisha 
 said, "As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee." So the 
 two prophets went down to Bethel. When they had 
 reached there a young man came up to Elisha and said, 
 " Do you know that your master is to be taken away to- 
 day?" And Elisha said, "Hold your peace, I know all 
 about it." Presently Elijah turned to Elisha, and said, 
 "Tarry here, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho." 
 But Elisha replied, " As the Lord liveth, I will not leave 
 thee." I have often wished that that wjhole story had 
 been put on record. And when they came to Jordan 
 there were fifty men there. Elijah took off his mantle 
 and smote the waters, and the river divided, and Elijah 
 and Elisha passed over on dry ground. And when they 
 
468 Moody's sermons. 
 
 had gone over Elijah said to Elisha, " Ask what I shall 
 do for thee before I be taken away from thee." And 
 Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah 
 answered, ''Thou hast asked a hard thing, but if you 
 see me when I am taken up it shall be so." Do you 
 suppose Elisha lost sight of Elijah? O, no! Where 
 Elijah went, there Elisha was to be found, but as they 
 were journeying along, a whirlwind came up, and they 
 were separated. I see Elisha digging the sand out of his 
 eyes, and he happened to see something in the air, and 
 he looked up, and there was Elijah. And he shouted, 
 "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the 
 horsemen thereof!" And he rent his own clothes. Men, 
 rend your mantle. You are nothing, get down in the 
 dust. And he took up the mantle of Elijah and smote 
 the waters and passed over. Now, I am afraid that if 
 Elisha had been some of us he would have said, " I am 
 the same old Elisha. I expected to feel a sensation. I 
 thought I should have a stroke." Man, take God at His 
 word. " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, for they shall be filled." Claim that 
 promise. God can raise up witnesses right out of stone 
 if he wants to. Elisha got all he went for, because he 
 dared to ask. Let us go in for a double portion. Don't 
 you want it? What is the use of living at this dying rate 
 that we sing and talk about? The Lord has plenty. He 
 delights to give. Let us take up the duty of receiving 
 just now. Let us pray the Lord God of heaven to fill 
 us. Let us pray to have the fruit come. 
 
Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. Luke, xxn. 
 
ELEMENTS OF TRUE PRAYER. 
 
 This afternoon, I want to call your attention to the 
 subject of prayer. As this is the week of prayer, we 
 want, if possible, to get into the spirit of prayer, and into 
 sympathy with those who are praying. If there is to be 
 a great, deep, thorough, lasting work, it is going to be in 
 answer to prayer. 
 
 I have no sympathy with this idea, that if we ask God 
 to do a certain work, He is going to give us chaff. If we 
 have faith to claim, I believe He will answer our prayers. 
 I don't believe He mocks His children. I believe He will 
 give out of His abundance, and give us the very best He 
 has. Now, I have no doubt but that a great many of 
 you have said at different times, "What is the use of 
 prayer anyway?" Sometimes, when I have prayed, it 
 has seemed as if the heavens were closed over me. It 
 seems as if God does not hear. My words all seem to 
 come back to me. Haven't you often felt that way? I 
 see some of you giving your assent to that. Now, in an- 
 swer to that, let me say, in the first place, Jesus Christ 
 is an example for us. We profess to be His disciples. 
 Well, remember that as -a man He prayed. As God, 
 He answers prayers. The key to Christ's character and 
 
 471 
 
47 2 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 life is this, He was a God-man. At times, He spoke as 
 God; at times, as a man. At times, He acted as a man; 
 at times, as God. But there is one thing you will find. 
 His life, all through His ministry, was filled with prayer, 
 and there was no great event in His life that was not 
 preceded by prayer. All through His public ministry 
 you will find Him often in prayer, and every great event 
 of His life, as I said before, was preceded by prayer. I 
 was a Christian a good many years before I noticed that 
 He was praying at His baptism, but the Bible tells us 
 that He came out of the water praying. The spirit came 
 in answer to prayer, and the voice that came from heaven 
 saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased," was a response to prayer. The night pre- 
 ceding the most marvelous sermon He preached while 
 on earth, you will notice He spent in prayer. There were 
 about fifteen thousand sermons in that one. When He 
 went up into the mountain and was transfigured, we find 
 that He was praying when His visage was changed. He 
 had on that heavenly glory, because His Father was to 
 visit Him. Then we read in the twelfth chapter of John, 
 that He was praying again that God might glorify His 
 name, and in Gethsemane, He was praying and sweating 
 as it were, great drops of blood when the angel came. The 
 angel came not when He was uttering some parable or 
 preaching some sermon, but when He was praying. And if 
 you and I are going to hear from heaven, it will be when 
 we are praying. I have often said that I had rather be able 
 to pray like Daniel than preach like Gabriel. What we 
 want is men and women that know how to pray, who 
 know how to call fire down from heaven. Men, have you 
 that power with God in prayer? Now, when I say men, 
 
ELEMENTS OF TRUE PRAYER. 473 
 
 I mean men and women. Some of you think that you 
 cannot do much in this work, and you have said, " I wish 
 I were stronger. I wish I was not so confined to my 
 household duties." But I want to say that you may ac- 
 complish just as much if you cannot come out to any of 
 the meetings. It may be that some bedridden saint in 
 this city may do more toward bringing down fire than all 
 the pastors put together. I went to London in 1872, 
 just to spend three or four months, and one night I spoke 
 in a prayer-meeting. I went into a Congregational 
 church, and I preached with no unusual power. There 
 didn't seem to be anything out of the regular line in the 
 service. In fact, I was a little disappointed. I didn't 
 seem to have much liberty there. That evening, at 
 6:30, I preached to men. There seemed to be great 
 power. It seemed as if the building was filled with the 
 glory of God, and I asked for an expression when I got 
 through. They rose by the hundreds. I said, "They 
 don't know what this means," so I thought I would put 
 another test. I just asked them to step back into the 
 chapel, all those that wanted to become Christians, but 
 no one else. They flocked into the chapel by the hun- 
 dreds. I was in great perplexity; I couldn't understand 
 what it meant. I went down to Dublin the next day, 
 and on Tuesday morning, I got a dispatch saying, 
 " Come to London at once and help us." I didn't know 
 what to make of it, but I hastened back to London and 
 labored there ten days, and there were four hundred 
 names recorded at that time. For months, I could not 
 understand what it meant, but by-and-by I found out. 
 There was in that church a poor bedridden woman, and 
 she used to take different ones upon her heart, and she 
 
474 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 began to pray God to revive the whole church. She 
 began to pray God to send me to that church. On Sun- 
 day morning her sister came home, and said, " Who do 
 you think preached for us this morning?-" She guessed a 
 number of ministers that had been in the habit of ex- 
 changing with the pastor, and finally gave it up. The 
 sister said, "It was Mr. Moody, from America." The 
 poor woman turned pale, and said, " I 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 just fell upon the audience. 
 
 My dear friends, I believe that when God's books are 
 opened there will be some hidden one that will be much 
 nearer the throne than you and I are. 
 
 And now at the beginning of this week, let us pray God 
 to give us the spirit of prayer. Let us expect great 
 things, and we will not be disappointed if our expecta- 
 tions are from God. Let our expectations be from Him, 
 not from man. If you look to man you are going to be 
 disappointed, but God will never disappoint you. Bring 
 your burden here and pray it out before God, and ask 
 Him to do great and mighty things. 
 
 Now, I want to call your attention to the elements of 
 all true prayer. You know Christ never taught His dis- 
 ciples how to preach. When Christ got His theological 
 students around Him, He taught them how to pray. And 
 I think we often ought to make that prayer, " Lord teach 
 us how to pray." I won't have time to go through all of 
 them, but I will take them up again. 
 
. ELEMENTS OF TRUE PRAYER. 475 
 
 First, there is contrition. I am sometimes ashamed of 
 myself to think how fluent I am, when I go into the pres- 
 ence of God. As if God was on an equal footing with 
 me, or rather as if I was on an equal footing with God, 
 as if there was no difference between us. Let us bear in 
 mind that God is holy. The nearer we get to Him the 
 more we will think of His holiness and abhor ourselves. 
 We will grow smaller, and He larger. One of the truest 
 signs that a man is growing great is that God increases, 
 and he decreases. Why, 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 are growing 
 in conceit. But when we get near to God, how small we 
 look, and how great God seems! And you remember 
 when Isaiah saw God, he cried, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord 
 God of Hosts." And then what did he cry? That he 
 was unclean and dwelt with unclean people, and he 
 wanted the coal to be taken from off the altar and put 
 upon his lips, that his iniquity might be purged away. 
 Now, it is one thing to hear God, but when we see Him 
 it will be another thing, and let us keep it in mind that 
 contrition is the first thing. You remember that when 
 Christ taught His disciples to pray, He said, "Our 
 Father." 
 
 Then the next thing that follows is the confession of 
 our sins. There is no true prayer without confession. 
 As long as we have 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. As long as we are living in any known 
 sin, we have no power in prayer. God is not going to hear 
 
476 Moody's sermons. 
 
 it. It is a prayerless prayer and an abomination to God 
 and man. What Gods wants is reality. Now, if there is 
 some sin we have hidden in our hearts that we are not will- 
 ing to confess, then, of course, we cannot pray. Put the 
 question to yourself, can you pray? I don't mean to go 
 through a form, but have you power with God in prayer? 
 How many times do you hear people get up in prayer- 
 mee v ting to pray, but there is no power in it? If a man 
 doesn't treat his wife right, he needn't pray. It is all a 
 farce, you know. He says the sacrifice of the wicked is 
 an abomination to God. If sacrifice is an abomination 
 to God, do you tell me that the prayers of a man or wom- 
 an who is not living right is not an abomination to God? 
 Now, you must bear in mind that there must be true con- 
 fession before we are going to have an answer to prayer. 
 Not to confess, and then go and do the same thing over 
 again, but just turn from the sin. 
 
 My dear friend, if there is anything in your life that is 
 wrong, make up your mind that you are not going to let 
 the sun go down before you confess it. Let me read you 
 a few verses from the thirty-second Psalm. ' ' Blessed is 
 he whose transgression is forgiven. " There is no 
 confession up to this time. He didn't prosper because 
 he would not confess. (First to the fifth verse.) But, 
 now notice, " I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and my 
 iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my 
 transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the in- 
 iquity of my sin." See! Just the moment he confessed, 
 the Lord forgave, and then it was that he had power 
 with God in prayer. 
 
 Now, the next true element to prayer is restitution. It 
 is folly for us to ask God to do something for us that we 
 
ELEMENTS OF TRUE PRAYER. 477 
 
 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? You will find men who are cheating 
 their neighbors, and they cannot pray; it won't work at 
 all. What we want to-day is a revival of righteousness, 
 a revival of uprightness. I sometimes hear a man say, 
 " Hallelujah," and it is like a file right across my nerves. 
 I look into his face, and know that it is not real. Now, 
 " Hallelujah " comes in all right if it proceeds from the 
 heart. I don't object to a thing of that kind once in a 
 while, just a little of it; but to have a man that is not 
 living right, to have, him come and make a great noise 
 about religion; it is an abomination to God and man. 
 Up in the north of England, a lady came into one of the 
 after meetings. She was greatly troubled, and I talked 
 with her a number of days, and found out what her 
 trouble was. ''I cannot pray. I get down onto my 
 knees to pray, but five bottles of wine come up before 
 me, and I cannot see the face of the Lord." She told 
 that when she was housekeeper for a wealthy gentleman 
 in his sickness, she stole five bottles of wine, and -every 
 time since then when she got down on her knees to pray, 
 up would come the five bottles of wine. " Did you ever 
 make restitution? " "No." "Well, you must confess, 
 and make restitution to that man before you will be able 
 to pray." "Why," she said, "have I got to confess 
 that?" "Not only confess, but you must make restitu- 
 tion." O, but she couldn't do that, though next day she 
 came back, and said, " Now, if I give that money to the 
 church, won't that do just as well?" "Why, no; the 
 Lord does not want any stolen money. It is not yours to 
 
478 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 give. There is only one way when you have done wrong 
 to make it right, and that is to confess your sins, and, if 
 it is in your power, make restitution." Finally she felt 
 as if she could not carry the burden any longer, and she 
 took the train to the home of this man's son, and told 
 him the story of her sin, and handed him the money to 
 pay for the wine. He said, " I don't want the money." 
 And she said, " Well, [ don't want it." Finally, he said, 
 " I will take it and put it into the treasury of the church." 
 Before she went away she said she didn't know whether 
 she was in the flesh or out of it. She had gotten rid of 
 the five bottles of wine. Man, if there is something 
 wrong in your life, make restitution. Trade off the old 
 lame horse for a good one. Go and make restitution. 
 Those kind of things speak louder than any sermons; 
 that's the kind of Christianity that we want. Supposing 
 it does cost you something. I never saw a man or wom- 
 an that was willing to do these things for God that didn't 
 receive a blessing. I know this to be true. If some one 
 has wronged you, you want them to make it right, don't 
 you? There was a man in the south of Ireland who got 
 right up and went out of the meeting, went clear up to 
 the north of Ireland, and paid man after man hundreds 
 of pounds that he had cheated them out of. I believe 
 there are a good many men and women who have no 
 power at all, because there is something in their lives 
 that doesn't please God. 
 
 Now, the next element is forgiveness. I tell you there 
 are more people that stumble right there, and lose their 
 power than anywhere else. Now, if I do not forgive just 
 as I want God to forgive me, then I cannot pray. That is 
 the reason why a good many people cannot pray. A man 
 
ELEMENTS OF TRUE PRAYER. 479 
 
 said to me some time ago, "We have a magnificent 
 organ, a wealthy and cultured preacher, but we have not 
 had a man converted in our church. Can you tell me 
 why?" "Yes, there are half 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 there is any one you are not will- 
 ing to forgive, don't you see that you have broken down 
 the bridge, and how are you going to get over yourself? 
 Now, if there is any one here who has had trouble with 
 some one, and has not forgiven him, he may be excused. 
 Get right up and go now, and have it settled before the 
 sun goes down. O, that flood-gates may be lifted up so 
 that the flood may come in! Perhaps you have had a 
 row with your stepmother or father, or your own natural 
 mother, perhaps; perhaps you have some falling out with 
 your minister; he may be here on the platform; have an 
 interview with him before you go out of this hall. Get 
 these things settled. Some of you look pretty cross now; 
 perhaps I have hit you. That is what I am here for. 
 You want to know why your prayers are not answered, 
 and I am just trying to tell you. God delights to an- 
 swer prayer. But you cannot deceive yourself. If you 
 are living a dishonorable life, God hides His face, and 
 will not hear you. Are there any bottles of wine in the 
 way? Come, that is the question, and may God help 
 you to answer it honestly. 
 
THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. 
 
 You that were here yesterday afternoon remember that 
 I was speaking about the true elements of prayer. I was 
 trying to show that there were ten elements to all true 
 prayer. The first was contrition, the second confession, 
 the third restitution, and the fourth forgiveness; the fifth 
 is unity. . You do not know unless you have been in the 
 old country, in England, what a wall is built up between 
 the church and what they call "dissenters." You men 
 who have traveled there know what I am talking about. 
 They do not call men ministers unless they belong to the 
 Episcopal church. Spurgeon was not looked upon as a 
 clergyman because he did not belong to the church of 
 England. There was one of those wealthy clergymen, 
 who told me himself, that if he saw a dissenting minister 
 coming down on the same sidewalk, if it was convenient, 
 he would happen on the other side. He had been taught 
 that they were enemies of the church of God. Well, he 
 went up to a meeting in the north of England where the 
 brethren met to pray, and he got such a blessing that he 
 came down to his own parish, and the first thing he did 
 was to go through the whole parish, and pray with all 
 the leading dissenters. I got an invitation to go down to 
 this place to preach. I found a tent that would hold as 
 many people as there are here, and I found that this 
 
 480 
 
The Crucifixion. Matthew, xxvii, 45-49. 
 
THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. 483 
 
 clergyman and all the dissenting ministers were working 
 harmoniously together, and since this had begun there 
 had been more conversions than there had been for years. 
 This clergyman told me that the man that was nearest 
 to him, and whom he loved most in that whole parish, 
 was an independent preacher. He found out that that 
 dissenting man could be just as godly and good as any 
 preachers in his own denomination. I do wish that we 
 could get these miserable sectarian walls down. I tell 
 you, you get the Christians all united, and Christianity is 
 like a great flood. It says that on the day of Pentecost 
 there was unity. We are making progress. I thank 
 God for that. These walls are tumbling down. Twenty- 
 five years ago you could not have had a meeting like this 
 here. You could not have had all these ministers up on 
 this platform. There would have been condescension 
 enough to ruin the whole thing. You might have got 
 them on the same platform, but a Baptist would have 
 got up and said, "I am a Baptist, and I want you to 
 understand that I have condescended to come up here 
 and speak." And then up would get an Episcopalian, 
 and say that he " had condescended to speak with the 
 other brethren." But that has gone by. Since I have 
 been here we have been getting all mixed up here, and I 
 believe that it is the way it will be in heaven. You won't 
 know a Methodist when you get there. All " out-and- 
 out Christians, " you know. The nearer we get to the 
 Lord, the less we will talk about these differences. We 
 have got to climb the ladder. Every true child of God 
 ought to pray for unity, brotherly love. It is a beautiful 
 sight to see all these ministers here representing the dif- 
 ferent churches. 
 
484 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 Another element to true prayer is thanksgiving. "With 
 thanksgiving let your requests be made known." I think 
 we would get a hundred times more from the Lord than 
 we do if we would only be thankful. There is more said 
 in the Bible about praise than prayer. There was a man 
 who got up in one of «our meetings and said he had lived 
 on Grumble street for a long while, but finally he moved 
 on to Thanksgiving street. I do dread these men who 
 are always grumbling. 
 
 Spurgeon said he hoped the grass would grow over 
 their graves, but if it did it would be the first thing that 
 had ever grown near them. We want to be thankful. 
 There was a man in our church in Chicago whom I 
 never saw when he did not have a smile on his face. He 
 was always ready with "Bless the Lord," and it was not a 
 hollow sham. It came from the bottom of his soul. One 
 day he cut his thumb off, and that very night we had a 
 weekly prayer-meeting. He was there with his lame 
 hand, and he got up and said, ' ' Bless the Lord. I cut 
 my thumb to-day, but I didn't cut it clear off." If it had 
 been most of us, it would have been a mournful story. 
 Be thankful for what you have. Let us look out that we 
 are not one of the class who come to the Lord constantly 
 for favors, and never thank Him. 
 
 Then another element is perseverance. Now, I don't 
 like to be teased; I suppose you don't. I don't know 
 why, but somehow or other the Lord seems to like it. 
 He likes to have us press our cause, and what we want is 
 to pray on and never faint. There is no gauge to God's 
 promises. You may pray for weeks, or months, or years; 
 you may go down to your grave, and your prayers may 
 not all be answered, but perhaps around your coffin that 
 
THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. 485 
 
 wayward boy may be converted. We are instructed to 
 pray and never cease. Pray right on. And if we get 
 discouraged, we are disobeying God, and are not doing 
 what the Lord would like to have us do. I heard in 
 England about a wife who said she would give up one 
 hour of the day, and go to her room, and pray for her 
 husband, who was a skeptic. She prayed for twelve 
 months, but no answer came. She said, "Can I give 
 him up? No, I will pray six months longer." So she 
 went on praying for that time, and at the end of the 
 six months not a ray of hope, not a change that she 
 could see. And she said again, " Shall I give him up?' 
 She came to this conclusion, that she would pray for him 
 as long as he lived. That very day when he came home, 
 he went upstairs, and when the time came for the dinner 
 to be put on the table he did not come down. Finally, 
 she went up to the room where she had been praying for 
 eighteen months that he might be saved, and she found 
 him on his knees praying to God to save him. When I 
 was over in England the last time, I found he had built 
 a church on his own land. I venture to say that there 
 are a good many of you who can remember how you 
 prayed for a long time without any answer. I remember, 
 during the war, at Nashville, a soldier came to me, 
 trembling from head to foot; I thought, perhaps, he had 
 been drinking. He took a soiled piece of paper out of 
 his pocket, and said, " I wish you would read that." It 
 went on to tell that his sister had been praying for him 
 ever since he had been in the army. " Sometimes it 
 seemed as if my heart would break to think that my 
 brother was in the army, and might be shot down any 
 time without hope." He said, " I believe I am the worst 
 
486 Moody's sermons. 
 
 man in the army. I have had the shot and shell whiz 
 past me without turning pale, but I got that letter last 
 night, and I have not slept a wink since I got it." It 
 was all soiled with tears. I talked to him, and had the 
 joy of leading him into the light. That sister held right 
 on, and the Lord answered her prayer. That is perse- 
 verance. It was a hard case, but the Lord answered her 
 prayer. So let us keep it in mind, that if we are going 
 to have power with God, we have got to persevere. 
 
 Then, another true element to prayer is faith. We 
 must believe that our prayers are going to be answered. 
 If we have complied with the conditions, then let us look 
 for fulfillment. But, mark ye, here is a mistake that peo- 
 ple make, and a great mistake, too; they have an idea 
 that God does not answer prayer if he doesn't say, ' ' Yes." 
 I have three children, and I want them on such terms 
 with me that they will ask me for anything they want. 
 But I tell you they don't get everything they want. Not 
 by a good deal. We want to keep it in mind that when 
 we get an answer it may be in the negative. Did you 
 ever know the three men that take up the most room in 
 Scripture, prayed often? Take Moses; he prayed 
 earnestly; he prayed that the Lord would let him go into 
 the promised land. For forty years that servant had 
 been leading the people through the wilderness, yet the 
 Lord would not let him go into the promised land. 
 Didn't the Lord love him? He finally said, "Now, 
 Moses; don't you speak to Me any more about that 
 matter; let it rest." He never mentioned it after that; 
 but, I tell you, I don't believe there was a man on the 
 earth at that time that God loved as He did Moses. 
 Fifteen years after, He answered Moses' prayer. He did 
 
THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. 487 
 
 not get his prayers answered just when he wanted them 
 answered, but in God's own good time. He wouldn't let 
 any archangel, or even Gabriel bury him when he died. 
 And do you tell me God didn't love Moses? Take Elijah; 
 he knew how to pray. When he got under that juniper 
 tree, and prayed that he might die, like a coward, God 
 didn't let him die. The only man that didn't pray he 
 might die was the very man who did die. Good took him 
 to heaven. Now, you take Paul. Thrice Paul prayed 
 that the Lord might take the thorn out of his flesh. We 
 do not know what the thorn was, and perhaps it is a 
 good thing we don't. Lots of people get a good deal of 
 comfort out of that. The Lord did not see fit to remove 
 the thorn. Anything that would bring Paul up nearer 
 God was just the thing he wanted. And so he got his 
 prayers answered, but not in the way he wanted. 
 
 Then another true element to prayer is petition. You 
 know a good many people pray, and don't make any peti- 
 tion. I have heard men pray in this way; telling God 
 how great and good, and wonderful He was, and not a 
 petition in the prayer from beginning to end. There was 
 a man in England who got up in meeting, and made one 
 of those wonderful prayers, but there was no petition in 
 it. And there was a poor, godly saint who could not 
 stand it any longer, and she cried out, "Ask Him for 
 something." Now, that is just it. "Ask, and ye shall 
 receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." That 
 is a promise; now let's lay hold of it. You know there 
 are people who will tell you it doesn't do any good to 
 pray further than to teach us submission. You can ask, 
 and you won't get anything, but it is a healthy exercise. 
 That is a nice way to mock a poor heart-broken mother, 
 
488 Moody's sermons. 
 
 isn't it? It teaches you submission. I am sorry to say, 
 I am almost ashamed to say it, but that is the argument 
 of a great many skeptics. And a good many ministers 
 preach and teach it. " You cannot expect that the 
 laws which have been fixed will ever be changed." I 
 tell you, I like to go right straight to the fountain-head, 
 and see what He says. " Seek, and you shall find." I 
 believe He means it. I have asked, haven't you? I 
 have been answered, haven't you? What can these 
 skeptics and infidels tell you about prayer? They don't 
 know anything about it themselves. Supposing there 
 came a snowstorm, and a man comes to my house at 
 midnight, and knocks at the door. I throw open the 
 window, put my head out and say, ' ' What do you want?" 
 "There has been a blockade up here, and the people 
 have no place to go to." " Well, I am sorry to tell you 
 that my laws are fixed. I have made a law that when I 
 lock my doors at night, I never open them." Don't you 
 call that downright mockery? Now, there are some of 
 God's blessings that you get just by asking, and there are 
 others you have to seek for. Perhaps there is some- 
 thing wrong in your life. God wants to bring that out 
 right. God's best gifts are kept under lock and key. I 
 tell you if you are going to get them, you have got to 
 knock. The promise is, " If you knock, it shall be 
 opened unto you. " Keep on knocking. Importunity 
 has three names — asking, seeking and knocking. 
 
 The last element is submission. Now if we have 
 spread our requests before the Lord, then just say, 
 " Thy will be done." Now, that is the last element to 
 every true prayer. Keep that in mind. We very often 
 set our wills against God's. That will be our ruin, per- 
 
THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. 489 
 
 haps. Let the will of God be done. I cannot look a 
 day into the future, and I would not dare to take the re- 
 sponsibility. It is far better for us to say, "Thy will, 
 not mine, be done." That is the last element to true 
 prayer. Submission! Submission! One of the sweetest 
 lessons that I have learned since I have been in Christ's 
 school is just to be submissive, and let Him choose for 
 me. I tell Him what I want, but when I get through, I 
 like to say, "Now, Lord, you know best, Thy will be 
 done." I learned a lesson once from my little girl. She 
 was always teasing me for a great big doll. She had a 
 lot of dolls around the house without heads, some with- 
 out arms, some without legs, but she wanted a great big 
 doll. You know if a man has an only daughter he is 
 rather soft (and they find it out, you know); so she 
 was determined to get that big doll. One day I had a 
 good streak come over me, and I took her to a toyshop 
 to get her a doll, but as we went in the door we saw a 
 basket of little china dolls. "O papa, isn't that the 
 cutest little doll you ever saw?" "Yes, yes." " Well, 
 won't you buy it?" "Well, now, Emma, let me choose 
 this time." " O, no, papa; I just want this little doll." 
 I paid a nickel for the doll and took her home. After 
 the newness had worn off, the doll was left with all the 
 others. I said, " Emma, do you know what I was going 
 to do that day when I took you into the toyshop, and 
 you selected that little china doll?" "No, papa." 
 " Well. I was going to buy you one of those great big 
 ones." " You were? Why didn't you do it?" "Because 
 you wouldn't let me. You remember you wanted that 
 little doll, and you would have it." The little thing saw 
 the point, and she bit her lips and did not say anything 
 
490 MOODY S SERMONS. . ' 
 
 more. From that day to this I cannot get her to say 
 what she wants. When I was going to Europe the last 
 time, I asked her what she wanted me to bring her, and 
 she said, Anything you like." 
 
 It is far better to let God choose for us than to choose 
 for ourselves. "Thy will, not mine, be done." 
 
Hagar in the "Wildirness. Genesis, xlv. 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 
 
 I want to call your attention to one of the promises 
 that Jesus Christ left us. I cannot say that it is the 
 best, but I think that I can honestly say it is one of the 
 best. 
 
 Some years ago a gentleman came to me and asked 
 me which I thought was the most precious promise of 
 all those that Christ left. I took some time to look over 
 the promises that Christ left us, but I gave up the job. 
 I found that 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 peace 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 fulfilled, and you cannot help 
 but believe they are true. Now, remember that all the 
 promises are not given without conditions; some promises 
 are given with and others without conditions attached to 
 them. For instance, it says, " If I regard iniquity in my 
 heart the Lord will not hear me." Now, I need not pray 
 as long as I am cherishing some known sin. The Lord says 
 in the eighty-fourth Psalm, " No good thing will he with- 
 hold from them that walk uprightly. " Then there are prom- 
 
 493 
 
494 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 ises without conditions. He promised Adam and Eve 
 that the world should have a Savior, and there was no 
 power on earth or perdition that could keep Christ from 
 coming at the appointed time. When Christ left the 
 world, he said he would send us the Holy Ghost. He 
 had only been gone ten days when the Holy Ghost came. 
 And so you can run right through the Scriptures, and you 
 will find that some of the promises are with and some 
 without conditions; and if we don't comply with the 
 conditions we cannot expect them to be fulfilled. 
 
 I believe it will be the experience of every man and 
 woman on the face of the earth. I believe that every 
 one will be obliged to testify in the evening of life that 
 if we have complied with the condition the Lord has ful- 
 filled his work to the letter. I believe you could cleave 
 the ocean easier than break one of God's promises. So 
 when we come to a promise like the one we have before 
 us to-day I want you to bear in mind that there is no 
 discount upon it. You will find it in the closing of the 
 eleventh chapter of Matthew. " Come unto Me, all ye 
 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest." 
 
 If you probe the human heart you will find in that 
 heart a want, and that want is rest. The cry of the 
 world to-day is, " Where can rest be found?" Why are 
 your theaters and places of amusement crowded at 
 night? Because people expect to get rest there. That 
 is what people are after — rest. Some think they are 
 going to get it in pleasure, others think they are going 
 to get it in wealth, and others in literature. They are 
 seeking and finding no rest. Now, I don't believe there 
 is but one place in this dark world where you can find 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 495 
 
 rest. If I wanted to find a man who had rest, I would 
 not go among the very wealthy. The man that we read 
 of in the twelfth chapter of Luke thought he was going 
 to get rest by multiplying his goods, but he was disap- 
 pointed. I will venture to say that there is not a person 
 in this wide world that has tried to find rest in that way 
 and found it. The man or woman that is looking after 
 the last fashion doesn't get rest to his soul. If I wanted 
 to find a person who had rest, I would not go among the 
 pleasure-seekers. . They have a few hours of enjoyment, 
 but the next day there will be enough to upset it all. 
 You may have a cup of pleasure to-day, and a cup of 
 sorrow to-morrow. That's the way it is with the world. 
 Now, I will tell you this. If I wanted to find a man or 
 woman that had rest, I would go to some one that has 
 heard the voice of Jesus saying, i( Come unto Me, and I 
 will give you rest." I will venture to say that if I should 
 put it to vote here to-day there are not less than a 
 thousand people who would spring to their feet and say 
 that they found rest at the foot of the cross. 
 
 Do you know that for four thousand years no prophet 
 nor priest nor patriarch ever stood up and uttered a text 
 like the one we have before us to-day? I think it would 
 be blasphemy for Moses to have uttered a text like this. 
 Suppose that great lawgiver had stood up and uttered 
 such a text. Do you think he had rest when he was 
 teasing the Lord to let him go into the promised land? 
 Do you think Elijah could have uttered such a text as 
 this? And this is one of the strongest proofs that Jesus 
 Christ was not only man, but He was God. He was God- 
 man, and this is heaven's proclamation, "Come unto 
 Me, and I will give you rest." He brought it down from 
 
49° MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 heaven with Him. I thank God for the word " give " in 
 that passage. He doesn't sell it. Some of us are so 
 poor that we could not buy it if it was for sale. I ven- 
 ture to say that there are thousands of men to-day who 
 would give their millions if they could buy rest. Thank 
 God, we can get it for nothing. 
 
 Now, if this text was not true, don't you think it would 
 have been found out by this time? I believe it as much 
 as I believe in my existence. Why? Because I not only 
 find it in the book, but in my own experience. I like to 
 have a text like this, because it takes us all in. " Come 
 unto Me, all." That doesn't mean a select few — you 
 refined ladies and cultured men. It doesn't mean you 
 good people only. This text applies to saint and sinner. 
 If you cannot come a saint, come a sinner. Only come! 
 A lady told me once that she was so hard-hearted she 
 couldn't come. " Well," I said, "my good woman, it 
 doesn't say all ye soft-hearted people, come. Black hearts, 
 vile hearts, hard hearts, soft hearts, all hearts, come." 
 Who can soften it but Himself? The harder the heart 
 the more need you have to come. If you can prove that 
 you are a sinner you are entitled to the promise. Get 
 all the benefit you can out of it. Now, you know that 
 there are a good many people who think this text applies 
 to sinners. It is just the thing for them, too. You 
 know, I think that this text applies to saints as much as 
 it does to sinners, because what do we see to-day? Why, 
 the church, Christian people, all loaded down with cares 
 and troubles. " Come unto Me, all ye that labor, "all! I 
 believe that means that Christian whose heart is burdened 
 with some great sorrow. The Lord wants you to come. 
 
 It says in another place, "Casting all your care upon 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 497 
 
 Him, for He careth for you." I tell you what, we would 
 have a victorious church if we could get Christian people 
 to realize that. Some people go back into the past and 
 rake up all the troubles they ever had, and the/ 1 they 
 look into the future and anticipate that they will have 
 still more trouble, and they go reeling and staggering all 
 through life. They give you the cold chills every time 
 they meet you; they will put on a whining voice and tell 
 you what ' ' a hard time they have had. " The Lord says, 
 " Cast all your care on Me; I want to carry your burdens 
 and your troubles." There are some of these people 
 here to-day. I can tell by their looks. What we want is 
 a joyful church, and we are not going to reach the world 
 until we have it. We want to get this long-faced Chris- 
 tianity off the face of the earth. You take these people 
 that have some great burden and let them come into a 
 meeting like this, and if you can get their attention upon 
 the singing or preaching, they will sa}', "O, wasn't it 
 grand? I forgot all my cares." And they just drop their 
 bundle. But the moment the benediction is pronounced, 
 they grab the bundle again. You laugh, but you will do 
 it here to-day. " Cast your care on Him." 
 
 Then sometimes you go into your closet and close your 
 door and you get so carried away and lifted up that you 
 forget your troubles; but you just take it up again the 
 moment you get off your knees. Leave your sorrow here 
 to-day, cast all your care upon Him. If you cannot 
 come to Christ as a saint, come as a sinner. But if you 
 are a saint with some trouble or care, bring it to Him. 
 Saint and sinner come ! He wants you all. He doesn't 
 want a woman to go out of here to-day carrying a sorrow 
 or burden. Don't let Satan believe you cannot come if 
 
498 Moody's sermons. 
 
 you will. Christ says, "Ye will not come unto Me." 
 With the command comes the power. A man in one of 
 our meetings in Europe said he would like to come, but 
 he was chained and couldn't come. A Scotchman said 
 to him, "Ay, man, why don't you come chain and all?" 
 He said, " I never thought of that." 
 
 Are you cross and peevish and do you make things un- 
 pleasant at home? My friend, come to Christ and ask 
 Him to help you. Whatever the sin is, bring it to Him. 
 Don't let any one say you can't, for you can. The only 
 thing you must do is to bring Him your sin, your burden 
 and your cross. That is the only thing that will be 
 acceptable. 
 
 There is another passage that I would like to lay along- 
 side of this. " Him that cometh unto Me, I will in nowise 
 cast out." Come unto Him now. I have no sympathy 
 with this idea that a sinner must wait to come. Does 
 God say, "I didn't mean you; you are too black and 
 vile"? I remember trying to lead a man to Christ in 
 Chicago, a good many years ago, and I took him to a 
 good many promises, but finally I took him to this one. 
 " Do you believe Christ said that?" " I suppose He did." 
 " Suppose he did? Do you believe it?" " I hope so." 
 "Hope so? Do you believe it?" You do your work, and 
 the Lord will do His. Just come as you are, and throw 
 yourself upon His bosom, and He will not cast you out. 
 This man thought it was too simple and easy. Take 
 Him at His word. Finally he said, "I will," and he 
 went with me and consecrated himself to the Lord. 
 When I shook hands with him I said, "Now, you will 
 have a conflict to-morrow; Satan will not let you off. 
 When you get up in the morning he will tempt you, but 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 499 
 
 don't listen to him; say, ' If it was true last night, it will 
 always be true.' " He said he would not be tempted. But 
 the tempter came in an unexpected manner, before I 
 thought he would; he came that night. It is a good 
 thing to take a promise like this and walk right out upon 
 it. Satan comes and says, "Do you feel it?" I don't 
 always feel the same when I am away, but there is one 
 thing I can believe. I can take one of these promises and 
 lay hold of it and believe it; every'one of you can do it. 
 Perhaps some of you say, " Mr. Moody, I wish you would 
 tell us what it is to come." The best definition I know 
 is to come. The more you try to explain it, the more 
 you are mystified. About the first thing a mother does is 
 to teach her child to look. At noontime she takes the 
 child to the window and says, "Look, baby; see papa 
 coming." You are taught to come before you remember. 
 You don't want any minister to tell you what it is to 
 come. We have got something worth more than a 
 thousand dollars; and you can have it if you wish. 
 Christ is not mocking you; He wants you to come, not 
 with any feeling or emotion, only come, that's all. Now, 
 will you come? I tell you what I think it means to take 
 up the cross. If you are going to get rest you will get it 
 at the cross. Do you ask me what that is? I don't 
 know. I don't know what your cross may be; it may he 
 to go home and tell a godless husband that you have 
 made up your mind to serve God. 
 
 I was preaching in Chicago to a hall full of women one 
 Sunday afternoon, and after the meeting was over a lady 
 came to me and said she wanted to talk to me. She 
 said she would accept Christ, and after some conversation 
 she went home. I looked for her a whole week, but 
 
500 Moody's sermons. 
 
 didn't see her until the Sunday afternoon. She came 
 and sat down right in front of me, and her face had such 
 a sad expression. After the meeting was over, I went to 
 her and asked her what the trouble was. She said, 
 "O, 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 forgive. 
 She said, "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," I said, "that is the reason why 
 you have no peace." She wanted to take the crown, but 
 didn't want the cross. My friends, you have got to go 
 by the way of Calvary. If you ever get rest, you must 
 get it at the foot of the cross. " Why," she said, " If I 
 should go home and tell my infidel husband 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, but she 
 didn't want another wretched week. She was bound to 
 have peace. The next night I gave a lecture to men 
 only, and in the hall there were eight thousand men and 
 one solitary woman. When I got through and went into 
 the inquiry-meeting I found this lady with her husband. 
 She introduced him to me, and said, " He wants to be- 
 come a Christian." I took my Bible and told him all 
 about Christ, and he accepted Him. 1 said to her after 
 it was all over, " It turned out quite different from what 
 you expected, didn't it?" She said, "Yes, I was never 
 so scared 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. Don't you 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 501 
 
 believe it, ministers ? You have seen it over and over 
 again. 
 
 I want to say to you young ladies, perhaps you have a 
 godless father or mother, a skeptical brother, who is 
 going down through drink, and perhaps there is no one 
 who can reach them but you. How many times a 
 godly, pure young lady has taken the light into some 
 darkened home! I remember the last time Mr. Sankey 
 and myself were in Edinburgh there was a father, two 
 sisters and a brother, who used every morning to take 
 the morning paper and pick my sermon all to pieces. 
 They were indignant to think that the Edinburgh people 
 should be carried away with such preaching. But one 
 day one of the sisters was going by the hall and she 
 thought she would drop in and see what class of people 
 went there. She happened to take a seat by a godly 
 lady, who said to her, "I hope you are interested in this 
 work." She tossed her head and said, "Indeed I am 
 not. I am disgusted with everything I have seen and 
 heard." "Well," said the lady, "perhaps you came 
 prejudiced." "Yes, and the meeting has not removed 
 any of it, but has rather increased it." " I have received 
 a great deal of good from them." "There is nothing 
 here for me. I don't see how any intellectual person can 
 be interested." To make a long story short, she got the 
 lady to promise to come back. When the meeting broke 
 up, just a little of the prejudice had worn away. She 
 promised to come back the next day. She went so far 
 as to tell that skeptical father, brother and sister, but 
 they just laughed. You have got to take the cross if 
 you get rest. But one day the two sisters were together, 
 and the other said, "Now, what have you got at those 
 
502 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 meetings that you didn't have in the first place?" "1 
 have a peace that I never knew of before, I am at peace 
 with God, myself and all the world." Did you ever 
 have a little war of your own with your neighbors, in 
 your own family? And she said, "I have self-control. 
 You know, sister, if you had said half the mean things 
 before I was converted that you have since I would have 
 been angry, and answered back, but if you remember 
 correctly, I haven't answered once since I have been con- 
 verted; you can get this same rest and peace." Like 
 Martha and Mary, they had a brother Lazarus, but he 
 was a member of the University of Edinburgh. He to 
 be converted? He go to these meetings? It might do 
 for women, but not for him. One night they came home 
 and told him that a chum of his own, a member of the 
 university, had got up and confessed Christ, and when he 
 sat down his brother got up and confessed; and so with 
 the third one. When the young man heard it, he said, 
 "Do you mean to tell me that he has been converted?" 
 "Yes." " Well," he said, " there must be something in 
 it." He put on his hat and coat and went to see his 
 friend Black. Black got him down to the meeting, and 
 he was converted. 
 
 We went through to Glasgow, and hadn't been there 
 six weeks when news came that that young man had 
 been stricken down and died. When he was dying he 
 called his father to his bedside and said, " Wasn't it a 
 good thing that my sisters went to those meetings?" 
 
 "Yes, yes, my son, I am so glad you are a Christian; 
 that is the only comfort that I have now in the thought 
 of losing you. I will become a Christian, and will meet 
 you again." I tell this to encourage some sister to go 
 
TRUST IN GOD BRINGS PERFECT PEACE. 503 
 
 home and carry the message of salvation. It may be 
 that your brother may be taken away in a few months. 
 My dear friends, are we not living in solemn days? Isn't 
 it time for us to get our friends into the kingdom of God? 
 Come, wife, won't you go home and tell your husband? 
 Come, sister, won't you go home and tell your brothers? 
 Won't you take up your cross this afternoon? The 
 blessing of God will rest on your soul if you will. 
 
 I was in Wales once, and a lady told me this little 
 story : An English friend of hers, a mother, had a child 
 that was sick. At first they considered there was no 
 danger, until one day the doctor came in and said that 
 the symptoms were very unfavorable. He took the 
 mother out of the room and told her that the child could 
 not. live. It came like a thunderbolt. After the doctor 
 had gone, the mother went into the room where the child 
 lay and began to talk to the child and tried to divert its 
 mind. "Darling, do you know you will soon hear the 
 music of heaven? You will hear a sweeter song than 
 you have ever heard on earth; you will hear them sing 
 the song of Moses and the lamb. You are very fond of 
 music. Won't it be sweet, darling?" And the little 
 tired, sick child turned its head away, and said, " O, 
 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; you will see the 
 seraphim and cherubim and the streets all paved with 
 gold," and she went on picturing heaven as it is described 
 in Revelations, and the little tired child again turned its 
 head away and said, " O, mamma. I am so tired that I 
 think it would make me worse to see all those beautiful 
 things." And the mother took the little child up in her 
 
504 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 arms and pressed her to her loving heart. And the little 
 sick child whispered, " O, mamma, that is what I want. 
 If Jesus will only take me in his arms and let me rest." 
 
 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. You can find it right 
 here if you will. May God help you to leave ycur sins 
 and burdens and cares in this hall. 
 
 Now, shan't we pray? Let us all lift our hearts to God 
 in prayer. Perhaps it will never happen again that so 
 many will pray for you as to-day. What an afternoon 
 this might be! Let us bow our heads in prayer. 
 
Ezekiel Prophesying. Ezekiel, ii, 3 
 
WATCH, FIGHT AND PRAY. 
 
 A* fou are all aware, this is the first day of the week 
 of prayer, and probably there will be more prayer offered 
 in the next week than there has been in the last twelve 
 months. We want to fall into line. If we are to have 
 a real deep, thorough work in this community, it is going 
 to be in answer to prayer. 
 
 Let us learn a lessson from Nehemiah. He humbled 
 himself and confessed his sins, and then it was that God 
 heard his prayer, and gave him a great, yes, a great 
 blessing, not only to his own soul, but to thousands of 
 others, and I believe it will be the same right here. The 
 walls are torn down in a great many places. We want 
 them built up, don't we? Then let there be an honest 
 cry. Let's make a sacrifice; let's be here Monday, Tues- 
 day and Wednesday, at the noonday hour. If you busi- 
 ness men have to leave your business, and you wives, 
 your household cares, make up your minds that you are 
 going to be here. Let there be a real cry going up to 
 God, and we shall not be disappointed. 
 
 I want to say that we can learn a lesson from this dis- 
 tinguished man, whose prayer we have read this morning. 
 Nehemiah was not a Jewish prince, although it is sup- 
 posed he had royal blood in his veins. He was born in 
 captivity. It was about one hundred years after Jeru- 
 
 507 
 
508 Moody's sermons. 
 
 salem was taken that this man appeared upon the hori- 
 zon. He was in the court of Artaxerxes. He was a 
 cupbearer to the king, and held a high position. I can 
 imagine that one day in the court he met a man that had 
 come down from Jerusalem, perhaps, on business for the 
 king, and he got into conversation with him. In fact, it 
 may be this very man wanted Nehemiah to use his in- 
 fluence with the king. Nehemiah began to inquire about 
 Jerusalem, and the condition of his own people, and he 
 was told they were in great want and distress and deg- 
 radation, and that the walls of the city were still down, 
 that the gates had been burned and never restored, and 
 his patriotic heart began to burn. He began to mourn 
 for his own country, to pray and fast, and I have no 
 doubt but that when he commenced to pray he asked 
 that the king might be sent to rebuild the walls. He, 
 perhaps, didn't have any thought of doing anything more 
 than to pray. But if you can get a man to pray, he will 
 soon be prepared to do something more. Nehemiah 
 didn't pray for one week, nor two, nor even a month, but 
 he kept at it. Perhaps he fasted two or three days in a 
 week, and he kept that up all through the fall. He perse- 
 vered. He prayed on and fasted, and all this while God 
 was answering his prayer. Although he didn't see any 
 answer, God was just preparing that king to have every- 
 thing in readiness when the time should come. And one 
 day he stands before the king as usual, and gives him a cup 
 of wine. The king looked up, and said, "Nehemiah, 
 why art thou sad? Are you sick?" Nehemiah answered, 
 11 No." " Well, what is the trouble? It must be sorrow 
 of heart." Then Nehemiah told the king how he was 
 burdened for his own country, and the king said, ' ( Well, 
 
WATCH, FIGHT AND PRAY. 509 
 
 what is your request?" But Nehemiah had time to pray 
 right then and there. The king didn't hear the prayer, 
 but the King of kings heard it. " Lord, help me now," 
 he prayed to the God of heaven. Men say they have 
 not time to pray, but Nehemiah prayed while the king 
 was- waiting for an answer. The Lord taught him just 
 what to ask for, and then he made his request. It wasn't 
 that the king of Persia might go and rebuild those walls, 
 but that he himself might be sent to do the work. There 
 is faith for you! He was dead in earnest. For three or 
 four months he had concentrated his mind upon the 
 misery and wretchedness of his country. 
 
 To give up that Persian court and identify himself with 
 those despised Jews! He was there among the highest of 
 all the whole realm; he was cupbearer to the king, and 
 held a high position. And not only that; he was a man 
 of great wealth, lived in great luxury, and a man of great 
 influence in that court; and for him to go up to Jeru- 
 salem and lose caste, it was like Moses turning his back 
 upon the court and identifying himself with those poor 
 captives. He stooped to conquer, and when you get 
 ready to stoop, God will use you. If we are going to 
 succeed in God's work, we must stoop. 
 
 Nehemiah found favor with the king. The king was all 
 ready to give him his request, and he gave orders that 
 Nehemiah should have a retinue of soldiers to escort him 
 through the different provinces. Jerusalem was one thou- 
 sand miles away. He knew how he would be persecuted 
 and looked down upon, but he had made up his mind to 
 rebuild those walls. I tell you it is a great thing for a 
 man to set something before him, and go and do it. 
 " This one thing I do," says Nehemiah; " I will rebuild 
 
510 modoy's sermons. 
 
 those walls," and he went. When he reached Jerusalem 
 he didn't have some one go before him and blow a horn, 
 and say, ' ' This is the great Nehemiah, the cupbearer to 
 the great king of Persia." He didn't tell any one what 
 his business was. Man, let the work speak for itself. 
 You needn't blow any horns; go and do the work, and it 
 will advertise itself. I am tired of these men who are 
 always going to do some great thing. 
 
 This man goes into Jerusalem, and doesn't tell what he 
 has come for. There is quite a stir. What has he come 
 for? Is it war, or is it peace? What has brought him 
 here? What does it all mean? But Nehemiah stayed 
 there three days and three nights, and didn't let even his 
 own men know what he had come for. One night, after 
 they had all gone to bed, and all was quiet, he stole out 
 on his beast, and tried to ride around on the walls, but 
 he couldn't get round on his beast, so he footed it. He 
 walked all around those walls examining them, and found 
 them all in ruins. His heart must have sunk within him 
 if he hadn't a brave one. The nations all around were 
 looking down upon these weak, feeble Jews. So it is to- 
 day; the walls are down, and people say it is no use, and 
 their hands drop down by their side. After he had been 
 there three days and nights, he called the chief priests 
 and elders and the Pharisees together, and told them 
 what his errand was. All this while God had been work- 
 ing in the hearts of his men so that they were now ready. 
 When he had got through with his speech they arose, 
 and said, "Let us rebuild the city." If we could have 
 such men here, wouldn't we see the walls of Jerusalem 
 going up? 
 
 But it wasn't long before there was a muttering out- 
 
WATCH, FIGHT AND PRAY. 5 I I 
 
 side; you could hear the rumbling. I want to tell you, 
 my friends, that there was never any work done for God 
 without opposition. A great many people are afraid of 
 opposition. That is just what we want. If it is real 
 work there is going to be opposition. Sanballat and 
 Tobiah, the Ammonite, the Geshemites, and all the peo- 
 ple round heard of it, and they began in the first to 
 ridicule. It will be so right here. People will begin to 
 ridicule and heap all manner of criticism upon the work. 
 So these men went on ridiculing and jeering at Nehemiah, 
 but he was too busy to stop and listen to them. I pity 
 these men that will stop to answer all this caviling. Let 
 them go on grumbling and caviling. Nehemiah kept 
 steady at work. Well, they found that ridicule didn't 
 work, so they sent him a letter. " "Let's go down to the 
 plains of Ono and have a council." They wanted to get 
 him down to the plains to consult with him and have a 
 friendly conversation. What is the church of God doing 
 now but having discussions upon the plains of Ono? Look 
 at the whole Presbyterian church, turned aside discussing 
 higher criticism! Nehemiah just sent back word, " I am 
 doing a great work, and I cannot come down." He 
 thought it was "coming down." I think so too. Let the 
 discussions go. Man, we have all eternity to discuss 
 these questions. There is too much work to be done 
 now to stop to discuss them. Well, they wrote him an- 
 other letter. "Come down to the plains of Ono; we 
 want to have a friendly discussion; we are your friends." 
 By this time the Arabs came along; those roaming Ish- 
 maelites were going to fight him. But Nehemiah and 
 his men just put on their swords. They were dead in 
 earnest. " Watch, fight, pray." They watched. O, 
 
5i2 Moody's sermons. 
 
 it is a wily devil that we have to contend with. Do yon 
 know it? If he can only get the church to stop to dis- 
 cuss these questions, he has accomplished his desire. 
 
 Now, perhaps you women who belong to the Women's 
 Christian Temperance union may feel hurt, butl do think 
 it is a masterstroke of the devil when he gets you to stop 
 to discuss women's rights. " Haste to the rescue! We 
 are doing a great work, and haven't time to come down." 
 I tell you the prohibition I believe in is to get the people 
 so they won't want to go into the rumshops. That is the 
 quickest way to do it; cut the business off, and away it 
 goes! Why, there is one town in Scotland where Mr. 
 Sankey and myself went; there was a great work of God 
 going on, and the people were all converted. There were 
 two rumshops there, and they couldn't sell any whisky, 
 and had to move away. Now, why can't that be done 
 here? If those men on the plains of Ono had gone on 
 discussing, there would have been nothing done. But 
 Nehemiah kept steady at work. No eight hours a day, 
 either. They commenced at starlight in the morning 
 and worked until starlight. 
 
 I tell you the man that is counting the hours he works 
 for the Lord doesn't amount to much. Build up. Build 
 up again. They couldn't get Nehemiah down to the 
 plains, so they sent him a fifth letter, what we to-day call 
 an open letter. "We understand it is reported that you 
 are going to get up a kingdom against the king of Persia. 
 This is treason, rebellion, and if it should reach the ears 
 of the king you would be put to death. So come down 
 and let's have a friendly counsel." But Nehemiah said, 
 "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down." 
 That was all he had to say. And when they found they 
 
WATCH, FIGHT AND PRAY. 5 13 
 
 couldn't get him to come down, and the walls were about 
 finished, they went to work and bought one of the 
 prophets. I tell you I had rather have ten thousand 
 enemies outside than one inside. When the devil gets 
 possession of a child of God, he will do the work better 
 than the devil himself. ''Now, Nehemiah, there is a 
 plan to kill you; come into the temple. Let's go in and 
 stay for the night." And he came very near tumbling 
 into that pit. He said, "Should such a man as I go 
 there to save my life? I cannot do it." He couldn't 
 come down, you see, and when he refused, it was revealed 
 to him that the devil was in the man. My friends, look 
 out. If even a minister asks you to do something against 
 that word, don't you do it. Never mind these outside or 
 inside enemies, but keep your face set on the walls of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 At last the walls were all finished, all built. Those 
 men were terribly in earnest. They didn't take their 
 clothes off. They just ate, drank and slept. They went 
 in to build the walls of Jerusalem, and I tell you what, 
 they will be rebuilt here if we can only get a few hundred 
 people in earnest. Never mind what those enemies may 
 say. He has a work for us to do, -and if we don't do it, 
 it will not be done. It is a false idea some people have 
 that if we don't do it somebody else will. I tell you 
 what, it won't take long to rebuild the walls here when 
 the city moves as Nehemiah and his men moved. Fifty- 
 two days, and the building was finished. And there was 
 great indignation. And then he went to work and put 
 the city in order. I tell you what, I wish we had Nehe- 
 miah for mayor in this city. He just made those men 
 sign a covenant, and there were five things in that cove- 
 nant that he made them sign. 
 
5 H MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 First, they were not to give their daughters to the 
 heathen. I haven't time to work this up, but do you know 
 how much misery there is and has been in our land be- 
 cause pure, Christian young women have been married 
 to non-Christian men? God says, "Be not unequally 
 yoked with unbelievers. " 
 
 The next thing they were to do (and bear in mind this 
 was a thing they had to sign), they were not to buy or 
 sell on the Sabbath. They were to keep the law of God; 
 they were to keep the Sabbath. Not sell the Sunday 
 paper? Not buy a Sunday paper? No, certainly not. 
 There was to be no traffic on the Sabbath. I tell you, if 
 Nehemiah was here he would find a good many of us like 
 Tobiah. Here we have boys who are kept away from the 
 Sunday-school to sell papers on the streets; trains run- 
 ning clear from Washington in order that the papers can 
 be sold. A young man that reads one of those papers 
 you cannot get into church. He is all taken up with the 
 things of the world. We need a Nehemiah to strengthen 
 us out. He would not buy on the Sabbath, and he had 
 the gates closed. 
 
 Then the third thing he made them sign was that they 
 would let the land rest. For four hundred and ninety 
 years they did not keep that agreement, and God took 
 them down into Babylon, and kept them there for seventy 
 years. They would not let the land rest, and so God 
 took it from them. A man says that he will not give 
 God one day out of seven. What is the result? Why, 
 God takes it. A man is not going to make anything by 
 working seven days in a week. You cannot rob God; 
 So they signed the covenant that they would let the land 
 rest. You know that with the Jews everything revolved 
 
WATCH, FIGHT AND PRAY. 5 1 5 
 
 around seven. There was a seventh day for rest, and 
 seven times seven brought the year of jubilee. 
 
 The next thing in that covenant was that they should 
 not take usury from their brother. I tell you, Nehemiah 
 would have a time of it in this city, wouldn't he? Yes, he 
 would! But Nehemiah made those men sign it. 
 
 The fifth thing was that they would just bring one- 
 tenth of all that they had into the Lord's storehouse. 
 The first of their fruits were to be brought to the Lord, 
 and for thirty-six years they had prosperity. 
 
 I tell you if you take these five things, and carry them 
 out, you will have prosperity. Let us all do it personally. 
 If it was good for those men, it is good for us. The mo- 
 ment we begin to rob God, then darkness and misery and 
 wretchedness will come. 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 
 
 My subject to-day will take in three classes of people, 
 and I think that will cover my audience. First, to -those 
 who are Christians, then to those who have backslidden, 
 and to those who are not Christians. We all come 
 under one of these three heads. 
 
 I think that at just this stage of the meetings a great 
 deal depends upon the attitude that Christian people take 
 towards these services. You can throw your influence 
 for or against. You will have opportunities to show on 
 which side you are. The meetings have got to just that 
 stage where there is a great deal said for and against. 
 One great advantage of these meetings is that it sets 
 people talking, and it gives you all a chance to be 
 preachers. That is one object of a great union move- 
 ment like this. It arouses public opinion. As I said 
 before, a great deal depends upon the attitude you take. 
 There is a passage over here in Philippians that I would 
 like to read, chap, hi., v. 18. Now Paul had reference 
 there to those who professed to be friends to Jesus 
 Christ. They walk so that they were enemies. Their 
 influence was on the wrong side, and you all will have 
 an opportunity in the next few days to show your colors. 
 You can take your choice. You can throw your influ- 
 ence against the work and let your whole family be with- 
 
 5 i6 
 
The Good Samaritan. Luke, x, 29-37. 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 5 1 9 
 
 out a drop of dew, or you can take the right way and let 
 the blessing come into your whole house. I was preach- 
 ing in the north of England some years ago, and there 
 was a Quaker lady who had never been in any service 
 outside of the Quaker meeting-house. She had lost a 
 child and was very lonely, and one day she thought she 
 would drop into one of the public lectures. That day it 
 happened to be upon " Heaven " and it was balm to her 
 soul. She went home and told her husband and insisted 
 upon his bringing her out in the evening. She had a 
 nephew and a brother staying with her, and they all four 
 came to the meeting that night. It happened to be in a 
 Free Methodist church, and if you know anything about 
 the Free Methodists you know they are about the noisiest 
 crowd there is. It was a strange place for Quakers to 
 be. That night I was talking about conversion, and 
 while she was taken up with the sermon, the men were 
 carried away by the noise and confusion. On the way 
 home the brother and nephew were right behind her, 
 and she heard them making all manner of sport of the 
 meeting. When they reached home, she went upstairs to 
 take off her things, before going down to supper. The 
 thought occurred to her that the salvation of those two 
 men might depend upon her attitude when she went to 
 the supper table. She came down, and the moment 
 they sat down they began to make all manner of sport of 
 the meeting. "Well," she said, "of course we are 
 Quakers or Friends. We are not used to that sort of 
 thing. It is new to us, but it may be these people get a 
 great deal of good from them. One thing is certain; I 
 got a great deal of good myself, and if there is anything 
 -Ike conversion, I have been converted." She began to 
 
520 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 talk of Christ. The brother and nephew had tickets for 
 the theater the next night, but she persuaded them to go 
 to the meeting. That brother was going down through 
 the influence of strong drink, and was converted. The 
 nephew belonged to one of the old families, and he had 
 come there to learn a trade. He expected to take charge 
 of a large business. He had a great deal of influence 
 with the workingmen of a large industry there, and he 
 was converted. One day he came with a roll of names 
 that would go clear across this hall, asking me to speak 
 to the workingmen of the place. That great work of 
 1873 was the result of that meeting. They packed the 
 church with workingmen, and the fire of God broke out 
 among them and swept on for two years. This was the 
 result of that woman's taking the attitude she did. Now, 
 there are a good many whole families that are perhaps 
 scoffers, and in your own immediate circle you will see 
 men going about and saying, ''Look out what you say 
 and don't throw your influence on the wrong side." You 
 know it is very easy to talk about revivals, but do you 
 know that there is not a denomination that hasn't sprung 
 out of revivals. The Episcopal church claims to be. 
 They come from Pentecost, don't they? I would like to 
 know where your Methodists come from if they don't 
 come from the revival under Wesley. And so you can 
 go right on through all the denominations. I venture to 
 say there is many a church where four-fifths of the mem- 
 bers were converted during revivals. I would like to 
 know how many in this audience have been converted 
 during revivals, when there has been some revival in 
 your church? [Mr. Moody here asked the people present 
 who had been converted during revival services to stand. 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 52 1 
 
 There was a hearty response.] See! Look at the num- 
 ber that has risen right here. You can go into your own 
 church and put the question just that way, and you will 
 find that the most active and leading class have been 
 converted during revivals. There was one place where 
 I went to hold meetings, and a young minister took a 
 very active part in the work. One day one of his mem- 
 bers came to him and said, "If you are going to hold 
 your position in the church, you have got to be very cau- 
 tious about the stand you take." He went to the church 
 roll and took off the names of those who had been con- 
 verted during revivals, and he found that four-fifths of 
 them had been brought to Christ during such times. I 
 want to say that the heartiest and strongest Christians 
 come out of revivals and great awakenings, and that is 
 what we want here. You want a revival in business in 
 your bonds and stocks. You would like to see them go 
 up twenty-five or fifty per cent., but I tell you we need a 
 breath of revival in Christianity. May God show it to 
 us! I believe that is what we will get if we are dead in 
 earnest. 
 
 There was one place where we went to hold meetings, 
 and it was given out in the papers that we were going to 
 stay thirty days. Now, there was a lady who was a 
 member of one of the churches, and she said, " I don't 
 want my boy brought under the influence of those meet- 
 ings. I am afraid that he will be brought into the Y. 
 M. C. A., and they will have him on the streets selling 
 tracts, and it would be very mortifying to me to have my 
 son doing such a thing as that." She was ambitious for 
 her boy. She wanted to get him into the bon-ton 
 society, as we call it. So she planned to take her only 
 
522 Moody's sermons. 
 
 boy out of the city to be gone for those thirty days. She 
 told her pastor why she had taken him. I knew nothing 
 about it. The meetings went on, and just at my right 
 hand sat that minister, from the beginning to the end, 
 until the last meeting, when he was absent. Just as the 
 benediction was pronounced, and the people were crowd- 
 ing out, he came rushing in and said he was so sorry he 
 had not been there. " I have just been called on one of 
 the saddest errands of my life." He told me that that 
 woman who had taken her son away from the influence 
 of those meetings had brought him back that day in his 
 coffin, and he had just come from the funeral. That 
 mother to her dying day never forgave herself. 
 
 My dear friends, be very careful how you walk just 
 now. We have been praying God to revive His work, 
 and if it is His work, you cannot afford to join with 
 the scoffing, jeering people, and talk against the work of 
 God. 
 
 I remember some years ago seeing a little notice in the 
 paper, and it made a great impression upon my mind at 
 the time. It was about a father taking his little child 
 into the field one day. He lay down under the shade of 
 a tree and fell asleep. Before he went to sleep the child 
 was picking wild flowers and grass and saying, "pretty, 
 pretty. " When he fell asleep the child wandered around 
 and away from him, and when he woke up his first 
 thought was, ' ' Where is my child?" He shouted at the 
 top of his voice, and running to a hill at some distance 
 he called, but there was no response. Finally he went 
 to the edge of a precipice, and looking down, he saw the 
 mangled form of his little child. "He took it up and 
 accused himself of being its murderer. While he. slum- 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 523 
 
 bered the child had wandered away and been lost. I 
 have often thought that was a picture of God's own dear 
 children going over a worse precipice than that into 
 drunkards' and gamblers' dens, and they are lost before 
 you know it. I firmly believe it is much easier to keep 
 the cars on the track than to get them back after they 
 have once been thrown off. Therefore, I would like to 
 say to you that there is something more important than 
 just keeping up the bonds and stocks for your children. 
 Supposing you don't leave them so many thousands of 
 dollars. Isn't it better to leave them a good Christian 
 character? Isn't it a good deal better for you to let 
 business suffer for the next thirty days and just lay your- 
 self out to get your whole family blessed and into the 
 kingdom of God? I believe we will see signs and wonders 
 here if we just stir ourselves. Now, the question comes 
 up, " Mr. Moody, why is it so many good people's chil- 
 dren turn out so bad?" The more I travel and go among 
 men, the more I begin to see why. There was a lady 
 who brought her son clear from the Pacific coast to the 
 east that I might talk to him, because I had influence 
 with him when he was a little boy. But it did no good. 
 He went down. Afterward I heard that the next son 
 had gone the same way, and then the third, and I 
 couldn't understand it. The next time I went out to the 
 Pacific coast, I was invited to this same home, and one 
 night the father took me into a private room. He wrung 
 his hands and said, ''I haven't got a son that I'm not 
 ashamed of." He was deacon of the church, he attended 
 all the services regularly, and outwardly his life was all 
 that it should be. He was known as one of the best of 
 husbands and fathers, but 1 tell you what, I stayed in 
 
524 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 that home for a week and watched things, and when that 
 father put the question to me, " Why is it that my sons 
 have turned out so bad?" I said, "Look here, where do 
 you spend Monday night?" "I belong to the common 
 council, and I have to give Monday night to this," " I 
 see, you give that evening to the public; where do you 
 spend Tuesday night?" He belonged to the Young 
 People's society, and he felt as if he ought to go to their 
 meetings on Tuesday. " Where do you go Wednesday?'' 
 He didn't want to tell. Finally he said he was one of 
 those masons. One of those high masons, you know! 
 Master mason, isn't it? Now, don't tell or it will show 
 that you are one of them. Well, he was there every 
 Wednesday night. "Where are you Thursday night?" 
 " On Thursday night I am at home. " " Well, you are a 
 public man, and you are out or have company. Where 
 are you Friday night?" " O, Friday night I always go 
 to the church prayer-meeting." "Saturday night?' 
 "Saturday night I am always at home." "Yes, I 
 noticed you were last Saturday. You came in and had 
 supper, and your boys saw you for a few minutes and 
 then you went off to your room to study your Sunday- 
 school lesson. Very well, Sunday night where are you?" 
 " O, I don't believe in- giving up the second service, and 
 I always go to church." " Now, don't you see the devil 
 has the advantage over you, and has ruined your three 
 boys? It is drive all the day, and your boys slip 
 off because they want to go and play with the 
 other boys before they go to school. You never come 
 home to lunch in the middle of the day. You come 
 home late at night and eat your dinner, and you see 
 your boys for only a few moments every night. Now, 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 525 
 
 doesn't the fault lie at your own door?" "Well," he 
 said, " I never thought of that." " Well, don't you think 
 you ought to think of it?" Isn't that one of the great 
 evils in America? I needn't be so anxious about some 
 one's else wickedness if I am cherishing my own. That 
 comes before any public or private office. I heard of a 
 traveler once, whose child came in and said, "Mamma, 
 that man that comes in Sundays has been scolding me." 
 He called his own father " that man." 
 
 And then we wonder how it is that our children turn 
 out bad. You men go to church and pray like a saint, 
 but I tell you if you don't live like a saint at home, your 
 children will curse at home. You cannot shake it off on 
 to your wife and expect her to do all the training. God 
 holds man responsible. I believe whenever you see a 
 Christian man's children turn out wrong, a good deal of 
 the fault lies at his own door. Let us see if we cannot 
 straighten things out. Give a little time to your boys. 
 Unbend and be a boy once in a while. Take them out 
 riding, hunting, fishing. Give them a little time; you 
 can afford it. This idea that we have got to give all our 
 time to the service of the public is wrong, and is bringing 
 a good many families down with sorrow. Now, to those 
 who have backslidden. 
 
 I met two or three in the inquiry-room last night who 
 thought they had never been converted because they had 
 backslidden. Now, I am talking to those who have really 
 been born of the Spirit, born from above, and wandered 
 back into the old life. I want to say that the most ten- 
 der, affectionate words in this Bible have been said to 
 backsliders. I believe the most wretched man or woman 
 on the face of the earth is a man or woman that has 
 
526 Moody's sermons. 
 
 tasted these gifts and then gone back to the beggarly ele- 
 ments of the world. If you have ever known Jesus, this 
 old world will never satisfy you. The fact is, when God 
 made your heart He made it a little too big for this 
 world. If you have had a taste of the world to come, 
 this old world will never satisfy you. The Lord wants 
 you to come back. I want to say here to-day, that there 
 is not a wanderer from God that He doesn't want to have 
 come back. You will notice that in the second chapter 
 of Jeremiah, fifth verse, the Lord makes it a personal 
 question. 
 
 Now, there is one thing about a backslider; he is 
 always finding fault with church members. If a man 
 goes wrong, he thinks the minister, the church, and all 
 the members are wrong. Why? Because he looks 
 through wrong eyes. Everything is just painted in that 
 way to him. Now, the Lord comes and says, "What 
 iniquity have you found in Me?-" I want to say to every 
 backslider, that God is the same that He ever was. He 
 loves you just as much. He hates your backsliding, but 
 still He loves you. You can find lots of iniquity in 
 church members, but I tell you it is mighty poor business 
 to live on the failings of other people. You will find you 
 have as many yourself as you can take care of. Jeremiah, 
 ii, 13: " For my people have committed two evils: they 
 have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and 
 hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold 
 no water." Now, notice that they left Him. That is the 
 charge that God brings against them. You have left 
 Him, not He has left you. 
 
 Some think God has left them. Never! You have left 
 Him. Do you want to know how to get back? Just take 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 527 
 
 up the work where you left off. What did you do when 
 you first came to the Lord? Repented of your sins and 
 turned to God. Just do as you did at first. Turn back 
 to God, and if you do, He will have mercy upon you and 
 forgive you. Just let your mind go back to those days. 
 Didn't you have more peace and pleasure and joy than 
 you have now? You are without hope in God and what 
 darkness and blackness seems to cover you! Jeremiah, ii, 
 19; "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy 
 backslidings shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and 
 see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast for- 
 saken the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not in thee, 
 saith the Lord God of hosts." 
 
 Now, I want to say here to-day that I believe every 
 line, every letter of that verse. 
 
 Now, I want to call your attention to a fact. I will 
 challenge you to find a father or mother that has back- 
 slidden whose children haven't gone to ruin. I think the 
 hardest people to reach are the sons and daughters of 
 backsliders. I have had them say to me, "You say 
 there is so much joy in religion; if there is, why did my 
 father and mother give it up?" They stumble there. I 
 must confess it is one of the hardest things to get over. 
 I cannot understand it. I remember working with an old 
 white-haired backslider in St. Louis, and I sat up with 
 him until eleven o'clock at night. At last he wiped away 
 his tears and said, " I will come back," and that night I 
 really believe God restored unto him the joy of salvation. 
 But the next night, when I was preaching he sat right in 
 front of me. I don't think I ever saw a man look so 
 pitiful. When I went into the inquiry-room he followed 
 me in. I turned to him and said, ' ' What is the trouble?" 
 
528 Moody's sermons. 
 
 "O, Mr. Moody, this has been the darkest day of my 
 life!" " That is singular. I thought God restored the 
 joy of salvation to you last night." "So He did. I 
 think God has spoken peace and forgiveness to my soul, 
 but I have a large family of children here in this city. 
 They are all married. I spent the day calling on my 
 sons ard daughters, and if you will believe it, Mr. Moody, 
 there wasn't one of them but what called me an old 
 fool. I have led them into iniquity and cannot call them 
 back." 
 
 I want to say to you mothers and fathers here to-day, 
 that it is much easier to lead your children into Sodom 
 than to get them back. May God show us the truth'. 
 And if there is a backslider here to-day, may God bring 
 him back. You make money by going into Sodom and 
 the world, "but thine own wickedness shall correct thee, 
 and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. " 
 
 O, backslider, come back to-day. Don't wait until 
 the whole family have been ruined. O, may God stir 
 us up to-day! I want to give you a little advice. If you 
 have gone astray just come back. I have been here only a 
 few days and if I was called away suddenly, do you think 
 I would go without saying anything to the committee? 
 Did you ever hear of a sinner going to Jesus Christ and 
 bidding him good-by? Did you ever hear of a sinner 
 going into his closet and saying, ' ' I have known you, 
 Lord, for twenty years, but I have tired of your company. 
 I am tired of the Bible, tired of prayer, tired of Sabbath- 
 school work, tired of church and church work, and I have 
 come to bid- you farewell. Good-by, I am going back to 
 the world." Did you ever hear of such a thing? You 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 529 
 
 never did and never will, but I tell you, you have just 
 run off without saying good-by to the Lord. You have 
 no excuse, don't try to make one, but just come back 
 to-day, tell Him you are sorry you have wronged Him. 
 O, may the backslider come home ! 
 
THAT -ELDER BROTHER." 
 
 I have selected a very difficult subject, difficult one to 
 get people interested in. I ain afraid you may get the 
 chills before I am through, for I think it is one of the 
 coldest subjects you can find in the whole Bible. It is 
 about that elder brother of whom I have been reading. 
 
 When I was in Europe once, Mr. Spurgeon gave me a 
 copy of all his sermons, and out of the whole volume, 
 between thirty and forty, I couldn't find one solitary 
 sermon he had ever preached about that elder brother. I 
 have tried a number of times to get interested, but I must 
 confess that it is hard to get my heart warmed up to- 
 ward it. 
 
 This elder brother thought he Was all right. I heard of 
 a man when I was across the sea who thought so much 
 of himself that he used to shake hands with himself every 
 morning. He was an elder brother. Now, if you ever 
 had to live in a house with a man that never did wrong I 
 pity you. If you wives have a husband that never does 
 wrong I pity you. Do you know why? Because, if any- 
 thing goes wrong, it is you that has to suffer, he doesn't. 
 All the blame falls upon you. He is an elder brother. 
 There has been a hot discussion for ages about who those 
 ninety-nine arethat we read about in this fifteenth chap- 
 ter of Luke. Some think they are the angels that have 
 
 530 
 
Joseph Sold Into Egypt. Genesis, xxxvii. 
 
THAT "ELDER BROTHER." 533 
 
 never fallen; some think they are a sort of angelic people 
 and don't need to be converted, they are so pure and up- 
 right naturally. I believe they are the people who think 
 they are all right. You will notice that the chapter be- 
 gins with a murmur, and closes in the same way. They 
 Were finding fault with Christ because He was receiving 
 sinners, and saving the lost. 
 
 Now, this elder brother was angry because the wanderer 
 had come home. A lady came to me some years ago, and 
 wanted me to get her daughter into a seminary with 
 which I was connected, but she said, ' ' I want to be frank 
 with you, I want you to know that I do not believe in 
 your theology." "My theology! I didn't know I had 
 any. I wish you would tell me what my theology is." 
 " Well," she said, " I don't agree with your preaching,' 
 "What is it you don't agree with?" "Well," she said, 
 "your views about that elder brother are the most 
 abominable I ever heard of." I said, " You are the first 
 person I ever heard try to uphold him. What are his good 
 traits? What are his noble qualities?" "Why! he 
 stayed at home with his father and took care of him, and 
 his younger brother ran off and left him." " Took care 
 of his father! Why! the last I read about him he was 
 outside of the house in a mad fit, and his father couldn't 
 get him in." O, yes, he took care of his father! These 
 elder brothers are the hardest people in the world to get 
 in because they think they are already there. It is said 
 that in Berlin one day a German minister had this ques- 
 tion up for discussion, who the ninety-nine were, and 
 who the elder brother was. He was a great preacher, 
 and he got up in a meeting and said he had seen the 
 elder brother the day before. " Saw him! Where did 
 
534 Moody's sermons. 
 
 you see him? Saw the elder brother!" "Yes, when I 
 looked into the looking-glass I saw him. I saw myself." 
 He found himself envious of another minister, and he 
 was an elder brother. I tell you what, there are a good 
 many more elder brothers than prodigals, after all. There 
 are a lot of us pretty near kin to that elder brother. Men 
 go to church regularly, but I tell you a man that gets 
 angry because the sexton puts a man into his pew who 
 isn't dressed in the height of fashion, I believe belongs to 
 this school. If you want to find out where they are, just 
 tell thern of a poor drunkard that has been reclaimed, 
 and see their eyes open, and hear them say, "I don't 
 believe in that kind of thing." You have got a lot of 
 them right here, I have no doubt of that. You take and 
 follow this elder brother down through all the beatitudes, 
 and you will find that he fails in every solitary one of 
 them. Now just hear what Christ says, "Blessed are 
 the poor in spirit." He poor in spirit? Not he! The 
 Lord says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." A man 
 may be rich and have a broken heart, but there is a 
 blessing upon him if he has. "Blessed are they that 
 mourn." Did this man mourn? For what? He had 
 nothing to mourn over; he had never done a wrong 
 thing in all his life. "Blessed are the meek." Was 
 he meek? There was not a single trace of meekness 
 about him. That Pharisee that went up to the temple 
 to pray with the poor publican, did he know anything 
 about meekness? "I thank thee, Lord, that I am not 
 like other men; I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all 
 I possess." I, I, I. Five great capital I's in a little 
 short prayer of only a few words. There was not a 
 prayer about it. He was just boasting and bragging. 
 
THAT " ELDER BROTHER." 535 
 
 That is just what this elder brother was doing. ' ' Blessed 
 are they which do hunger and thirst." He hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness? He had so much he didn't 
 know what to do with it. "Blessed are the merciful." 
 He merciful? He was very merciful to his old father, 
 wasn't he? He was kind to his old father, wasn't he? 
 O, I pity a father who has to be taken care of by such 
 a son as that; sticking thorns into his old father's heart 
 in the evening of life! (i Blessed are the pure in heart." 
 Was he pure in heart? " Blessed are the peace makers." 
 Was he a peace maker? Breaking up the most peace- 
 ful scene this world ever saw! That old father sitting at 
 the table with a peace and joy that had never before 
 come to him, and that elder brother just broke it up. I 
 see that father's face just beaming with joy and delight 
 when the servants whisper that Levi is outside mad, and 
 will not come in. And I see the old man get up, all the 
 joy gone from his face, and go out and entreat his son to 
 come in, but he is in a mad fit, and the old man cannot 
 get him into the house. I tell you I think he had a 
 mighty mean son. Don't you? That is my opinion. 
 " Blessed are they that are persecuted." And that is the 
 kind of religion that this world believes in. The whole 
 country talked about the nobility of this young man. I 
 am afraid that if we had him now we would make him a 
 deacon or elder in the church. He is all right. All right 
 in the sight of the world. He is never persecuted. But 
 now, you just take and read that man's life, and what do 
 you find? You find that he was sour. O, how many 
 sour ones you meet now! They growl and grumble all 
 the time. Sour! He was a touchy young man. Have 
 you any touchy people among your acquaintances? That 
 
536 Moody's sermons. 
 
 is just what this young man was — touchy. He was very 
 angry. Why? Because his brother had come back. 
 
 Did you ever know what caused the thrill of joy in 
 heaven, and the thumps in that old man's breast? I be- 
 lieve that is the only chapter in the whole Bible that tells 
 what causes joy in heaven. That elder brother was self- 
 righteous. He was selfish, and supremely so. There is 
 not a thing in that man's character that is lovely after 
 all. But how grandly that father shines out. " Son!" 
 (he didn't call him any bad names) "Son! thou art ever 
 with me. All that I have is thine." O, it makes me 
 feel rich when I read that. That is liberty. You know 
 in France, when anarchy was overthrown, they selected 
 for their motto, "Fraternity, Equality, Liberty." That 
 was what they wanted, and that is just what this father 
 wanted with those two boys. He wanted them to be 
 with him. That is what God wants every sinner to do. 
 
 I remember once I was very busy getting up a sermon, 
 and my little boy came into my room. I wanted to get 
 rid of him just as quickly as possible. And I said to him, 
 " My son, what do you want?" He threw his arm around 
 my neck and kissed me, and said, "I don't want any- 
 thing; I just love you." I couldn't send him away, and 
 I got down all his toys for him, and let him stay in the 
 room with me; and every once in a while I looked over 
 my book and saw him just as happy as he could be. 
 That is just what the Lord wants. He wants the elder 
 brother to come in, and just have liberty and fraternity. 
 "Son, all I have is thine." And that is just what the 
 younger brother did not want when he went away. But 
 he came back and wanted it, and when he wanted it, the 
 elder brother didn't want it. Now, one went down 
 
THAT " ELDER BROTHER. 537 
 
 through the sin of his licentiousness, and the other went 
 down through the sin of pride and self-conceit, and one 
 is just as black and vile as the other. There is no dif- 
 ference. I tell you what, it is a good thing to take a 
 mirror and get a good look at ourselves once in a while 
 and see what we are, for it is a sort of family disease. 
 
 But I am not going to dwell any longer upon that elder 
 brother, for I must confess it is not a very interesting sub- 
 ject. But I just want to say that I have had that man 
 brought up to me very often in the most ridiculous ways. 
 Some say that certain people don't need to be converted. 
 "That kind of preaching that Mr. Moody is doing here 
 is out of place. If he would go among the slums of our 
 large cities and preach it to those lost souls, it would be 
 all right. But we don't need it. We are cultured and 
 refined, and we do not need any such preaching." They 
 think they are all right. " We are piling up a righteous- 
 ness of our own." I want to say that that elder brother 
 needed to be converted just as much as the younger. 
 You put a man that has been living in wickedness and sin 
 on the crystal pavement, and it would be hell to him. 
 Put a man under the very shadow of the tree of life with 
 the spirit of the elder brother, and it would be hell to him. 
 I can imagine the first man he sees he greets with the 
 question, "Who were you when you were on earth?" 
 "The thief on the cross." "I never associated with 
 thieves or murderers when I was upon earth, and I shall 
 not up here." And to the first woman he meets he says, 
 " Who were you when on earth?" And with a beautiful 
 smile on her face, " I was Mary Magdalene. That wom- 
 an that had seven devils in her." " I never associated 
 with such people on earth, and I won't up here." He 
 
538 Moody's sermons. 
 
 couldn't associate with the blood-bought up in heaven. 
 He couldn't sing the song of Moses and the Lamb with 
 such people. He must have a little heaven of his own. 
 He climbed up some other way. The Lord said, ' ' They 
 are thieves and robbers." I think once in a while it 
 would be good to preach to the elder brothers, and I 
 think there are a great many of them in the churches. 
 They think because they live a moral life they are all 
 right. They can be proud and as vile and black as hell 
 itself, not fit for the kingdom of God. 
 
 Now, did you ever notice that four times Christ uses 
 this word, " except''? "Except your righteousness ex- 
 ceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye 
 shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God." That was 
 said to the elder-brother school of men when Christ was 
 on earth. Then again he said to the same class of peo- 
 ple, "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." 
 Another time He said to that same class, "Except ye 
 become converted, and become as little children, ye can- 
 not see the kingdom of God." Don't you trust in your 
 moral life; that is not going to save you. God will strip 
 you of every rag of your own righteousness. You must 
 have the righteousness of another. It was to Nicodemus, 
 not to the poor woman at the well, that Christ said, 
 " Except ye become converted and become as little chil- 
 dren, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." Now, it is 
 clearly taught that there must be a new spirit and new 
 life, before we can see the kingdom of God. You can 
 see a great many things, but there is one thing you can- 
 not see; you cannot see the kingdom of God; you can- 
 not buy or educate yourself into the kingdom. There is 
 only one way, and that is to be born into it. You may 
 
THAT " ELDER BROTHER. 539 
 
 go across this continent to the Pacific coast and see there 
 trees that have been growing for ages, but that truth that 
 grows in the midst of the paradise of God your uncircum- 
 cised eye shall never rest upon unless you are born again. 
 You may see the prince of Wales and the crown prince 
 of Russia, but I tell you the Prince of Peace who is going 
 to sit in glory, you shall never see as your prince unless 
 you are born again. You may see the rivers of earth, but 
 there is one river that flows through the paradise of God 
 that your uncircumcised eye shall not see until you are 
 born again. You may look that sainted mother in the 
 face to-day, but bear in mind that the time is coming 
 when you are going to be separated. You may look at 
 your little innocent child, but remember that a separa- 
 tion is going to come. If that child dies in early child- 
 hood, the Master will take it to Himself, and you will not 
 be permitted to sit in the kingdom with that child until 
 you are born again. " There is joy in the presence of 
 God over one sinner that repenteth." There must be 
 true repentance before we can be born again. Now, I 
 can imagine some of you say, ' ' [ have known that for 
 years, but I wish I could be converted this afternoon." 
 A lady told me once that for a long time she had made 
 up her mind to be converted, and that she believed that 
 if she was converted she could overcome the temptation 
 that had crossed her path. 
 
 You can be converted before I get through speaking. 
 "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth; for I am God, and there is none else. " Isaiah, 
 xlv, 22. 
 
 I remember, at a terrible battle, at M , for two 
 
 days and nights I had been looking after a wounded and 
 
54° Moody's sermons. 
 
 dying soldier. I was so sleepy that I went off to get a 
 little rest. I had only just fallen asleep, when a soldier 
 came and woke me up. He said there was a man that 
 wanted to see me; I was only half awake, and I said, 
 " You tell him, I will be around in the morning." But 
 he said, " If you see him at all, you will have to come 
 right away." I got up and followed him, and when I 
 reached the man's side, I sat at the head of the bed, and 
 he said, "Well, chaplain, I have sent for you to see if 
 you can help me die." I said, "My friend, I would 
 gladly help you if I could, but I cannot. I would take 
 you into my arms and carry you into the kingdom of God, 
 if I could, but I cannot do that." Then he told me a little 
 of his history. When he was enlisting for the army his 
 mother threw her arms round his neck, and kissing him 
 said, "I could let you go into the army, my boy, if you 
 were a Christian, but the thought that you may die with- 
 out hope almost kills me. " "I told her, when the war was 
 over, I would come home and be a Christian. She said, 
 ' It may be too late then.' I told her I would risk it." 
 And now, he said, "Here I am dying, away from home 
 and mother. It is hard to die alone. I wish you could 
 help me." I began to tell him of Christ, but I couldn't 
 get him to lay hold of one of the promises. The cold, icy 
 hand of death was feeling for his cords. A life was fast 
 ebbing away, and I felt so sad to have him die at that 
 midnight hour, away from home and friends. But I 
 couldn't see and believe for him. I read to him the con- 
 versation that Christ had with Nicodemus about being 
 born again, and I read the third chapter of John slowly 
 and carefully. His ears were open to catch every word. 
 I went on reading, and when I got down to the fourteenth 
 
THAT ''ELDER BROTHER. 541 
 
 verse, the dying man cried, "Stop; is that there?" 
 "Yes," I said, "it is here." " O, I didn't know that 
 was in the Bible. Read those few verses again." And I 
 began again; his elbows resting on the edge of the cot, 
 he brought his dying hands together, his eyes began to 
 light up, and he said, "That sounds good, chaplain, 
 read it to me once again," and I read it again. "As 
 Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
 must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." 
 I went on reading, and the dying man closed his eyes, 
 folded his arms across his breast, and there was a beauti- 
 ful smile upon his face. Then there was an hour of ter- 
 rible agony. I read through the chapter, and when I 
 got through, I noticed his lips were moving. I bent 
 down to listen, and I heard him whispering this verse, 
 ' ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
 so must the son of man be lifted up." He opened his 
 eyes, fixed his calm, sweet, deathly look upon me, and 
 said, "Chaplain, you needn't read any more to me now; 
 I understand it now." 
 
 I want to say to this audience to-day, that if I was 
 dying, that would be my only hope of eternal life. 
 
 It is not that I have preached the gospel or tried to 
 lift up men, but that He has made it possible for me to 
 be saved, and I do thank God for the gospel that saves 
 all that come to Him. The dying man said, ' ' I am not 
 alone now. I love Him." Then I left him, and went to 
 get a few hours' sleep. When I went back to his cot, 
 I found it empty. I said to the officer, "Did you stay 
 with him until he died?" "Yes, he only lived an hour or 
 two, after you left." "What did he say when he was 
 
542 MOODYS SERMONS. 
 
 dying?" "O, he kept repeating this verse, 'As Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
 son of man be lifted up.'" When the dying hour came, 
 he just pillowed his dying head upon those words, and 
 took his seat in the chariot of God. 
 
 I thank God that Christ has been offered as a sacrifice 
 for the sins of the world, and every soul can be saved 
 now, if he will. 
 
Noah Cursing Ham. Genesis, ix. 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S COMMANDS. 
 
 I want to call your attention to a text that you will 
 find in the seventh chapter of Genesis, first verse. When 
 God speaks, you and I can afford to listen. It is not 
 man speaking now, but it is God. "The Lord said 
 unto Noah. Come thou and all thy house into the 
 ark. " 
 
 Perhaps some skeptic has drifted in here to-day, and 
 perhaps some church member will join with him and say, 
 44 1 hope he is not going to preach about the ark. I 
 thought that was given up by all intelligent people." 
 But I want to say that I haven't given it up. When I 
 do, I am going to give up the whole Bible. There is no 
 portion of the Scripture but that the Son of God set His 
 seal to when He was down here in the world. Men say, 
 " I don't believe in the story of the flood." Christ con- 
 nected His own return to this world with that flood. 
 Men say they don't believe the story of Lot and his wife 
 and those cities being destroyed with judgment from on 
 high. I believe it just as much as I do the third chapter 
 of John. I pity any man that is going into the pulpit 
 and picking that old book to pieces. The moment that 
 we give up any one of those things, we touch the deity of 
 the Son of God. I have noticed that when a man does 
 begin to pick the Bible to pieces it doesn't take him 
 
 545 
 
546 Moody's sermons. 
 
 mote than five years to tear it all to pieces. What is 
 the use of being five years about what you can do in 
 five minutes? 
 
 But I am not here to defend the Bible. It will take 
 care of itself. I want to talk about the text. One hun- 
 dred and twenty years before, Noah had received the 
 most awful communication that ever came from heaven 
 to earth. No man up to that time, and I think no man 
 since, has ever received such a communication. God 
 said that on account of the wickedness of the world He 
 was going to destroy the world by water. For one hun- 
 dred and twenty years God strove with those antedilu- 
 vians. He never smites without warning, and they had 
 their warning. If they had repented and cried as they 
 did at Nineveh, God would have heard their cry and 
 spared them, I believe. But there was no cry for mercy. 
 I have no doubt but that they ridiculed the idea that 
 Christ was going to destroy the world. I have no doubt 
 but that there were atheists who said there wasn't any 
 God anyhow. I got hold of one of them some time ago, 
 and he said there was no God. I said, "How do you 
 account for the formation of the world?" "O, force 
 and matter work together, and by chance the world was 
 created." I said, "It is a singular thing that your 
 tongue isn't on the top of your head if force and matter 
 just threw it together in that manner." If I should take 
 out my watch and say that force and matter worked to- 
 gether, and out came the watch, you would say I was a 
 lunatic of the first order. Wouldn't you? And yet they 
 say that this old world was made by chance! " It threw 
 itself together!" I met a man in Scotland, and he took 
 the ground that there was no God; and I said to him, 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GODS COMMANDS. 547 
 
 "Howdoyou account for creation, for all these rocks?" 
 "Why," he said, "any schoolboy could account for 
 that." "Well, how was the first rock made?" " Out of 
 sand." " Well, how was the first sand made?" " Out 
 of rock." I have no doubt but that Noah had these men 
 to contend with. 
 
 Then there was a class called agnostics, and there are 
 a good many of their grandchildren, too. Then there 
 was another class who said they believed there was a 
 God. They couldn't make themselves believe that the 
 world happened by chance; but God was too merciful to 
 punish sin. He was so full of compassion and love that 
 he couldn't punish sin; the drunkard, the harlot, the 
 gambler, the murderer, the thief and the libertine would 
 all share alike at the end. Supposing the governor of 
 your state was so tender-hearted that he couldn't bear to 
 have a man suffer, couldn't bear to see a man put in jail, 
 and he should go and set all the prisoners free. How 
 long would he be governor? You would have him out of 
 office before the sun set. These very men that talk 
 about God's mercy would be the first to raise a cry against 
 a governor who wouldn't have a man put in prison when 
 he had done wrong. 
 
 Then another class took the ground that God couldn't 
 destroy the world anyway. They might have a great 
 flood which would rise up to the meadowland and low- 
 land, but all it would be necessary to do would be to go 
 up on the hills and mountains. That would be a hun- 
 dred times better than Noah's ark. Or if it should come 
 to that, they could build rafts. They could make rafts 
 which would be a good deal better than that ark. They 
 had never seen such an ugly looking thing. But Noah 
 
548 Moody's sermons. 
 
 had received his orders to build that ark. Some one has 
 suggested that Noah must have been daft, as the Scotch 
 say. But when God spoke, Noah heard, and when God 
 commanded, he just obeyed. 
 
 Noah is off on a preaching tour to warn his countrymen 
 of the coming deluge. I have no doubt but that they 
 told him to go back and mind his own business. I tell 
 you there were more bitter things said against Noah than 
 is said against any minister in our day. I don't believe 
 we know anything about it. If there were saloons in 
 those days (and I haven't any doubt but that there were), 
 Noah was the song of the drunkard, and the} 7 had a good 
 many jokes about Noah's madness and folly. In the sight 
 of those men, Noah was the maddest man in the world. 
 1 have no doubt about that. And if they had theaters, 
 they probably had Noah's ark represented on the stage. 
 And so all manner of sport was made of Noah and his 
 ark. And the business men went on buying and selling, 
 while Noah went on preaching and toiling. They per- 
 haps had some astronomers, and they were gazing up at 
 the stars and saying, " Don't you be concerned; there is 
 no sign of a coming storm in the heavens. We are very 
 wise men, and if there was a storm coming, we should 
 read it in the heavens. " And they had geologists 
 digging away, and they said, ' ' There is no sign in the 
 earth. " 
 
 Time rolls on; one hundred years have passed away, 
 and some of the old men have passed away and gone, 
 and they died saying, ' ' Noah is wrong. " And then 1 
 suppose there was a large class that took the ground that 
 Noah must be wrong because he was so in the minority. 
 That is a great argument now, you know. Noah was 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GODS COMMANDS. 549 
 
 greatly in the minority. But he goes on working. One 
 hundred and twenty years have passed; time flies, and 
 he hasn't got a single convert outside of his family. Poor 
 Noah, he must have had a hard time of it. I don't think 
 I have the grace to go one hundred and twenty years and 
 not have a convert. No, sir! That is hard work. Not 
 a convert outside his own family! That is grace for you! 
 Noah must have had a lot of it to have held on. But he 
 just toiled on. The ark is finished, and I tell you, the 
 day it was completed it was looked upon as the most 
 contemptible thing in the world. They wouldn't 
 have had their names connected with that old ark for 
 anything. 
 
 But I can imagine one beautiful morning, not a cloud 
 to be seen, perhaps in the spring, Noah has got his com- 
 munication. He has heard the voice that he heard one 
 hundred and twenty years before — the same old voice. 
 Perhaps there had been silence for one hundred and 
 twenty years. But the voice rang through his soul one 
 night, "Noah, come thou and all thy house into the 
 ark." And you can see Noah and all his family moving 
 into the ark. They are bringing the household furniture. 
 The neighbors are talking. They say, "Every year 
 before he has planted, but this year he thinks the world 
 is going to be destroyed, and he hasn't planted anything. '' 
 They think he will come to want. This morning, when 
 they see him moving, some of his neighbors say, " Noah^ 
 what is your hurry? You will have plenty of time to get 
 into that old ark. What is your hurry? There are no 
 windows, and you cannot look out to see when the storm 
 is coming." But he heard the voice and obeyed. 
 " Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Then they 
 
550 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 see the fowls of the air flying in pairs toward the ark, all 
 manner of beasts coming up from their dens and caves as 
 if sent by some unseen hand, and Noah standing at the 
 door to receive them. And I can imagine some of them 
 crying out, "Merciful God! what does this mean?" and 
 the wise men say, "We don't know just what it means, 
 but there is no danger. Don't you be alarmed. Be quiet. 
 If the flood comes, we can build rafts better than that 
 ark." And do you know, when they had all gone in, 
 God gave the world seven days' grace? Did you ever 
 know that? If there had been a cry during those seven 
 days, I believe it would have been heard. But there was 
 none. At length the last day had come, the last hour, 
 the last minute, ay, the last second. God Almighty came 
 down and shut the door of that ark. No angel, no man, 
 but God Himself shut that door, and when once the mas- 
 ter of the house has risen and shut the door, the doom 
 of the world is sealed; and the doom of that old world 
 was forever sealed. The sun had gone down upon the 
 glory of that old world for the last time. You can hear 
 away off in the distance the mutterings of the storm, of 
 the coming judgment; you can hear the thunder rolling, 
 the lightning begins to flash, and the old world reels. 
 The storm bursts upon them, and that old ark of 
 Noah's would have been worth more than the whole 
 world to them. 
 
 I want to say to any scoffer that has come in here 
 to-day, you can laugh at that old Bible, you can scoff at 
 your mother's God, you can laugh at ministers and Chris- 
 tians, but the hour is coming when one promise in that 
 old book will oe worth more to you than ten thousand 
 worlds like this. 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GODS COMMANDS. 55 1 
 
 I have no doubt that these antediluvians rushed to the 
 door of that ark and shouted, " Noah, Noah, let us in.'' 
 Hark! Noah speaks, " I cannot open the door; God has 
 shut it." Isn't it sad? There is no trifling now, no 
 levity now, no mocking now, no derision now. Mark ye! 
 don't forget it; the last hour is going to come to each one 
 of us. Some of us are spending our last week of prayer 
 on earth. To me this week has been very solemn. I 
 have thought it may be my last week of prayer. I thank 
 God for the week, for the minutes I have been permitted 
 to spend in this hall, but there is a tinge of sadness when 
 I think it is passing. I look down upon these old men 
 and women, and think they will be gone in a year. The 
 last week, the last hour, the last minute is bound to 
 come, and I tell you, it is a very solemn thing. If it 
 should come now, would it find us inside or outside of the 
 ark? You may scoff at it, but it is a very important 
 question. Are all your children in? Are all your grand- 
 children in? Listen. [ selected this text because I 
 wanted to speak as a father, not as a preacher. Don't 
 rest day or night until you get your children in. I believe 
 my children have fifty temptations where I had one. I 
 am one of those who believe that in these great cities 
 there is a snare set upon the corner of every street for 
 our sons and daughters; and I don't believe it is our 
 business to spend our time in accumulating bonds and 
 stocks. Have I done all I can to get my children in? 
 That is it. Now, let me ask you this question: What 
 would have been Noah's feelings if when God called him 
 into the ark, his children wouldn't have gone with him? 
 If he had lived such a false life that his children wouldn't 
 have gone in with him, what would have been his feel- 
 
552 Moody's sermons. 
 
 ings? Come! haven't we got something to do? Are we 
 doing all we can to get them in? Some one sent me a 
 paper a number of years ago when I was in the old 
 country marked "copy," and trie article that was marked 
 was this: "Are all the children in?" I read it. An old 
 wife lay dying, she was nearly one hundred years of age, 
 and the husband who had taken the journey with her sat 
 by her side. She was just breathing faintly, but suddenly 
 she revived, opened her eyes and said, "Why, it is 
 dark." " Yes, Janet, it is dark." " Is it night?" " O, 
 yes! it is midnight." " Are all the children in?" There 
 was that old mother living life over again. Her youngest 
 child had been in the grave twenty years, but she was 
 traveling back into the old days, and the dear old mother 
 fell asleep in Christ, asking, " Are all the children in?" 
 Dear friend, are they all in? Put the question to your- 
 self to-day. Is John in? Is James in? Is he in, or is 
 he immersed in business and pleasure? Is he living, a 
 double and dishonest life? Say! where is your boy, 
 mother? Where is your son, your daughter? Is it well 
 with your children? Can you say it is? 
 
 After being superintendent of a Sunday-school in Chi- 
 cago for a number of years, a school of over a thousand 
 members, children that came from godless homes, work- 
 ing hard, and to have mothers and fathers working 
 against me, taking the children off on excursions on Sun- 
 day and doing all they could to break up the work I was 
 trying to do, I used to think that if I could ever stand 
 before an audience I would speak to no one but parents 
 — that would be my chief business. It is an old saying, 
 "Get the lamb, and you will get the sheep." I gave 
 that up years ago. Give me the sheep, and then I will 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S COMMANDS. 553 
 
 have some one to nurse the lambs. But you get a lamb 
 and convert him, and if he has a godless father and 
 mother you will have little chance with that child. 
 What we want is godly homes. The home was estab- 
 lished long before the church. I remember the first 
 speech I ever made in this line. I had gone down tc 
 Michigan to a meeting, and when I got up I noticed 
 that about two-thirds of the audience were adults. I 
 went at parents, and my whole address was right at 
 parents. When I got through a man got up, and I 
 thought he was going to rebuke me. I sat there tremb- 
 ling, but he arose and said, " I want to indorse all that 
 young man has said. Sixteen years ago I was in a 
 heathen country, and my wife died, and left me with 
 three little children. The first Sabbath after my wife 
 died my little dsughter came to me and said, 'Papa, 
 shan't I take the children into mother's room and talk to 
 them as mother used to?' I said she might, and she led 
 them off into the same chamber as the mother used to. 
 When they came out I noticed they had all been weep- 
 ing, and I said, 'What have you been crying about?' I 
 supposed they had been crying for their mother. Little 
 Nolly said, 'Well, papa, I couldn't help it. We had all 
 prayed, and I was just going to bring them out here, 
 when little Susie made a prayer of her own. ' ' What did 
 she say?' 'O God, you have taken away my poor 
 mamma, and I haven't any mamma to pray for me any 
 more. Won't you please make me good, just as my 
 mamma was?' " 
 
 She has lived a consistent Christian life for these six- 
 teen years. As a little child God used her, and I want 
 to 3-sk the fathers and mothers here if you believe your 
 
554 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 children can come thus early into the ark. I believe 
 that the enemy has taken advantage of us. I haven't 
 any sympathy with the idea that our children have got to 
 grow up before they are converted. Once I saw a lady 
 with three daughters at her side, and I stepped up to the 
 mother and asked her if she was a Christian. " Yes, sir." 
 
 Then I asked the oldest daughter if she was a Christian. 
 Her chin began to quiver, and the tears came into her 
 eyes, and she said, "I wish I was." .And the mother 
 looked very angrily at me and said, "I don't want you 
 to speak to my children on that subject. They don't 
 understand." And in great rage she took them all away 
 from me. One daughter was fourteen years old, one 
 twelve, and the other ten, but they weren't old enough 
 to be talked to about religion. Let them drift into the 
 world and plunge into worldly amusements, and then see 
 how hard it is to reach them. Many a mother is mourn- 
 ing to-day because her boy has gone beyond her reach 
 and will not allow her to pray with him. She may pray 
 for him, but he will not let her pray or talk with him. 
 In those days, when his mind was tender and young, she 
 might have led him to Christ. Bring them in. " Suffer 
 the little children to come unto Me." Is there a prayer- 
 less father to-day? May God let the arrow go down into 
 your soul! Make up your mind, God helping you, you 
 are going to get the children in. 
 
 I heard of a man once who had a boy that had been 
 sick some time, and he came home one day and found his 
 wife weeping. She said, " I cannot help but believe 
 that this is going to prove fatal." And the man started 
 and said, " If you think so, I wish you would tell him." 
 But the mother could not tell her boy. The father went 
 
OBEDIENCE TO GODS COMMANDS. 555 
 
 to the sick-room and he saw that death was feeling for 
 the cords of life, and he said, "My son, do you know 
 you are not going to live?" And the little fellow looked 
 up and said, " No. Is this death I feel stealing over me? 
 Will I die to-day?" ' ' Yes, my son, you cannot live the 
 day out." And the little fellow smiled and said, " Well, 
 father, I shall be with Jesus to-night, shan't I?" " Yes, 
 you will spend the night with the Lord," and the father 
 broke down and wept. The little fellow saw the tears 
 and said, "Don't you weep for me. I will go to Jesus 
 and tell Him that ever since I can remember you have 
 prayed for me." 
 
 I have three children, and if God should take them 
 from me I would rather have them take such a message 
 home to Him than to have the wealth of the whole world. 
 O, I would to God I could say something to stir 
 you fathers and mothers to get your children into the 
 ark. 
 
NO ROOM FOR CHRIST." 
 
 " And they laid Him in the manger, because there was no room for 
 them in the inn." 
 
 I want to show, if I can, that the human heart is very 
 much like that inn at Bethlehem; no room for Christ. 
 
 For four thousand years every true son of God, from 
 the time that Adam fell, away back there in Eden, down 
 to the time that Christ made His appearance in Beth- 
 lehem, had been looking forward to Hij coming, and the 
 mothers in Israel had been praying that they might be 
 the mother of that child, and yet when He arrives the 
 first thing we hear is that there is no room for Him. 
 
 It may be that some of you are saying, " If they had 
 known who He was, there had been plenty of room, there 
 would have been the booming of cannon, the ringing of 
 bells, the playing of bands, and a shout go up from the 
 true sons of God, at Bethlehem, and in Jerusalem," but 
 I am not sure of that, because we read that when the 
 wise men arrived to declare that He was He that was 
 born king of the Jews, not only Herod, but all Jerusalem 
 was troubled at the fact that He had come. 
 
 When the prince of Wales came to this country, I was 
 a young man in Chicago, and I remember that the city 
 
 556 
 
The Fligth Into Egypt. ' Matthew, ii. 13-15. 
 
"NO ROOM FOR CHRIST. 559 
 
 went wild with excitement. It was thought that there 
 was nothing good enough in that western city for him. 
 The hospitality of the city was given to him, and he 
 could have the very best there was in every city; not 
 only the east, but the south and west extended invita- 
 tions for him to come and visit them. The papers were 
 discussing what he came for. I remember one said that 
 he came to look into the republican form of government, 
 another that he came for his health, another that he 
 came to kill a few buffaloes. I don't remember that he 
 told us what his visit was for. I don't know that the 
 country was any wiser or better for his coming; but one 
 thing I do know, that when the Prince of Heaven came 
 down, He did not come on any secret mission, but told 
 us what He came for; to seek that which was lost, to 
 bind up the broken-hearted, and comfort those who 
 mourn; He came from heaven to earth bringing a glo- 
 rious gospel with tidings to a lost world, and when He 
 came, there was not room for Him in the inn; no one 
 wanted Him. 
 
 You may, perhaps, say that if He came to-night it 
 would be different, but I am not sure of that. I remem- 
 ber after He went back to Nazareth, after His fame had 
 spread throughout the country, and they were anxious to 
 find out if He was going to perform any miracles, on the 
 first Lord's day He went into the synagogue where they 
 were reading the prophecy found in the sixty-first chap- 
 ter of Isaiah, and they offered Him the book that He 
 might read to the people, every eye was on Him; un- 
 doubtedly there was great excitement in the audience, 
 and He read that grand prophecy, "The spirit of the 
 Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to 
 
560 Moody's sermons. 
 
 preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to 
 bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
 captives and the opening of the prison to them that are 
 bound." 
 
 You know He had come to lift that town higher than 
 any other town on earth, to be the most famous town in 
 the history, but they never allowed Him to preach the 
 sermon; He would have probably given them as grand a 
 sermon as the sermon on the mount, but they drove Him 
 out of the synagogue, and took Him to the brow of the 
 hill and would have hurled Him into perdition. That is 
 the human heart; because He didn't preach to suit them, 
 they wouldn't have Him. I have often tried to picture 
 that scene, as He stood outside of the walls of that little 
 town of Galilee, rejected by His own kindred; what must 
 have been the loneliness that came over Him as He stood 
 there? 
 
 Then He went to Capernaum, where He healed many 
 people of diseases, gave sight to the blind, caused lepers 
 to leap for joy, and went on performing miracles; but it 
 was not long before they began to hoot at Him, before 
 the crowds began to scatter, and then He went from 
 Capernaum to Jerusalem, and it was not long before they 
 were hooting at him there. It was nothing but persecu- 
 tion day after day. In that city of Jerusalem, which He 
 loved better than any on earth, because there was his 
 Father's house, and there in the temple He taught the 
 pure doctrine till we find there was a storm soon to rise 
 in that city against Him that would sweep Him to Cal- 
 vary, there wasn't room for Him; they didn't want 
 Him. There is not a country to-day that wants Jesus 
 Ghrist. This country is called a Christian country, but 
 
"NO ROOM FOR CHRIST." 561 
 
 do you think America has got room for Christ? Do you 
 know of a state in the union that if it were put to popular 
 vote, and you women had a chance to vote, that would 
 have Him back to reign? I don't believe it. When it 
 comes to a personal Christ, letting Him be Lord over 
 you, your master, your king, then it is that people draw 
 back, and although the gospel has been preached for 
 nineteen hundred years, there is yet no room. Let a 
 man get up in parliament, in England, and say, " Thus 
 saith the Lord, "and they would hoot him out; or let 
 him get up in the chamber of deputies in France and say 
 the same, and what a scene there would be! Go into 
 Germany, and it would be the same. It is a solemn 
 statement, but it is nevertheless true. You doubt the 
 statement, many of you; I will come a little nearer home, 
 right into your own churches, and I will tell you that 
 there are a good many churches that don't want Him. I 
 hate to make this statement, but it is true. They want 
 a fashionable man, an orator, and the result is that many 
 of our churches are whitedsepulchers, having no spiritual 
 power; no room for Christ. 
 
 We read in one place that He looked toward heaven, 
 and sighed. I can imagine Him looking into the world 
 on high where He was honored, where all loved Him, and 
 just longing for the smile of that loving Father. Around 
 Him was sickness, pestilence, disease and death. He 
 came to heal the sick, give life to the dead, raise those 
 who were fallen, and they didn't want His pity and His 
 help. I have often thought that I would like to have 
 met Him in Jerusalem when He was on earth, but I sup- 
 pose that if I had lived in that city, my home would have 
 been closed against Him. Jesus, before whom the morn- 
 
562 Moody's sermons. 
 
 ing stars sang together, who had power given Him in 
 heaven and earth, came down into this dark earth, and 
 although He was rich, the only cradle He had was a 
 borrowed one, His grave was a borrowed one, and the 
 only time He ever rode, it was on a borrowed beast. And 
 He became poor that He might get into sympathy with 
 people like you and me; and yet when He got through 
 with His ministry, there were not more than five hundred 
 that were really loyal to Him, after all His years of 
 preaching and ministry. No wonder that He looked to- 
 ward heaven and sighed. Did you ever have the feeling 
 that no one cared for you, and that the world didn't want 
 you, and you felt like putting an end to your life? The 
 Son of God had many such hours down here, hours that 
 His disciples could not enter into, and it must have 
 crushed the very life out of Him at times. 
 
 It has always been a mystery to me that a woman can 
 turn against the Son of God, for there is not a country to- 
 day where Christ is not preached but woman is either 
 a slave or a toy. In India, where Buddha taught, in 
 China, where Confucius taught. I said when I was in 
 Jerusalem that if I had my choice in a Mohammedan 
 country, of being born a woman or a donkey, I would be 
 a donkey, for it is treated better than a woman. See 
 what Christ has done for woman in Christian lands, and 
 yet women sit down and talk against Christ. I want to 
 say in passing that it is not recorded that the daughters 
 of Jerusalem lifted up their voices against the Son of 
 God, and some of those women were loyal to Him, but I 
 am sorry to say I fear they were very few, but in the storm 
 that was gathering around Him, and which grew blacker 
 and blacker, there is a star that comes out in the darkness, 
 
"NO ROOM FOR CHRIST." 563 
 
 that shines like a diamond, and that star rose over the 
 Mount of Olives that slept over that little town of 
 Bethany. We learn that there was a woman by the 
 name of Martha that received Him into her home. When 
 a universal hiss was going up against Him, there was a 
 little family there in Bethany, which had the moral 
 courage to make room for Him in their home. There 
 was a dark cloud hanging over them then, but Martha 
 and Mary did not know it. I can imagine that Martha 
 went to Jerusalem, and seeing the great crowd in the 
 temple asked what it was, and they told her it was the 
 prophet of Galilee. She couldn't get near, but she prob- 
 ably stood on the edge of t:he crowd, and listened to 
 Christ. Perhaps He preached from the text, " Come 
 unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest." "O," says Martha, "that is what I want; I 
 have been longing for rest for weeks and months, rest to 
 my soul; I never heard any one speak of giving rest be- 
 fore," and, although her heart was rilled with bitterness 
 and prejudice before, as she stood there and heard those 
 beautiful words, she thought, ' ' I would like to hear Him 
 again; I wonder if He wouldn't come to my home." 
 Then the thought came, if He did, many of my fashion- 
 able acquintances in Jerusalem would cut my acquaint- 
 ance. Bear in mind, it must have cost Martha a good 
 deal to receive Jesus into her home. He was very un- 
 popular. But Martha asks Him to go and be her guest; 
 and I will say that if you want Jesus to go to your home, 
 and help you train those children for eternity, He will 
 come there. 
 
 It may be that Mary and Lazarus were both opposed 
 to Christ when she asked Him into her home, but He 
 
564 Moody's sermons. 
 
 hadn't been there a great while before they both were 
 taken captive, and we find Christ hereafter going often 
 to Bethany, where there was always a welcome for Him, 
 where Mary sat at His feet and Martha was glad to serve. 
 Tell me that they were not pleasant hours, filled with 
 joy and gladness for those two sisters! And I can im- 
 agine one day when Lazarus comes in with his hand on 
 his head; he has a headache, feels feverish. It may be 
 only a few months before that the father and mother had 
 died with some fever, and now Lazarus is coming down 
 with the same disease. They perhaps send over to Jeru- 
 salem to the leading physician there; everything is done 
 that can be done to break up the fever, but he grows 
 worse, until at last the fatal hour comes. Some of you 
 know what it is to have the doctor come out from the 
 sick-room and tell you there is no hope, and the loved 
 one must go, that all that you can do cannot keep. that 
 loved one. Now, that storm was going to burst upon 
 that home, and I want to say to every woman in this 
 audience that the hour is coming when you will surely 
 need Christ. Christ would never have left heaven to 
 come down into this world, if this world hadn't needed 
 Him. 
 
 Martha and Mary feel their need of Christ, and send a 
 servant for Him; Christ could heal their diseased, suffer- 
 ing brother. But the brother grows worse rapidly, and it 
 is not long before he is dead. They keep him as long as 
 they could, but they couldn't keep him long in that hot 
 country, and the hour came when they had to take their 
 last look upon his face and follow him to the little ceme- 
 tery, and it was all over, arid they came back to their 
 dark home again. Some of you, mothers, sisters, wives, 
 know what I am talking about. 
 
"NO ROOM FOR CHRIST." 565 
 
 Three days have gone, and the messenger sent for 
 Christ has not returned, but the fourth day, along toward 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, a messenger comes running 
 into the house and tells Martha, who may have been pre- 
 paring the evening meal, that Jesus was just outside the 
 walls. She doesn't wait for anything, but runs out to 
 meet Him and falls at His feet, and says, "Lord, hadst 
 Thou been here my brother had not died." Jesus says, 
 " But thy brother shall rise again." " I know that he 
 will rise at the resurrection of the just, but he was such 
 a good brother." "I am the resurrection and the life, 
 he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live." Martha was the first one to hear those words. 
 Then He says, "Where is Mary?" And then she ran 
 back into the house and said, " Come, Mary, the Master 
 is here, and calleth for you. " The moment Mary heard, 
 she rose and left those friends who didn't believe in Him, 
 and ran out to meet Christ. And it is evident that these 
 sisters had talked it all over, for Mary said the same 
 words that Martha had said. ' ' Yes, but thy brother 
 shall rise again." " I know he shall rise at the resur- 
 rection of the just." " I am the resurrection and the life." 
 He said, " Where have you laid him?" and Jesus wept. 
 I want a Christ that can go to the grave with me and 
 weep when I weep. I want one that can warm this heart 
 of mine in the time of trouble, and I am so thankful that 
 He wept. Then He told the disciples to take away the 
 stone; the sisters couldn't bear that their brother who had 
 been so beautiful should be looked upon again, and they 
 said, " But by this time he stinketh, Lord, for he hath 
 been dead four days." But Jesus said to them, " Said 
 I not to thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst 
 
566 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 see the glory of God?" and He called him by name, 
 ''Lazarus, come forth!" and he came forth. What a 
 scene that was! I want to ask this question: Did 
 Martha make a mistake in receiving Christ into her home? 
 Did Mar}' make a mistake in taking her place at His feet, 
 and learning of Him? I want to say to you women here 
 that the time is coming when you and I will need Him. 
 My friends, make room in your hearts for him. When He 
 went up on high, He told us that He went up there to 
 make room for us. Let us make room for Him down 
 here. We cannot take Him in as Martha and Mary did, 
 but we can take Him into our hearts. In these days, 
 when many are talking so bitterly against Christ, won't 
 you take your stand for Him? I believe He stands 
 knocking at the door of your hearts to-day. Just make 
 up your minds to make room for Him, and say, "I will." 
 
Christ in the; Synagogue. Matthew, xiii, 54. 
 
HOW TO BE SAVED. 
 
 I wonder how many of these people here this after- 
 noon would like to be saved? I am not going to ask 
 those who would rise. I do not know whether any one 
 would have courage enough to rise, and by that act say, 
 " I would like to be saved." Perhaps you say to your- 
 selves, " If that man will just tell me the way how I can 
 be saved this afternoon, I will be saved." I believe one 
 reason why so few are saved is because they do not 
 come out to the meetings expecting to be saved. They 
 do not come for that purpose. There was a lady came 
 to our meeting in Philadelphia— to the noon meeting at 
 eleven o'clock; she came early so as to get a good seat. 
 After the meeting was over we had another meeting for 
 women, and she stayed at that. In the afternoon we 
 had another meeting, and she stayed at that. She had 
 made up her mind not to leave the meetings until she 
 had found Christ. She did not find Him at that meet- 
 ing, but she might have found Him. He was offered 
 freely to every one, at all of them. So she stayed at the 
 afternoon meeting, and still no light came. She stayed 
 at the evening meeting and went into the inquiry-meet- 
 ing afterward. Between eleven and twelve o'clock she 
 took me by the hand and said, " I will trust Him." And 
 
 569 
 
57° MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 she rejoiced in the Saviors love. I met her afterward. 
 There was not a face shone more than hers did. There 
 was a woman who came determined to find Him. When 
 we search for God with all our hearts, we are sure to find 
 Him. 
 
 I am not going to preach so much of a sermon to-day, 
 as I am going to try to tell you the way of life. I had 
 a long talk with a man yesterday who, I really believe, 
 was honestly seeking the kingdom of God; but the 
 trouble was, he was determined to try to seek Him in his 
 own way, and trying to work the thing out himself, in- 
 stead of just trusting to Jesus for it. I hope he is here 
 to-night, and that the Lord may bless this little talk to 
 his soul, and that he may to-night sleep safely in the 
 arms of Jesus Christ. It is supremely important to 
 every soul here this day to trust in Christ and be saved. 
 I am going to take up a few scriptural illustrations. The 
 first is the ark. When I was in Manchester, in one of 
 the inquiry-meetings, I went up into the gallery to talk 
 with a few men who were standing together, and who 
 were inquirers of the way of life. And while they 
 were standing in a little group around me, there came up 
 another man and got on the outside of the audience, and 
 I thought by the expression of his face that he was skep- 
 tical. I did not think he had come to find Christ. But 
 as I went on talking, I noticed the tears trickling down 
 his cheeks. I said, "My friend, are you anxious about 
 your soul's salvation?" He said, "Yes, very." I asked 
 him what was the trouble, and I kept on talking to that 
 one man, thinking that if he could understand me per- 
 haps the others would. He said he wanted to feel all 
 right about it. I explained to him by means of an illus- 
 
HOW TO BE SAVED. 571 
 
 tration, and asked him, ''Do you see?" He said, "No." 
 I used another, and asked him, " Do you see it yet?" and 
 he said, " No," again. I gave still another, and still he 
 said he did not see. I then said, (i Was it Noah's feel- 
 ing that saved him, or was it his ark? Was what saved 
 Noah his righteousness? Was it his life, was it his 
 prayers, was it his tears, was it his feelings, or was it 
 the ark?" He came immediately and grasped me by the 
 hand, and said, "I see it now; it is all right now; I've 
 got to go away on the next train, and I'm in a hurry, 
 but you have made it plain to me; good-by." And he 
 went off. I thought it was so sudden that he could not 
 have understood it. But the next Sunday afternoon he 
 came and tapped me on the shoulder and smiled, and 
 asked me if I remembered him. I said no, that I 
 remembered his face, but could not tell who he was or 
 where I had seen him before. He said, ' ' Do you 
 remember a man that came up into the inquiry-room the 
 other day, and you explained to him how it was Noah's 
 ark that saved him? I did not see any illustration until 
 you used that one, and then I saw it all." I asked him 
 how he was, and he said he had been all right ever since, 
 and that the ark had saved him. I afterward learned 
 that he was one of the best business men of Man- 
 chester. His feelings did not save him. The ark saved 
 him. 
 
 I want to prove to you that salvation is instantaneous. 
 It is just as sudden as a man walking through a doorway. 
 One minute he is on this side, the next he is on that side. 
 There was one minute when Noah was exposed to the 
 wrath that was to come over the whole world; but when 
 he went through the doorway of the ark, that moment he 
 
57 2 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 was safe. There are many who are trying to make an 
 ark for themselves out of their feelings, out of their own 
 good deeds. But God has provided an ark. If Noah 
 had had to build himself an ark when the flood came, he 
 would have been lost like the rest. A good many of 
 those men who perished when that flood came tried to 
 make arks for themselves, but they all perished helplessly. 
 They tried to make boats and rafts, and tried every way 
 they could to save themselves, but they perished because 
 they were not in the ark that God had appointed. So 
 to-day, every man and every woman must perish that is 
 not in the ark which God has appointed for their salva- 
 tion. A knowledge about the ark is not going to help 
 you. A great many persons flatter themselves they are 
 going to be saved because they know a great deal about 
 Jesus Christ. But your knowledge of Him will not save 
 you. Noah's carpenters probably knew as much about 
 the ark as Noah did, and perhaps more. They knew 
 that the ark was strong. They knew it was built to 
 stand the deluge. They knew it was made to float upon 
 the waters. They had helped to build it. But they 
 were just as helpless when the flood came as men who 
 lived thousands of miles away. Men who lived right in 
 sight of the ark, that knew all about it, perished like the 
 rest, because they were not in the ark. I know some- 
 thing about the different lines of steamers, and I have 
 crossed the Atlantic. Here is another man that has 
 never heard there was such a line of steamers. We both 
 want to go to Europe. My knowledge of a line of 
 steamers does not help me a bit if I do not take the 
 means to go there. You may hear about Christ, but if 
 you do not believe in Christ you cannot be saved. Your 
 
HOW TO GET SAVED. 573 
 
 knowledge is not going to help you to your salvation. 
 What you want to do is just to make Christ your ark, and 
 then to step into that ark and be saved. 
 
 I can imagine you saying, " I do not see how a person 
 can be saved all at once." So many persons think they 
 have to work themselves out gradually, that they have to 
 do a little here, a little there, and after they have toiled 
 and worked, and have considered the matter prayerfully 
 for some time, they will be more acceptable. The Israel- 
 ites were told to sprinkle blood upon the door-posts, that 
 the angel might not enter the houses where the blood 
 was to be seen. There was one moment when they had 
 not sprinkled the blood on their door-posts, and when 
 they were exposed to the blight of the destroying angel; 
 and there was another moment when the blood had been 
 sprinkled there, and they were safe. There is a legend 
 told about this which illustrates it very well. It is about 
 a little girl who was the first-born, and consequently who 
 would have been a victim on that night if the protecting 
 blood were not sprinkled on the door-posts of her father's 
 house. The order was that the first-born was to be 
 struck by death all through Egypt. This little girl was 
 sick, and she knew that death would take her, and she might 
 be a victim of the order. She asked her father if the blood 
 was sprinkled on the door-posts. He said it was, that he 
 had ordered it to be done. She asked him if he had seen it 
 there. He said no, but he had no doubt that it was done. 
 He had seen the lamb killed, and had told a servant to 
 attend to it. But she was not satisfied, and asked her 
 father to go and see, and urged hirn to take her in his 
 arms and carry her to the door to see. They found that 
 
574 Moody's sermons. 
 
 the servant had neglected to put the blood upon the posts. 
 There the child was exposed until they found the blood 
 and put it upon the door-posts, and when she saw it she 
 was satisfied. That was all the assurance that she 
 needed. So a great many are saying, " Do you feel this 
 and that? Do you feel, do you feel, do you feel?" God 
 does not tell you to feel. He tells you to believe. He 
 says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over," and if 
 you are sheltered behind the blood, you are perfectly safe 
 and secure. Suppose I say to a man, " Do you feel that 
 you own this piece of land?" He looks at me a moment 
 and thinks I must be crazy. He says, " Feel? Why 
 feeling has nothing to do with it. I look at the title. 
 That is all I want." So you see, all you have to do is 
 with the title. A great many are all the time saying, 
 "Do you feel that you are safe?" But to all God says, 
 " He that believeth in the Lord hath everlasting life.' 
 Not " will have," it is the present tense, hath it to-day, 
 hath it this very hour. If the devil can make you believe 
 you will be saved some time, and keep you from believing 
 now and receiving now, that is all he wants. He knows 
 that to-morrow will never come, and he puts it off from 
 day to day, from month to month, and from year to year. 
 My friends, Jesus Christ will never be more willing to 
 save you than He is to-night, and the longer you put it 
 off, the longer you wait, the further you are going from 
 Him. Every day you put it off you are going back from 
 God, and are making it harder for you to be saved. 
 
 My next illustration is the serpent upon the pole. You 
 sang a song to-night about it, "It is life just to look at 
 the Crucified One. " It is not to work that we are told. 
 It is just to look. How simple! You know a fiery ser- 
 
HOW TO BE SAVED. . 575 
 
 pent had gone through Israel and bitten many people, 
 and they died. And the Israelites went to Moses and 
 said, "Entreat the Lord to take away this serpent.'' 
 They did not ask for a remedy; they did not ask for the 
 bitten ones to be allowed to recover. They could hear 
 the groans of the dying all around. But God more than 
 granted their prayers. God always gives us more than 
 we ask for. He not only took away the serpent, but He 
 said to Moses, "Make a brass serpent and put it on a 
 pole and lift it on high, so that all who are bitten shall 
 look and live. And it shall come to pass that when they 
 look, they shall not die, but live." How simple! A little 
 child can look. It is so simple that the learned and the 
 unlearned can look. You do not have to go to college to 
 learn how to look. You do not have to pass through a 
 university to learn how to look. That little child there 
 is not more than three or four years old, but it under- 
 stands how to look. If a mother wants her little child 
 to look, she simply says, " Look, my child," and that is 
 enough. So all that the bitten Israelites had to do was 
 to look and live; and the very moment they looked, they 
 were saved instantaneously. It was as sudden as a flash 
 of lightning. So many people say, " I do not understand 
 how it is so many people can be saved all at once." 
 Well, that is Jesus' way, and that is all there is about it. 
 "God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and God's ways 
 are not our ways." If we had been going to save the 
 world, we would have gone about it in a different way 
 from God's way, I have no doubt. If we had been going 
 to save the bitten Israelites, the last way we would prob- 
 ably have thought of would have been to make a brass 
 serpent and put it upon a pole. But God works as_ He 
 
576 Moody's sermons. 
 
 pleases, and we must learn that His ways are His own 
 and must prevail; and we must listen to Him, and if He 
 says we will be saved at once, and that salvation is in- 
 stantaneous, all we have to do is to submit and believe. 
 Instead of looking at yourself, at your own sin, instead 
 of looking at your past life, what you should do is just 
 to take your eyes off of yourself and look at Christ. 
 
 Now, come back again to another Bible illustration. 
 You know when the children of Israel came from the land 
 of slavery and had the visitation of the fiery serpents, 
 and after Moses had been commanded to raise the brazen 
 serpent, he went to Pisgah and died, and Joshua led 
 them into the Promised Land. Joshua then received a 
 command from God that he should erect six cities, three 
 on each side of the Jordan, which were to be cities of 
 refuge. These places were to be put far enough apart so 
 as to cover the whole land, that any man, no matter 
 where he might be when he should have occasion to seek 
 them, could easily gain access to one of them. The gates 
 of these cities were to be kept open day and night, and 
 the chief men of each city — the magistrates — were to 
 keep the ways to these places free of all obstacles and 
 stumbling-blocks, so that no one should be hindered in 
 getting within the walls. And not only should the roads 
 be kept smooth and well in repair, but- all the bridges 
 leading over streams and rivers should be kept up and in 
 good condition, and signposts were also to be placed at 
 intervals along the road, showing the fugitive that he was 
 on the right way, to keep him from straying. And to 
 provide for the contingency of the man who was fleeing 
 not being able to read, there was a red finger put on the 
 
HOW TO BE SAVED. 577 
 
 posts, which pointed the way. Thus a man, even if he 
 could read, was not compelled to stop and thus lose time; 
 he saw the sign and sped on. The cfti-es were also placed 
 on hills, that every one could see them. The cities were 
 erected for this purpose. It was considered a great dis- 
 honor among the Israelites if, when a man was killed, 
 the nearest relation of him did not at once arm himself, 
 seek out the slayer and kill him. Thus a man had no 
 hope, if he had accidentally killed one, of saving his own 
 life from the avenging hand of the brother or other rela- 
 tive, but to get within the walls of the nearest city of 
 refuge; for it was the law that the moment he escaped 
 that far, the relation of the slain man could not touch 
 him. Now for my illustration: Suppose I had killed a 
 man unwittingly; that he and I had been out chopping 
 in the woods, and suppose my ax had slipped out of my 
 hand and had crushed in the skull of my companion. 
 My only hope would be to get to one of these cities; my 
 only hope was to escape for my life. I should have had 
 no time to loiter, no time to hesitate or argue, no time to 
 consider. I should have to start at once. The brother 
 of my companion who^ had been killed, though thus 
 purely through accident, was near, and he was so in- 
 censed, or perhaps had some old score to pay off, that I 
 should have no chance to stay and plead with him. He 
 had made up his mind to kill me, and there was nothing 
 left for me to do but fly. I know the young man's hot 
 temper, and I see him on my track. I therefore spring 
 out of the bush into the road, and it now becomes a life 
 and death struggle. I see the city before me. Along 
 the road I speed to the full extent of my strength. Down 
 the hill I go as fast as I can; up the ravine I make my 
 
578 Moody's sermons. 
 
 way; men see me coming; they do not check me, or 
 throw any obstacles in my path; they get out of my way, 
 and as I pass they wish me " God-speed," and warn me 
 that the avenger is not far behind. Now I am in full 
 view of the city; the gates are wide open; I know I shall 
 not have to stop and knock when I get up to them. 
 When I get closer, I see the citizens are on the walls. 
 The information has reached them that a poor refugee is 
 coming. Some of them have had to flee themselves, 
 and they sympathize with me. They thus await me; 
 but they see I am hard pressed. I am almost on the 
 point of giving out. But I say to myself, "Courage! 
 Another effort and I shall reach the gates and be safe." 
 O, if I can only reach the city? Ah, my friends, just 
 look at the city; don't let anything take your attention 
 away. Look! look! see what I have to do. If I stop, 
 loiter, or linger, I am lost. The avenger will soon be on 
 me. 1 can almost hear him breathing behind me. I 
 know his sword is ready to hew me down. I get nearer 
 to the walls now. I see the people plainly; they beckon 
 on with their hands. I strain every nerve. "Hurry, 
 hurry, he is almost upon you! O, he will be killed." I 
 bring every muscle into play. The people crowd around 
 the gate to receive me. "Now, now," they cry. I make 
 one more bound; I pass them; I am safe. That is in- 
 stantaneous, isn't it? One minute I am under the 
 avenging sword ready to fall upon my head; the next 
 minute I am perfectly secure. The avenger cannot enter. 
 The officers see to that; they will not let him come in 
 with his sword. Can you, my friends, have a better 
 illustration of this life? Don't you know that death is on 
 your track now, and is ready to have you a victim? 
 
HOW TO BE SAVED. 579 
 
 Don't you know that he may be only a few years, a few 
 months, a few weeks, a few days, or even a few moments 
 only, from you? Even this very afternoon he may catch 
 up to you. You may think him miles and miles behind 
 you, years and years away, but just as surely as you live, 
 here he is only a little way behind you now — a great deal 
 nearer than you imagine. Haste, then, to a place of 
 refuge. If you are outside the city, you perish; if you 
 come within the walls of salvation, you live secure. God 
 has a city of refuge for you. He shows you by every 
 unmistakable sign where it is, and He gives you warning 
 that if you do not reach its walls you die. Come, then. 
 If you neglect these mercies how do you expect to save 
 your life? How can you loiter and linger when death is 
 bearing down upon you? A little while, and you will be 
 lost; but if you make for the salvation offered to you, 
 you will be safe in Christ, and you can look back and 
 challenge death to his face. You can say in triumph, 
 "Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy 
 victory. " 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 
 
 You will find my text this evening in the sixth chapter 
 of Galatians, seventh, eighth, and ninth verses: "Be not 
 deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man 
 soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to 
 his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that 
 soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlast- 
 ing. And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due 
 season we shall reap, if we faint not." You who were 
 here last Wednesday night remember that we had for our 
 text, "Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies 
 themselves being judges," and then we tried to find a 
 text which every one would admit was true. I think 
 that we have one to-night that no infidel, no skeptic or 
 deist can attack. There are some passages which we do 
 not have to prove by the word of God, but merely by 
 our own experience. Your own lives will prove many 
 passages in Scripture. You can take up the daily papers 
 and see them fulfilled under your own eyes. This is one 
 of them. Perhaps there has not been a text of Scripture 
 run out in this tabernacle as this one has. Night after 
 night we have said something about it; night after night 
 Mr. Sankey has sung out, "Whatsoever a man soweth 
 
 580 
 
The Disciples Plucking Corn on the Sabbath. Mark, ii, 23-28. 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 583 
 
 that shall he also reap." My friends, we cannot quote 
 it too often. We want to quote it, and preach it till it 
 gets down to the hearts of the people. Now, it is very 
 natural to be deceived. I suppose there is not a man or 
 woman here but who has been deceived by his or her 
 most intimate friends. You have been deceived by your 
 own friends, and you have been deceived by your ene- 
 mies, and how many could rise up here and say they 
 have not been deceived by themselves? How many of 
 us have found our own heart more treacherous than any- 
 thing else? How many of us have not found the truth 
 of that passage, "The heart of man is deceitful above 
 all things, and desperately wicked"? We can be deceit- 
 ful to each other, to our friends and to ourselves, but 
 bear in mind we cannot deceive God. How often does 
 man find that Satan has deceived him? But has he ever 
 found God deceiving him? I have never found a man 
 who has said that he has been, or that he has heard of 
 anybody whom God has deceived. How many times has 
 a man said he has been deceived by his fellows, by his 
 own treacherous heart? And our experience in thii direc- 
 tion only shows that we cannot rely upon man, upon 
 ourselves, but only upon God. 
 
 Now, it is a law of nature that if a man sows he will 
 reap what he sows. If a man sows watermelons, he 
 don't look for cauliflowers; if a man sows potatoes, he 
 don't look for cabbages; if he sows onions, he don't look 
 for corn. If he plants potatoes, he expects potatoes; if 
 he sows corn, he looks for corn; or wheat, he expects to 
 reap wheat. So, in the natural world, a man expects to 
 reap what he sows. If a man learns a carpenter's or a 
 builder's trade, he expects to put up buildings for a living. 
 
584 Moody's sermons. 
 
 If a man toils and studies hard for a profession, if he is 
 a lawyer, he expects to practice law. He don't expect 
 to have to preach the gospel for a living. He has been 
 sowing for years, and he expects to reap. As a man 
 sows, so he expects to reap. This is the law in the 
 natural world, and so it is with the spiritual. "Blessed 
 are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called 
 the children of God." " Blessed are they which hunger 
 and thirst for righteousness' sake." Why? Because they 
 shall get rich? No; "for they shall be filled." Now, 
 you will see that a certain result is the product of certain 
 conditions. This is the law which you will find carried 
 out all through the world, in natural and spiritual things. 
 If a man is a thief, you expect to see him come to an 
 ignominious end. If a man is drunken and dissipated, 
 we look, as a natural consequence of his dissipation, to 
 see him go to ruin. Yet men themselves don't see this; 
 their eyes are closed to their folly. A friend who was 
 coming down with me to-night said, " When I lookback, 
 I see that I started wrong when I came here. It seems 
 as if I must have been blind. I did not see this till 
 within the last two or three weeks. " My friends, that's 
 what Satan does with a man. He just blinds him, and 
 when he has got a man blinded, he does anything he 
 wants with him. It is very hard to make men under- 
 stand this simple truth, that they will have to reap what 
 they sow, especially young men from seventeen to twenty- 
 one. That, you know, is the ugly age. There is more 
 trouble with them then than at any other stage. I re- 
 member when I was at that age. I knew a good deal 
 more than my mother or any of my friends. You take a 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 585 
 
 young man at that age, and you'll find he knows a great 
 deal more than his father, his grandfather, or even his 
 great-grandfather, all put together. "He is wise in his 
 own conceit." It is during that ugly age that characters 
 are forming for good or evil; and bear in mind, you 
 young men, that "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall 
 he also reap." If a man sows tares, he has got to reap 
 them. It may not be to-morrow, or next week, or next 
 year, but the time of reaping will assuredly come, and 
 when the reaping-time comes you will moan bitterly; 
 then you will like to change places with those Christians 
 whom you now despise. When the reaping-time comes 
 you would give a good deal if you could exchange places 
 with the humblest-looking Christian. I suppose that 
 Cain would give a good deal to exchange places with 
 Abel to-night. Do you think Pilate would not like to 
 change places with Elijah, with Obadiah, or Peter, to- 
 night? Don't you think the Emperor Nero would like to 
 exchange places now with Paul? Paul is reaping what 
 he sowed, and so is Nero. All through Scripture you can 
 see proof of this text. Don't you think that the rich man 
 at whose door the beggar Lazarus lay would like to 
 exchange places with that poor Christian now? Bear in 
 mind that you may look upon Christians with contempt, 
 but the time is coming when you will give anything to 
 exchange places with the meanest Christian that walks 
 the streets. 
 
 I used to believe twenty years ago in this text, but I 
 believe it more now than ever I did. The longer I live, 
 the more I become convinced of its awful truth. You 
 know I used to live in Chicago, and I used to go from 
 house to house among the poor, and in going among the 
 
586 Moody's sermons. 
 
 poor I gained no little experience of the rich people. In 
 visiting the poor I became acquainted with a good many 
 rich families, and there is scarcely a week passes now but 
 I hear of rich families who have gone down to ruin. Just 
 this afternoon I heard of a family who, twenty years ago, 
 occupied a position among the best. They had a beauti- 
 ful daughter, who could have adorned any station, and a 
 lovely home, and I heard to-day that they had gone down 
 to ruin. They looked upon Christianity with scorn and 
 contempt. The father brought the children up to treat 
 all religion with contempt, and his sons have gone down 
 to their graves drunkards, and his daughter has died of a 
 broken heart. Yes, a man who sows tares must reap 
 them, and sometimes the harvest is a whirlwind. 
 
 Now, just let us divide that text up; not that I want 
 to preach under different heads, but just for the sake of 
 greater clearness. When a man sows he expects to reap. 
 This truth must be admitted first. A farmer that planted 
 grain and never reaped his fields, you would say had gone 
 clear mad. No man sows that doesn't expect to reap. 
 That is just what he does expect to do. The next point: 
 A man always expects to reap more than he sowed. If 
 he sows a handful of grain, he expects to get from that 
 handful a bushel, and if he sows a bushel he expects a 
 harvest of five hundred bushels. And just so it is in 
 spiritual matters. If a man scatters handfuls of tares in 
 spiritual things, his spiritual harvest will be bushels of 
 tares, and not wheat. Whatever he sows he shall reap; 
 just that and nothing more, and if he sows the wind he 
 must reap the whirlwind. A man must expect a harvest 
 of just the kind that his seed is; and this great law is even 
 more true of spiritual growth than of natural growth. If 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 587 
 
 a man is bad and corrupt in his thoughts, you can tell 
 precisely what his deeds will be. 
 
 If a man is profane and blasphemous, look to his chil- 
 dren to be the same; if a father is a lying man, his chil- 
 dren will grow up to deceive him just as he deceived 
 others. A bad boy is too often the living penalty of the 
 sins of his parents; they have sown and watered, and 
 now he is reaping the punishment. Another point, if a 
 man sows, he must reap the fruit, no matter how 
 ignorant he may claim to be, or really be, of the nature 
 of the seed. A plea of ignorance won't do. You sow 
 tares and think it wheat, but nothing but tares will 
 spring up. You may call it wheat, or rye, or grain, or 
 whatever name you please, but you get nothing but 
 weeds and tares. You must look to what kind of seed 
 you are sowing, for neither ignorance nor any other ex- 
 cuse can make tares bring forth wheat. And now, see 
 how true that is, in regard not only to individuals but 
 nations. Nations are only collections of individuals, and 
 what is true of the part in regard to character is always 
 true of the whole. In this country our forefathers 
 planted slavery in the face of an open Bible, and didn't 
 we have to reap? When the harvest came, nearly half a 
 million of your 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 
 every household almost 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! 
 
 Then look at that king in Egypt. He made a decree 
 
588 Moody's sermons. 
 
 that all the male infants should be put to death, and to 
 death they were put, with all the horrors that hatred and 
 jealousy could invent. It was terrible. Well, now, I 
 suppose some people think it strange that God didn't 
 punish Egypt with swift destruction. But look, the pun- 
 ishment only tarried. The mill grinds slow, but it grinds 
 exceedingly small; in eighty years cast your eye on that 
 miserable land. God's vengeance at length came down, 
 and ruin along with it. In every house in Egypt the first 
 born was slain, from the palace to the lowest hovel. 
 There still lived a God, and this immutable law of His 
 had still to be executed; they had to reap just what they 
 had sown. Then, sometimes the mill is not so slow. 
 Sometimes the punishment comes rapidly, like lightning. 
 No sooner did the voice ascend that Cain had killed his 
 brother, than God came down and put a mark upon his 
 forehead. Scarcely had Judas betrayed his Master than 
 he came back with his thirty pieces of silver, and, torn 
 with remorse, threw them down before the priests, and 
 went out and hung himself. You will find that very 
 often judgment and destruction come very sudden, come 
 like a flash from the throne of God. I remember, in the 
 north of England, a prominent citizen told me a sad case 
 that happened there in the town of Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
 It was about a young boy. He was very young, and he 
 said he was too young to go to a Sunday-school. He 
 was an only child. The father and mother thought 
 everything of him, and did all they could for him. But 
 he fell into bad ways; he took up with evil characters 
 and finally got to running with thieves. He didn't let 
 his parents know about it. One night they got him to 
 break into a saloon, what the people there call a public 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 589 
 
 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. His term of servitude expired, 
 and he returned to his native land. He came 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! My 
 friends, ten years seem a short time, but look back over 
 the period of ten years in your lives, and see how many 
 changes have taken place. He went to his old home and 
 knocked, but a stranger came to the door and stared him 
 in the face. " No, there's no such person lives here, and 
 where your parents are I don't know," was the only wel- 
 come he received. Then he turned through the gate, 
 and went down the street, asking even the children that 
 he met about his folks, where they were living, and if 
 they were well. But everybody looked blank. Ten years 
 had rolled by, and though that seemed perhaps a short 
 time, how many changes had taken place! There where 
 he was born and brought up, he was now an alien, and 
 unknown even in his old haunts. But at last he found a 
 couple of townsmen that remembered his father and 
 mother, and they told him the old house had been de- 
 serted long years ago; that he had been gone but a few 
 months before his father w r as confined to his house, and 
 very soon died broken-hearted; and that his mother had 
 gone out of her mind. He went to the mad-house where 
 his mother was, and went up to her and said, " Mother, 
 mother, don't you know me? I am your son!" But she 
 raved, and slapped him on the face, and shrieked, " You 
 are not my boy!" and then raved again and tore her hair. 
 
590 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 He left the asylum more dead than alive, so completely 
 broken-hearted that he died in a few months. Yes, the 
 fruit was long growing, but at last it ripened to the har- 
 vest like a whirlwind, and vengeance made quick work of 
 it. The death harvest was reaped. 
 
 But bear in mind what I have said to-night, and be 
 not doubters, even if the harvest is slow. Let me read 
 you the passage, "Because sentence against their evil 
 deeds is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of 
 the sons of men are fully set in to do them evil. Though 
 a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be pro- 
 longed, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them 
 that fear God, which fear before Him, but it shall not 
 be well with the wicked, neither shall He prolong His 
 days, which are a shadow, because he feareth not before 
 God." 
 
 My friends, if you sow in the flesh you will reap disap- 
 pointment; you will reap gloom, despair and remorse; 
 the harvest will be death and hell; that will be the end; 
 but if you sow of the Spirit, you will reap peace, joy, 
 happiness, life everlasting; for God has said it. There 
 are a great many things in this world that we are not- 
 sure of; we are sure of nothing, I may say. I am not 
 sure that I will finish this sermon; I am not sure that I 
 may go home to-night; we cannot say, positively, that 
 the sun will rise to-morrow morning. Yes, my friends, 
 there are a great many things that we are not sure of; 
 but there is one thing that we are sure of, for God has 
 said it. You can be sure that your sins will find you out. 
 If we don't judge ourselves and confess our sins, they will 
 find us out. " He that covereth his sins shall not pros- 
 per;" that is God's decree. 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 591 
 
 Now, I have been censured by many for advising two 
 men who had committed crime to go back and confess 
 their sin. One man the other day was cursing me for 
 doing so. " A pretty kind of religion this is," he said; 
 but, my friends, if a man has gone into a court and pub- 
 licly perjured himself, he cannot serve God till he pub- 
 licly confesses it. If he has sinned in public,' he must 
 confess his sin in public. These men have gone back 
 and written letters full of encouragement. One of them 
 says, "Perhaps I will go to the penitentiary for three 
 years, but what is that in comparison to the burden I 
 would have carried had I not confessed?" Now, bear in 
 mind that if you cover your sin, you shall not prosper; 
 you may keep it secret, but it will eventually come out, 
 Look at the sons of Jacob! Look at them when they 
 took away their brother, and after they had delivered 
 him into slavery; see them coming back. How much 
 they must have suffered with their secret during those 
 twenty years! What misery they must have endured as 
 they looked during all those years at their old father sor- 
 rowing for his son Joseph! They knew the boy had not 
 been killed; they knew he was in slavery. For twenty 
 years the sin was covered up, but at last it came back 
 upon them. God had in the mean time been doing 
 everything for Joseph; he had raised him nearly to the 
 throne of Egypt. A famine struck the land of the father, 
 and the old man sent his sons down to Egypt to get corn. 
 God was at work. He was making these men bring 
 their own sin home to themselves. Their conscience 
 smote them, and they confessed in the presence of Joseph 
 that their sin had found them out. Twenty years after 
 it was committed, that sin was resurrected, and with it 
 
592 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 they were brought face to face. My friends, be sure at 
 once that your sin will find you out. God has said it, 
 and if He says a thing He means it. "He that covereth 
 his sins shall not prosper." I can imagine some one say- 
 ing to Absalom when he started out to fight his father, 
 " You shouldn't do this; you are committing a sin, and 
 it will find you out. I can see that young friend looking 
 down upon that man with scorn and contempt. The 
 idea of his sins ever finding him out, ever coming back 
 upon him! He probably would have said, "That man's 
 talking for effect, " like a good many say of me. You 
 will hear some people say, "Well, now, any man who 
 knows anything about education knows well enough that 
 Moody is only preaching for effect." If a man tells me I 
 am preaching for effect, I say, "Amen! Amen!" That's 
 what I am trying to do; what does a man preach for if it 
 is not for effect? I am trying to create an effect and so 
 wake you up to your condition, and if you don't wake up, 
 the reaping-time will come upon you, the whirlwind of 
 troubles and sorrows will rush over your defenseless head, 
 and then you will reap what you have sown in years 
 gone by. 
 
 But let me say that if you are willing to confess your 
 sins — I don't care what the sin may be — God is willing 
 and ready to take it away. As I have said, there has 
 been a great deal of talk about my interfering with those 
 prisoners lately. Some one has said in speaking about 
 that man in Ohio, " Well, that is a queer kind of Chris- 
 tianity, to send a man away back to the penitentiary to 
 suffer!" Let me say here that that young man has said 
 in his last letter, "I think I am happier than you are, 
 Mr. Moody; God is helping me to bear the burden; God 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 593 
 
 is answering my prayers." My friends, it was a great deal 
 better for that man to confess his crime, than to try to 
 hide it away. If a man commits a crime he should suffer 
 the penalty. I must suffer the penalty if I break my arm 
 in fighting. The man with whom I fought may forgive 
 me for fighting with him, but I have to suffer all the same 
 with my arm. A man got into a quarrel and got crippled, 
 and some time ago he became converted, but although 
 God has forgiven him his sin, he has to remain a cripple 
 all his life. So a man must reap what he sows. I heard 
 of an illustration that just helps me out here. Suppose 
 I have a field, and I say to a man, "I want you to sow 
 that field with wheat." The man has become very angry, 
 all out of sorts with me, and when he sows that wheat, 
 he puts in a lot oftares. When the wheat has come up, 
 I see among it a great many tares. I say to him, " Did 
 you sow these tares?" " Well," he says, " I will confess; 
 yes, sir, I did it; I sowed these tares; I will confess it 
 instead of covering it up; but, sir, I am very sorry;" and 
 I forgive him. But when the wheat has to be harvested, 
 I make the man reap the tares also. 
 
 You know how David fell. No man rose so high and 
 fell so far, I think. God took him from the sheepfold 
 and put him upon a throne. He took him from obscurity 
 and made him king of Israel and Judea; gave him lands 
 in abundance, and would have given him more if he had 
 wanted them. He was on the pinnacle of glory, and hon- 
 ored among men. But one day, while looking out of a 
 window, he saw a woman with whom he became 
 enamored. He yielded to the temptation, and ordered 
 her to be brought into the palace, and committed the 
 terrible sin of adultery. After that, as is the case with 
 
594 Moody's sermons. 
 
 all men who commit a sin, he had to commit another to 
 cover it up, so he laid plans to kill her husband, and 
 ordered him to be put in a position in the ranks of his 
 army so that he could be killed. Months rolled away, 
 and one day Nathan came into the palace of the king. I 
 can imagine that David was glad to see him. Nathan 
 began to tell him about two men who dwelt in a certain 
 city. The one was rich, the other poor; one had herds 
 and flocks, and the other had only a little ewe lamb, and 
 he went on to tell how this rich man seized this ewe 
 lamb, all that the poor man had, and slew it. I can see 
 the anger of David as it flashed from his eye when he 
 heard the story, and he cried, " As the Lord liveth, the 
 man that hath done this thing shall surely die." He 
 turned to Nathan, and in tones of thunder demanded who 
 the man was. "Thou art the man," was the reply of 
 Nathan. David had convicted himself. " The man who 
 did this thing shall die." Then the Lord said, "I will 
 raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, because 
 thou hast kept this thing secret." Soon after, the hand 
 of death was put upon that house; not only did death 
 enter his house; but it wasn't long before his eldest son 
 committed adultery with his sister, and another com- 
 mitted murder, murdered his own brothers, and went off 
 into a foreign land an exile. Then he got up a rebellion 
 and drove the king from the throne, and at last died and 
 was buried like a dog, and they heaped stones upon his 
 resting-place. " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
 he also reap." David committed adultery, so did his son; 
 David committed murder, his son did the same. He was 
 paid back in his own coin. He learned the truth of this 
 passage, " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 595 
 
 reap." Why, I hear things every day in this city that 
 make my ears tingle. I heard of three cases within the 
 last six hours where men who have gone to the altar and 
 sworn before God to love, cherish, and protect the women 
 who became their wives — who have become, some of 
 them, mothers of children — and, because these men have 
 seen other women they liked better, they have cast off 
 these women whom they have sworn before God to love. 
 Do you think there is a God in heaven? Do you think 
 that God is not going to punish these men? They may 
 go on in their career, punishment may not come for a 
 little while, but the wheels of judgment are going on, and 
 retribution will come. Some of these heart-broken wives 
 say it is hard. Wait a little while. His eyes cover all 
 the earth, and man cannot deceive Him. He has said, 
 " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
 High heaven has decreed it, and I beg of you, if you have 
 committed this sin, go and cry to God for mercy. Go, 
 confess it; don't try to cover it up. Let every sin be 
 brought out; if you don't, your own conscience will turn 
 against you by-and-by. 
 
 When I was in London I went into a wax-work there 
 — Mme. Tussaud's — and I went into the chamber of hor- 
 rors. There were wax figures of all kinds of murderers 
 in that room. There was Booth, who killed Lincoln, 
 and many of that class; but there was one figure that I 
 got interested in, who killed his wife because he loved 
 another woman, and the law didn't find him out. He 
 married this woman and had a family of seven children, 
 and twenty years passed away. Then his conscience be- 
 gan to trouble him. He had no rest; he could hear his 
 murdered wife pleading continually for her life. His 
 
596 Moody's sermons. 
 
 friends began to think he was going out of his mind; he 
 became haggard, and his conscience haunted him, till at 
 last he went to the officers of the law and told them that 
 he was guilty of murder. He wanted to die, life was so 
 much of an agony to him. His conscience turned against 
 him. My friends, if you have done wrong, may your 
 conscience be woke up, and may you testify against your- 
 self. It is a great deal better to judge our own acts and 
 confess them, than go through the world with a curse 
 upon you. And if you to-night will judge your own sin 
 and confess it, He is faithful to forgive. He will forgive 
 every sinner here if you but come to Him in faith, and 
 will blot out all your iniquities. 
 
 I was telling of a young man who spoke up in the asso- 
 ciation one night. He got up at the close of the meeting 
 and said, "Mr. Moody, may I say a few words?" Well, 
 I thought I wouldn't, but then I thought perhaps he has 
 a message from God, and I told him to speak. He went 
 on and urged these young men to accept salvation. " If 
 you have friends praying for you, if you have mothers 
 praying for you, treat them kindly, for you will not al- 
 ways have them with you." Then he went on to tell how 
 he had once a father and a mother who loved him dearly, 
 and who prayed continually for him. He was an only 
 child. His father died, and after the burial his mother 
 became more anxious than ever for his salvation. Some- 
 times she would come to him and put her arms around 
 his neck and say with kindness, " O my boy, I would be 
 so happy if you would only be a Christian, and could 
 pray with me." He would push her away. "No, 
 mother; I'm not going to become a Christian yet; I am 
 going to wait a little longer and see the world. " He would 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 597 
 
 try to banish the subject from his mind altogether. 
 Sometimes he would wake up at the midnight hour, and 
 would hear the voice of that mother raised in supplica- 
 tion for her boy, "O God, save my boy; have mercy 
 upon him." At last, this is the way he put it, " It got 
 too hot for him." He saw he had either to become a 
 Christian or run away. And away he ran, and became 
 a prodigal and a wanderer. He heard from her indirectly; 
 he couldmot let his mother know where he was, because 
 he knew she would have gone to the end of the world to 
 find him. One day he got word that his mother was 
 very sick. He began to think, " Suppose mother should 
 die, I would never forgive myself," and he said, " I will 
 go home," but then he thought, "Well, if I go home, 
 she will be praying at me again, and I can't stay under 
 her roof and listen to her prayers," and his proud, stub- 
 born heart would not let him go. Months went on, and 
 again he heard indirectly that his mother was very sick. 
 His conscience began to trouble him. He knew he would 
 never forgive himself if he didn't go home, and he finally 
 determined. There were no railroads, and he had to go 
 in a stage-coach. At night he got into the town. The 
 moon was shining, and he could see the little village 
 before him. The mother's home was about a mile from 
 where he landed, and on his way he had to pass the vil- 
 lage grocery, and as he went along he thought he would 
 pass through the graveyard and see his father's grave. 
 "What," he thought, "if my mother has been laid 
 there!" When he got up to the grave he saw by the light 
 of the moon a new-made grave. He felt the turf, and 
 the earth was fresh and soft. He knew who had been 
 laid there, and for once in his life the thought flashed 
 
598 Moody's sermons. 
 
 upon him, " Who will pray now for my lost soul? My 
 mother and father lie there, and they are the only ones 
 who ever prayed for me. " "Young men," said he, "I 
 spent that night at my mothers grave, and before the sun 
 rose, my mother's God had become my God. But I can 
 never forgive myself for murdering my mother, although 
 Christ has forgiven me." My friends, that poor fellow 
 had to reap what he had sowed. 
 
 I may be speaking to-night to some young man whose 
 mother perhaps just now is in her closet, wrestling in 
 prayer for you. Bless God, boy, for that mother. Do 
 not treat that mother contemptuously; do rrpi deny her 
 prayer to-night; do not make light of your mother's cries 
 to God this night. God's best gift on earth to you is that 
 praying mother. She is your dearest, most unselfish 
 friend in all the world. Will you not heed her pleading 
 prayer? Come out like a man; come to your mother's 
 Savior, and take Him to be your God. May the God 
 of heaven convict you of sin, and draw you to 
 Himself, and this will be the best night you've had upon 
 earth. 
 
 How many are there in this room to-night who have 
 moral courage to stand up right in this tabernacle and 
 say, "Pray for me"? How many in this room to-night 
 would like to become Christians? How many are there 
 in this room now who would like to have prayer for them, 
 beseeching prayer, that God will save them? I am going 
 to lead in prayer, and as many as would like to have 
 prayer, personal prayer, to God, will just rise. You can 
 just stand right up one after another. Never mind if 
 there is but one of you; just remain standing. There's 
 another who's got moral courage to rise to-night. Just 
 
SOWING AND REAPING. 599 
 
 stand up, will you, and remain so while others join you. 
 There, there, friends, don't get up as if you were ashamed 
 or scared; rise up and show me and God that you are in 
 earnest. I would like to see every man out of Christ 
 rising right up here. There's another in the gallery, and 
 another; well, keep rising; I would sit here all night and 
 see you rise up in the galleries there and everywhere. 
 Every man and woman in this assembly, every boy, who 
 would like to be a Christian, will you just rise now, all 
 of you? 
 
 LofC. 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 
 
 It is a great thing to acquire an appetite for the word 
 of God. If we can get a love for the word, we will get 
 something that will last. J would like to find the first 
 Christian feeding upon the word of God without grow- 
 ing. A great many Christians wonder why they don't 
 grow. It's because they are not feeding. A good many 
 souls are all dried up, all withered up, because they 
 haven't been fed. I think David had this idea when he 
 wrote the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm. There 
 must be something in the fact that the longest chapter in 
 the Bible is about the Bible itself. I want to call your 
 attention to nine passages, in the one hundred and nine- 
 teenth Psalm. Twenty-fifth verse, " Quicken me accord- 
 ing to "Thy word." Thirty-seventh verse, " Quicken 
 Thou me in Thy way." Fortieth verse, "Quicken me 
 in Thy righteousness." What does this nation need 
 to-day, more than to be quickened in righteousness? 
 It is not mere gush and sentiment this nation 
 wants, so much as it is a revival of downright honesty. 
 Fiftieth verse, "This is my comfort in my affliction; 
 for Thy word hath quickened me." Eighty-eighth verse, 
 
 600 
 
David Sparing Saul. I Samuel, xxiv. 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 603 
 
 " Quicken me with Thy lovingkindness." Ninety-third 
 verse, ' ' I will never forget Thy precepts, for with them 
 Thou hast quickened me." One hundred and seventh 
 verse, " I am afflicted very much; quicken me, O Lord, 
 according to Thy word. " One hundred and fifty-fourth 
 verse, " Plead my cause and deliver me; quicken me ac- 
 cording to Thy word." One hundred and fifty-sixth 
 verse, " Great are Thy tender mercies, O Lord; quicken 
 me according to Thy judgments." That is the way it 
 goes, quicken me according to Thy word, according to 
 Thy precepts, according to Thy way. That's what we 
 all want to pray this morning. An old Scotchman made 
 this remark, ' ' David said, ' I have hid Thy word in my 
 heart.' That was a good thing, in a good place, for a 
 good purpose. " Some people carry the Bible under their 
 arms. Well, that's better than not to carry it at all. 
 Some people have got a good deal of it in their heads. 
 That's better. But when you get it in the heart, that is 
 best of all. When a man gets the Bible in his heart, it 
 is going to make a change in his whole life. The trouble 
 with a good many Christians is they are good in spots. 
 A man once said he had a good well, only it would dry 
 up in summer, and freeze up in winter. Some Christians 
 are just like that well, good at certain times. But when 
 a man is feeding on the word of God, he is good all the 
 time. I really think that instead of so many of the 
 prayer-meetings we have, we ought to have more meet- 
 ings for reading and studying the word of God. When 
 I pray, I am talking to God; when I am reading the 
 word, it is God speaking to me. David said the word of 
 God was like fire in his bones. I don't believe a man or 
 woman is fit for God's service till they catch fire in this 
 way. 
 
604 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Now, it is getting to be very common, very fashiona- 
 ble in certain quarters, even among professed Christians, 
 to hear men say. " I believe in the New Testament, but 
 I don't believe in the Old." We hear that on the right 
 hand, and on the left. I pray to God that we may be 
 delivered from this idea. It is doing a thousand times 
 more harm than all the lectures of infidels, to hear Chris- 
 tians say, ''This and this isn't inspired." One minister 
 said he had cut everything down to the four gospels. 
 They contained everything, and he didn't see why he 
 shouldn't do as St. Paul did, and go to the fountain-head. 
 It wasn't long before that man fell into sin. Unsound in 
 doctrine, unsound in practice. We want to believe the 
 whole Bible. We want to take the whole of it, from 
 Genesis to Revelation. It is most absurd to hear a man 
 talk about believing in the New Testament, and not be- 
 lieving the Old. In the four gospels Christ quotes from 
 twenty-two of the books of the Old Testament. I sup- 
 pose, we get only a fragment of what Christ said. I be- 
 lieve that for years after the death of Christ, the air was 
 full of the words which fell from His lips. And so I 
 have no doubt that in His quotations from the Old Tes- 
 tament He quoted from even' book. In His words, as 
 recorded in Matthew, we find nineteen quotations, in 
 Mark fifteen, in Luke twenty-five, and in John eleven 
 different passages; not only just isolated verses, but great 
 blocks taken out of the Old Testament and transferred 
 into the New. So yon see how absurd it is for men to 
 say they believe in the New, and don't believe in the 
 Old. Why, the New Testament is made up largely from 
 passages from the Old. Over and over again you will 
 hear Christ say, M This is done that the Scriptures might 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 605 
 
 be fulfilled." In Hebrews there are eighty-five Old Tes- 
 tament quotations. In Revelation there are two hun- 
 dred and forty-five, more than in any other book. 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away," said Christ, "but 
 My word shall not pass away." How absurd for any one 
 to think the word of God is going to pass away! There 
 never was a time in the history of the world, when so 
 many Bibles were being printed as there are to-day. 
 When Christ was speaking those words, I can just im- 
 agine I hear some infidel saying, ' ' ' Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away!' 
 Hear that Jewish peasant talk! I never heard such con- 
 ceit in my life from any one." There was no shorthand 
 reporter taking down His words, and they seemed to 
 have been lost. But nearly nineteen hundred years pass 
 away, and His words are going to the very corners of the 
 earth, in two hundred and fifty different languages. 
 There are about 1,400,000,000 people in the world, and 
 over 200,000,000 copies of the Bible have been printed 
 by the American Bible society and the British and 
 Foreign Bible society. Then there are societies in 
 Germany, France, and other countries, exclusive of indi- 
 viduals, that are printing and circulating the Scriptures. 
 In fact, there have been more Bibles printed in the last 
 seventy years than there were in the previous eighteen 
 hundred years. I consider that a greater miracle than 
 any which Christ wrought when He was here on 
 earth. I'm glad I live in the present day, and can see it. 
 A lady said to me lately, " I can't believe that Elijah 
 was fed by ravens. Do you?" I have no more doubt 
 that the ravens fed Elijah than I have that I stand here. 
 The very things in the Old Testament that men cavil at 
 
606 Moody's sermons. 
 
 the most to-day are the things the son of man set his 
 seal to when He was down here, and it is not good policy 
 for a servant to be above his master. The Master be- 
 lieved these things. Some one says, " You don't believe 
 the story of Noah and the flood, do you?" Yes; I believe 
 that as much as I believe the sermon on the mount. 
 Christ said that when He should come again, it would be 
 as in the days of Noah, when men were eating and drink- 
 ing, and the flood came and took them all off. " You 
 don't believe Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt?" 
 Yes; Christ said, " As it was in the days of Lot, so shall 
 it be in the coming of the son of man." //"<? believed 
 that story of Lot's wife; hadn't any doubt about it. " Do 
 you believe that the children of Israel were fed in the 
 desert on manna?" Christ said, " Your fathers ate man- 
 na." " Do you believe the Israelites were saved by look- 
 ing on a brass serpent?" Christ said, " Even as Moses 
 lifted up the brazen serpent." Men will stretch their 
 necks, and look very wise, and say, " Why, you don't 
 believe that story about Jonah and the whale?" Yes, 
 I do. Christ said, " For as Jonah was three days in the 
 whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days in the 
 bowels of the earth." " But," they say, "this was im- 
 possible. The whale is so constructed that it couldn't 
 swallow a man." Well, what does the Bible say? "God 
 prepared a great fish." If He could speak this world into 
 existence, I think He could speak a fish into existence 
 big enough to swallow a man. I have a good deal of 
 sympathy with that old colored woman who said, if the 
 Bible said Jonah swallowed the whale, she would believe 
 it; God could make a man large enough to swallow a 
 whale. There's no trouble about these things, dear 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 607 
 
 friends; no difficulty at all. One of these modern philos- 
 ophers, discussing the story of Balaam, said he had ex- 
 amined the mouth of an ass, and it was physically im- 
 possible for an ass to speak. "Ah," said a friend "you 
 make an ass, and I will make him speak." There's 
 nothing more unreasonable than infidelity. 
 
 The best way to convert an infidel is to take him to the 
 prophecies fulfilled. Look at the prophecies concerning 
 Christ. " His name shall be called wonderful." Wasn't 
 everything about Him wonderful? Born of a virgin, carried 
 into Egypt, astounding the doctors when twelve years old 
 in the temple. Everything about His three years' minis- 
 try was wonderful; the miracles He performed, His cruci- 
 fixion with the sun darkened, and the veil of the temple 
 rent, His resurrection. Isn't His name wonderful to-day? 
 Nineteen hundred years have passed, and what crowds 
 will flock to hear about Christ! No other name could 
 have brought you into this little town. Nothing else 
 brought you from all over the country but to be with 
 Jesus. Yes; His name is called wonderful. 
 
 And so, my friends, what we want is just to take up 
 the word of God, and let it speak for itself. I have been 
 wonderfully blessed to-day, in reading about Babylon 
 falling. Take the prophecies in regard to Nineveh, and 
 see how they have been fulfilled. When I was in the 
 British museum, a lady called my attention to certain 
 relics from Nineveh. I looked at them with more inter- 
 est through her specs. In Nahum, iii, 6, the Lord says 
 concerning Nineveh, "I will cast abominable filth upon 
 thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing 
 stock." Isn't that exactly what it is, with hundreds of 
 thousands of people looking at these things in the British 
 
608 Moody's sermons. 
 
 museum taken up out of Nineveh? ''They that look 
 upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid 
 waste." Isn't it what travelers are saying to-day? And 
 then look at Tyre. In Ezekiel, xxvi, 5, the Lord says, 
 "It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the 
 middle of the sea." Mr. Corbin, correspondent of the 
 Boston Journal, visited Palestine in 1868, and he has 
 told me that one night, pitching his tent on the site of 
 Tyre, what should he see but a number of men on a bare 
 rock spreading their fishing nets? Taking out his Bible, 
 he read this prophecy, and noticed how literally it was 
 fulfilled. 
 
 It is true there are things in the Bible we don't under- 
 stand, but we are not going to say, " I don't believe it, 
 because I don't understand it." A man said to me once, 
 ' ' What do you do with that passage? How do you under- 
 stand it?" "I don't understand it." "How do you 
 explain it?" " I don't explain it." " What do you do?" 
 " I don't do anything." There are lots of things I believe 
 that I don't understand. There are a good many things 
 in astronomy, a good many things about my own system, 
 I don't understand; yet I believe them. And I'm glad 
 there are things in the Bible I don't understand. If I 
 could take that book up, and read it as I would any other 
 book, I might think I could write a book like that, and so 
 could you. I am glad there are heights I haven't been 
 able to climb up to. I am glad there are depths I have 
 not been able to fathom. It's the best proof that the 
 book came from God. I suppose there are a good many 
 things in the prophecies concerning Christ that no one 
 could understand, till Christ came and fulfilled them. 
 Just look at some of those prophecies. He was to be 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 609 
 
 born in Bethlehem, and carried into Egypt. When that 
 announcement was made, how strange it must have 
 sounded! But when the time came, God put the whole 
 world in motion to bring Mary to Bethlehem, so that 
 Jesus might be born there. Caesar issued a decree that 
 the whole world should be taxed. All this was done just 
 to bring that virgin up to Bethlehem. I believe that 
 God would have created a world rather than any 
 prophecy should be unfulfilled. 
 
 Now, the question is, how are you going to read this 
 book? When I was a young man, I thought I must be 
 fed with ecclesiastical spoons. Sometimes I got sawdust; 
 sometimes I got salt; sometimes I got bread. When my 
 little boy Paul first learned to find the way to his mouth, 
 he wanted everybody to know about it, and it was a great 
 event in our family. Lots of men have been in the church 
 forty years, and if you ask them what they believe, they 
 will say, "What the church believes." " Well, what does 
 the church believe?" " I don't know." I don't believe 
 any child of God is going to grow till he has learned to 
 feed himself. What may be good for me may not be 
 good for you. 
 
 I have been wonderfully blessed, in studying the Bible, 
 by taking up one book at a time. I used to try to read 
 the Bible through in a year. I would as soon read a dic- 
 tionary that way now. Sometimes I want something to 
 stir me up; other days, I want something to comfort me. 
 When you read right through, you don't get much com- 
 fort. It is a great deal better, it seems to me, to take a 
 book at a time. Or take a character. Or take a type. 
 How many antetypes there were of Christ; Adam, Abel, 
 Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and so on all 
 
610 Moody's sermons. 
 
 through the Old Testament. What a beautiful type Jo- 
 seph is — hated, rejected, and then raised to a throne! 
 You can't look into these things without getting fed. 
 Another good thing is to take a subject. That's what we 
 are trying to do in the boys' school; and that's how we 
 are getting the boys grounded in the fundamental doc- 
 trines of the Bible. 
 
 Take ' ' repentance, " for example. Read up everything 
 you can find about repentance. Take time. Suppose 
 you spend a month; you couldn't spend it better. Get 
 people's idea of repentance, and then see what the Bible 
 says about it. Dozens of people have repented who don't 
 know what repentance is. They think they have got 
 to have some strange kind of feeling. A man I used to 
 meet would say to me every time I spoke to him, " Mr. 
 Moody, it hasn't struck me yet. A neighbor of mine 
 has been converted, and he has been a changed man since ; 
 but it hasn't struck me." Lots of people think repent- 
 ance don't come in that way. See what Bible repentance 
 is. It isn't fear, it isn't feeling. 
 
 Then take up "conversion." Lots of people say, "I 
 hate that word." In some churches there isn't much 
 said about it, because people don't like it. But I have 
 learned that sometimes the medicine people don't like 
 may be the very best medicine for them. I don't like 
 to take pills, but they may be the very thing I need. 
 When people shrug their shoulders and say, " I don't like 
 conversion," it is just the thing they want. 
 
 Take up the Scripture doctrine of the necessity of being 
 born again. Lots of people think they can go to heaven 
 on a good moral character. Look at the parable of th e 
 prodigal son. I would rather be the younger brother 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 6ll 
 
 than the other. The elder brother had what the world 
 calls a good moral character, and yet I think he was 
 about the meanest case in the whole Bible. He wouldn't 
 rejoice when his younger brother got home, and didn't 
 like it when his father had mercy on him. What caused 
 joy in the father's heart caused envy in his. When he 
 heard music and dancing, he wouldn't go in, and just 
 marred that beautiful scene. Many churches are in the 
 position of that elder brother, and don't believe in con- 
 version. I wonder what some of these people will do 
 when they get to heaven, and some converted thief is 
 brought in. I suppose they'll say, ' ' Don't come near 
 me. I don't want to be near you." Or when they meet 
 Mary Magdalene, what will they do? I just think they 
 will have to have a little corner in heaven, somewhere 
 off by themselves. They can't sing the song of Moses 
 and the lamb; the song of redemption. A man must be 
 made meet for the kingdom of God, before he will want 
 to go there. Put a man in the presence of God, before 
 he is made meet for that presence, and he won't want to 
 stay; it would be hell there for him. A man must be born 
 of the spirit — born again — regenerated. We are hearing 
 a good deal about reform, but what we want is regenera- 
 tion. 
 
 Then take up " Faith." We have got false ideas about 
 faith. I used to think that God was going to give me all 
 the faith I wanted right away. I was going to do wonders. 
 God was going to give me faith enough to remove moun- 
 tains, turn the world upside down. "Faith cometh by 
 knowledge." The more you know about people the more 
 faith you will have in them, if they deserve it. You will 
 have faith in a good man, if you have known him two 
 
612 Moody's sermons. 
 
 years; but you will know him a good deal better after ten 
 years; and you will have more faith in him. Faith grows. 
 And the way to get acquainted with God is by studying 
 His word. 
 
 Take up ''Justification" and " Pardon." Lots of peo- 
 ple don't know there is any difference between the two 
 things. But there is a great deal of difference. Sup- 
 pose I commit some crime, and I am convicted, and then 
 the governor pardons me. I come back to this town a 
 pardoned man. But suppose the judge says there is 
 nothing against me; I come back in a different position. 
 There is a good deal of difference between justification 
 and pardon. What you want is to read up these sub- 
 jects. It is a great thing to be a justified man, God-jus- 
 tified. And I think that brings light upon that eighth 
 chapter of Romans. Who shall condemn one of God's 
 elect? God justified me, and is He going to let any one 
 turn round and bring something against me? That would 
 be a queer God, wouldn't it, a queer judge? These great 
 doctrines ought to be studied. 
 
 Take " Sanctification." I hear a great many people 
 talking about sanctification; but I think we ought to go 
 more to the Bible to see what it says, and let the word 
 of God speak for itself. When I was converted, I 
 thought I was going to have no more trouble with the old 
 nature. But I soon found that the old nature was there. 
 I had just as bad a temper as if I hadn't been converted, 
 and I would say, ' ' Why, that is the old temper coming 
 back." By-and-by I learned that when a man is con- 
 verted he has got two natures, the carnal nature and the 
 spiritual nature. He has got a higher nature, and a 
 lower nature. He has got the old man yet. Do you 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 613 
 
 think he is dead? Judicially he is, but in reality he ain't. 
 If he was, you wouldn't have to watch him, would you? 
 If a man is dead, he ain't going to run away, is he? We 
 have to keep watching the old man, and putting him in 
 subjection all the time. I don't know any doctrine that 
 needs more to be preached in our churches than this, 
 that there is danger of the old man coming back. 
 
 I haven't got time to speak of the doctrine of the 
 resurrection. I've got more comfort out of that doctrine 
 than out of any other in the whole Bible. I look for- 
 ward, to the time when I am going to have a resurrected 
 body. My Savior is going to give me a body like His 
 glorious body, that cannot faint, and cannot die. It is 
 going to be just like His. I do not know anything that 
 will take a man out of the world much quicker than this 
 idea. You must look in the New York papers to see how 
 bonds and stocks are. It takes a man right out of the 
 current of the world. Then there is the controversy about 
 the millennium. Some say Christ is coming at the begin- 
 ning of the thousand years, and others that He is coming 
 at the end of it. Let the Bible speak for itself. Don't 
 listen to what this man and that man says about it, but 
 study the Bible. And as Bishop Stevens, of Philadelphia, 
 used to say, " Don't study it with your little red light of 
 Methodism, or your little blue light of Presbyterianism, 
 or the light of the Episcopal church, but just the light of 
 Calvary." Come without prejudice and say, " Whatever 
 this book teaches, I must receive." Don't say, "Well, I 
 don't believe He is coming anyway for a thousand years. " 
 
 Take up the doctrine of "Assurance." A good many 
 people honestly believe that it is presumptuous to say 
 they are saved; that they have passed from death unto 
 
614 Moody's sermons. 
 
 life; that they are going to have a place at God's right 
 hand. But this book teaches very clearly that we can 
 know we are saved. If we want light we can get it. We 
 can know we have passed from death unto life if we are 
 in earnest about it. There are twenty-one chapters in 
 the gospel of John, and they all speak of believing. 
 "Believe " is the key of that gospel. It just runs right 
 straight on in the whole book. But turn over into John's 
 first epistle, and you will find that the key to that epistle 
 is " Know." Forty-two times that word occurs in these 
 few chapters. "These things are written that ye might 
 know." I don't believe it is the mind of God we should 
 go through the world in darkness, not knowing whether 
 we have been saved or not. I think the best book on 
 assurance is the first epistle of John. If you are in doubt 
 about your own salvation, read it, and you will know. I 
 think Christ taught this doctrine very clearly when the 
 disciples came back to Him after He had sent them out 
 by twos. They were greatly rejoiced because they had 
 had such wonderful power, but He seemed to check 
 them, and said, ' ' I will give you something to rejoice 
 for. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." 
 He wanted them to know it. Do you think Paul, amid 
 all his difficulties and persecutions, would have gone right 
 on if he hadn't known his name was written in heaven? 
 Do you think those martyrs would have gone to the stake, 
 if they had had any doubt about their salvation? It is the 
 privilege of every child of God to walk in the light; to 
 say, ' ' Abba, Father! Heaven is my home. God is my 
 Father, Jesus Christ is my Savior." I have just touched 
 some of these great doctrines. 
 
 In closing, let us take the book, and let us believe it 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. < 6l 5 
 
 from beginning to end — every word true — and the words 
 we can't understand, let us believe them. You that are 
 working in the vineyard, feed on the word of God. I 
 believe the reason the people won't come more than they 
 do into our churches, is because we don't feed them 
 enough on the word of God. They have been fed on 
 sawdust long enough. For men who have nothing but 
 essays it is hard to get pulpits, and it will be harder. 
 The reason there are so many pulpits vacant, is that 
 there aren't men enough willing to give the word of God. 
 Go into one of our city parks in winter to feed the birds, 
 and throw down a handful of sawdust. You may deceive 
 them once, but you won't a second time. But throw 
 down crumbs, and they'll sweep them up. So in the 
 churches, give people the word of God, and they will 
 know the difference. A man once made an artificial bee, 
 and thought no one could tell the difference between that 
 and a real bee. But another man said he could show 
 the difference. He put the two bees down on the table, 
 and then put a drop of honey before them. The real 
 bee went for the honey. There are a great many artifi- 
 cial Christians, and they don't want the word of God. 
 They'll go somewhere else. Well, let them go. For 
 every one that goes, five will take his place. What we 
 want is to give people the word of God, in season and 
 out of season. I think we have got to have more ex- 
 pounding. A great many churches have mere exhortations 
 all the time, and it gets very tiresome. There's got to be 
 expounding as well as exhortation. I have got an idea 
 that the Sunday morning services ought to be given to 
 expounding, and the afternoon or Sunday night given to 
 exhortation or preaching. I believe that is the reason 
 
6l6 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 the Scotch people have got the advantage of us Americans. 
 I don't believe there is any place in the world where 
 error has such a slim chance of getting a hold as in Scot- 
 land. The Scotch are a most wonderful people. You've 
 got to be careful in preaching to them, or the first thing 
 you know some old woman will come up with her Bible 
 under her shawl, and say, "Here; you said so and so. 
 The Bible says so and so." If you make a misquotation, 
 a Scotchman will straighten you right up; but you might 
 make forty misquotations in an American church, and 
 nobody would know the difference. We would have better 
 preaching if people would open their Bibles, and see 
 whether a man is preaching the word of God. In Scot- 
 land a minister doesn't think of preaching till everybody 
 has found the text. Go to Dr. Bonar's church, in Glas- 
 gow. One of the most impressive scenes is to see twelve 
 hundred or thirteen hundred people, and not a soul but 
 has got a Bible. The old doctor will wait till every one 
 has found the place, then he will tell them what the 
 passage in that place means, and then he goes on to an- 
 other verse. When I was in London the last time, a so- 
 licitor — a lawyer — from Edinburgh came down to Lon- 
 don to spend a Sunday there. After I had got through 
 preaching, and had gone back to my little room, he came 
 and said, " I was at Glasgow to hear Dr. Bonar. " I 
 said, " I wish you would tell me "what he preached about," 
 and he went on and told me. The subject was that 
 passage in Galatians, in which Paul tells of his going up 
 to Jerusalem to see Peter. The doctor, said my friend, 
 just let his imagination loose a little in describing what 
 took place between Paul and Peter. He could imagine 
 that one day Peter said, " Paul, will you take a walk to- 
 
HOW TO CONVERT INFIDELS. 617 
 
 day?" "Yes." So arm-in-arm they walk, talking about 
 the kingdom of God. A little while, and they enter the 
 garden of Gethsemane, and Peter says, "There is the 
 very spot where Christ prayed. John fell asleep there. 
 James right there. I was right there, asleep. I didn't 
 know what He was passing through, though I had never 
 seen Him so sorrowful. When I awoke, an angel stood 
 right there, and there was Christ, sweating great drops 
 of blood, the blood running down His face, passing 
 through that last agony." The next day Peter turns to 
 Paul, and says, "Will you take another walk to-day?" 
 That day they go out toward Calvary, and- all at once 
 Peter stops, and says, "There, Paul; this is the very 
 spot where His cross was. It isn't quite filled up yet. 
 One bleeding thief was hanging there, and the other 
 there. Mary stood right there, John there, and James 
 there. I was on the outskirts of the crowd. I couldn't 
 bear to get near Him that day. I couldn't catch a glimpse 
 of His eye, but just looked on Him." The next day Peter 
 turns to Paul, and says, " Paul, shan't we take another 
 walk to-day?" "Yes; I would be very glad." They go 
 out toward Bethany, and suddenly Peter says, "There, 
 Paul; this is the very last spot where I saw Him. We 
 were talking with Him, and all at once I noticed His feet 
 didn't touch the ground, and the last I ever saw of Him, 
 He was up in the air; and while I stood there, two men 
 — might have been Moses and Elias, I didn't know — ap- 
 peared and talked. to us." Now, don't you think people 
 like that kind of preaching? It will warm up these cold 
 hearts of ours to hear about Christ. Don't you think 
 that literally took place? Nineteen hundred years have 
 passed away, and we go to Jerusalem and try to find these 
 
6l8 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 spots; and tell me that while Paul was the guest of Peter, 
 he wouldn't take him and show him the very spot where 
 the Lord and Master had gone away to heaven? I haven't 
 any doubts about it. And what we want is just to take 
 the Scriptures and make them real. That's what we 
 want — to hear about Jesus Christ — and any minister that 
 can feed his people and tell them about Christ is the man 
 I want to hear. That's what we want in our churches. 
 God help you that are preaching to preach the word of 
 God. Make it as plain as you can. If we had more of 
 the word of God, there would be fewer defalcations and 
 scandals inside the church. It seems to me, the time is 
 coming when there should be a change in the churches 
 of God in this land. 
 
Lazarus and the Rich Man. Luke, xlv. 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. 
 
 Luke, xiv, 18-20. 
 
 I will call your* attention to-night to the three men I 
 have just read about. The first said unto him, ' ' I have 
 bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; 
 I pray thee have me excused." 
 
 To-night I have an invitation for you to a feast, not an 
 ordinary, but a royal feast. The same invitation that was 
 extended to these three men nineteen hundred years ago 
 nearly is extended still to you. And you will notice that 
 those three men all with one consent began to make ex- 
 cuses. Now these three men didn't have an excuse, so 
 they made one; there is a difference between having and 
 making excuses. The first had bought a piece of ground 
 and wanted to see it, just at supper-time; he hadn't made 
 a partial bargain and was afraid some one would step in, 
 and he would lose the land; I will venture to say he had 
 gone over every rod of it lengthwise and across — men 
 don't buy land without going to look at it; but he made 
 that excuse. He could have accepted the invitation and 
 gone to look over the land, too; he had plenty of time, 
 but. he wanted some excuse. 
 
 The second man had bought five yoke of oxen and must 
 
 621 
 
622 Moody's 'sermons. 
 
 prove them. Why didn't he prove them before he bought 
 them? He had plenty of time to prove them; we know 
 that he never took the oxen out of the stall that night. He 
 had plenty of time to accept the invitation and then go 
 and prove his oxen, but he didn't want to go, so he hid 
 behind the five yoke of oxen. 
 
 The third man's excuse was more absurd than the other 
 two. " I have married a wife and therefore I cannot 
 come." Why didn't he take his wife along with him? It 
 would have been just the place for a young bride; young 
 brides like to go to a feast. But the fact is the man 
 didn't want to go and hadn't the honesty to come out and 
 say so. 
 
 I have no doubt there are hundreds of men who think 
 they could conjure up a good deal better excuse than these 
 three men. Now, I challenge you. If any of you men 
 have a better excuse, get up and give it. These excuses 
 look very absurd when you cone to look at them, but 
 your own wouldn't look any better. 
 
 One of the popular excuses now is this old book. You 
 talk to a man now, especially a young man, and he says, 
 1 ' I cannot become a Christian because there are so many 
 things in that old book that I cannot understand. " Well, 
 I want to say in the first place you don't know anything 
 about it. There are very few men who have read the 
 Bible anyway. Of all the skeptics I have seen, I have 
 never seen but one who claimedto have read it through, 
 and I doubted him, because he could not give but one 
 verse in the Bible, and that was, " Jesus wept." You 
 know it is very easy for men to talk about what they don't 
 know anything of. 
 
 As for the mysteries in that book, I am glad they are 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. 623 
 
 there. I am glad that there are heights and depths that 
 I have never been able to fathom, and length and breadth 
 that no man has ever been able to find out. [f I could 
 take that book up and understand it all, it would be pretty 
 good proof that it did not come from God. 
 
 It is easy to talk against this book, but did you ever 
 think how dark this old world would be without it? Mil- 
 lions of men have gone down to the grave because of 
 their loyalty to it. They have tried to stamp it out, 
 but God has raised up witnesses for it. I thank God 
 I live where this Bible is read. Anarchy, nihilism, 
 socialism, would sweep this whole country, your property 
 and your life would not be safe, if it was not for this old 
 book. 
 
 If you do not like the Bible, it is because it condemns 
 your sins. So if you see a man to-morrow talking against 
 the Bible, you may know he gets hit. Throw a stone 
 among a group of dogs, and the dog that gets hit goes off 
 yelping every time. 
 
 But there is a Scotchman over there; he says, "Mr. 
 Moody's excuses don't touch me at all. I don't know as 
 I am one of the elect. If I am elected to be saved I will 
 be saved, and if I am not I won't. I have nothing to do 
 with it." Now, you have nothing more to do with the 
 doctrine of election than the government of China. 
 There is not one line about election put before the unbe- 
 liever; your word is " whosoever." Why don't you carry 
 the same argument into temporal things? To-morrow 
 don't go to business; if God has decreed you shall succeed 
 in business, you will; if not, you won't. 
 
 I don't know that I am right in my theory, but I im- 
 agine that when Christ appeared to John in Patmos in 
 
624 Moody's sermons. 
 
 the spirit on the Lord's day he said, " John, I want you 
 to write some messages to the churches," and he went on 
 to write them, and then He said, " Before you seal up 
 the book put in an invitation so broad that the whole 
 world may feel invited;" and so the last invitation let 
 "down into this thirsty world is, "The Spirit and the 
 Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. 
 And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freely." 
 
 Now, there is a young man up in the gallery who says, 
 " Mr. Moody don't touch my difficulty; I tell you the rea- 
 son I don't become a Christian. You want me to put on 
 one of those long faces, look right straight up and down 
 and have no more pleasure until I get to heaven. I am 
 going to have a little fun in this world, and then I am going 
 to make sure of heaven before I die. I will make all I 
 can out of both worlds. I propose to give loose rein to 
 my passions and lusts and have a good time." Now, I 
 believe the biggest lie ever uttered in hell is that the 
 devil is an easy master, and God a hard one. I would 
 like to drive that back into perdition; and I testify now 
 that my God is not a hard master, and the devil an easy 
 one. I take up that old book, and I read, "The way of 
 the transgressor is hard," and looking around me 1 see 
 that it is hard. Go down to yon prison and ask the 
 prisoner if it is not hard. Go with me to the gambler, 
 the drunkard, the forger who has lost reputation, and ask 
 them if the way of the transgressor is not hard. Then 
 go and ask those who have been serving God for the last 
 twenty years and see if they find the service of God is 
 hard. I have tried both masters, and I want to say now 
 my God is not a hard master. Take the most faithful 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. fej" 
 
 follower of the devil in this city for the last five years, 
 and take one who has followed Jesus Christ most faith- 
 fully, and let the two stand on this platform, and their 
 very faces would tell the story. Look at that man, de- 
 bauched, vile, low; he has had delirium tremens, feels 
 snakes at times creeping up around him, and say the 
 devil is an easy master. I suppose there are a good 
 many men here who have served both masters in the last 
 ten years; at some time you changed masters, gave up 
 the service of the world and the devil and began to serve 
 Christ. I would like to have those men who have found 
 God is not a hard master ring out ''No" to-night. 
 [Shouts of " No."] Do you think we are lying? Don't we 
 know? Haven't we served the god of this world, and 
 haven't we served the God of heaven? " My yoke is easy, 
 and my burden is light." There is a joy in the service of 
 Christ that the world knows nothing of, and you never 
 will until you taste it. I wish I could describe it. It 
 seems to me I could get you to change masters to-night if 
 I could. If I could only get you to taste of this sweet 
 consciousness that your sins have been put away, not a 
 cloud between your soul and God! How many times 
 your conscience rises up and lashes you! This is some- 
 thing that the true child of God knows nothing of. 
 
 There is a man down there in the middle of the hall 
 who says that if he is ever converted he won't be con- 
 verted in a meeting like this; too much excitement; if he 
 is really honest, and he doesn't want to be converted here 
 because there is so much interest, I will find him some 
 church that doesn't believe in revivals, where everything 
 is cold and dead; if there is too much excitement here, go 
 to a graveyard and be converted. There is no excitement 
 
626 Moody's sermons. 
 
 there. It is only an excuse. If I stood at that door, and 
 every one of you had to pass out through it, and I asked 
 every one of you a personal question, why you did not 
 become a Christian to-night, I think many of you would 
 give this excuse; you would say, " Mr. Moody, it is very 
 kind of you to take such a personal interest in me, but 
 the fact is I promised my wife I would be home to-night 
 at nine o'clock; I will see you again." I have had men 
 promising to see me again for thirty years. What have 
 you done with all the time God has given you for the last 
 365 days? Some of you have spent five years learning a 
 trade. I will venture to say I am speaking now to some 
 men who have never given five solid minutes to the con- 
 sideration of their soul's salvation. Thank God it doesn't 
 take time, it takes decision, and I pray God you may 
 make that decision to-night. 
 
 Here is a man at my right in the balcony who says, 
 " I am glad Moody is giving it to them to night. I have 
 been watching some men to-night, and I have seen him 
 hit them, but he hasn't touched me. I haye got a good 
 excuse. You know there is a man who belongs to a 
 church here to-night who cheated me out of forty dollars 
 ten years ago. Hypocrites! hypocrites! that is my ex- 
 cuse." Now, I want to tell you something — don't forget 
 it — if you meet a man howling about hypocrites, you just 
 look out for him; he doesn't live far from one himself. 
 Most people have the idea that a man has got to join a 
 church to be a hypocrite; my friends, I will find a hun- 
 dred in the world while you find one in the church. I 
 admit they are there; when Christ chose His apostles, and 
 I think He was about as good a judge of men as ever 
 lived, one proved to be a hypocrite, and the wheat 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. 627 
 
 and tares will grow together till the general harvest. 
 If you carried that out in temporal things, I would 
 like to know where it would land you. If you are 
 a doctor or lawyer or merchant, why don't you get up 
 and get out of your profession because there are hypo- 
 crites in it? 
 
 When you put a foreign label on your goods made here 
 at home, and tell your clerks to tell your customers they 
 are imported, and when you sell goods that are half cotton 
 for all wool, you are a hypocrite. Suppose there are 
 hypocrites in the churches. " What is that to thee? Fol- 
 low thou Me?" We don't ask you to follow church-mem- 
 bers, but to follow the Son of God, and He was no hypo- 
 crite. There is another man down there who says, ■ ' My 
 trouble is altogether different; I can't believe. " Man, 
 put your finger on a promise God has ever made that He 
 hasn't kept. It is easier to pull the sun out of the 
 heavens than to break one of God's promises; man and 
 the devil have been trying for the last six thousand years, 
 but they cannot be -broken. 
 
 A man once said to me, " It is all nonsense that a man 
 is going to be affected by just what he believes; how is 
 that going to change his course of life?" I said, " If that 
 is your difficulty, I can make you believe in about three 
 minutes. You say a man is not affected by what he be- 
 lieves, that that doesn't change his course of action. 
 Suppose a man opens that door and sings out, ' The 
 building is on fire.' If you and I believe it, what will we 
 do? Go out of that window head first." " O," said he, 
 '* I never thought of that." 
 
 No man can believe that book without purifying his 
 
628 Moody's sermons. 
 
 soul. That book says no adulterer, no drunkard shall 
 inherit the kingdom of God. 
 
 There is nothing unreasonable about that. We are 
 going to get up where Adam tumbled down; that is all. 
 
 But here is a man who says, " The trouble with me is, 
 I do not feel so solemn to-night as I did last Sunday 
 night; there's been altogether too much laughter. I 
 would like to become a Christian, but I don't feel like it." 
 
 These men were invited to a feast. Suppose they sent 
 back word to the king that they didn't feel like going. 
 Now, God invites men to a feast, and they talk about not 
 feeling like going. Man, let your feelings go to the four 
 winds. I don't think the prodigal did much feeling till 
 he got his feet under his father's mahogany table. He 
 began to feel then. The question is, do you want to 
 come? If you do, come along. 
 
 Now, I am going to give two excuses that men won't 
 give. The first is a lack of moral courage. Men are 
 cowards. How many men in this house to-night would 
 become Christians, if it were not for public sentiment? 
 "If I should become a Christian to-night, what would 
 they say to me down at the store, at the boarding-house, 
 in the saloon, where they have been making fun of Moody 
 and the meetings?" I tell you what they would say. 
 " Up to hear Moody last night, eh? Did Moody catch 
 you? Did you get converted? Did you get pious? Did you 
 get religion?" And you would say, "No, sir; I don't be- 
 lieve in him; big humbug; I wasn't there." Let men 
 act up to their convictions, and we would show you a 
 meeting. The question is, is it right to serve God? If 
 it is, take your stand and let the devil howl, and let his 
 agents talk and sneer as much as they have a mind to. 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. 629 
 
 I pity in my heart a man who may be laughed out of a 
 principle, a man who will let a saloon-keeper or a gam- 
 bler or a harlot keep him from what is right. God have 
 mercy on such a man! 
 
 The next excuse that a man won't give is some darling, 
 besetting sin; you know it comes right up before you 
 now. If you become a Christian, you have got to give 
 up that sin; it may be the harlot, it may be to make 
 restitution of some money you have taken from your 
 employer, it may be you have got to treat your wife and 
 family better. O man, may God give you courage to- 
 night to give up that sin! It is no fiction, my friend; it 
 is a real invitation. Life is very sweet to me; I can con- 
 ceive of no sweeter work than that I am engaged in. I 
 have liberty and freedom, God has given me a lovely 
 family, but dear as my family, sweet as my work is to 
 me, I would rather have some man leap up on this plat- 
 form and hurl me into another world and just sit down 
 in the kingdom than to have the wealth of the world 
 rolled at my feet, and miss that appointment. " Blessed 
 is he that shall be at the marriage supper of the lamb." 
 If your excuse will not stand the light of eternity, throw 
 it to the four winds. But, you say, you don't like to be 
 in a hurry about a thing like this, you must consider. 
 Man, let me ask, have you not considered it? Was this 
 question sprung on you to-night, for the first time? These 
 three men were invited, and were expected to give an 
 answer. Christ said, " None of those that were bidden 
 shall taste of my supper." God will take you at your 
 word and will excuse you, and if God does excuse you, 
 you will be gone for time and eternity. Think of the 
 blessed company that will be there. Suppose we were 
 going to write out the excuse to-night: 
 
630 Moody's sermons. 
 
 "To the King of kings, to the Lord of glory: 
 
 " I received a pressing invitation from one of your ministers to be pres- 
 ent at the marriage supper of your only begotten Son: I pray Thee to 
 have me excused" 
 
 Who would sign that? 1 don't believe that there is a 
 man in this house that could be hired to do it. It is a 
 solemn thing to look into this house to-night and see so 
 many young men here between twenty and thirty years 
 of age, so many streams going to flow out from this meet- 
 ing, but I tell you what is a more solemn thing, to think 
 that inside of fifteen minutes many a man that 
 is almost holding his breath now, listening to things that 
 pertain to his eternal destiny, will be in the street, some 
 cracking jokes about the preaching, and turning the 
 whole thing into a jest. I beg of you to-night, do not 
 make light of this invitation. I can imagine some of 
 you saying, " My father and mother were godly people; 
 they are in glory now; I may be pretty wild, but I never 
 got so wild as to make light of religious things." You do 
 make light of it, if you go out without answering this 
 invitation. 
 
 Let us see if we can all sign this: 
 
 "To the King of kings, to the Lord of glory: 
 
 ' ' While sitting in a religious meeting, I received a pressing invitation 
 from one of your servants to be present at the supper of your only be- 
 gotten Son. I hasten to reply. By the grace of God I will be there." 
 
 Who will sign that? Who has the courage to speak out 
 and say, " I will?" It may be a sainted mother is watch- 
 ing, and listening to see if her boy is coming. Let the 
 
EXCUSE-GIVING. 63 1 
 
 answer go up to that sainted mother, ' ' Mother, I am 
 coming." O man, you can make joy in heaven now if 
 you say, "I will." If you confess Christ before men, 
 He will confess you before the Father and the holy 
 angels. 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 
 
 I want to call your attention to the work of the shep- 
 herd. The work of a shepherd is to feed and to care 
 for his flock. Some one asked a young convert how he 
 knew Christ was divine. He says, " Because He has 
 saved me, and because He keeps me." A pretty good 
 proof, it seems to me. I see a person in the house that 
 is troubled about the divinity of Jesus Christ. I was 
 once talking with an atheist in my town, and I got him 
 to read the New Testament. He came back in a few 
 days and said, "Mr. Moody, I have taken your advice, 
 and read the life of Jesus Christ, and I have come to the 
 conclusion that John the Baptist was a greater character 
 than Jesus Christ. Why don't you preach John the 
 Baptist?" "Well," I said, "you go- through the country 
 and preach in the name of John the Baptist, and I will 
 follow, and preach in the name of Jesus Christ, and I 
 venture to say that I will have more followers than you." 
 " O, well," he said, "of course you would, because peo- 
 ple are very superstitious." "No; when they buried 
 John the Baptist they buried him, and he hasn't got up 
 yet. But when they buried the Son of God they could 
 not hold Him. He rose again. We don't worship a 
 
 632 
 
The Martyrdom of Stephen. Acts, vii, 54-60. 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERDo 635 
 
 dead Christ; He is a glorified Christ. " If Christ hadn't 
 risen, do you believe this audience would be here this 
 afternoon? Never! Gathered around a dead Jew, who 
 was buried in the sepulcher at Jerusalem! Do you believe 
 His name would give power, and quicken? 
 
 Now, I want to get your attention. Let's come to the 
 work of the shepherd. In the thirty-fourth chapter of 
 Ezekiel, there are two things that he tells us the shep- 
 herd will do. I haven't got time to take them all up, 
 but will just read a few things that the shepherd has 
 promised to do. Thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, 
 eleventh verse. 
 
 Now, of course, I have only just time to touch upon 
 the things he says he will do. "I will seek them out." 
 Christ, when He came, said He had come to seek and 
 save that which was lost. That is His work. It is the 
 work of the shepherd to seek the lost. Who ever heard 
 of a sheep seeking out a lost shepherd? A great many 
 people say they cannot find Christ. He is seeking you 
 out to find you. And not only does He find you, but He 
 keeps you. That is what He came from heaven to do, to 
 seek and save the lost. 
 
 I remember, when we were in London, they found one 
 old woman who was eighty-five years old, and not a Chris- 
 tian. After the worker had prayed, she made a prayer 
 herself, "O Lord, I thank Thee for going out of Thy 
 way to find me. " He is all the time going out of His way 
 to find the lost. At one time He went up to the coast of 
 Tyre. There was a poor woman groping in the darkness, 
 and the Shepherd went and found her. "I will feed 
 them in a good pasture." Now, I tell you He has a good 
 many lean sheep, but some old divine says He has none 
 
636 Moody's sermons. 
 
 in His pasture; they have got out. If they will go into 
 forbidden places they will get lean. You get your lean- 
 ness by going after the world and worldly things. But 
 He " feeds them in a good pasture." 
 
 11 I will deliver them." That is His work. Now, He 
 not only saved the children of Israel, but He delivered 
 them. He not only saves us, but delivers us. I thank 
 Jesus Christ that He is a deliverer. I don't believe He 
 saves us, and then leaves us in prison. "I will deliver 
 them." 
 
 " I will gather them from the people." Separate them. 
 That is what we want, separation. And if we are going 
 to have real Holy Ghost power here, we must be sepa- 
 rated. There must be a separation. That is when God's 
 people have power, not when they are in sympathy with 
 the ungodly. Remember, we are His witnesses. We 
 want to keep that in mind. A friend of mine was walk- 
 ing up the streets of Philadelphia some years ago, and he 
 saw a church-member in a saloon playing cards. He took 
 a card from his pocket, and wrote upon it, " Ye are my 
 witnesses." He called a little boy to him and said, 
 " You see that man sitting at the end of that table, play- 
 ing cards?" "Yes." "Well, just take that card to him, 
 and I will give you five cents." He gave him a nickel, 
 the boy slipped in, and he slipped over to the other side 
 of the street. The man read, " Ye are my witnesses. " 
 He sprung up and said, ' ' Hello, my boy, who gave you 
 that?" "Don't know." The man had gotten away. Yes, 
 we are His witnesses, and we don't want to be found in 
 a place like that. 
 
 " I will bring them to their land." That is what He 
 wants, to bring them out of the world to His own land. 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 637 
 
 " I will bind up that which was broken." Yes, every 
 broken heart, every bleeding heart, He will bind up. 
 That is what God sent Him into the world to do. There 
 is not a broken, bleeding heart here to-day, but that 
 Christ can heal it. 
 
 4 ' I will strengthen. " People say that they haven't any 
 strength. That is all right. We don't want any of our 
 own strength; we want His strength. He has plenty of 
 strength, and all that you need. The weaker we are, the 
 better for us, for then we lay hold of God's strength. He 
 will put strength into every one of His sheep, if they will 
 let Him. 
 
 •' I will save my flock." I want to tell you, my dear 
 friends, if your religion isn't saving you from sin, and 
 keeping you day by day from it, it is a sham; it is not 
 the religion of Jesus Christ. ' ' His name shall be called 
 Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins." 
 He comes to us in our sins, but saves us from our sins. 
 That is the only test that is worth having; that Christ is 
 saving you from sin. 
 
 "I will set up one shepherd over them." You may 
 have your different churches, but we have only one Christ 
 after all. Do you know that? All these miserable sec- 
 tarian walls have been built up by men. The Catholics 
 have the same Christ as the Protestants — one shepherd, 
 one Christ. The quicker we recognize that fact the 
 better. We must get nearer and nearer together, if we 
 are going to have power. If we are going to get nearer 
 the shepherd, we have got to get nearer together. 
 
 44 1 will make them a covenant of peace." He brought 
 peace. People are trying to make it. He made it by 
 the blood of the cross, and all we have got to do is enter 
 into it. 
 
638 Moody's sermons. 
 
 "I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land." 
 When a man is at peace with God, he is at peace with 
 every one. He can have a beautiful, peaceful, joyful 
 Christian life, if he will only walk with God. That is 
 what we want, is just to have this victorious life. 
 
 • ' I will cause the showers to come down. " That is just 
 what we want here. Isn't it? If you want the real fruit, 
 just pray. He is able and willing and anxious to do it, 
 and it will bring great honor and glory to His Son, if the 
 tide comes in here, and a wave goes out from this city 
 that will go away across this continent. Why not? Let 
 us expect great things, and we shall not be disappointed. 
 
 ' ' I will raise them up a plant of renown. " Thank God. 
 He has been raised up. Christ has come since that was 
 prophesied. 
 
 ' ' I will satisfy them. " I want to say that there is only 
 one thing that will satisfy a longing heart, and that is 
 Jesus Christ. The world will not satisfy. A proof of 
 that is that the man who has the most of this world's 
 goods gets the least out of it. Isn't it so? You never 
 saw a millionaire in your life that was satisfied. When 
 he gets one million, he wants three; and when he gets 
 three, he wants ten, and so on. Why, I remember my- 
 self, when a millionaire was considered quite a rich man; 
 but he is nothing now. He must have a hundred million. 
 I pity him, don't you? I do. I just pity them, because 
 they are not satisfied. The fact is, when God made your 
 heart and mine, He made them a little too big for this 
 world. That is just what Christ undertakes to do, to 
 satisfy. You know sheep never lie down until they get 
 enough to eat and drink. And so it says, ll I will make 
 them rest." He will just satisfy them so that they rest. 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 639 
 
 That is just what we want. We want rest for ourselves, 
 before we can work for others. If we are restless and 
 agitated, and don't get rest for our own soul, we are the 
 last ones to help any one else. He instructed us, and 
 kept us as the apple of His eye. He keeps. Wonder- 
 ful shepherd! He is able to keep every one of His sheep. 
 People are always talking about not being able to keep 
 Christ. Man, let Christ keep you. I remember when 
 my little girl was about four years old, she was always 
 teasing for one of those black and white muffs, and she 
 kept on teasing and teasing, and one day her mother 
 brought her home a black and white muff. She came to 
 my room and said, "Come, papa; let's go and take a 
 walk." I was very busy, and said T could not go. But 
 you know when you have an only daughter, she can do 
 about as she wants to with you. She knew she would 
 get me. And we went out. It was icy, and I said, 
 "Emma, you had better let me take your hand." But 
 she wouldn't let me, and she strutted down the street. 
 She wanted to walk as her mother did, and show off her 
 new muff. We went along, and finally she fell and hurt 
 herself a little. I said, ' ' Now, Emma, you'd better let 
 me take your hand." "No, no;" she wouldn't. Very 
 independent! But by-and-by down she went again, and 
 she said, "Papa, I wish you would let me take your 
 little finger." " You'd better let me take your hand." But 
 she wouldn't; she only wanted my little finger. So I 
 gave her my little finger. Down she went again, and 
 she hurt her that time. "Papa, just take my hand, 
 please." I put my big hand around her little wrist, and 
 when her feet went from under her again, she didn't go 
 down. That is the way the shepherd does; He keeps. 
 
640 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Give the whole thing up; your trying does not amount to 
 anything. Trust Him to hold and keep you. The shep- 
 herd will keep all that commit themselves to Him. Just 
 say, "Lord, I cannot stand without your help. The 
 temptations are so numerous that I cannot help myself, 
 but I have put my hand into the hand of the Eternal 
 God, and I believe He will hold me." Thank God for 
 the promise that He will keep us! Let that sink down 
 into your soul. He will keep all who commit themselves 
 to Him. Just trust Him now to keep you. Remember 
 that it is His work to keep you, and if you go astray, it 
 is His work to bring you back. The shepherd goes and 
 gets the sheep, and puts it on his shoulder and brings it 
 back. That man who had the hundred sheep didn't say 
 he would let the sheep find its way back. He went out 
 to find it. He went out and searched until he found it, 
 and when he found it, he didn't beat, nor maul, nor kick 
 it, but just kindly put it on his shoulder and carried it 
 home. There was a young minister I heard about some 
 time ago, who went to take charge of a church that had 
 been under the care of an old pastor; and he went to 
 scolding the people, and he kept that up for six months. 
 One day one of the old deacons asked him home to din- 
 ner with him. After dinner, the old deacon asked him 
 if he had read the twenty-first chapter of John. " Read 
 it! I hope I have read every chapter in the Bible. Read 
 it! Why, of course I have." So, the old deacon got 
 his Bible, and began to read it. He got down 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." -■ Lovest thou Me more than these? Wallop 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 64 1 
 
 my sheep." "Why, "said the minister to the deacon, 
 "that isn't there." " Well, I thought I would read it to 
 you, as you have been at us for the last six months and 
 see how it sounded." You never made a sheep fat in 
 that way. Feed them well, if you want them to work 
 and grow fat. I tell you I honestly believe we have too 
 much preaching in the exhorting line. Exhort! Exhort! 
 Exhort! I believe that the church needs to be fed; and 
 where there is one sermon preached to the unconverted, 
 I wish we had one hundred preached to the church-mem- 
 bers. They watch the church-members and say, "Look 
 at that man and woman; they are members of the church. 
 If that is religion, I don't want any of it." And I don't 
 blame them. Do you? Now, what we want is to keep 
 that in mind. Feed them. That is what the good 
 shepherd will do. Why, a man said he would take a 
 fat sheep and make it lean in a week. There was a bet 
 on that statement, and they put up the money. They 
 took a sheep and put it in a cage, and then they went 
 and got a dog. That dog kept barking at the sheep and 
 worried it so that it was quite poor in a week. There 
 are lots of sheep that are scared. "And I give unto 
 them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither 
 shall any one pluck them out of my hand." Never. 
 Twenty-eight times in this chapter He uses the pro- 
 noun to tell what He will do for His sheep. Some old 
 divine has said that all of God's sheep have three marks. 
 You know in California, and some of those places where 
 they have a great many sheep, they have their marks and 
 register them, just as some business men register their 
 trademark. First, they hear; second, they know his 
 voice; and, third, they follow. That is the way you can 
 
642 Moody's sermons. 
 
 tell a true sheep. They know God's voice, and they 
 don't try to follow; but they do follow. You can tell a 
 sheep from a goat in that way. Tenth chapter of John, 
 third verse. Now, if you want life to your soul just listen 
 to the word of God, let the word of God sink down into 
 your soul. "Verily, verily; I say unto you" — put 
 your name in there. — "he that heareth My word and 
 believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and 
 shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from 
 death unto life." You can come into the open fold 
 through that door this very hour if you will. There is 
 not an unsaved one here who may not enter the fold of 
 God now if he will. 
 
 They knew his voice. A great many people cannot tell 
 the voice of God from the voice of a false shepherd. 
 There was a friend of mine at Mt. Vernon some time ago, 
 and two shepherds came down to the water, and he said 
 he thought there were fully ten thousand sheep. These 
 shepherds were talking, and he wondered how they were 
 going to get their sheep separated. One shepherd got up 
 and put on his turban, and then he spoke to the sheep, 
 and they knew his voice. All his sheep followed him. 
 He didn't drive them. The other one called his sheep, 
 and they followed him. This friend of mine said to the 
 shepherd, "Do all these sheep know you? Does every 
 one of your sheep know you?" "Why, yes." "Can't 
 you deceive them?" And the old shepherd laughed at the 
 idea; he thought it was too absurd for anything. 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 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 643 
 
 knew it was a strange voice. Then he said to the shep- 
 herd, " Won't they follow a stranger?" " Well," he said, 
 " a sick sheep will follow a stranger, but not a healthy 
 one." (Why, you see the point, don't you?) Have you 
 any unhealthy sheep around here? I tell you the true 
 sheep know a true shepherd. I got up in Scotland once 
 and quoted a passage of Scripture a little different from 
 what it was in the Bible, and an old woman crept up and 
 
 said, "Mr. Moody, you said . " I might make forty 
 
 misquotations here, and no one would tell me about 
 them. Like two lawyers, one said in court that the other 
 didn't know the Lord's prayer. The other said he did. 
 " Now I lay me down to sleep." " Well," he said, " I 
 give it up. You do know it." Didn't either one of them 
 know it, you see. 
 
 Now, they do follow. Mark ye. They don't try to 
 follow, I wish we could abolish that word "try." I really 
 believe I have had more than twenty-five people here tell 
 me they were " going to try real hard to be Christians." 
 My friends, that does not amount to anything. That is a 
 very slippery rock to get on. Try, try, try. I have heard 
 persons say, ' ' You know the Bible says try, try, try 
 again." They thought that was in the Bible. You can- 
 not find a place in the Bible where you are told to try. 
 Just follow Him. Let that word " try " be banished, and 
 put in the word " trust." God will always help a manor 
 a woman that wants to follow His Son. Now, people 
 are looking after happiness, peace and joy, after the 
 fruits of the spirit. My dear friends, you get done look- 
 ing after these things and look to Christ, and you will 
 have them. You don't have to look for these things. I 
 don't know but I have used this illustration before, about 
 
644 Moody's sermons. 
 
 trying to catch your shadow. I remember when I was 
 a boy I used to try to jump over the shadow of my head, 
 but I never succeeded in getting over it. Then I would 
 try to outrun it, but I never could. I remember coming 
 down the mountain side one night, and a boy Was trying 
 to catch me. I looked around and saw my shadow run- 
 ning after me. Well, the sweetest lesson I have learned 
 since I have been in Christ's school is just to face the 
 great shepherd, and the shadow follows. Look for 
 Christ, and you will not be in the dark. Now, if there is a 
 man or woman here that is in the dark to-day, I will tell 
 you why. It is because you have got away from the 
 Shepherd, because you are afraid of Him. Just get near 
 the Shepherd if you want food, light, peace and joy. 
 Don't try to follow, but just follow. When you were a 
 boy and went to school, it wasn't a matter of feeling, but 
 obedience. What you want is will. The thing we are 
 told to do is just to follow, and if we do we are not going 
 to be allowed to walk in the dark. Tenth chapter of 
 John, third verse, " He calleth them by name." I get a 
 good deal of comfort out of that fact — that the Shepherd 
 knows me by my name. Why! He, Saul of Tarsus, 
 knew all about Him. He knew little of Samuel. See! 
 The Shepherd knows us by name. A friend of mine was 
 in Syria, and he found a shepherd that kept up the old 
 custom of naming his sheep. This friend of mine said 
 he wouldn't believe that the sheep knew him when he 
 called them by name. So he asked the shepherd if the 
 sheep were all named, and if they all knew their names. 
 " I wish you would just callone or two." The shepherd 
 said, "Carl." The sheep stopped eating and looked up v ' 
 The shepherd called out, "Come here." The sheep 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 645 
 
 came and stood looking up into his face. He called an- 
 other and another, he called about a dozen sheep, and 
 there they stood looking up at the shepherd. " How can 
 you tell them apart?" " O, 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 he 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. 
 There is a man that is covetous; he wants to grasp the 
 whole world. He wants a shepherd to keep down that 
 spirit. There is a woman down there who has an awful 
 tongue; she keeps the whole neighborhood stirred up. 
 There is a woman over there who is deceitful, terribly so. 
 She needs the care of a shepherd to keep her from deceit, 
 for she will ruin all her children. They will all turn out 
 just like their mother. There is a father over there who 
 wouldn't swear for all the world before his children, but 
 sometimes he gets provoked in his business and swears 
 before he knows it. Doesn't he need a shepherd's care? 
 I would like to know if there is a man or woman here 
 who doesn't need the care of a shepherd. Haven't we 
 all got failings? If you really want to know what your 
 failings are, you can find some one who can point them 
 out. God would never have sent Christ into the world, 
 if we didn't need His care. We are as weak and foolish 
 as sheep. 
 
 I wish I had time to dwell on the tenderness of the 
 shepherd. I find that Satan takes the advantage of some 
 people in this way. A child dies, is taken from a home, 
 and Satan says, " Ministers tell about the tenderness and 
 kindness and love of the Shepherd; don't you see how he 
 
646 Moody's sermons. 
 
 has wounded you?" . My dear friend, don't let Satan get 
 the best of you. A friend of mine in New York (I was 
 going to say the best- man I ever knew) sat right by me 
 and worked as no other minister did. He had four beau- 
 tiful children, and scarlet fever just came in and swept 
 them all away. The poor man tried to get comfort. He 
 couldn't find it, and he went off to Europe, traveled all 
 through Great Britain, couldn't get rest, and finally went 
 off to Syria. One day he and his wife went down to the 
 stream; they saw a shepherd come down with a flock of 
 sheep. The shepherd went into the stream and called 
 the sheep after him. They looked down at him very 
 wistfully, but couldn't follow because they had little 
 lambs. 
 
 Finally the shepherd came out of the water and picked 
 up a little lamb, and put it into his bosom. The two old 
 sheep that had lost their little ones, instead of looking at 
 the water in fear, began to look up to the shepherd and 
 bleat. They followed him close into the stream because 
 their loved ones were there. 
 
 By-and-by he got them all over into a greener pasture, 
 into a better place, and when he got them safely over, he 
 took the little lambs out of his bosom. The father and 
 mother stood there and watched, and they said, ( ' That is 
 what the great Palestine Shepherd has done with our 
 little ones." 
 
 He has taken them across the stream into greener pas- 
 ture, home to a better place. 
 
 They are back in New York at work for other children. 
 My friends, don't let Satan get the advantage of you. A 
 titled lady was telling me some time ago, when I was in 
 England, that one day she was out riding, and she saw a 
 
THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD. 647 
 
 shepherd who had some dogs driving sheep. If the sheep 
 stopped to drink out of the pools in the streets, he would 
 have the dogs after them. She kept saying, "O, you 
 cruel man!" But by-and-by he came to a beautiful park, 
 opened the great iron gate, and let all the sheep in there 
 where the grass was knee high, beautiful, sweet, fresh 
 grass, and a beautiful river running right through the 
 park; and she said he wasn't so cruel after all. He was 
 only trying to get them to a better place. My dear 
 friends, our loved ones are passing away, but they are 
 going to a better field. There is a passage here I would 
 just like to read to you. Hebrews, xii, 5: " And ye have 
 forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as 
 unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening 
 of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him, 
 for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth 
 every son whom He receiveth." 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 
 
 I want to call your attention to the centurion that we 
 have just read about at Capernaum. He is one of those 
 nameless characters that shine very brightly upon the 
 stage of history. For some reason the Holy Ghost hasn't 
 given us his name. There are quite a number of name- 
 less characters that have shone very brightly in this world, 
 in the Scripture. A good many of us would like to know 
 who that woman at the well was; she is one of those 
 characters we would like to meet when we get to heaven. 
 We would like to know the name of that woman whom 
 He met way up on the coast of Tyre; that blind beggar 
 that takes up more room than any other character in the 
 Bible, just because he had courage to speak out his con- 
 victions and stand boldly for Christ; that little maid that 
 told Naaman, or the wife of Naaman, about the prophet 
 Elisha, and set two kingdoms in commotion. Her name 
 has not been given us. And here is another character, 
 this centurion, who shines brightly, a light in the dark 
 places. I tell you, the brightest and purest pearls come 
 from the darkest caverns of the ocean. And here is a 
 pure gem, a diamond shining in that little town. Such 
 a man as this centurion, not only in Capernaum, but in 
 the Roman army. 
 
 648 
 
Jesus and the Tribute Money. Mark, xii, 13-17. 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 65 1 
 
 Now, if there was a class of people that the Jews de- 
 spised, it was the gentiles, and the one gentile nation 
 they detested the most was the Romans, unless it should 
 be the Samaritans. Yet this man had lived so in Caper- 
 naum that he had won their favor and esteem; he had 
 commanded the respect, not only of his own soldiers, but 
 of those Jews that would naturally have hated him. He 
 went to Christ and wanted Christ to heal his servant, be- 
 cause he loved the nation. They thought because he 
 had built them a synagogue that he was one of the grand- 
 est of men, and it looks as if God left all His work to go 
 and heal this centurion, because he was worthy. Perhaps 
 they said, "The very synagogue I occupied last Sunday 
 was built by this centurion. Now, come, because he is 
 worthy." Didn't do it on the ground of grace, they did 
 it on the ground of his worthiness. Now, if you will just 
 follow the whole scene, you will find that Christ wanted 
 to teach another lesson. I remember being in Scotland 
 a few years ago, and on my way to the church, a friend 
 said, ' ' I hope you will not bear very hard on whisky. 
 The steeple on the church where you are going to preach 
 was built by a distiller, and it would hurt his feelings if 
 you should say anything about whisky." That was just 
 the way to keep me from saying anything about it, you 
 know. I had to give my opinion about steeples that were 
 built with whisky money. There are a good many who 
 have an idea that distilling is all right, if they will only 
 give their money to the church. That will cover a multi- 
 tude of evil, and make it all right. These Jews thought 
 this centurion was all right, because he had built 
 then a synagogue. Now, a man may build a 
 synagogue, and still be a black-hearted villain. But not 
 so with this centurion; I don't think it was because he 
 
652 Moody's sermons. 
 
 had built a synagogue that his name shines so bright in 
 history. I will tell you what I think. He wanted Christ 
 to come and heal his servant, and I suppose that servant 
 was a slave. A different set of people we have now! 
 Most of us, if we have a servant, and he gets sick, we just 
 get him home as quickly as possible, or to some hospital. 
 Perhaps we get a free bed, if we can. We get him off 
 our hands, because we don't want to be bothered with a 
 sick servant. We have paid them their wages, and we 
 think that is the end of our responsibility. Not so with 
 the centurion. It wasn't his son, nor his daughter, nor 
 his wife, nor mother. It wasn't some member of his 
 family, not any one that was bound to him by the tie of 
 nature, but a servant, and he was dear to him. Ah, my 
 dear friends, there is a lesson. I don't believe this na- 
 tion has ever seen a better day to show our friendship to- 
 ward those who are down . The gulf has been becoming 
 deeper and darker for twenty years, and now we have a 
 good opportunity to bridge the gulf. Let us follow in the 
 footsteps of that good Samaritan. Let the millionaires 
 look very carefully now after the men who have been 
 piling up their wealth for them. Follow the footsteps of 
 this good Samaritan, and see what will come out of it. 
 He won the esteem of every servant he had. Do you 
 tell me that if that servant was very dear to him, the 
 centurion was not dear to the servant? I was in Califor- 
 nia some time ago, and quite a number tried to tell me 
 that the Chinaman hadn't a soul, and that a Chinaman 
 wasn't capable of loving. I said, "It is utterly false. 
 There is not a son or daughter of Adam on earth, that 
 isn't capable of loving." Before I left California, they 
 told me of a man who got a Chinaman just as he came 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 653 
 
 to this country, and took him into his family and treated 
 him kindly, and by-and-by the Chinaman became his 
 body-servant. At last misfortune overtook his master. 
 He died, and left his widow without any means of sup- 
 port. The poor Chinaman bad worked hard and long, day 
 and night, to get back to China. Every company that 
 brings a Chinaman to this country has to sign a contract 
 that they will bring him back dead or alive. Sometimes 
 they scrape the flesh off the bones, and send them back 
 to be buried in their own country. This man had been 
 working and toiling hard to get money to go back, but 
 when he found that his master had left his mistress with- 
 out money, he took the thousand dollars and insisted 
 upon her taking it. And yet they say a Chinaman can- 
 not love! My dear friends, you cannot expect anything 
 better from the world, but when you find those who pro- 
 fess to be Christians, what is going to become of the 
 cause of Jesus in the world? I wonder if you are look- 
 ing after those who serve you. Are any of them unfor- 
 tunate just now. Are they in need? Your soup-houses 
 may be all right, but I wouldn't like to have a servant of 
 mine go to a soup-house. Would you? I wouldn't like 
 to have a man who is toiling for me degrade himself, by 
 going to a house to beg for soup. 
 
 My friend, Professor Drummond, went off into the 
 heart of Africa, and when he returned he told me he be- 
 lieved the Africans, as a nation, were not capable of lov- 
 ing; he believed they understood a knock over the head 
 better than kindness. I believe that is utterly false, and 
 I believe if we walk on that line, we are never going to 
 reach this world . There was a lady in New York who 
 was brought up in the south, and she told me that when 
 
654 Moody's sermons. 
 
 the war came on, a man went into the army, and left his 
 wife with two daughters, and an old colored woman that 
 had been a slave all of her life had two daughters. The 
 man was killed in the army, and a good deal of his prop- 
 erty was swept away. When the old colored woman 
 heard about it, she refused to take her liberty because 
 her mistress had nothing. The mistress soon after died, 
 and then the poor old colored woman took care of the 
 two daughters. When the old colored woman was dying, 
 she called her daughters to her, and said, ' ' I want you 
 to take good care of those two daughters. They have 
 never been taught to take care of themselves; the mis- 
 tress is gone, and now I am going too. When I am 
 dead and gone, I want you to be careful to see that they 
 don't come to want." Those two colored daughters 
 cared for those two white sisters, and when they got so 
 reduced that they could not get a living, they went out 
 and got ten dollars. They wanted to give five of it to 
 those white girls. The lady said, "I won't send it to 
 them. You can if you want to. " And one of the colored 
 girls said, " Why, they wouldn't take it from a nigger. I 
 don't want to disgrace them by asking them to take it 
 from me. " She insisted upon the lady sending it to help 
 those two white girls. Now, I say those colored girls 
 belonged to the nobility of heaven. You don't want to 
 look down upon those people. 1 have great admiration 
 for that centurion who thought a good deal of his ser- 
 vant, and I tell you that kind of thing will kill out anarchy, 
 kill out nihilism, sweep them from the face of the earth. 
 No, it is one thing to come out here and say "amen," 
 and another thing to carry it out in your home. You 
 just want to watch that you don't get into the place of 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 655 
 
 some Pharisee. You treat men as they should be treated, 
 and see if you don't -win their esteem and respect. I was 
 once reading, in history, about a heathen king. He re- 
 ceived a mortal wound, and sent for his faithful body- 
 servant. When the servant came, the soldier said, "Go 
 tell the dead I am coming." And the servant pressed his 
 knife through his heart, that he might go and tell the 
 dead his master was coming after him. 
 
 As I said before, now is our day. The workingmen are 
 seeing hard times, and if there was ever a time for the 
 church of God to show kindness, it is at present, if we 
 haven't lost them, for they are far from the church to-day; 
 they have been taught to believe that the church. doesn't 
 care for them. The great mass of the workingmen of 
 this country have been alienated from the church of God. 
 
 Now is the time to look well after your servants, your 
 clerks, and those whom you employ, and see if you can- 
 not help them now that they are down. A little act of 
 kindness will go a great deal further than the sermons 
 just now. We want good Samaritans just now to go and 
 pick up those men who have been slain, as it were, by 
 this financial panic that is sweeping over the land. Did 
 the world ever see such a day? Take up your morning 
 paper. About a million dollars in the banks of New 
 York, and it is a drug at one per cent. Yet men are 
 starving for the want of work. Starving! May God 
 deliver us. It would be a good thing for us to get on our 
 backs, so that we can just look up to heaven. A man 
 said to me the other night when I was talking on this 
 subject, ' ' Your old gospel won't put bread into the 
 mouths of the people." My friend, don't you believe it. 
 That is just what will. You want to remove the cause 
 
656 Moody's sermons. 
 
 of this trouble, and I believe the gospel of the Son of 
 God is the only thing that will do it. If men will stop 
 drinking whisky, it will buy bread for their children, 
 won't it? If they will stop their gambling, don't you 
 think it will put some money into bread, and the family 
 will have something to eat? If they will stop this cursed 
 adultery, don't you think the wives and children will be 
 looked after? This man was a leper. How many of 
 your servants have a disease a thousand times worse than 
 the leprosy. -A kind act may turn them into the kingdom, 
 of God, and it would be a grand day if we could see a 
 revival of righteousness going over this land as it did in 
 1857. Then there was a sweep of salvation that went 
 sweeping away across the continent, and brought five 
 hundred thousand into the church of God. And so out 
 of this financial crash that is upon us, and out of this 
 great panic, let every business man and every woman 
 that has servants look well now, and see if you cannot 
 win them. Don't send them off to any charitable insti- 
 tution, but just take care of them yourselves. Don't go 
 and blow a trumpet, and say that you have done so much 
 for your servants; but do it kindly and quietly. I don't 
 suppose this centurion ever thought of what he had done 
 for his servants. He wanted his servant healed, and so 
 he sent these men, these Jews, for Christ to heal them. 
 There is a double staff. That man was full of faith, and 
 full of humility. If you want to be successful in working 
 for God, that is just the thing. It isn't often that the 
 two meet in one man. Did you know it? But this man 
 had exalted thoughts of God, and very low thoughts of 
 himself. Now, I want to call your attention to a fact. 
 If you find a man that has very high thoughts of himself, 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 657 
 
 he will have very low thoughts of God. I met a man in 
 the inquiry-room the other night, who thought he was 
 the very best man in town, and he thought God was the 
 most insignificant being that there ever was. This cen- 
 turion was little in his own sight, he was insignificant. 
 He was centurion in the Roman army, but this man never 
 thought of himself. He thought that the Jews were 
 better than he, so he sent them to get Christ to come and 
 heal the servant. Thank God for humility and faith! 
 His faith was as bold as a lion, his humility as meek as 
 a dove, as meek as a lamb, and he had power. And he 
 shines on and on, and has been shining for eighteen hun- 
 dred years. He is going to shine on forevermore. Why? 
 Because he wasn't low and mean and selfish. Now, I 
 have heard all kinds of men and women praised, but there 
 is one character that you never heard praised. Can you 
 think of the man or woman who is never praised? Do 
 you know who it is? It is a supremely selfish man or 
 woman. Take A. T. Stewart, for instance. Did you ever 
 hear of any one praising him? One of his clerks got sick 
 and couldn't come to the store for two, or three, or ten 
 weeks; his wages were cut right off; he wasn't responsi- 
 ble. Who is my brother? " Am I my brother's keeper?" 
 He didn't feel any responsibility for any man that helped 
 him make his great fortune. Why, I was in New York 
 when he was dying, and there was a sort of a jubilee all 
 over the city. They were glad the old miser was going. 
 They were telling stories right there in his marble palace. 
 His wife might have mourned, but if she did she was 
 about the only mourner he had. What a glorious op- 
 portunity he had to become immortal, live forever! I 
 pity these men that hold on with a tight grip to every- 
 
658 Moody's sermons. 
 
 thing they have. I heard of a man once that was always 
 telling his servant that he was going to do a great thing 
 for him, " I am going to remember you in my will." 
 Sambo got his expectations up very high. When the 
 man came to die, it was found that all he had willed 
 Sambo was to be buried in the family lot. That was the 
 big thing, you know. Sambo said he wished he had 
 given him ten dollars, and let the lot go. If you want 
 to show kindness to a person, show it to them while you 
 are living. I heard a man say that he didn't want peo- 
 ple to throw bouquets to him after he was dead, and say, 
 "There, smell them." Now, this is the time for action. 
 This man acted. He was going to try to save the life 
 of that servant. That is what we want to do. I have 
 got so tired and sick of this splitting hairs over theology, 
 and men talking about higher criticism. Man, let us go 
 out and get these fallen men up. Lift them up toward 
 God and heaven. We want a practical kind of Chris- 
 tianity. I was in England some time ago, and they had 
 a great corps of bishops, and the highest ecclesiastical 
 men having a discussion which lasted for days, to see 
 whether they should wear a black or white gown. Man, 
 throw aside your gown, and give them the gospel. That 
 is what they want. This man's servant was dying, and 
 he went to work to save him. You have servants that 
 are dying without God, and without hope. Don't think 
 because they work for you eight or ten hours a day that 
 your responsibility ends there. I believe God will hold 
 you responsible. You business men can reach those men 
 who are employed by you a good deal better than the 
 ministers. As I said the other day, we are living in alto- 
 gether different days from what our fathers did. 
 
THE CENTURION AT CAPERNAUM. 659 
 
 Those old days have gone now. We treat our ser- 
 vants just about as we do a sewing-machine. If they do 
 their work well, all right, but if they don't, we kick 
 them out. They may go to ruin, become defaulters, and 
 bring a stain upon the whole family, and it is nothing to 
 you. It is a good deal to you. That centurion looked 
 after his servant. Look after your servants. See 
 that they don't work seven days in the week. Don't 
 make a man do what you don't want to do yourself. 
 
 But my time is up. I would just like to have you take 
 this centurion into your heart and see if you are like him. 
 Perhaps you have built a synagogue. You may stand well 
 abroad, but how do you stand at home? Do you stand 
 well there? This man stood well with his servants, he 
 stood well abroad, just because he was a real, true man, 
 although he was a gentile and a Roman. 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 
 
 I want to talk to-day about the overcoming life. 
 When a battle is fought, we are all anxious to know who 
 the victors are. In the first Epistle of John, fifth chap- 
 ter, fourth verse, we read, ' ' For whosoever is born of 
 God overcometh the world." That is our starting-point. 
 If we are going to get victory over the world, we have got 
 to get it through Christ I wouldn't .think of talking to 
 unconverted men about overcoming the world, for it is 
 utterly impossible. They might as well try to cut down 
 the American forests with their penknives. I want to 
 say to Christian people that I think a good many of us 
 make this mistake; we think the battle is already fought, 
 the victory already won. They have an idea that all 
 they have to do is to put the oars down in the bottom of 
 the boat, and the current will drift them into the ocean of 
 God's eternal love, but we have got to cross the current. 
 We have got to learn how to watch and fight and how to 
 overcome. I think a great many Christian people make 
 this mistake; they think the battle is already fought. It 
 is only just commenced. The Christian life is a conflict 
 and a warfare, and the quicker we find it out the better. 
 Don't let any man think he is going to overcome his 
 enemies without putting forth his strength with God's 
 
 660 
 
The Buriat. of Sarah. Genesis, xxiii. 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 663 
 
 power. There is not a blessing in this world that God 
 has not linked Himself to. All these great and higher 
 blessings God associates Himself with. When God and 
 man work together, then it is that there is going to be 
 victory. We are co-workers with Him. You might take 
 a mill and put it forty feet above any river you have here 
 in this country, and there isn't capital enough in the world 
 to make that river tarn that mill; but get it down about 
 forty feet, and away it works. We want to keep in mind 
 that if we are going to overcome the world, we have got 
 to work with Him. 
 
 Again, in that same epistle, fourth chapter, and fourth 
 verse, " Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome 
 them; because greater is He that is in you than He that 
 is in the world." Now, let us keep that in mind; He was 
 the only man that conquered this world. With that life 
 we can overcome the world, and every man has been a 
 failure away from God. When Abraham got his eyes 
 from God, he was weak like other men and denied his 
 wife. It is a very singular thing just to notice how the 
 men in the Bible, if they have fallen, have generally fallen 
 on the strongest points of their characters. 
 
 Abraham was noted for his faith, and he fell there; but 
 he lost faith and denied his wife. Moses was noted for 
 his meekness and humility, but he lost his temper, and 
 God kept him out of the promised land. Elijah was 
 noted for his power in prayer and for his courage, and he 
 became a coward. Queen Jezebel scared him nearly out 
 of his life. Peter was noted for his boldness, and a little 
 maid scared him nearly out of his wits. And so you can 
 run right on through the Scripture. Men very often fall 
 on the strongest points of their characters. I suppose 
 
664 Moody's sermons. 
 
 that is because we are not on the watch. If we are 
 going to overcome, we have got to watch as well as to 
 pray. 
 
 Then we overcome by faith, the twentieth verse of the 
 twenty-second chapter of Galatians: "I am crucified 
 with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and 
 gave Himself for me." The life that I now live is the 
 life of faith, we stand by faith. 
 
 Then, in the twentieth verse of the eleventh chapter 
 of Romans : ' ' Well ; because of unbelief they were broken 
 off, and thou standest by faith." So that we live by 
 faith; we stand by faith. 
 
 Then we read in Corinthians that " we walk by faith;" 
 and in Ephesians, ' ' We fight the good fight of faith. " 
 We walk by faith, not by sight. The most objectionable 
 characters we meet are those who are trying to walk by 
 sight, not by faith. Take Jacob; he tried to walk by 
 sight; and then take his son Joseph. Joseph walked by 
 faith, and see what a victorious life he had. He was a 
 mighty giant just because he walked not by sight, but by 
 faith. Lot walked by sight, and it led him astray. 
 Abraham looked beyond, and he saw the fountain whose 
 builder and maker was God. He did not fall in Sodom 
 like Lot. Why? Because Abraham walked by faith, 
 and Lot walked by sight. 
 
 Now, I want to call your attention to three passages 
 of Scripture; the first you will find in Genesis, third 
 chapter and sixth verse, " And when the woman saw it 
 was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, 
 and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 665 
 
 the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her 
 husband with her; and he did eat." Now, there are 
 three things good for food; the lust of the flesh, pleasant 
 to the eye (that is the lust of the eyes), third, to make 
 one wise (that is the pride of life). My friends, you will 
 find all faith reaches right along on these three lines. 
 Turn over into John's epistles and see what he says 
 about any man leaving the world. Now, if you will turn 
 over into Matthew's gospel, fourth chapter, you will read 
 these words, ' ' Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into 
 the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when 
 He had fasted forty days and forty nights He was after- 
 wards an hungered." See! the devil assailed Him on Hi* 
 weak point. He was hungry. The tempter said to Him, 
 " If thou be the Son of God, command these stones be 
 made bread." 
 
 But He said, " Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
 by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 
 Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and 
 sitteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, * * *." Now, 
 he took Him up into the temple, that beautiful temple, 
 the most beautiful thing on the earth, and the second 
 Adam overcame the lust of temptation. Now notice, 
 there is the tree of life. The devil took Him up into 
 these mountains and showed Him all the kingdoms of 
 the earth. The tree of life is a third temptation, but He 
 overcame the third temptation. Now, the difference be- 
 tween the two Adams is right here; the first Adam was 
 overcome by the tempter, and the second Adam over- 
 came the tempter. That is the question for us to settle, 
 whether we will overcome the world, or let the world 
 overcome us. When the war broke out we had some 
 
666 Moody's sermons. 
 
 politicians who told us the war would be over in about 
 ninety days, and men went into the army with a whoop. 
 But you know it lasted four or five years. What was 
 the trouble? We underestimated the strength of the 
 enemy; and that is where we were overcome over and 
 over again. I believe that a great many Christians are 
 overcome because they don't know what a terrible fight 
 we have. Now, it is no sign because a man is a Chris- 
 tian that he is going to overcome the world, unless he 
 resists temptation when it comes. Don't let any man or 
 woman think all he has to do is to join the church. 
 That will not save you. The question is, are you over- 
 coming the world, or is the world overcoming you? Are 
 you more patient than you were five years ago? Are you 
 more loving than you were five years ago? Are you more 
 amiable, have you more patience? If you haven't, the 
 world is overcoming you, even if you are a church-mem- 
 ber. That epistle that Paul wrote to Titus says that we 
 are to be sound in patience, faith and charity. We have 
 got Christians, a good many of them, that are good in 
 spots, but mighty poor in other spots. Just a little bit 
 of them seems to be saved, you know. They are not 
 rounded out in their characters. It is just because we 
 haven't been taught that we have a terrible foe to over- 
 come. The worst enemy you have to overcome, after 
 
 all, is yourself, When Captain T came out in 
 
 London he was a great society man, and he became con- 
 verted. After he had been a Christian some months he 
 was asked, ' ' What have you found to be your greatest 
 enemy since you began to be a Christian?" After a 
 few minutes of deep thought, he said, " Well, I think it 
 is myself. " 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 66? 
 
 ** Ah!" said the lady, " the King has taken you into 
 His presence, for it is only in His presence that we are 
 taught these truths." "I have had more trouble with 
 D. L. Moody than with any other man who has crossed 
 my path. If I can only keep him right, I don't have any 
 trouble with other people." There is the trouble. A 
 good many of you have trouble with your servants. Did 
 you ever think that the trouble lies with you instead of 
 the servants? If one member of the family is constantly 
 snapping, he will have the whole family snapping. It 
 is true, whether you believe it or not. You speak quick 
 and snapping to people, and they will do the same to 
 you. 
 
 Now, if we are going to overcome ourselves we have 
 got to begin inside. God always begins there. We have 
 got enemies within and enemies without. Now, take 
 appetite. Let a man that is given to strong drink (that 
 xs the enemy inside) look to God for help, and He will 
 give him victory over his appetite. Now, you want that 
 power broken in you. Jesus Christ came to destroy the 
 works of the devil, and He will take away that appetite 
 if you will let Him. Here is another man (or perhaps a 
 woman) that is downed by lust. The Lord will give you 
 victory over that; but you have got to look to Him for 
 it. You may have a bad, irritable temper. I have had 
 people say to me, " Mr. Moody, how can I get control 
 of my temper?" If you really want to get control, I will 
 tell you how. Do you want to get it? Well, you won't 
 like the medicine. Now, I will tell you so that you can 
 get complete control inside of a few weeks. When a 
 person treats that as a sin and confesses it, they will get 
 rid of it. People look upon it as a sort of a misfortune, 
 
66S 
 
 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 and one lady told me she inherited it from her father and 
 mother. Supposing you do. That is no excuse for you. 
 When you get angry again and speak unkindly to a per- 
 son, and when you realize it, you go and ask them to for- 
 give you. You won't get mad with that person for the 
 next twenty-four hours. You might do it in about forty- 
 eight hours, but go the second time, and after you have 
 done it about half-a-dozen times, you will get out of the 
 business, because it kind of makes the old flesh burn. 
 You just try it and see if you don't overcome that temper 
 of yours. A lady said to me once, " I have got so in the 
 habit of exaggerating that my friends accuse me of exag- 
 gerating so that they don't understand me." She said, 
 '* Can you help me? What can I do to overcome it?" 
 ''Well," I said, ''the next time you catch yourself lying 
 go right to that party and say you have lied, and tell 
 them you are sorry. Say it is a lie; stamp it out, root 
 and branch; that is what you want to do." Christianity 
 isn't worth a snap of your finger if it doesn't straighten 
 out your characters. I have got tired of all your mere 
 gush and sentiment. If people can't tell when you are 
 telling the truth, there is something radically wrong, and 
 you had better straighten it out right away. Now, are 
 you ready to do it? You will soon get out of the business 
 if you will do it. Bring yourself to it, whether you want 
 to or not. Do you find some one has been offended by 
 something you have done? Go right to them and tell 
 them you are sorry. You say you are not to blame. 
 Never mind; go right to them and tell them you are 
 sorry. I have had to do it a good many times. An im- 
 pulsive man like myself has to do it a good many times; 
 but I sleep all the sweeter at night when I get things 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 669 
 
 straightened out. I have sometimes had to get off the 
 platform and go down and ask a man's forgiveness before 
 I could go on. A Christian man ought to be a gentleman 
 every time; but if he is not, and he finds he has wounded 
 or hurt some one, he ought to go and straighten it out at 
 once. I tell you, you will get out of that kind of busi- 
 ness after you have asked forgiveness a few times, 
 because you don't like to do it. You know there are a 
 great many people who want just Christianity enough to 
 make them respectable. They don't think about this 
 overcoming life that gets the victory all the time. They 
 have their blue days and their cross days, and the children 
 say, " Mother is cross to-day, and you will have to be 
 very careful. " We don't want any of these touchy blue 
 days; these ups and downs. If we are overcoming, that 
 is the effect our life is going to have on others, they 
 will have confidence in our Christianity. A lady came 
 to me once and said, "Mr. Moody, I wish you would 
 tell me how I could become a Christian. " The tears 
 were rolling down her cheeks, and she was in a very 
 favorable mood, " but," she said, "I don't want to be 
 one of your kind." "Well," I said, "have I got any 
 peculiar kind? What is the matter with my Christian- 
 ity?" " Well," she said, " my father was a doctor and 
 had a large practice, and he used to get so tired that he 
 used to take us to the theater. There was a large family 
 of girls, and we had tickets for the theater three or four 
 times a week. I suppose we were there a good deal 
 oftener than we were in church. I am married to a 
 lawyer, and he has a large practice. He gets so tired 
 that he takes us out to the theater, and, " she said, ' ' I am 
 far better acquainted with the theater and theater people 
 
670 Moody's sermons. 
 
 than with the church and church people, and I don't want 
 to give up the theater." " Well," I said, " did you ever 
 hear me say anything about theaters? There have been 
 reporters here every day for all the different papers, and 
 they are giving my sermons verbatim in one paper. 
 Have you ever seen anything in the sermons against the 
 theaters?" She said, "Why, no." "Well," I said, "I 
 have seen you in the audience every afternoon for several 
 weeks and have you heard me say anything against 
 theaters?" No, she hadn't. "Well," I said, "then 
 what made you bring that up?" " Why, I supposed you 
 didn't believe in theaters." "What made you think 
 that?" "Why, "she said, "do you ever go?" "No." 
 "Why don't you go?" "Why, because I have got 
 something better. I would sooner go out into the street 
 and eat dirt than do some of the things I used to do be- 
 fore I became a Christian." " Why, " she said, " I don't 
 understand." "Never mind," I said, "when Jesus 
 Christ has the pre-eminence you will understand it all. 
 He didn't come down here and say we shouldn't go here 
 and we shouldn't go there, and lay down a lot of rules; 
 but He laid down great principles. Now, He says, if 
 you love Him you will take delight in pleasing Him." 
 And I began to preach Christ to her. The tears started 
 again. She said, "I tell you, Mr. Moody, that sermon 
 yesterday afternoon just broke my heart. I admire Him 
 and I want to be a Christian, but I don't want to give up 
 the theaters. " I said, "Please, don't mention that again. 
 I don't want to talk about theaters, I want to talk to you 
 about Christ." So I took my Bible and I read to her 
 about Christ. But she said again, "Mr. Moody, can I 
 go to the theater if I become a Christian?" "Yes," I 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 67 1 
 
 said, "you can go to the theater just as much as you 
 like, if you are a real true, Christian." "Well, "she said, 
 "I am glad you are not so narrow-minded as some." 
 She felt quite relieved to think that she could go to the 
 theater and be a Christian. But I said, "If you can go 
 to the theater for the glory of God, keep on going, only 
 be sure that you go for the glory of God. If you are a 
 Christian you will be glad to do whatever will please 
 Him." I really think she became a Christian that day, 
 the burden had gone, there was joy; but just as she was 
 leaving me at the door, she said, ' ' I am not going to 
 give up the theater." In a few days she came back to 
 me, and said, "Mr. Moody, I understand all about that 
 theater business now. I went the other night. There 
 was a large party at our house, and my husband wanted 
 us to go, and we went; but when the curtain lifted, every- 
 thing looked so different. I said to my husband, ' This 
 is no place for me, this is horrible. I am not going to 
 stay here, I am going home.' He said, ' Don't you make 
 a fool of yourself. Every one has heard that you have 
 been converted, and if you go out it will be all through 
 fashionable society. I beg of you don't make a fool of 
 yourself by getting up and going out. ' But I said, ' I 
 have been making a fool of myself all of my life. ' " Now, 
 the theater hadn't changed, you know, but she had got 
 something better, and she was going to overcome the 
 world. When Christ has the first place in your heart 
 you are going to get victory over the world. If you 
 want to get victory, give Christ the first place in your 
 heart. Just do whatever you know will please Him. 
 
 When I was in the old country I went to a place where 
 there was more whisky distilled than in almost any other 
 
672 MOODY'S SERMONSo 
 
 place in Scotland, and I opened upon whisky the best I 
 knew how. A young man who had had a large distillery 
 left him by his father came to me and said that if I could 
 show him one passage of Scripture that condemned the 
 distilling of whisky he would give it up. I said, " I could 
 give you a good many." 
 
 But I just gave him one: " All that ye do, do it for 
 the glory of God." I would like to have you distill one 
 hundred barrels of whisky and then pray to God to bless 
 them to your fellowmen. The idea of a man praying to 
 God about whisky. Now, we don't want to go anywhere 
 where we cannot pray, if we are Christians — and I am 
 talking to Christian people — anything that is contrary to 
 that, just give it up. I think a good many people now 
 want a Christianity without the cross. They want a 
 cross, but they don't want to pass through Gethsemane, 
 they just want to get upon the Mount of Transfiguration 
 without taking up the cross. There is only one royal 
 way, and that is by the way of Calvary. We have got 
 to deny ourselves some of these things if we are going to 
 be victorious Christians. 
 
 There is somebody who is covetous. There is more 
 said in the Bible against covetousness than against in- 
 temperance. We think that a man that gets drunk is a 
 horrid monster, but a covetous man will often be received 
 into the church and be put into office, who is as vile and 
 black in the sight of God as any drunkard. Mr. Durant 
 told me he was engaged by Goodyear to defend the rub- 
 ber patent and he was to have half of the money that 
 came from the patent if he succeeded. One day he woke 
 up to find that he was a rich man, and he said that the 
 greatest struggle of his life then took place as to whether 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 673 
 
 he would let money be his master, or he be master of 
 money, whether he would be a slave to money, or make 
 it a slave to him. At last he got the victory, and that is 
 how Wellesley was built. 
 
 Are you jealous? Go and do a good turn for that per- 
 son you are jealous of. That is the way to cure jealousy; 
 it will kill it out. It will give it a blow right over the 
 head. It is a horrid monster. It is a devil; that is what 
 it is. Are you jealous? Are any of you ladies jealous of 
 any other lady? Make them a present; do them a good 
 turn. There were two business men, merchants, and 
 there was great rivalry between them. One of them was 
 converted, and there was a great deal of bitter feeling be- 
 tween them. The man who had been converted went to 
 the minister and said, ' ' I am still jealous of that man, 
 and I do not know how to overcome it." "Well," I 
 said, " if a man comes into your store to buy goods, and 
 you cannot supply him, just send him over to your neigh- 
 bor." O, he said, he wouldn't like to do that. " Well," 
 I said, (t you do it, and you will kill jealousy. " He said he 
 would, and when a customer came into his store for goods 
 which he did not have, he would tell him to go across the 
 street to his neighbor. And by-and-by the other began 
 to send his customers over to this man's store. Give it 
 up. You can't just fold your arms and say, " Lord, take 
 it out of me," but just go and work with Him; and that 
 is the way with pride. My dear friends, we haven't 
 much to be proud of. People have an idea that it is just 
 the wealthy, those who have a good deal of money, who 
 are proud. You go down on some of the back streets, 
 and you will find that some of the very poorest are as 
 proud as the richest. It is in the heart, you know. 
 
674 Moody's sermons. 
 
 People that haven't any money are just as proud as those 
 that have it. We have got to crush it out. It is an 
 enemy. You needn't be proud of your face, for there is 
 not one of you but that after ten days in the grave the 
 worms would be eating your body. There is nothing to 
 be proud of, is there? Let's ask God to deliver us from 
 pride. 
 
 I haven't got time to take up these outside enemies. 
 Custom is an enemy. Some one says, ''I move in 
 society where they have wine parties. I know it is rather 
 a dangerous thing, because my son is apt to follow me. 
 But I can stop just where I want to; perhaps my son 
 hasn't got the same power as I have, and he may go over 
 the dam. But it is the custom in the society where I 
 move." Once I got into a place where I had to get up 
 and leave. I was invited into a home in the old country, 
 and they had a late supper, and there were seven kinds 
 of liquor on the table. I am ashamed to say they were 
 Christian people. A deacon urged a young lady to drink 
 until her face flushed. I got up from the table and went 
 out. I felt that it was no place for me. They considered 
 me very rude. That was going against custom; that was 
 entering a protest against such an infernal thing. Let's 
 go against custom. 
 
 It may be that we have got to overcome in business. 
 Perhaps it is business morning' noon and night, and 
 Sundays, too. When a man will drive like Jehu all the 
 week and like a snail on Sunday, isn't there something 
 wrong with him? So, my friends, that is the question 
 for you and me to settle. Shall we overcome the world, 
 or shall the world overcome us? Now, look at yourself. 
 Are you getting the victory? Are you growing more even 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 675 
 
 in your disposition; are you getting mastery over the 
 world and the flesh; the lust of the eye; the lust of the 
 flesh; the pride of the life? 
 
 I just want to call your attention to the eight over- 
 comes in Revelation, "To him that overcometh will I 
 give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
 paradise of God." 
 
 The second overcome, " He that overcometh shall not 
 be hurt of the second death." There is no second death 
 for any true believer. There will be no death for us, but 
 we are going to live on and on, we are going to live on 
 forever. I pity any real, true Christian that is living 
 under the bondage of death. You may die, but you are 
 going to live beyond. You must put off the mortal to 
 put on immortality. 
 
 The third overcome, ' ' To him that overcometh will I 
 give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a 
 white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which 
 no man knoweth save him that receiveth it." Every 
 time we overcome some temptation, we get strength to 
 overcome another. When Daniel overcame first, it gave 
 him strength to overcome the next time. He went 
 on surmounting until he stood victor in the evening of 
 life. 
 
 Fourth, ' ' He that overcometh, and keepeth My works 
 unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; 
 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels 
 of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I re- 
 ceived my Father. And I will give him the morning 
 star." I honestly believe we are down here in school, in 
 training; and if we cannot overcome, we are not fit for 
 God's service. I don't know where the kingdom's are, 
 
6y6 Moody's sermons. 
 
 but if we are to be kings and priests, we must have king- 
 doms to reign over. I believe God is just taking men 
 and women and training them. 
 
 The fifth overcome, ' ' He that overcometh, the same 
 shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out 
 his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his 
 name before My Father and before His angels. " He that 
 overcomes shall not be a stranger in heaven. Do you 
 suppose Jesus was a stranger in heaven? Was Daniel a 
 stranger there; was that hero of faith, Joshua, was he a 
 stranger in heaven? 
 
 V Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the 
 temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I 
 will write upon him the name of My God, and the name 
 of the city of My God; and I will write upon him My 
 new name." Think of it! God writing His name upon 
 us. "I will write upon him the name of My God." 
 God looks down and says, "That is My man, My 
 woman. They are fighting My battles, they are witnes- 
 ses for Me." 
 
 1 ' To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me 
 in My throne even as I also overcame, and am set down 
 with My Father in His throne." I tell you, you begin 
 to climb now. Just take that in. Above the angels, 
 above the archangels, above the seraphim, above the 
 cherubim, away up, up, on to the throne with Himself, 
 and there we shall be forever with Him. " To him that 
 overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, 
 even as I also overcame, and am set down with My 
 Father in His throne." Man, it is only a few days or 
 weeks, or months for some of us to overcome, and then 
 all is eternity to live in. 
 
OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. 6y/ 
 
 I think the last one is the best, " He that overcometh 
 shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he 
 shall be My son." 
 
 You ask me how much I am worth to-day? I don't 
 know. I don't know anything about it. I am a joint 
 heir with Jesus Christ, and you must find out how much 
 He is worth in order to find out my wealth. 
 
 We are not only to be called heirs but, joint heirs, and 
 all Christ has I have. All that God does for Christ, 
 Christ does for me. " He that overcometh shall inherit 
 all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My 
 son." My friends, let us go out and overcome the world. 
 Don't let any of these mean, low, contemptible things 
 overcome us. If I wanted to find out whether a man or 
 woman was a Christian, I wouldn't go to these ministers. 
 I would go and ask the wives. I tell you, we want more 
 home piety just now. If a man doesn't treat his wife 
 right, I don't want to hear him talk about Christianity. 
 We want a Christianity that goes into our homes and 
 everyday lives. Some men's religion just makes me sick. 
 They put on a whining voice and a sort of a religious 
 tone, you know, and talk so sanctimoniously on Sunday 
 that you would think they were wonderful saints. But 
 Monday they are quite different. They put their religion 
 away with their clothes, and you don't see any more of 
 it until the next Sunday. You laugh, but let us look out 
 that we don't belong to that class. My friends, we have 
 got to have a higher type of Christianity, or the church is 
 gone. It is wrong for a man or woman to profess what 
 they don't possess. If you are not overcoming tempta- 
 tions, the world is overcoming you. Just get on your 
 knees and ask God to help you. Your ministers may 
 
6yS Moody's sermons. 
 
 preach like Gabriel on Sunday, but that won't do any good 
 if you live like Satan during the week in your homes. 
 My dear friends, let us go to God and ask Him to search 
 us. Let us ask God to wake us up, and let us not think 
 that just because we are church members we are all 
 right. You are all wrong if you are not getting victory 
 over sin. 
 
Christ's Entry Into Jerusalem. Mark, xi, i-io. 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 I am going to talk about a subject that you will not like 
 v^ery well, but I found out a long time ago that the medi- 
 cine we don't like is the best medicine for us. If there is 
 anything that throws a sort of coldness over a meeting it 
 is to talk obedience. You can talk about love and 
 heaven and all those things, and people get so warmed 
 that they shout; but when you talk about obedience, there 
 is a sort of coldness over the meeting. Like a man I 
 heard of during the time of slavery. He was preaching 
 with great power; he was a slave, and his master heard of 
 it, and said, ' ' I understand you are preaching, and they 
 tell me you are preaching with great power." " Yes," 
 said the slave. "Well, now," says the master, "I will 
 give you all the time you want, and you get up a ser- 
 mon on the commandments and preach on the command- 
 ments, and bear down on their stealing, for there is a 
 great deal of stealing on the plantations." The man's 
 countenance fell at once. He said he wouldn't like to 
 do that; that there wasn't the warmth in it there was in 
 some things, and I have always noticed those kind of 
 things, when you come right down to them. People 
 don't like to be told about them, you know. They don't 
 
 681 
 
682 Moody's sermons. 
 
 like anything said about it, you know, because it comes 
 a little too near home. Once I heard about a young 
 minister who took the place of an old pastor, and he be- 
 gan to bear down pretty hard upon the people. A man 
 came to him, and said, " Now, look here, young man, if 
 you expect to hold this pulpit, you have got to stop that 
 kind of preaching, for the people won't stand it." There 
 are a good many people that are delighted when you talk 
 about the sins of the patriarchs, and the sins of those 
 Bible characters, but when you come here and touch 
 upon the sins of this city, that is another thing. They 
 will say, "I don't like his style." No; nor his matter 
 either, and perhaps you won't like this subject of obedi- 
 ence. But I tell you, we are told that without faith it is 
 impossible to please God, and you will find that it is im- 
 possible to please God without obedience. Your faith 
 don't amount to much without obedience. Fifth chapter 
 of Hebrews, ninth verse, "And being made perfect, He 
 became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that 
 obey Him." Eternal salvation unto all them that obey 
 Him; not all them that feel Him, talk to Him, all those 
 that say, "Lord, Lord," but those that obey Him. 
 Eternal salvation means eternal safety. Did you ever 
 notice all but the heart of man praises God? If you look 
 right through history, you will find that everything but 
 the heart of man obeys God. In the beginning God said, 
 11 Let there be light, and there was light; let the waters 
 bring forth, and the waters brought forth abundantly." 
 And one of the proofs that Jesus Christ is God was that 
 He spoke to nature, and nature obeyed Him. At one 
 time He spoke to the sea, and the sea recognized and 
 obeyed Him; He spoke to the fig-tree, and instantly it 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 683 
 
 withered and died. It obeyed literally and at once. As 
 I told you last night, he spoke to devils, and the devils 
 fled; He spoke to the grave, and the grave obeyed Him 
 and gave back its dead. But when He speaks to man, 
 man will not obey Him; that is why man is out of har- 
 mony with God, and it will never be different until men 
 learn to obey God. God wants obedience, and He will 
 have it, or else there will be no harmony. In the first 
 epistle of John, second chapter, seventeenth verse, we 
 read, ' ' And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, 
 but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 
 " He that doeth the will of God abideth forever, he shall 
 never die." He says in another place that if we keep 
 His sayings, we shall never die. People say, "Well, 
 don't you think it very unreasonable in God to punish 
 Adam because he transgressed once?" Some years ago a 
 superintendent telegraphed to a man not to turn the 
 bridge until a special train passed. They waited and 
 waited, and the man stood firm; until one man over- 
 persuaded him, and he opened the bridge. He thought 
 they would have time to let the boats pass, and swing 
 the bridge back before the train came. But he hadn't 
 got it more than opened before he heard the coming of 
 the quick train. He hadn't time to get the bridge back, 
 and there was a tremendous accident, and lives were lost. 
 The man went out of his mind and was sent to a mad- 
 house, and his cry for years, until death released him, 
 was, "If I only had; if I only had." If he only had 
 what? If he had only obeyed, those lives would not have 
 been lost. Why, not long ago a switchman just turned 
 the switch at the wrong time, and twenty men were 
 hurled into eternity, and a good many maimed and hurt 
 
684 Moody's sermons. 
 
 for life. He only just disobeyed once. People don't 
 seem to think there is anything- in disobedience that needs 
 to be punished. Men think that it is hard because He is 
 going to punish disobedience. Now, if we want to get 
 near God, the quickest way to get near Him is obedi- 
 ence. Matthew, xii, 46, "While He yet talked to the 
 people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood with- 
 out desiring to speak to Him. Then one said unto Him, 
 behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, 
 desiring to speak to Thee. But He answered and said 
 unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? And who 
 are My brethren? And He stretched His hands toward 
 His disciples and said, Behold My mother and My breth- 
 ren, for whosoever shall do the will of My Father which 
 is in heaven, the same is My brother, sister, and mother. " 
 
 Now, if you want to get near God, just obey Him; that 
 is the quickest way to get near Him. Obedience is a mat- 
 ter of the heart. It isn't a matter of feeling; and the 
 truest sign that we love God is that we obey Him. You 
 couldn't have a better sign than that. Now, you notice. 
 He takes those into the nearest communion with Himself 
 that just obey Him. It isn't a matter of just feeling 01 
 picking out things we like to do, but it is doing what He 
 commands us to do. And the man or woman that is 
 nearest to God is the man or woman that is just obeying 
 Him. They are nearer than His own mother if she didn't 
 obey Him. There is no friendship without obedience. 
 Now notice, Adam lost everything by disobedience, and 
 the second Adam gained everything by obedience. 
 
 Again, let me call your attention to Samuel, xv, 
 2, "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in 
 burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 685 
 
 the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and 
 to hearken than the fat of rams." What does your work 
 of charity amount to if you are not obedient? God 
 doesn't want sacrifice if there is disobedience. When we 
 bring a lamb to the altar, that is sacrifice; but if we are 
 living in disobedience to God, that is no sacrifice. Sup- 
 posing that little girl is mine, or we will take that little 
 boy. I send that little boy to school and he plays truant. 
 He says, "I don't want to go to school," and he goes off 
 and fishes all day. He knows I am very fond of trout. 
 He says, " I know I have been disobedient, but I can sell 
 these trout for fifty cents, and I will just take them home 
 to my father. It will be a great sacrifice, but it will 
 please my father." Do you think that will please me? 
 Not by a good deal! I want obedience, and until he 
 obeys me, his sacrifice is an abomination to me. The 
 sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to God and 
 man. Don't let any man deceive himself, and think he 
 is going to please God by giving something to Him when 
 he is living in disobedience. Men say to me, " You talk 
 about that gambler, but he is very good to the poor," 
 and they think they are going to merit heaven because 
 they are good to the poor. " God will have to remem- 
 ber him." That is all right, or he thinks that it makes 
 it all right. My dear friends, as long as we are living a 
 disobedient life; we cannot do a thing to please God. 
 That boy cannot please me until he is willing to obey, 
 and do the very thing I tell him to do. It is much easier 
 to bring a lamb or bullock to the altar than it is to bring 
 ourselves. Did you know it? I remember hearing a 
 story about an Indian who wanted to come to the Lord. 
 He brought his blanket, but the Lord wouldn't have it. 
 
686 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 He brought his gun, his dog, his bow and arrow, but the 
 Lord wouldn't have them; but at last he brought the 
 poor Indian, and the Lord took him. The Lord wanted 
 himself. What the Lord wants is not what you have got, 
 but yourselves, and you cannot do a thing to please God 
 until you surrender yourself to Him. Now, you take the 
 two Sauls. They lived about one thousand years apart. 
 One started out well and ended poorly, and the other 
 started out poorly and ended well. The first Saul got a 
 kingdom and a crown, he had a lovely family, he had 
 the friendship of Samuel, the best prophet there was on 
 the face of the earth; and yet he lost the friendship of 
 Samuel, lost his crown, his kingdom and his life, all 
 through an act of disobedience. God took the crown 
 from his brow, and put another man in his place. Why? 
 Because he disobeyed. Now, you take the Saul of the 
 New Testament. When God called him, he wasn't dis- 
 obedient to the heavenly Father, and he was given a 
 heavenly kingdom. One act of obedience, one act of dis- 
 obedience. The act of obedience gained all, and the act 
 of disobedience lost everything. And so you will find 
 right through the Scriptures this is taking place con- 
 stantly. I believe the wretchedness and misery and woe 
 in our American cities to-day comes from disobedience to 
 God. If they won't obey God as a nation, let us begin 
 individually. Let us make up our minds that we will do 
 it, cost us what it will, and you will have peace and joy. 
 In the eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy, twenty-sixth 
 verse, we read, "Behold, I set before you this day a 
 blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the command- 
 ments of your Lord, which command you this day; and 
 a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of your 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 687 
 
 Lord, but turn aside out of the way I command you this 
 day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known." 
 Isn't that enforced? A man or woman that will serve God, 
 isn't the blessing of God resting upon them? There is 
 great reward in keeping God's laws and statutes, but a 
 great curse upon them that will disobey God. Look at 
 the wives and mothers in this city that have gone right 
 against the law of God and married ungodly men and 
 drunkards. See what hells they are living in to-day. 
 Just one act of disobedience. They are suffering tor- 
 tures day by day, dying by inches. The whole country 
 is more or less cursed by this disobedience. A mother 
 told me up in Minnesota that she had a little child that 
 took a book and threw it out of the window. She told 
 him to go and pick it up. The little boy said, " I won't." 
 She said, "What?" He said again, "I won't." She 
 said, " You will. You go and pick up that book." He 
 said he couldn't do it. She took him out, and she held 
 him right to it. Dinner-time came and he hadn't picked 
 up the book. She took him to dinner, and after it was 
 over she took him out again; they sat there until tea- 
 time. When tea-time came, she took him in and gave 
 him his supper, and then took him out and kept him 
 there until bed-time. The next morning she went out 
 again, and kept him there until dinner-time. He found 
 he was in for a life job, and he picked the book up. She 
 said she never had any trouble with the child afterward. 
 Mothers, if you don't make that boy obey when he is 
 young, he will break your heart. You say, "Cannot 
 God make him obey?" I suppose He could, but He is 
 not going to. He does not work on those lines. He 
 isn't going to force you against your will. He is going to 
 
688 Moody's sermons. 
 
 draw you by the cords of love, but if you are not going 
 to obey Him, then you are going to suffer. One of my 
 sisters told me that her little boy got up one morning 
 and spoke very unkindly to her. The father said, 
 "What did you say, Sammy?" And the little fellow re- 
 peated it. His father said, "Why, you shouldn't speak 
 in that way to your mother. Go and tell her you are 
 sorry, and ask her to forgive you." But he said he 
 couldn't do that. " You must." He said he couldn't do 
 it. His father said, " I shall punish you if you don't." 
 He was one of those nervous fellows who was all a bundle 
 of nerves. "Now," the father said, "if you don't go 
 and ask your mother to forgive you, I will have you un- 
 dressed and put to bed, and you will stay there until you 
 do." He thought that would bring him, but he couldn't 
 get him to say, " Mother, forgive me." He went off to 
 his business, and supposed he would find the little fellow 
 up when he came, but when he got home he found him 
 still in bed. The father went in and sat down on the foot 
 of the bed and said, " Sammy, what makes you so fool- 
 ish?" The little fellow cried as if his heart would break. 
 He said he did want to get up so bad, but he said he 
 couldn't say it. The father said he could get up if he 
 would ask his mother to forgive him, but he couldn't do 
 that. He could say everything but that. I venture to 
 say that there are five hundred sinners here to-day that 
 reason themselves into the belief that they cannot obey 
 God. God does not command you to do something you 
 cannot do, and then punish you for not doing it. Well, 
 my brother-in-law went down to his office, and thought 
 he should surely see Sammy at tea-time; but lo, and 
 behold! When he got home Sammy was still in bed. 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 689 
 
 My brother-in-law went in and reasoned with him again. 
 But he couldn't ask his mother to forgive him; that was 
 the one thing he couldn't say. My sister said it seemed 
 like a funeral in the house, all the joy and sunshine was 
 gone. He was an only son, and when night came on 
 before she went to sleep she talked to him, and asked 
 him just to beg her forgiveness. But he said he couldn't 
 do it. After he went to sleep she went in to see him, 
 and there the little tear lay on his cheek. She longed to 
 kiss him, but they must break his will. She said she 
 left the door open and thought he might come to her, but 
 he never came. When morning came, she thought he 
 would come rushing in and ask her to forgive him, but 
 he never came. My brother-in-law came home the sec- 
 ond day, and the boy was still in bed. The mother went 
 in and sat down on the edge of the bed, and she said, 
 "Now, Sammy, you just repeat after me, Mother" 
 — "mother" — "forgive" — "forgive" — " me" — " me." 
 And the moment he said " me," he leaped up in bed and 
 said, " I have said it! I have said it! Dress me quick, 
 and let me go down and tell papa. Won't he be glad?" 
 Little stupid dunce! He might have said it the first 
 morning; he needn't have gone to bed. You laugh, but 
 that is yourself. You look into the looking-glass, and 
 you will see that little boy. I have seen hundreds of 
 you. Yes; you would like to obey, but you cannot. I 
 don't believe a word of it. Now, this is the question for 
 you to settle; the battle is fought on that one word of 
 the will; the door hangs on that one hinge of the will. 
 Will you obey? That is the question! It isn't a mere 
 matter of sentiment, joining some church. Will you 
 obey the voice of God, and do as He commands you? No 
 
690 Moody's sermons. 
 
 man can obey for you any more than he can eat and 
 drink for you. You must eat and drink for yourself, and 
 you must obey God for yourself. There is a story told 
 about Girard, one of the first millionaires this country 
 ever had. A green Irishman came over to this country, 
 and he had been walking round the streets of Philadel- 
 phia for a long time unable to get anything to do. One 
 day he went into Girard's office, and asked him if he 
 couldn't give him something to do to keep soul and body 
 together. Girard said, "Yes; do you see that pile of 
 bricks down there?" " Yes." " Well, pile it up at the 
 other end of the yard." The Irishman went to work. 
 Night came on, and he had the work all done, and he 
 went up into the office, touched his hat, got his pay, and 
 asked if Girard had any work for him the next morning. 
 Girard told him he had. The next morning he came 
 along. Girard said, ' ' You go and take that pile of bricks 
 and carry it back where you found it." The Irishman 
 went at the work without a word. He wasn't a Yankee, 
 you better believe. Night came on, he got his pay, and 
 wanted to know if there would be work for him the next 
 morning. Girard kept him marching up and down there 
 for a number of days, until he found he was just the 
 man he wanted. One day he said, " You go down and 
 bid that sugar off." When the auctioneer put the sugar 
 up, here was a green Irishman bidding. The people 
 laughed and made sport of him, and finally it was 
 knocked off to him. The auctioneer said in a gruff tone, 
 "Who is going to pay for this sugar?" " Girard, sir." 
 "You Girard's agent?" Mighty man then. Girard had 
 found a man he could trust; God wants to find a man 
 He can trust. Obedience is literal, prompt, cheerful, 
 
FORGIVENESS AND OBEDIENCE. 69 1 
 
 willing action. Do what God wants you to do without 
 asking any questions. When God finds such a man, I 
 believe he is the mightiest power on this earth. Don't 
 you think so? Do you know every man who was blessed 
 while Christ was on earth was blessed by obedience? 
 Ten lepers came to him, and He said, "Go and show 
 yourselves to the priest." They might have said, "What 
 good is that going to do us? It was the priest that sent 
 us away from our families." But they said nothing, and 
 went to the Son of God, and they were healed. Do 
 you want to get rid of the leprosy of sin? Obey God. 
 You say you don't feel like it. Did you always feel like 
 going to school when you were a boy? Supposing a man 
 only went to business when he felt like it; he would 
 burst up in a few weeks. He said to that man, "Go to 
 the pool of Siloam and wash," and as he washed he re- 
 ceived his sight. See, he was blessed in the act of obe- 
 dience. He said to Naaman, " Go and dip seven times 
 in Jordan," and while he was dipping he was healed. 
 Simple obedience. You don't need to go to any theolog- 
 ical seminary to find out how to obey, need you? There 
 is very little obedience nowadays. People want some- 
 thing to rouse them all up; they want to hear eloquence 
 and oratorical sermons. Whatsoever He says do, do it. 
 Does the Lord tell me to run? Then I am to run. 
 Does He say, go preach? I go preach. Whatsoever He 
 tells you to do, do. But be sure He says it. Don't take 
 your ideas. Go and live right at home, go and treat your 
 wife and children right, pay your debts, and do some 
 things of that kind. A colored man said he had seen a 
 sign; he said it read, " G. P. C. ," and he got it, "Go 
 preach the gospel." Another man got up and said, "No, 
 
692 Moody's sermons. 
 
 that ain't it, it is go and pick cotton." If it is preach the 
 gospel, go preach the gospel; and if it is pick cotton, 
 then pick cotton. Some one has said, if an angel should 
 be sent down here to sweep the streets, or rule an empire, 
 it would be all the same to him. That is just what the 
 Lord wants men to do, obey His command. If you want 
 eternal salvation you can have it right here to-day. The 
 terms are right here. What are they? Obedience. 
 Will you obey? Now, come; you have got to settle this 
 thing in your mind. Just make up your mind that you 
 are going to obey. Nothing very mysterious about it. 
 You needn't go to any old musty library to read up on 
 obedience, need you? If He tells you to repent, then 
 repent. Seek first the kingdom of God. Make that 
 your first business, and I tell you what, this will be the 
 grandest day you have ever seen if you make up your 
 mind to obey Him. Will you do it? 
 
The Trial of the Faith of Abraham. Genesis, xii. 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 
 
 I have another dry subject this afternoon. You that 
 were here yesterday remember that I was talking about 
 disobedience, and the disobedient people don't like to 
 hear about obedience. To-day I want to talk about 
 faith, and the unfaithful ones don't like to hear much 
 about faith. It is a pretty dry subject. Some people 
 say a will is a pretty dry thing. People don't like to 
 read legal documents; but if you are mentioned in the 
 will it becomes instantly very interesting reading. And 
 when you come to remember that all the promises that 
 have been made by God are linked to us by faith, faith 
 ought to become one of the most interesting subjects in 
 the whole Bible. 
 
 Some one gave me this. I put it in my Bible, and I 
 think it will do you good to put it into yours, " Faith 
 gets the most; humility keeps the most; love works the 
 most." " Faith gets the most!" Next Sunday afternoon 
 I will talk to you about love, but now we will talk about 
 faith. In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, and the first 
 verse, we read, " Now faith is the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the 
 dependence upon the veracity of another. Some one has 
 said there are three things to saving faith — knowledge, 
 
 69$ 
 
696 Moody's sermons. 
 
 assent, and consent or the laying hold. I may know a 
 thing, but if I don't act upon my knowledge, it doesn't 
 help me. A man may tell me that ten thousand dollars 
 have been deposited in the bank in my name, and all I 
 need to do is to draw upon the bank for the money; but 
 if I don't act, don't draw upon the bank for it, it doesn't 
 help me a bit. I don't get any benefit from the fact 
 that the money is there unless I act. A good many 
 people have a sort of dead faith; they believe intellectu- 
 ally that Jesus Christ can save them, that He is able, 
 that He is willing to save them, but yet they are not 
 saved. Why? Because they don't act upon what they 
 believe. Now, the promises don't do us any good unless 
 we lay hold of them. In the sixth verse of that same 
 chapter we read, <l But without faith it is impossible to 
 please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that 
 He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently 
 seek Him." Now, what the foundation is to a house, 
 faith is to a true believer. You might say it is the foun- 
 dation of society and everything. If you haven't any 
 faith in a doctor, you don't want him in the house, you 
 wouldn't commit the life of your child into his hands. If 
 you lost confidence in a neighbor, you wouldn't want to 
 associate with him. Faith is the foundation of all social 
 intercourse; it is the foundation of all commercial inter- 
 course. What has brought on this present wretched 
 state of things? Want of faith. Men have lost faith in 
 some portions of the government, and there is a want of 
 confidence. Money is locked up; some of you have old 
 stockings full tied up, and the money is not in circulation. 
 You see there is a terrible lack of faith, and it is very im- 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 697 
 
 portant that we have faith. It is the foundation of 
 everything. 
 
 Now, I want to say very emphatically that God doesn't 
 ask a man or woman to believe without giving them evi- 
 dence or something to believe. It isn't what some people 
 say it is, "a leap into the dark," not by a good deal. 
 You might as well ask a man to hear without ears, see 
 without eyes, walk without feet, as to ask a man to be- 
 lieve without giving him something to believe. Now, in 
 the first epistle of John, fifth chapter, ninth verse, we 
 read, " If we receive the witness of men, the witness of 
 God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He 
 has testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son 
 of God hath the witness in Himself; he that believeth 
 not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not 
 the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the 
 record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
 life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and 
 
 he that hath not the Son of God " Now, notice, it 
 
 isn't a mere creed or doctrine. Doctrines are all right 
 in their places, but when you put them in the place of 
 faith or salvation, they become a sin. If Dr. Horton 
 should ask me up to his house to dinner to-morrow, the 
 street would be a very good thing to take me to his 
 house, but if I didn't go into the house, I wouldn't get 
 any dinner. Now, a creed is the road or street. It is 
 very good as far as it goes, but if it doesn't take us to 
 Chiist, it is worthless. "He that hath the Son hath 
 life." Faith in a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. 
 It isn't a creed about Him, but it is Himself. When 
 people say they cannot believe, I always like to press 
 them on that one point, to know why. Some men say 
 
698 Moody's sermons. 
 
 they cannot become Christians because they are so con- 
 stituted. I don't believe one solitary word of it. I don't 
 believe any man is so constituted that he cannot believe 
 God if he wants to. Why? Because for these six thou- 
 sand years He has never broken His promises to man, 
 and until they can break the word of God, man hasn't 
 got an inch of ground to stand on. I met one of these 
 men a good many years ago in one of our after meetings. 
 He said he couldn't believe. I said, " Who?" " Well," 
 he said, " I cannot believe." "Well," I said, "who?" 
 He said, "I cannot believe. You don't understand me. 
 I have intellectual difficulties, and I cannot believe." I 
 said, "Who?" He began to color up, and he said, 
 "You evidently don't understand my difficulties, sir. I 
 tell you I cannot believe." And I said, "Who?" 
 Finally he stammered out, " I cannot believe myself." 
 I said, "Thank God, I am glad you have got that far 
 along." I thought he was going to say he couldn't be- 
 lieve God, and I was going to pin him down and ask him 
 why. I like to catch a man in that corner. Put your finger 
 on a promise that God has made to man that He hasn't 
 kept, and then we will talk about not believing Him. 
 When a man says he cannot believe in himself, but can 
 believe in God, then he is on the right ground. I 
 wouldn't thank any man to tell me that he "would try 
 real hard " to believe me. If I have given no ground 
 for unbelief, I say he treats me unfairly; and one man 
 cannot offer another man a greater insult than to give 
 him the lie. That is where all this wretchedness, misery 
 and woe has come from. All the woe that has come into 
 this world has come through that door. There wouldn't 
 be drunkards reeling through the streets if it wasn't for 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 699 
 
 unbelief. There wouldn't be any harlots if it wasn't for 
 unbelief. Many a man has been knocked down because 
 some one has told him he was a liar. Unbelief gives 
 God the lie. Supposing Dr. Horton should say, ' ' I 
 knew Mr. Moody when he was in California, and he told 
 me a willful lie." What could I say? If you believed 
 it, I wouldn't do you any good. There must be confi- 
 dence between two parties before there can be any 
 friendship or communion. Now, let's get up and get out 
 of the pit which Adam took us into. Don't let any man 
 say he cannot believe. I don't believe a word of it. 
 The trouble is, people who don't know what the Bible 
 says say they cannot believe it. People say, " [ don't 
 see why faith is so important." Faith is very important. 
 Supposing they should tell you this building was on fire, 
 and you didn't have any faith in the statement and 
 should sit there. What would be the result? You 
 would burn up. Supposing a man is iu a river where 
 there is a cataract, and I just shout, " Man, danger, 
 ahead!" But he doesn't believe a word; he just goes on. 
 It isn't long before his little boat is dashed to pieces, and 
 he loses his life. Faith is a very important thing, isn't 
 it? Supposing I hire two men to set oat 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." I go to the other man and say, 
 "What does this mean? Why have you planted all of 
 these trees without roots?" "I don't believe in roots; 
 they are of no account. My trees look just as well as 
 
yOO MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 his." But when the sun blazes upon the trees, they all 
 wither and die. There are a lot of people running 
 around who haven't got any roots. A good many people 
 live on negations. They are always telling what they 
 don't believe. I want a man to tell me what he does 
 believe, not what he does not believe. And I like to 
 meet a positive man. We just want to know what men 
 do believe. We don't want trees that haven't any roots, 
 for they will dry up when the sun blazes on them. 
 There are a good many persons that are just going on in 
 that way, without any foundation; they have no faith. 
 People say that it doesn't make any difference what you 
 believe if you are only m earnest. I heard about two 
 men who went up in a balloon, and they thought they 
 had cords fastened in two places. They cut one of the 
 ropes, and they found that there was no other. One man 
 seizes the rope that is fastened to the balloon, and the 
 other seizes the rope that wasn't fastened to the balloon. 
 The man that held on to the balloon was swept up into 
 the heavens and dashed to pieces and the other was 
 saved. What you want is a living Christ. 
 
 Now, people say they don't know as though they have 
 enough faith. Christ says, ' ' If ye have faith as a grain 
 of mustard seed, you can remove mountains. " The little 
 child that reaches out his hand and takes the gift has 
 faith. I heard of a woman in Scotland who was intro- 
 duced to a minister by another minister as a woman of 
 great faith, and she instantly rebuked him. " No, I am 
 a woman of little faith with a great God." She had the 
 right idea. If I have got a tumbler of water, I can as 
 truthfully say I have water as if I had the whole Atlantic 
 ocean. 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 701 
 
 Then people say they don't know as they have the 
 right kind of faith, and they are running around asking 
 ministers and reading books to see if they have the right 
 kind. Any faith that will bring you to Christ is the right 
 kind. Some one has said that " what the eye is to the 
 body, faith is to the soul." Now, you don't dig your 
 eyes out of your head to see if you have the right kind, 
 but that is what you are doing with your soul. What 
 you want to do is to see that you have the right kind of 
 Christ. Have you got a Christ that has saved you and 
 is keeping you day by day? If you have, then you have 
 the right kind of faith. An Englishman once used this 
 illustration: A beggar sitting by the wayside, and a 
 gentleman who had gone by year after year and passed 
 him a shilling, one day passes the man a shilling, and the 
 beggar refused to take it. "I don't need your shilling.' 
 " What?" " I don't need your shilling." " Why, how 
 is that? I have passed ■ by here year after year and 
 handed you a shilling. What does it mean?" And the 
 beggar said, ''I am no beggar now." "What is the 
 matter? What has changed your condition?" And the 
 beggar replied, "Well, I was sitting here last night, as 
 usual, and a man came along and gave me ,£5,000." 
 "Why, how did he give it to you?" " He just put it 
 into my hands." " How do you know it is good money?" 
 "Because I have had it tested." "Which hand did 
 you put out?" " My right hand." " How do you know 
 that was the right hand?" "Why," said the beggar, 
 " what do I care whether it was the right hand or not? 
 I have got the money." Man, haven't you got the money? 
 That is enough, isn't it? You needn't stop to discuss 
 whether you have the right kind of faith. It is just as 
 
702 M00DYS SERMONS. 
 
 simple as a little child. And the best illustration of 
 faith is a little child. That little girl down there lives a 
 life of faith. She never bothers her head where she is 
 going to get her breakfast or supper from. She wears out 
 a hole in her elbow; doesn't bother her a bit. She knows 
 mother will get her another dress. Now, we are to have 
 that same childlike faith. The nearer we can come to a 
 little child, or the faith of a little child, the better we 
 will please the Master. Now, people say, ' ' How does 
 faith come?" I remember when I was in Chicago I used 
 to urge the young men to pray for faith. You know I 
 had an idea that faith was going to come down some day 
 and strike me like lightning. And then wouldn't I stir 
 Chicago! I used to tell the young men to pray for faith 
 — faith, faith, faith, faith. "That is what we want. 
 When you get faith you can do anything." I closed up 
 my Bible and kept praying for faith. In the tenth chap- 
 ter of Romans, seventeenth verse, one day I read, "So 
 then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word 
 of God." Why, it was like a flash of light out of heaven 
 to my soul. I found I had been looking in the wrong 
 direction for faith. And, do you know, faith has been 
 growing ever since. I believe faith grows like every 
 other thing. You water and feed it, and it will grow. 
 
 If you are so busy about the Master's work, and you see 
 people constantly blessed by your labors and prayers, 
 how are you going to doubt? I cannot understand how 
 it is that people are so full of doubts, unless it is that 
 they just neglect their Bibles, as I used to. These 
 promises are fulfilled almost every hour in our lives. 
 Now, come! Let's get that in mind. ft Faith cometh 
 by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." If you 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 703 
 
 want your faith to grow and become strong, and to be 
 powerful with God and man, get acquainted with the 
 Bible. 
 
 Now, faith isn't feeling, nor it isn't sight. You are not 
 to feel; that hasn't anything to do with faith. A great 
 many people think they are going to work themselves 
 into a certain state of feeling before they will have faith. 
 As I said the other day, it wasn't the feelings of the 
 slaves that made them free, but it was Abraham Lincoln's 
 proclamation. A friend of mine living down the Hudson 
 used to go to New York every day. A few winters ago 
 his daughter came with a family of little children to 
 spend the winter with him. One day scarlet fever broke 
 out among them, and one of the little girls had a slight 
 attack of it. She was put off upstairs in quarantine, 
 away from the rest. The old grandfather used to have a 
 chat with her every morning before he went to New 
 York, and every night when he came home he would go 
 up to see her; but he wouldn't see the other children after 
 he had been with her. Once he went up, and when he 
 came into the room she took him over into the corner. 
 She had some of these little crackers made in the shape 
 of letters, and with these she had spelled out something. 
 She never said a word, but she watched him. She had 
 spelled out these words, ''Grandpa, I want a box of 
 paints." Never said a word. At night when he came 
 home he left his overcoat with the box of paints in it, 
 downstairs. She didn't seem to be much disturbed, but 
 she said, " Grandpa, I thank you for the box of paints." 
 She didn't see them, but she believed they were coming. 
 Why, the old man laughed over it, and said he wouldn't 
 have missed the box of paints for the world. I remem- 
 
704 Moody's sermons. 
 
 ber once I wanted to teach my little boy faith. I put 
 him on the table and said, "Jump." And the little fel- 
 low began to swing his hands and get ready to jump, but 
 he said, " I'se 'fraid." I said, " I will catch you. Look 
 right at me and jump. I will catch you." And the little 
 fellow got ready to jump again. But he looked down 
 and said, " I'se 'fraid." " Didn't I tell you I would catch 
 you? I won't let you fall. Just keep looking right at 
 me." He got all ready again and looked down the third 
 time. I said, "Didn't I tell you I would catch you?" 
 Finally I caught his eye and held it, and he jumped. 
 But, oh, the look of agony on his face! But I caught 
 him. He thought it was fun, and I put him back on the 
 table and let him jump again. That was faith. But by- 
 and-by he had too much faith, and I had to run to catch 
 him. But you cannot have too much faith in God. Now, 
 it pleases you to have your children have faith in you, 
 does it? How would you feel to have your children talk 
 about their mother, and say they didn't believe in her? 
 That wouldn't be very pleasing, would it? What do you 
 say? Now, my friends, let us have faith in the word. 
 If He has said it, that is enough. There is a passage in 
 the third chapter of John, the thirty-sixth verse, that I 
 would like to read, " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
 not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Now, 
 let me read again, " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
 not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." It 
 doesn't say that you "shall have," but " hath everlasting 
 life." Now, will you believe on the Son, right here? 
 Right now? It says, "As he spake these words many 
 
THE POWER OF FAITH. 705 
 
 believed on Him there." Why shouldn't it be so here 
 this afternoon? These are the words of Jesus Christ. 
 Let me read them again, " He that believeth on the Son 
 hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son 
 shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." 
 
 Now, my friends, if you go out of here without salva- 
 tion, there is no one to blame but your own self. There 
 is nothing to hinder you from being saved but your own 
 will. It isn't that you have not the power. You have it. 
 If I make a statement here, you will believe it. If I 
 should say that I will be here at half-past seven, you will 
 believe. I may be sick; God is never sick. I may die; 
 God never dies. Here is life for you by just exercising 
 faith. Now, the question is, will you do it? You say 
 you cannot see it. Of course you cannot. I have got 
 something here in this organ. These people back here 
 can see it, but you cannot. Do you believe it is here? 
 Dr. Horton, you cannot see it. Do you believe it is here? 
 "Yes." What makes you believe it? "Because you 
 say so." Well, do you feel it? "No." Isn't that be- 
 lieving when you can't see? Well, now, if I tell you 
 what I have got here, will you believe it? 
 
 There is a blind man; will you believe it? "Yes." 
 There is a man that has never seen me; he is blind; 
 but he hears the voice and believes. Now, I will tell 
 you what it is. I have got a book. Do you believe it? 
 "Yes." Well, now, there is faith for you! He cannot 
 see me, but he hears my voice and believes me. It is a 
 book that I think a great deal of. There are three hun- 
 dred and sixty-five passages in it on love. Many a time 
 I have gone off to sleep just laying my head down upon 
 one of these verses. If you want your hearts to glow 
 
706 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 with the love of God, get a book like that. Well, now, 
 will you take the book, if I will give it to you? " Yes." 
 I am not going to charge you anything for it. Do you 
 believe that? " Yes." You don't feel it yet, but you be- 
 lieve it is coming? "Yes, I believe it is coming." Put 
 out your hand. Do you feel it now? "Yes." Yes, 
 because you have got it. And when you get Christ you 
 will feel him. You will thank God by-and-by, perhaps, 
 that you were born blind, if you were born blind. By- 
 and-by when the light of eternity dawns upon you, and 
 the new world opens up, oh, I would like to be there! 
 Don't lock the door of your heart against Him, and say 
 He cannot come in. Let Him in now. " Believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
Isaac Blessing Jacob. Genesis, xxvii. 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 A gentleman came out to one of our meetings some 
 time ago and said he hoped to get in that series of meet- 
 ings an awakening that would last him all his life. I told 
 him he might as well try to eat enough to last him all his 
 life. I told him he might as well try to eat enough at 
 one time, as to try to get an awakening that would last 
 him all of his life. That is a mistake that people are 
 making; they are running to religious meetings, and they 
 think the meetings are going to do the work. But if they 
 don't bring you into closer contact with the word of God, 
 the whole impression will be gone in three months. In 
 the one hundred and tenth psalm, David prays nine times 
 that God will quicken him according to His laws, accord- 
 ing to His judgments, according to His precepts, accord- 
 ing to His word. Now, if you get that kind of an awaken- 
 ing you have got something that is going to abide, be- 
 cause God's word is going to abide forever. That is sub- 
 stantial. 
 
 Now, another thing; you need to take the whole Bible, 
 and not a part of it. There are a great many people that 
 are living on a few chapters and verses. They don't take 
 the whole of the Scripture. I want to say before I forget 
 it, that Sunday-school teachers are making a woful mis- 
 
 709 
 
710 Moody's sermons. 
 
 take if they don't take the whole Bible into their Sunday- 
 school classes. I don't care how young your children are; 
 let them understand it is one book, that they are not two 
 books; the Old Testament and the New are all one. 
 Don't let them think that the Old Testament doesn't 
 come to us with the same authority as the New. It is a 
 great thing for a boy or girl to know how to handle the 
 Bible. What is an army good for if they don't know how 
 to handle their swords? Now, I speak very strong on 
 this, because [ was brought up in a Sabbath-school that 
 didn't have a single Bible in it. We used to have those 
 old question-books. Do you know what they are like? 
 They are questions, and the answers are given just below; 
 so that you don't need to study your lesson. ■ Mother had 
 a Bible, it was a family Bible, but she was so afraid that 
 we would tear it that she kept it in the spare room; once 
 in a great while we were allowed to look at it. The 
 thing that interested me most was the family record, 
 when D wight was born, when father and mother were 
 married. Those were the most interesting things to me, 
 you know. So when I got to be a man, and my beard 
 began to come out, I was bigger then than I am now, in 
 my own estimation. I knew it all. O, yes! You couldn't 
 tell me much. I was wiser than my grandfather, or my 
 great-grandfather, or all the grandsires behind me. I 
 went down to Boston from the country, and went into a 
 Bible-class where there were a good many Harvard 
 students. Their families belonged to the church, I sup- 
 pose, and they came home to spend the Sabbath, or per- 
 haps they came home every day. I was put into this 
 class of young men. They handed me a Bible, and told 
 me the lesson was in John. I hunted all through the 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 711 
 
 Old Testament for John, but couldn't find it. I saw the 
 fellows hunching one another, ''Ah, greenie, from the 
 country." Now, you know that is just the time when you 
 don't want to be considered green. The teacher saw my 
 embarrassment and handed me his Bible, and I put my 
 thumb in the place and held on. I didn't lose my place. 
 I said then that if I ever got out of that scrape, I would 
 never be caught there again. Why is it that so many 
 young men from eighteen to twenty years cannot be 
 brought into a Bible-class? Because they don't want to 
 expose their ignorance. There is no place in the world 
 that is so fascinating as a live Bible-class. I believe that 
 we are to blame that they have been brought up in the 
 Sunday-school without Bibles, and brought up with these 
 quarterlies. The result is, the boys are growing up with- 
 out knowing how to handle the Bible. They don't know 
 where Matthew is, they don't know where the epistle of 
 Ephesians is, they don't know where to find Hebrews, or 
 any of the different books of the Bible. They ought to be 
 taught how to handle the whole Bible, and it can be 
 done by Sunday-school teachers taking the Bible into the 
 cla§s and going right about it at once. You can get a 
 Bible in this country for almost a song now. Sunday- 
 schools are not so poor that they cannot get Bibles. 
 Some time ago there came up in a large Bible-class a 
 question, and they thought they would refer to the Bible, 
 but they found that there was not a single one in the 
 class. So they went to the pews, but could not find one 
 there. Finally, they went to the pulpit and took the 
 pulpit's Bible and settled the question. We are making 
 wonderful progress, aren't we? Quarterlies are all right 
 in their places, but if they are going to sweep the Bibles 
 
7 12 Moody's sermons. 
 
 out of our Sunday-schools, I think we had better sweep 
 them out. 
 
 Now, a word about the whole Bible. I believe it is a 
 master-stroke of Satan to get us to doubt any portion of 
 the Bible. If he can get us to doubt just one thing in 
 that book, he has accomplished a great point, and it is 
 going to be the overthrow of many a man and woman's 
 faith. If I had the right to cut this out of the Bible, and 
 Mr. Sankey that, and Mr. H. that, it wouldn't be long 
 before the whole Bible would be cut up. Once a gentle- 
 man took a Bible to his minister, and said he wanted to 
 show him the minister's Bible. The pastor said, " Why 
 do you call it the minister's Bible? That isn't my Bible." 
 " Well," said the man, " I have sat under your ministry 
 for some time, and when you have thrown anything out 
 I have cut it out of the Bible." And he had got all of 
 the book of Job cut out, all Revelations, the Songs of 
 Solomon, and about a third of the Bible was cut out. 
 The minister said, " I wish you would leave that Bible 
 with me." He didn't want the people to see the book in 
 that condition. But the man said, "O, no! I have got 
 the covers, and I am going to hold on to them." And 
 off he went holding on to the covers. If you were to 
 hear some men preach, you wouldn't have anything but 
 the covers in a few months. People say, " What do you 
 do with what you cannot understand?" I don't do any- 
 thing with it. A man said to me once, " What do you 
 do with what you don't understand?" " I don't do any- 
 thing with it." " How do you understand it?" " I don't 
 understand it." "Well, how do you interpret it?" " I 
 don't interpret it." "What do you do with it?" "I 
 don't do anything with it." " Don't do anything with it? 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 713 
 
 Do you believe it?" "Yes, I believe it." Of course I 
 do. I am glad there is a height I know nothing about in 
 the old book, a length and a breadth we know nothing 
 about. It makes the book all the more fascinating. I 
 thank God it is beyond me. It is a pretty good proof 
 that it came from God, and not from the hand of man. 
 You can take a chapter and read it for three hundred and 
 sixty-five days in the year, and always find something 
 new in that chapter. Now, talk about believing in the 
 New and Old Testament. What portion is there in the 
 New Testament that you cannot find in the Old? In 
 Matthew alone, there are one hundred quotations from 
 the Old Testament. There are eighty-nine chapters in 
 the four gospels, and there are one hundred and forty- 
 two quotations taken from the Old Testament. 
 
 There are two hundred and forty quotations in Revela- 
 tions taken from the Old Testament. It is absurd for men 
 to take one portion of the Bible and throw out the rest. 
 
 Another thing, there is not a thing in that Old Testa- 
 ment that men are caviling about that God did not set 
 His seal to when He was down here. Men say, "You 
 don't believe in the story of those five cities being de- 
 stroyed by fire, Sodom and Gomorrah and those three 
 others?" Certainly. They were buying and selling until 
 judgment came and swept them away. " And so it shall 
 be in the coming of the Son of God." Men say, " You 
 don't believe in the story of Elijah being fed by that 
 widow, do you?" Certainly. Christ said there were 
 many widows in the days of Elijah, but Elijah was fed 
 by only one widow. Why, Christ believed it, He re- 
 ferred to it Himself, He set His seal to it. The Son of 
 God believed it, and ' ' Shall the servant be above his 
 
7H MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 master?" Men say, " Do you believe the story about the 
 Israelites being fed on manna?" Certainly. "As Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
 Son of Man be lifted up." He connected that with His 
 own cross. And then at last they look as wise as owls 
 and say, ' ' You certainly don't believe in the story of 
 Jonah and the whale?" Yes, I believe in that. When I 
 give that up I am going to give up the resurrection. As 
 you get along in life and you have perhaps 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 Bible. May God 
 help us to hold on to it! Jesus connected that with His 
 own resurrection. In Matthew they said thrice, " Show 
 us a sign. " And he said that the only sign should be the 
 story of Jonah in the whale's belly. Christ believed that 
 Jonah went into the whale's belly, and are you going to 
 be His disciple, and be wiser than He? Men say, " It is 
 a physical impossibility for a whale to swallow a man." 
 It 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? He can create a fish large 
 enough to swallow the whole world at one swallow. It 
 is astonishing how men are sneering and jeering at the 
 idea that God couldn't do it. A friend of mine was go- 
 ing back to Scotland, and he heard a couple of these 
 little modern philosophers discussing the Bible. One 
 said, "The Bible says that Balaam's ass spoke. Now, 
 I am a scientific man, and I have taken the pains to ex- 
 amine an ass' mouth, and it is so formed that it couldn't 
 speak." He was going to toss the whole Bible over be- 
 cause Balaam's ass couldn't speak. My friend said he 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 71 5 
 
 stood it just as long as he could, and finally he said, 
 ' ' Ah, man, you make an ass, and I will make him speak. " 
 The idea that the God who made the ass couldn't speak 
 through his mouth! Did you ever hear such stuff? And 
 yet this was one of your modern philosophers! 
 
 Then there is another class of people (and I am sorry 
 that I am now talking to those in the church, some of your 
 modern church-members, and some that profess to be 
 Christians who say, "Of course I believe the Bible, but 
 I don't believe the supernatural part." Well, now, if 
 you are going to throw out that part, you might just as 
 well burn it up and throw it away. There is no part of 
 the Bible that doesn't teach supernatural things. You 
 read that God went up from talking with Abraham. 
 Now, if that didn't take place, then the man that wrote 
 Genesis knew he was telling a lie, and out goes Genesis. 
 You go into Exodus, and there are the ten plagues and 
 Moses going through the Red sea, the water coming out 
 of the rock, and all those supernatural things. Now, if 
 those things were not so, the man that wrote it knew that 
 he was telling a deliberate, willful lie. Out goes Exodus. 
 You go into Numbers, and there is Moses making a brass 
 serpent, which is put on to a pole, and the people are 
 healed. If that didn't take place, out goes that book. And 
 so you can go into all the books of the Old Testament, 
 and there is not one that hasn't something supernatural 
 in it. You cannot touch Jesus Christ anywhere that 
 there is not something supernatural about Him. He 
 drops down to tell the virgin that she was to be the 
 mother of that child, and when Christ was born there 
 came a fire down from heaven to shout His praises. 
 That was all supernatural. His being warned, and go- 
 
7i 6 Moody's sermons. 
 
 ing off into Egypt was supernatural. When He com- 
 menced His ministry there was not a day when He was 
 not doing something supernatural. One day He speaks 
 to the leper, and he is made whole; one day He speaks 
 to the sea, and the sea obeys Him. When He died, the 
 sun refused to look upon that scene; this old world rec- 
 ognized Him, and the earth reeled and rocked like 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 sepulcher, that was supernatural. 
 Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher, says, "Many 
 reformations die with the reformer, but this reformer 
 ever lives to carry on His reformation." Thank God, we 
 don't worship a dead Jew. Do you suppose we would 
 have this audience here to-day, if we were worshiping a 
 dead Christ? Not by a good deal. If we worshiped a 
 dead Jew, we wouldn't have been quickened and given 
 life to our souls. I thank God that our Christ is a super- 
 natural Christ, and this book a supernatural book, and I 
 thank God that I live in a country where it is so free that 
 all men can read it. 
 
 Now, about what Christ says about Himself. He says 
 the Scriptures cannot be broken. Let us keep in mind 
 that the only Scriptures the apostles of Christ had was the 
 Old Testament. The New Testament wasn't written. 
 He means every word He says. Devil or man cannot 
 break the word of God. Why, I would as soon doubt 
 my own existence as to doubt that book. How any man 
 can for one moment doubt the veracity of the Bible, is a 
 mystery to me. 
 
 Now, Christ says in one place, "Heaven and earth 
 shall pass, but not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. ^l 1 / 
 
 until the law is fulfilled." Then, in another place, 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall 
 not pass away." Now, I will put that as the old and 
 new covenant. " Not one jot or tittle of the law shall 
 pass until the law shall be fulfilled," the new covenant, 
 and then Christ comes and adds these words, " Heaven 
 and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass 
 away." Now, notice how that has been fulfilled. There 
 was no shorthand reporter following- Him around taking 
 down His words; there were no papers to print His 
 sermons, and they wouldn't have printed the sermons if 
 there had been daily papers. The whole church and all 
 the religious world was against Him. I can see one of 
 your modern freethinkers standing near Him, and he 
 hears Christ say, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 but My word shall not pass away." I see the scornful 
 look on his face as he says, " Hear that Jewish peasant 
 talk! Did you ever hear such conceit, such madness? 
 He says heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words 
 shall not pass away." My friends, I want to ask you 
 this question, have they passed away? Go and ask your 
 infidels if His words have passed away. Do you know 
 that the sun shines to-day on more Bibles than it has 
 ever shone on before? Did you know that the American 
 Bible society and the London Bible society issued fifteen 
 hundred Bibles, every hour? Thank God, the Bibles are 
 not going out; they are just coming in! More Bibles 
 have been printed in the last eight years than in the last 
 eighteen hundred years. The Bible is printed in three 
 hundred and fifty different languages; it is going to the 
 darkest corners of the earth. 
 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word 
 
71 8 Moody's sermons. 
 
 shall not pass away." Are His words passing away? 
 No, and, thank God, they are not going to pass away. 
 You and I will pass away, and the world will pass away, 
 but His word is going to live and endure. It cannot be 
 wiped out. God broke the bands, and is coming down 
 along the ages. When they brought out the new version, 
 the American committee brought it out at the same hour 
 as it was put out in London. It was thrown on the 
 market on Friday morning, and that would bring it out 
 Friday afternoon. They couldn't send it to Chicago, be- 
 cause it was so late, and so an enterprising concern set 
 ninety different operators at work, and had the whole 
 book telegraphed to Chicago, and brought out Sunday 
 morning. Nearly nineteen hundred years after Christ 
 left the world that happened, and yet men are running 
 around and telling us that the old book is going out! But 
 my time is up. I will take this subject up again, and 
 we will go into it deeper. I have only touched it yet. 
 Bring your Bibles along with you, and your pencils and 
 paper. It will be a good thing to wear out your Bibles. 
 I don't like these gilt edged-Bibles that look as if they 
 had never been used. Don't be afraid to soil them. 
 Bring them along with you. 
 
Mary Magdalene. Mark, xvi, 9. 
 
GOD IS LOVE." 
 
 I will read a few verses from the first epistle of John, 
 fourth chapter, eighth to the twenty-first verse. "He 
 that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." In 
 these few verses you find this sentence recorded three 
 times, "God is love." I believe there are no three 
 words in the Bible that Satan is more apt to blot out 
 than that one sentence. I don't think that he has 
 been so successful in anything in the last six thousand 
 years as in making the world believe that He is not a God 
 of love. I earnestly believe that this old world has swung 
 out in the cold and dark and will never swing back until 
 this truth dawns upon it, that God is love. Mr. Spur- 
 geon one day took a train from London down into the 
 country to spend a little time with a friend, and he found 
 this friend had a weather vane on his barn, and on this 
 weather vane were the words, " God is love." 
 
 "What do you mean by that? Do you mean that 
 God's love is as changeable as the wind?" "No, I be- 
 lieve that God is love whichever 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 wrong, we think God 
 does not love us, and when things are unfortunate and 
 
 721 
 
722 Moody's sermons. 
 
 seem to be against us, then it is that we think that Christ 
 has forgotten us and does not love us. Now, if I could 
 just get this whole audience to believe that one sentence, 
 in spite of your failings, in spite of your sins, your back- 
 slidings, your lukewarmness, I tell you it will be a grand 
 day for this city. Now, three times John says in these 
 verses, "God is love." Not that "He may love," but 
 "is love." You ask me why He loves. I don't know. 
 I can't tell you. If you should ask me why the sun 
 shines, I could not tell you. I suppose it shines because 
 it cannot help it, because it is its nature. And I suppose 
 that is the reason that God loves, because it is His nature. 
 You take a man or a woman and make them believe that 
 there is no one in the wide world that loves or cares for 
 them, and they would rather die than live. It is that 
 class that commits suicide. You wives know that if you 
 haven't the love of your husbands, you cannot do any- 
 thing to please them, and life becomes weary and burden- 
 some to you if there is really no love. The thing we 
 prize above everything else in this world is love, and that 
 is the thing that God prizes above everything else. He 
 wants our hearts and affections. Now, Jesus when He 
 came into this world taught that the Father was love, 
 and all His teachings went on to show that His Father 
 was a God of love. And not only did He teach that the 
 Father was love, but that He was love. He loved those 
 that didn't love Him. That is the difference between 
 human and divine love; we love a person as long as he is 
 worthy, and then it is that we cast him off. He loves 
 you in spite of what you have done and said, and what 
 you are doing. 
 
 Now, I was going to try to prove that Christ loves 
 
GOD IS LOVE. 723 
 
 those that are not worthy of His love. I am going to try 
 before I get through to prove that God loves every wom- 
 an in this audience. If you doubt it, then I believe you 
 doubt Scripture, because I think I can show that He 
 loves you all. You remember the last night He was with 
 His disciples, before He was betrayed, it says, ' ' Having 
 loved His own which were in the world, He loved them 
 unto the end." Do you remember that was the night one 
 of them was going to betray Him; that one of them was 
 going to deny Him, and swear that he never knew Him, 
 and every one was to forsake Him? Yet on that very 
 night, it says, " Having loved His own which were in 
 the world, He loved them unto the end." Now, I be- 
 lieve what makes eternity so awful to Judas is that he 
 took away with him this fact, that Christ loved him to 
 the end. When he betrayed Him with a kiss, there in 
 the garden, the Master turned to him and said, "Be- 
 tray est thou the Master with a kiss?" He might have 
 hurled him down into perdition, but the Master kindly 
 said, " Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?" It was 
 that which drove Judas to the grave of a suicide. I be- 
 lieve he heard that ringing in his ears until it drove him 
 clean mad. I believe that Judas remembers it until to- 
 day, nothing but the love of Christ. So His love is un- 
 changeable. 
 
 There are some of you who don't speak to people 
 whom you knew ten years ago. Your love is very 
 changeable. There will be a falling out between now 
 and 1895. You may get nearly 1895, Dut y° u wu "l f a ^ 
 out before the end. You will say that there are some 
 people who have betrayed you, and have been untrue to 
 you. Now, that is the difference between divine and 
 
724 
 
 human love. His love is unchangeable. He loved Peter 
 when, Peter was denying Him. Of course He hated his 
 sins, and He hated Judas' hypocrisy, but He loved them, 
 and so He loves every hypocrite here to-day. He wants 
 to woo you back to Himself. Then you go over to the 
 forty-ninth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, and you 
 read these words, " Can a woman forget her sucking 
 child, that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget 
 thee. " Now, the closest tie on earth is a mother's love 
 for her child. There are a good many things that will 
 separate a man from his wife, but there isn't a thing in 
 the wide, wide world that will separate a true mother 
 from her own child. I will admit that there are un- 
 natural mothers, that there are mothers that have gone 
 out of their heads, mothers that are so steeped in sin 
 and iniquity that they will turn against their own chil- 
 dren, but a true mother will never, never turn against 
 her own child. I have talked with mothers when my 
 blood boiled with indignation against the son who treated 
 a mother so, and I have said, " Why don't you cast him 
 onY' They have said, "Why, Mr. Moody, I love him 
 
 still. He is my son." I was preaching for Dr. G in 
 
 St. Louis, and when I got through he said that he 
 wanted to tell me a story. There was a boy who was 
 very bad, he had a very bad father; the father seemed to 
 take delight in teaching the boy everything that was bad. 
 Finally, the boy got so bad that the family refused to let 
 their boy associate with him. But the boy was interested 
 in him and watched him. The boy's father died some 
 years after, and the boy went on from bad to worse until 
 he was arrested for murder. When he was on trial, it 
 
GOD IS LOVE. 72 5 
 
 came out that he had murdered five other people, and 
 from one end of the city to the other there was a univer- 
 sal cry going up against him, and during his trial they 
 had to guard the court-house, the indignation was so in- 
 tense. The white-haired mother got just as near her boy 
 as she could, and every witness that went into the court 
 and said anything against that boy seemed to hurt her 
 more than the boy. When the jury brought in a verdict 
 of guilty, there was a great cry sent up, but the old 
 mother nearly fainted away; and when the judge pro- 
 nounced the sentence of death they thought she would 
 faint away. After it was over, the old mother got her 
 arms around him and kissed him, and there in the court 
 they had to tear him from her embrace. She went the 
 length and breadth of the city trying to get men to sign 
 a petition for his pardon. And then when he was hung, 
 she just begged the governor to let her have the body of 
 her boy that she might bury it. They say that death has 
 torn down everything in this world, everything but a 
 mother's love. That is stronger than death itself. The 
 governor refused to let the old mother have the body, 
 but she would cherish the memory of that boy as long as 
 she lived. A few months after, she followed her boy, and 
 when she was dying she sent word to the governor, and 
 begged that her body might be laid close to her boy. 
 That is a mother's love. She wasn't ashamed to have 
 her grave pointed out for all time as the grave of the 
 mother of the most noted criminal the state of Vermont 
 ever had. And the prophet takes hold of the very idea. 
 He says, "Can a mother forget her child?" But a 
 mother's love is not to be compared to the love of God. 
 A friend of mine was at a dinner party some years ago, 
 
726 Moody's sermons. 
 
 and he was impressed with the dignified, queenly manner 
 with which the lady of the house presided. After he had 
 gotten into the drawing-room he remembered he had left 
 something in the dining-room, and he went back to get 
 it. He found that same lady sitting at the same table 
 with a man that looked like a tramp. She rose and in- 
 troduced him as her youngest son, and putting her loving 
 arm around him, she said, ' ' He has gone far away, but 
 I love him still." Is there a mother here to-day that has 
 five children, and one has gone astray, and doesn't she 
 love that one? Doesn't her heart yearn for him? I 
 sometimes think there is a little more love because there 
 is pity linked with the love. 
 
 Is there some poor fallen woman here to-day who 
 thinks she is forsaken by God and man, and whose own 
 pure sisters have cast her off and ostracised her? I want 
 to say to such that Jesus loves you still. God is love. 
 Let the love of God sink into your hearts to-day. He 
 loves you because you have sinned. Did you ever think 
 what has brought out the love of God? It was Adam's 
 fall. When the news reached heaven, God came down 
 and sought him out. Adam ought to have gone up and 
 down Eden crying, "My God, I have sinned! Where 
 art thou?" But instead of that, God sought him out and 
 blessed him, and told him that the seed of the woman 
 should bruise the serpent's head. And so you will find 
 all along through the Scriptures that He loves the world. 
 There is not a person here to-day that can put her finger 
 on a portion of Scripture that teaches that God hates a 
 sinner, because he has sinned. It was man's calamity 
 that brought out God's love. I have two sons, and if 
 one of them should go astray, if I loved him it would 
 
GOD IS LOVE. 727 
 
 make me angry to have him go and do wrong. What 
 would I care that he had done wrong, if I didn't love him? 
 It is just because I love him that my boy has gone astray. 
 Dr. Arnot, one of the greatest Scotch divines, was in this 
 country before he died. His mother died when he was 
 a little boy only three weeks old, and there was a large 
 family of Arnots. I supposed they missed the tender- 
 ness and love of the mother. The Arnot children got the 
 impression that their father was very stern and rigid, and 
 that he had a great many laws and rules. One rule was, 
 that the children should never climb trees, and when the 
 neighbors found out that the Arnot children could not 
 climb trees, they began to tell them about the wonderful 
 things they could see from the tops of the trees. Well, 
 now, you tell a boy of twelve years that he mustn't climb 
 a tree, and he will get up that tree some way. And so 
 the Arnot children were all the time teasing their father 
 to let them climb the tree; but the old sire said, "No." 
 One day he was busy reading his paper, and the boy said, 
 " Father is reading his paper. Let's slip down into the 
 lot and climb a tree." One of the little fellows stood on 
 the top of the house to see that father did not catch 
 them. When his brother got up on the first branch, he 
 said, "What do you see?" "Why! I don't see any- 
 thing." " Then go higher, you haven't got high enough." 
 So up he went higher, and again the. little boy stretched 
 and 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 came and broke his leg.^ Willie said he tried to get 
 him into the house, but he couldn't do it. He had to 
 tell his father all about it. He said he was scared nearly 
 
728 Moody's sermons. 
 
 out of his wits. He thought his father would be very 
 angry. But he ran into the house and told his father, 
 and he said his father just hurled the paper, and 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. And Willie said he got a new view of that 
 father. He found out the reason why that father was so 
 stern. He said the moment that boy got hurt, no mother 
 could have been more loving and gentle. 
 
 My dear friends, there is not one commandment that 
 has been given us which has not been for our highest and 
 best interest. There isn't a commandment that hasn't 
 come from the loving heart of God, and what He wants 
 is to have us give up that which is going to mar our hap- 
 piness in this life, and in the life to come. So don't let 
 Satan believe for a moment that God doesn't love you. 
 It is said when the archbishop of France was thrown into 
 prison, there was a little window in the door of his cell 
 in the shape of a cross, and a man in the cell next to him 
 had been brought out and shot down, and he didn't know 
 but that at any time they would do the same with him. 
 He took a lead pencil and wrote on the top of that cross, 
 "height," at the bottom, "depth;" and on either side of 
 the cross "length" and "breadth." My friends, that is 
 just what the cross of Jesus Christ tells us; the height, 
 depth, length and breadth of God's love. How a wom- 
 an in this audience can go to Calvary and sit there five 
 minutes, and doubt that God is love is a mystery to me. 
 I used to put God as a stern judge on the throne, and 
 His Son as one that had come to appease the earth and 
 make it possible for me to get access to that Father. 
 
GOD IS LOVE. /29 
 
 My dear friends, since I became a father I have made 
 this discovery; it took more love for God to give that 
 Son to die than it did for that Son to die. Mothers, 
 wouldn't you rather die than to see your own child die? 
 I used to tell my mother, when I was a little boy, that I 
 loved her most. And my little boy when he was about 
 five years old would climb up on my knee, and put his 
 arms around my neck and say, "Papa, I love you the 
 most." And the little fellow thought he did. But I tell 
 you, since I have become a father I have found out that 
 my love for my mother wasn't anything compared with 
 my love for my children. Supposing your little boy 
 should see you in your coffin. He would feel grieved at 
 the time, but his grief would soon wear away and be for- 
 gotten. But supposing you see your little boy in the 
 coffin. Would you ever forget it? Do you think this 
 mother right down here would ever forget that little thing 
 sitting in her lap? Never; as long as memory lasted, she 
 would remember that child. I cannot tell you anything 
 about the love of God. I heard a man once say that if 
 we could borrow Jacob's ladder, and ask Gabriel how 
 much God loved, he would say, " God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
 life." Now, my friends, let the love of God into your 
 heart. Don't lock your heart against it, but let the love 
 of God come in just now, this very minute. 
 
 I see some children have come in. Let me tell them a 
 story. When the gold fever broke out in 1849, there was 
 a man in New England who had a wife and a little boy, 
 and he wanted very much to go to California. The mother 
 didn't want to have him go, but he promised that as soon 
 
73° MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 as he got money he would send for her and the little boy. 
 People then thought they were going to find gold and be- 
 come suddenly very rich, but there were a great many 
 that didn't get anything. This man wasn't so prosper- 
 ous as he thought he was going to be, and when his letters 
 came there was no check to take them to California. But 
 one beautiful day the long-looked-for letter came, and 
 they were to go to New York, and take a beautiful Pacific 
 steamer, and the man was to go down to meet them. 
 After they had been out to sea a few days, all at once 
 they heard on board that awful cry that is horrible to 
 any one on water, "Fire! Fire!" They set the pumps 
 to work, and did everything they could, but the fire 
 gained upon them, and at last the captain gave the ship 
 up. He ordered the lifeboats lowered, but there were 
 not enough to take them on board. Among others were 
 this mother and her little boy. The last lifeboat was 
 pushing away, and she knew it was her last chance, and 
 she asked them to take her and her little boy. But they 
 said, " No, if we take them in we will all lose our lives. 
 We can only take one of them." So they shouted back 
 that they could take one. What did the mother do? 
 Did she leave her little boy and get into the lifeboat her- 
 self? Ah, no. No mother would do that. No, she just 
 took her boy to her bosom and gave him a good hug and 
 kiss, and dropped him into the lifeboat. But just before 
 the boat left, she said, " My boy, if you live to see your 
 father, tell him I died for you." Now, I want to ask 
 these children in this audience this question, what would 
 you say if that boy when he grew to be a young man 
 should speak contemptuously of that mother? 
 
 Christ made bare His arm, and left the bosom of the 
 
GOD IS LOVE. 731 
 
 Father and stooped from yonder throne to come down 
 here to tell the world that He loved them, and all He 
 wants in return is love. Make up your minds to-day that 
 you are going to love Him because He loves you. Don't 
 let any one think he cannot begin now. You can begin 
 this very minute if you will. Let Him in this very hour. 
 In Revelation it says, " Unto Him that loved and washed 
 us." " Unto Him that loved" us, and then washed us. 
 He just loved us in our sins, and saved us from our sins. 
 I was in Philadelphia preaching a little while after little 
 Charlie Ross was stolen. I think you mothers will re- 
 member what an intense excitement there was in 1875. 
 On the outskirts of Philadelphia, little Charlie Ross was 
 one day playing with an older brother, and a man en- 
 ticed them to go off and get some candy. The older boy 
 was left in the woods, and little Charlie was taken away. 
 You remember how intensely this country was excited 
 over it. When I went to Philadelphia, Charlie's mother 
 used to come to the meetings to see if some one came in 
 with her boy. Shortly after that I went to New York, 
 and some of her friends wanted me to keep a good look- 
 out. That is a mother's love. Men were sent off into 
 Japan, France, all through Great Britain to find that boy. 
 The last I heard of Mrs. Ross she still hoped her boy 
 was going to be found. Now, just let me use that mother 
 as an illustration Supposing she sits here to-day, she 
 is still looking for that long-lost boy. She comes into 
 the choir to-night in hopes that he may come in among 
 the men. She just keeps watching, and she looks at 
 this one and that one, but she does not see her boy. By- 
 and-by the door opens, and a man comes up the aisle 
 looking for a seat. All at once Mrs. Ross sees her long- 
 
732 Moody's sermons. 
 
 lost Charlie. His clothes are ragged, he hasn't a decent 
 thing about him, his hair hasn't been combed for weeks, 
 and he looks very repulsive to the audience. But Mrs. 
 Ross sees her Charlie, her long-lost boy, and what does 
 she do? I tell you, you would see a sight in this hall. 
 She wouldn't wait until I got through with my sermon. 
 She would get that boy into her arms, and hug and kiss 
 him, and then she would take him and have him cleaned 
 and give him a new suit of clothes. My dear friends, it 
 is but a faint illustration. Christ loves you in spite of 
 your sins. If there is any one here guilty of adultery, 
 Christ loves you, and will forgive you. He will love you 
 right on all through your life. My dear friends, don't 
 spurn the love of God whatever you do. If you want 
 power, Christ will give it to you. Now, just pray that 
 we may all love Him. 
 
The Angel at the Sepulcher. Matthew, xxviii, 1-7. 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 
 
 There is no book after all that will draw people like 
 the Bible. One of the professors of the Chicago uni- 
 versity gave some lectures on the book of Job, and there 
 was no building large enough to hold the people. If it 
 only has a chance to speak for itself, it will interest the 
 people. I don't know where I got hold of some of the 
 things I am going to give you to-day, but I will give 
 them to you, and you find oat the author if you can. 
 Sometimes a man will take my Bible and return it to 
 me with a good many little things noted in it. Some 
 time ago. a man wanted to take my Bible home to get a 
 few things out of it and when it came back I found this 
 noted in it, " Justification, a change of state, a new 
 standing before God; repentance, a change of mind, a 
 new mind about God; regeneration, a change of nature, 
 a new heart from God; conversion, a change of life, a 
 new life for God; adoption, a change of family, a new 
 relationship toward God; sanctification, change of ser- 
 vice, separation to God; sanctification, a new condition 
 with God." In the same handwriting I found these 
 lines, " Jesus — only the light of heaven is the face of 
 Jesus; the joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus; the 
 
 735 
 
736 Moody's sermons. 
 
 melody of heaven is the name of Jesus; the harmony 
 of heaven is the presence of Jesus; the theme of heaven 
 is the work of Jesus; the employment of heaven is the 
 service of Jesus; the fullness of heaven is Jesus Himself; 
 the duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus." Sanc- 
 tification is glorification commenced. Glorification is 
 sanctification completed. 
 
 Now, I think these things are worth knowing. It is 
 a good thing to carry your Bible and your pencil along 
 with you. A friend of mine was in Edinburgh and he 
 heard one of the leading Scotch Presbyterian ministers. 
 He had been preaching from the text, " Every eye shall 
 see Him." And he closed up by saying, "Yes, every 
 eye; Adam will see Him, and when he does see Him he 
 will say this is He who promised to be with me when I 
 fell. Mary will see Him, and she will sing with new in- 
 terest that magnificat, and I, too, shall see Him, and 
 when I do see Him I will sing ' Rock of ages cleft for 
 me, let me hide myself in Thee. ' ' A good way to 
 close up a sermon, wasn't it? 
 
 Now, if you hear a good sermon like that, put it down 
 and pass it on to some one else. People say they can- 
 not say anything themselves. You can all say what 
 some one else has said. Now, that is the object in 
 carrying your Bibles with you. Don't get a Bible so 
 good that you will be afraid to carry it, or you will soil 
 it. You want a good plain-print Bible, and if you can- 
 not see, get a magnifying glass; only take your Bibles 
 along and see that the man preaches according to the 
 word. 
 
 Here are some more lines. I don't know where I got 
 them. They are about the word itself, "A lamp to 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 737 
 
 direct us; medicine to heal us; a guide to direct us; a 
 bit to restrain us; a sword to defend us; fire to inflame 
 us; water to wash us; salt to season us; milk to nourish 
 us; a key to unlock heaven.'' That is what the Bible is 
 to us, and a good deal more. 
 
 Now, I am going to tell you something about how to 
 study the Bible. It is absurd for me to tell people how 
 to study the Bible, because, perhaps, my method and 
 plan wouldn't suit your plan at all. Every one ought to 
 learn to do it for himself. I think it is a great mistake 
 that people don't learn to study it for themselves and be 
 independent readers and thinkers. There are a great 
 many people who know only what they hear from other 
 people. They don't go and get it straight from the 
 fountain. Now, it is a good thing to know how to feed 
 yourself. When my little boy got so he could get his 
 spoon to his mouth without spilling his food, the other 
 children clapped their hands and said, "Look, papa, 
 Paul can feed himself." I know some of God's children, 
 forty years old, who cannot feed themselves yet. They 
 have to be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. So it is a 
 good thing, my friends, to learn to feed yourselves. If 
 you get to a place where they have no preaching, you 
 can go right to the Bible and feed yourself, and you will 
 grow then; the soul cannot grow under any other kind 
 of food. If you can only get the church of God into 
 the Bible, then we are going to have healthy churches 
 and Christians. 
 
 Now, I am going to give you a few hints, and perhaps 
 I may hit some of you. A good way to study the Bible 
 is to take one book at a time. I know some people who 
 never sit down to read a book until they have time to 
 
738 Moody's sermons. 
 
 read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or 
 Numbers, or any of the other books, they read it right 
 through at one sitting. They get the whole sweep of 
 the book, and then they begin to study it chapter by 
 chapter. It is a good thing to take one book. 
 
 Then another good way to study the Bible is to take 
 the fulfilled prophecies. I don't know anything more 
 fascinating or interesting than the fulfilled prophecies of 
 the Bible. Why, you know for a good many years we 
 thought that Arizona and all those territories that are 
 now states were a great American desert. I remember 
 when I was a little boy that was taught in school, but 
 when they struck that pickaxe down into the earth and 
 developed about a million, they began to wake up. And 
 now look at the beautiful cities that have sprung up 
 there in those mountains. Do you know it is just so 
 with portions of the Scriptures? There are very few 
 Christians who seem to think of studying up the 
 prophecies. They say it is so mysterious and there is 
 question about the prophecies being fulfilled. I tell you, 
 we would have better Christians, it seems to me, if we 
 would take the whole Bible. 
 
 Now, you take the four great cities that existed in the 
 days when the Old Testament was written, and you will 
 find that these prophecies have been fulfilled to the let- 
 ter. There are two hundred prophecies in regard to 
 Jesus Christ that have been fulfilled to the letter. It 
 says over and over again that this and that needed to be 
 done, "that the Scriptures might be fulfilled." There 
 was nothing that happened to Christ, the Roman soldier 
 driving that spear int3 His side, His being nailed to the 
 cross, that wasn't prophesied a thousand or fifteen 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 739 
 
 hundred years before. Just let me call your attention 
 to a few passages regarding these cities. First, to Baby- 
 lon — Isaiah, xiii, 19, "And Babylon, the glory of king- 
 doms, 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 Arabians 
 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." Jeremiah, i, I, " The word that the Lord 
 spake against Babylon and against the land of the 
 Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among 
 the nations, and publish and set up a standard; publish, 
 and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is con- 
 founded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are 
 confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out 
 of the north there cometh a nation against her; which 
 shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell there- 
 in; they shall renew, they shall depart, both man and 
 beast." Jeremiah, i, 13, "Because of the wrath 
 of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall 
 be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon 
 shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. " Jere- 
 miah, i, 23, " How is the hammer of the whole earth 
 cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a 
 desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for 
 thee, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not 
 
740 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 aware; thou art found, and also taught because thou 
 hast striven against the Lord." 
 
 A friend going through the valley of the Euphrates 
 tried to get his dragoman to pitch his tent near the 
 ruins. No Arabian pitches his tent there, no shepherd 
 will dwell near the ruins. That prophecy has been ful- 
 filled. 
 
 Now, take Nineveh. If you will just read two verses 
 in Nahum, iii, 6, 7, "And I will cast abominable filth 
 upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a 
 gazing-stock. 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?" Now, how are you 
 going to cover the thing up? "I will cast her abomi- 
 nable filth." How are you going to cast abominable 
 filth upon the thing? And yet for twenty-five hundred 
 years Nineveh was buried, and an abominable filth lay 
 upon her. But now they have dug up the ruins, and 
 brought them to Paris and London, and you go into the 
 British museum, and there is not a day except the Sab- 
 bath but what you can see men from all parts of the 
 world gazing upon the ruins. It is just as the prophets 
 prophesied. For twenty-five hundred years Nineveh 
 was buried, but it is no longer buried. 
 
 Then look at Tyre, Ezekiel, xxvi, 3, "Therefore thus 
 saith the 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 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 74 1 
 
 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." Coffin, who was correspondent of the Boston 
 Journal during the war, went round the world after the 
 war was over in 1868. One night he came to the old 
 ruin of Tyrus, and he said the sun was just going down, 
 and he got his dragoman to pitch his tent right over by 
 the ruins, over where the rocks were scraped bare, and 
 he took out his Bible and read where it says, " It shall 
 be a place for the spreading of nets." He said the fish- 
 ermen had got done fishing and were just spreading their 
 nets on the rocks of Tyrus, just as it was prophesied 
 hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Now mark ye! 
 When they prophesied against these great cities, they 
 were like Paris and New York, in their glory, but their 
 glory has gone. 
 
 Now, you take the prophecy in regard to Jerusalem, 
 Luke, xix, 41, ''And when He was come near, He be- 
 held the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst 
 known, 'even thou at least in this thy day, the things 
 which belong unto thy peace. But now they are hid 
 from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee 
 that thy 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; but because thou 
 knowest not the time of thy visitation." I haven't time 
 to dwell upon these cities, but I don't know of anything 
 that floors a skeptic much quicker than to talk to him 
 about the fulfilled prophecies. Now, you take the prophe- 
 
74 2 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 ciesof Nineveh. It says in Ezekiel, xxx, 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." Now, 
 mark ye! Nineveh was in its glory when this was 
 prophesied. It was a great and mighty empire, but now 
 for centuries it has been the basest of all nations. They 
 haven't got a prince or king to reign over them. The 
 man that is reigning over them now isn't an Egyptian, 
 but he is some foreigner, and so it has been. But I 
 havent time to dwell upon these cities. I wanted to 
 show you how the prophecies had been fulfilled. 
 
 Now, another good way to study the Bible is to take 
 it up topically. It is a good thing to take a concord- 
 ance. Alexander Cruden's is the best one, I think, be- 
 cause I can carry it around with me. With that con- 
 cordance I can find any passage in the Bible in about a 
 minute. I was a Christian about five years before I 
 ever heard of it. A skeptic once got hold of me. I 
 didn't know anything about the Bible, and I tried to 
 defend the Bible and Christianity. He made a quota- 
 tion, and I said it wasn't in the Bible. I hunted for 
 days and days. If I had had a concordance I could 
 have found it at once. It is a good thing for ministers 
 once in a while to tell the people about these good 
 things. You can find any portion or any verse in the 
 Bible by just turning to this concordance. Now, per- 
 haps you ministers think it is very foolish for me to tell 
 the people this, for you think they know all about it. 
 A man came to me once and said, " What is that book 
 you said told us all about the Bible? What did you call 
 it? A concordance? Alexander concordance?" He 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 743 
 
 didn't know anything about it, and he had been in the 
 church twenty years. It is a good thing to take a 
 concordance and look up one topic. Take up sanctifi- 
 cation. I tell you what, I would rather take my con- 
 cordance and get every passage on sanctification and sit 
 down for four or five days and study up sanctification 
 than to have all these men tell me about it; no two will 
 tell you alike. Now, justification is what turned Martin 
 Luther inside out. The truth dawned upon him as he 
 went up those stairs in Rome. I tried to find those stairs. 
 He got half way up on his knees when the truth dawned 
 upon him — justification by faith. It is a good thing to 
 see what the Bible says about it. Take up conversion. 
 People say they don't believe in sudden conversion. 
 When Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in 
 Europe a man preached a sermon against the pernicious 
 sermons that we were going to preach, one of which was 
 sudden conversion. He said conversion was a matter of 
 time and growth, and all that. Do you know what I do 
 when any man preaches against my doctrines? I go to 
 the Bible and find out what it says, and if I am right I 
 just give them more of the Bible. I have preached 
 more on sudden conversion in that town than in any 
 town I was in in my life. Give them more of the Bible. 
 I would like to know how long it took the Lord to con- 
 vert Zachariah. How long did it take the Lord to con- 
 vert the woman whom he met at the well of Sychar? 
 How long to convert that adulterous woman in the 
 temple, who was caught in the very act of adultery? 
 How long to convert that woman who anointed His feet 
 and wiped them with the hairs of her head? Didn't she 
 go ~«\th the word of God ringing in her soul, " Go in 
 
744 Moody's sermons. 
 
 peace"? " O, yes," you say, " that was when He was 
 here. Of course that is different." I tell you what, 
 after He was glorified, they were converted still faster; 
 three thousand in one day. That would scare some of 
 you ministers, wouldn't it? Three thousand in one day! 
 I tell you what, it would make a stir in some of your 
 conservative churches. I would like to get hold of one 
 of these modern philosophers who believes that there is 
 no such thing as sudden conversion and have him talk 
 to one of these inquirers. Here is a man who comes 
 into the inquiry-meeting to-night and I try to get his 
 confidence and find out what the trouble is. Finally he 
 tells me he has been taking money from his employers. 
 I ask him how much. Don't know; he hadn't kept 
 account. I ask him if he thinks it will amount to one 
 thousand dollars. ''Yes, more than that." I ask him 
 if he thinks fifteen hundred dollars will cover it. He 
 thinks fifteen hundred dollars will be about right. I tell 
 him to go and make restitution. I suppose one of these 
 modern philosophers would say, "Don't you steal more 
 than one thousand dollars next year. If you stole 
 fifteen hundred dollars last year, don't steal more than 
 one thousand dollars this year. And the second year 
 don't you steal more than five hundred dollars." In the 
 course of four or five years he tells him he won't steal 
 at all. " If your employer catches you at it, you tell 
 him you are being converted in a new way." The Bible 
 says, "Let him that stole steal no more." Right about 
 face! Take another illustration. Here comes in a man, 
 and he admits that he gets drunk every week. You 
 know when some men get drunk they are real devils; 
 they go home and knock their wives down and kick 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 745 
 
 them, and they bear the marks of the bruises until they 
 go down to their graves. That man comes here to- 
 night, and he wants to be converted. I say, ''Don't 
 you be in a hurry. I don't believe in sudden work. I 
 believe in doing the work gradually. Don't you knock 
 your wife down more than once a month." My, wouldn't 
 it be refreshing to your wife to go a whole month with- 
 out being knocked down! Once a month, only twelve 
 times in a year! Wouldn't she be glad to have you con- 
 verted in this new way? Only get drunk after a few 
 years on the anniversary of your wedding; on Christmas; 
 and then it will be effectual because it is gradual. O, 
 I detest all that kind of talk. Let's go to the Bible and 
 see what the old book teaches. Let us believe it, and 
 go and act as if we believed it, too. I believe a man 
 may come in here a thief and go out a saint. I believe 
 a man can come in here as vile as hell itself and go out 
 saved. What we want is to go right to the old book 
 and see what it teaches. 
 
 People say they don't believe in assurance. Very well, 
 let us go to the book and see what it teaches. If it is 
 our privilege to know that we have passed from death to 
 life, let you and I believe it. Take that subject of faith 
 that I had last Friday. As I told you before, I thought 
 it was going to come to me in some mysterious, miracu- 
 lous way. Read all there is in the Bible on faith, and 
 you will get filled. I remember once I took up the grace 
 of God. I didn't know the difference between law and 
 grace. When that truth dawned upon me, I saw the 
 difference. What! I studied the whole week on 
 grace, and I got so filled I couldn't stay in the house. I 
 said to the first man I met, "Do you know anything 
 
746 Moody's sermons. 
 
 about the grace of God?" He thought I was a lunatic. 
 And I just poured out for about an hour about the grace 
 of God. If you want to know about these doctrines 
 just take up the old doctrine of the atonement, which is 
 being assailed from all quarters. Just take the Bible 
 and begin at Genesis and go through to Revelation. If 
 you take the atonement out of the book, you may have 
 it. I don't want it. If you take that doctrine out of 
 it, you take the heart. If a man doesn't believe what I 
 say, let him go to the Bible and see what that says. I 
 will preach on that subject to-night. I just want to 
 preach on the atonement. A man came to me once and 
 said, "You have changed your doctrine, haven't you? 
 You don't hold on to that old doctrine of atonement any 
 longer, do you?'' And I thought it was about time I 
 went at it again. God helping me, I will preach on the 
 atonement to-night. 
 
 People say they want to get heavenly minded. Well, 
 read about heaven and talk about it. I once preached 
 on " Heaven," and after the meeting a lady came to me 
 and said, ' ' Why, Mr. Moody, I didn't know there were 
 so many verses in the Bible about heaven." And I 
 hadn't taken one out of a hundred. She was amazed 
 that there were so many verses in the Bible about 
 heaven. 
 
 Now, if you ministers will allow me, I just want to 
 say a few words to you. I am net a minister, and 
 therefore I can speak as a layman. I want to say that 
 I honestly believe the greatest mistake we are making in 
 this country is that we don't have more expository 
 preaching. But there are a great many who only use 
 the Bible as a text-book. They think they have got to 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 74/ 
 
 give us botany, astronomy, metaphysics, and I don't 
 know what else — everything but the Bible. And then 
 they wonder why people read the Sunday newspapers. 
 I used to think Charles Spurgeon was about as good a 
 preacher as I ever knew, but I tell you what, I would 
 rather hear him expound the Scriptures than listen to all 
 the sermons. He excelled on this line. I believe what 
 makes Scotland such a mighty power is because from 
 the smallest child up every one brings his Bible to the 
 church. 
 
 Now, Dr. A. Bonar wasn't what would be called here 
 in America "a star preacher," not by a good deal, and 
 I am afraid some of you would think he was pretty dry. 
 But if you had been in Glasgow about thirty years, you 
 would have found just as many people as the building 
 would accommodate (about thirteen hundred was the 
 number that could be accommodated). You would have 
 seen thirteen hundred people with their pencils and paper 
 taking notes, and the old man would stand there and 
 just expound and explain the Scriptures. Then the peo- 
 ple would take and write out the notes and send them 
 all through Great Britain. Some of them were sent to 
 me, and I think I never had such a refreshing to my 
 soul. I preached five months in Glasgow, and there 
 wasn't any place in Glasgow that I didn't feel the influ- 
 ence of that preacher. People would go right into the 
 inquiry-meeting and go right to work. They knew their 
 Bibles from front to back. I know there is a class of 
 people who say that wouldn't do in this country. People 
 want something oratorical. Well, that is quite true. 
 There is no doubt but that there are some who want to 
 hear oratorical sermons, but they forget them inside of 
 
748 Moody's sermons. 
 
 twenty-four hours. It is a good thing for a minister to 
 have the reputation of feeding his people. A man once 
 had an artificial bee, which was so like a real bee that he 
 challenged another man to tell the difference. The man 
 said, "You put an artificial bee and a real bee down 
 there, and I will tell the difference pretty quick." The 
 man with the artificial bee had a machine that made 
 just such a buzzing as the live bee, and the bee looked 
 the same. They put up a drop of honey on the ground, 
 and the live bee went for the honey. It is just so with 
 us. There are a lot of people who profess to be 
 Christians, but they are artificial, you know, and they 
 don't know when you give them honey. The real bees 
 go for honey every time. People can get along without 
 your theories and opinions. "Thus saith the Lord.' 
 That is what we want. 
 
 Now, I was in London just before coming home this 
 last time, in 1884, and a barrister had come down from 
 Edinburgh. He said he went through to Glasgow a few 
 weeks ago to spend Sunday, and he was fortunate 
 enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened 
 to be there the Sunday he had got to that part of the 
 epistle of Galatians where it says that Paul went up to 
 Jerusalem. He let his imagination roam. He said one 
 day he could imagine they had been very busy, and they 
 were tired and sat there talking, and all at once Peter 
 turned to Paul and said, ' ' Paul, wouldn't you like to 
 take a little walk?" And Paul said he would. So they 
 went down through the streets of Jerusalem arm in arm, 
 over the brook Cedron, and all at once Peter stopped 
 and said, "Look, Paul, this is the very spot where He 
 wrestled, and where He suffered and sweat great drops 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 749 
 
 of blood. There is the very spot where John and James 
 fell asleep, right there. And right here is the very spot 
 where I fell asleep. I don't think I should have denied 
 Him if I hadn't gone to sleep, but I was overcome with 
 sleep. I remember the last thing I heard Him say be- 
 fore I fell asleep was, ' Father, let this cup pass from Me 
 if it is Thy will.' And when I awoke an angel stood right 
 there. Right there where you are standing! An angel 
 stood right there talking to Him, and I saw great drops 
 of blood coming from His pores and trickle down His 
 cheeks. It wasn't long before Judas came to betray 
 Him. And I heard Him say to Judas so kindly, ' Be- 
 trayest thou the Master with a kiss?' And then they 
 bound Him and led Him away. That night when He 
 was on trial I denied Him." He pictured the whole 
 scene. And the next day, Peter turned again to Paul 
 and said, " Wouldn't you like to take another walk with 
 me to-day?" And. Paul said he would. That day they 
 went to Calvary, and when they got on the hill, Peter 
 said, "There, Paul, this is the very spot where He died for 
 you and me. See that hole right there? That is where 
 His cross stood. Right there! That believing thief 
 hung right there, and the unbelieving thief right there 
 on the other side. Mary Magdalene and Mary His 
 mother stood right there, and I stood way on the out- 
 skirts of the audience. The night before when I 
 denied Him, he looked at me so lovingly that it broke 
 my heart, and I couldn't bear to get near enough to 
 see Him. That was the darkest hour of my life. 
 I was in hopes that God would intercede and take 
 Him from the cross. I kept listening, and I thought I 
 would hear His voice." And he pictured the whole 
 
750 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 scene, how they drove the spear into His side and put 
 the crown of thorns on His brow, and all that took 
 place. 
 
 And the next day Peter turned to Paul again and 
 asked him if he wouldn't like to take another walk. 
 And Paul said he would. Again they passed down the 
 streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, over 
 Mount Olivet, up Bethpage, and right over on to the 
 slope near Bethany. All at once Peter stopped and 
 said, ' ' There, Paul, this is the last place where I ever 
 saw Him. I never heard Him speak so sweetly as He 
 did that day. It was right there He delivered His last 
 message to us, and all at once I noticed that His feet 
 didn't touch the ground. He arose and went right up 
 there. All at once there came a cloud and received Him 
 out of sight. I stood right here gazing up into the 
 heavens, in hopes I might see Him again and hear Him 
 speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by 
 our sides and stood right there and there." 
 
 My friends, I want to ask you this question: Do you 
 believe that picture is overdrawn? Do you believe Peter 
 had Paul as his guest and didn't take him to Geth- 
 semane, didn't take him to Calvary and Mount Olivet? 
 I spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning I 
 wanted to steal down into the garden where my Lord 
 sweat those great drops of blood. Every day I climbed 
 Mount Olivet and looked up into the blue sky, where 
 He went to His Father. I have no doubt Peter took 
 Paul out on those three walks. If there had been a man 
 that could have taken me to the very spot where my 
 Master sweat those great drops of blood, do you think 
 I wouldn't have asked him to take me? If he could 
 
THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE. 75 1 
 
 have told me where I could find the spot where my 
 Master's feet last touched this sin-cursed earth and was 
 taken up, do you think I wouldn't have had him show 
 me? May God help us to-day to take Him to-day! 
 
WALKING WITH GOD, 
 
 I am going to talk to-day about " Walking with God.*' 
 Some have complained that I have talked so much to 
 Christians since I have been here. They think I ought 
 to reach the outsiders. I want to say that when we get 
 the church all right, we will have no trouble with the out- 
 siders. When Jacob got his face toward Bethel, then it 
 was the fear of God fell on the nations all around. And 
 when the church of God gets right, there will be no 
 trouble about reaching the outsiders. God's line of work 
 is to begin with His own people. It is said that when 
 Mr. Spurgeon went up to London to preach, for six 
 months he preached at the church. For some time he 
 preached to the elders of the church, and when he had 
 preached to them for some time, one of them thought 
 he had better let them alone and get at the outsiders. 
 But his preaching hadn't straightened them out, and he 
 said he was going to keep at them until they were all 
 right, and then he would go at the church. 
 
 When he got the church right, then the thing began to 
 grow, and it grew for thirty or forty years. When the 
 church gets quickened and is all right, there can be more 
 accomplished in one day than you can accomplish in 
 years when the church is not all right. I believe that it 
 
 752 
 
The Journey to Emmaus. Luke, xxiv, 13-32. 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 755 
 
 is the experience of most all men that have tried to do 
 God's work when the church is right, then it is very easy 
 to reach those that are wrong. When Adam fell, he fell 
 out of a communion with God, and he didn't want to 
 walk with God. What we want is to bring men back 
 into fellowship and communion with God. When we 
 walk with God, then we are going to have power, and 
 not only with God, but with our fellow-men. Now, 
 turn to Leviticus, chapter twenty-six, "Ye shall make 
 you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a 
 standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of 
 stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the 
 Lord your God. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and rever- 
 ence my sanctuary; I am the Lord." I believe in that 
 book of Leviticus. I believe there is more of the Lord 
 Jesus in that book than in any other book of the Bible. 
 Now, I want to say that I never saw any one who kept 
 the Sabbath and reverenced God's sanctuary who didn't 
 prosper. I have never seen a man desert the house, the 
 law, or the statutes of God, but that he grew lean. I 
 was talking with a man here yesterday who was once a 
 Christian man, and had sweet fellowship with God, but 
 he began to do work seven days in the week, and now 
 he has lost all fellowship with God, and he is wretched 
 and miserable. I believe there are thousands to-day in 
 just that condition. Leviticus, xxvi, 3, 4, ''If ye walk 
 in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do 
 them, then will I give you rain in due season, and the 
 land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field 
 shall yield their fruit." Leviticus, xxvi,- 12, "And I will 
 walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be 
 my people"; and in the twenty-seventh and twenty- 
 
756 Moody's sermons. 
 
 eighth verses, ' ' And if ye will not for all this hearken 
 unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk 
 contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chas- 
 tise you seven times for your sins. " Now, I don't see 
 how the Lord could talk any plainer to us than that; you 
 walk with me, and I will walk with you; you go con- 
 trary to me, and I will go contrary to you. I believe the 
 reason so many people are having such hard times now 
 is because they have wandered into sin. For the last 
 twenty years we have had great prosperity in this country, 
 and during that time we have wandered away from God. 
 We have deserted His laws and His statutes, and now 
 we are having trouble all over the land. I hope that out 
 of this trouble there is going to come a great blessing; 
 and I believe there is going to be a great blessing. In 
 the eighty-fourth psalm, eleventh verse, we read these 
 words, " For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord 
 will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold 
 from them that walk uprightly." If we walk uprightly, 
 no good thing will He withhold from us; but if we do not 
 walk uprightly, we cannot claim that blessing. 
 
 Now, turn over into Jeremiah, vi, 16, " Thus saith the 
 Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old 
 paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye 
 shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not 
 walk therein." Now, isn't that the language of to-day of 
 hundreds of professed Christians? They don't like the 
 old doctrines. They want a new gospel now, a new creed, 
 new ministers; they have got itching ears to hear some- 
 thing else besides this old gospel. They don't like the old 
 way. Now, the way that our fathers trod, the way that 
 John Wesley trod, is good enough for us. The way Martin 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 757 
 
 Luther, John Knox, and all those men trod is good 
 enough for us. Now, you notice Israel got into a back- 
 slidden state, and I suppose they talked as men talk now, 
 against this creed. They say it is old and worn out. 
 Well, it isn't as old as the sun. When you build a house, 
 I wouldn't have any windows in to let that old sun in, 
 for it is worn out long ago. Jeremiah, vi, 17, 18, 19, 
 "Also I set watchmen over you, saying, hearken unto 
 the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not 
 hearken. Therefore, hear ye nations, and know, O con- 
 gregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth; behold 
 I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their 
 thoughts, because they have hearkened not unto My 
 words, nor to My law, but rejected it." Now, notice, 
 they said they would not walk in the old way. They 
 cast God and His laws aside. Jeremiah is put in prison 
 because he had prophesied against them, and Nebuchad- 
 nezzar came and took him and all his city, and then dug 
 out Jeremiah's eyes and bound him in fetters of brass, 
 and he died in prison. Old men were taken down into 
 Babylon and put into captivity, and kept there for seventy 
 years, because they walked contrary to the Lord. 
 
 Now, let me turn to the New Testament. I haven't 
 got time to go along with the old. Turn over to the 
 second book of Corinthians, vi, 14-18: "Be ye not un- 
 equally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellow- 
 ship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And 
 what communion hath light with darkness? And what 
 concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he 
 that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement 
 hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the 
 temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell 
 
758 Moody's sermons. 
 
 in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and 
 they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
 touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and 
 will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and 
 daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Now, I don't 
 know of any portion of Scripture that is more ignored to- 
 day than that portion. What is the result? You see 
 wreck after wreck all over the country, because people 
 have paid no regard to that law. Men will go into 
 partnership with the most ungodly men, because they 
 can make money faster. They will go into lodges and 
 clubs, and yoke themselves with the ungodly, and then 
 the ungodly will vote to do some disreputable thing. A 
 Christian man went into a club some time ago. They 
 had about one hundred members in the club, and the 
 question came up whether or not they should go on a 
 Sabbath excursion. The unbelievers outvoted the 
 Christians. Every Christian man was party to it in that 
 club. Wasn't he? What were they there for? A man 
 came to me in one of these cities, and he was in great 
 distress. He was a banker and a prominent Christian 
 man, but he had two partners, and they had outvoted 
 him to do a very disreputable thing. He said, " Here is 
 my Christian character compromised." I asked him how 
 long it was since he had gone into partnership. He told 
 me a number of years ago. I said, "After you became 
 a Christian, you took those men into partnership with 
 you?" He said, "Yes, I had to do that in order to make 
 money." He said he was going to do good with the 
 money. I told him he had tied himself with two un- 
 godly men, and he was going to suffer. And he did 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 759 
 
 suffer. To-day his testimony is gone, and his influence 
 has all been swept away, because he was yoked with two 
 godless men. Now, I am going to come a little nearer 
 home. Some men went into freemasonry, and they 
 voted because there were Jews in the lodge that they 
 wouldn't have the New Testament. That is a nice place 
 for Christian men to be in! They wouldn't have the 
 New Testament, because they wanted the Jews. Now, 
 I will come still nearer home. I know you will get 
 angry, some of you, but never mind. Don't get up and 
 go out. Just stick to it, and let me have a chance at you. 
 "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." 
 My dear friends, what we want is to draw a line between 
 the church and the world. If you want real peace and 
 rest to your soul, just keep separate from the world. 1 
 remember when I was a boy up in Northfield, right near 
 the old red school-house there was an apple-tree that bore 
 the earliest apples of any tree in town. They had a law 
 in that town that fruit on a tree overhanging the street 
 belonged to the public, and any fruit on the other side of 
 the fence belonged to the property-holders. Half that 
 apple-tree was over in the street, and it got more old 
 brooms and brickbats and handles than any other tree in 
 town. We boys used to watch to see when an apple was 
 getting red. I never got a ripe apple from that tree in 
 my life, and I don't believe any one else ever did. You 
 never went by that tree that you didn't see a lot of 
 broom-handles and clubs up there. Well, now, you take 
 a lot of Christians, and they want to live right on the 
 line, with one foot in the world and one foot in the 
 church. They get more clubs than any one else, you 
 know. The world clubs them. They say, " I don't be- 
 
760 Moody's sermons. 
 
 lieve in that man's religion." Why, if you were sick 
 they are the last men you would send for to help and 
 comfort you. And the church clubs them. They get 
 clubs both sides. Now, it is a good deal better to keep 
 just as far from the line as you can if you want power. 
 The man that has the most power is a separate man. 
 Some of you look cross; you don't like it. Are you get- 
 ting cross? The reason you look cross is because I have 
 hit you. Well, that is what I am here for. The man 
 that is living a worldly life ought to feel cross, because 
 he hasn't found in the Christian religion what he ex- 
 pected to find. But you come clean out. I have often 
 said to young people who are converted, " Stay in the 
 world, or get clean out of it. Don't try to serve both 
 worlds, because you can't do it." "O, well!" they say, 
 ' ' don't be so narrow-minded. Don't be so bigoted. Don't 
 be so puritanical. You will lose your influence if you 
 do." I would like to ask this question: Who had the 
 most influence in Sodom, Abraham who was out of it, 
 or Lot, who was in it? I tell you, you have got to be 
 outside the world if you are going to protest against it. 
 The mirth that cheers and makes the world happy will 
 freeze a Christian. The kiss of Judas wounded the heart 
 of the Son of God a good deal more than the Roman 
 spear did. The wife that lets down the standard in order 
 to reach her husband always loses ground. I have heard 
 of wives who have made a bargain with their husbands 
 that they would go to theaters with them, if the husbands 
 would go to church with them. The wife goes against 
 her conscience to the theater, and he doesn't have half 
 the respect for her that he would have had if she had 
 stood firm. Is it right? That is the question. If it is 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 76 1 
 
 right, go into the world. If not, keep out of it. But you 
 say, "Well, my husband is very bitter." Very well, let 
 him be bitter. You will win him if you take a high 
 stand and just walk in fellowship with God. Bat if you 
 just come down to his level, you will lose your testimony 
 and influence. 
 
 Now, let me turn to a passage that perhaps you are all 
 familiar with, Numbers, xiv, 4, 7: ''And the mixed 
 multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the 
 children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall 
 give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we 
 did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, 
 and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now 
 our souls are dried away. There is nothing at all, be- 
 sides this manna, before our eyes." Think of that! They 
 remembered the onions and the leeks, and the garlic, but 
 they forgot the old taskmasters with their whips, making 
 the bricks without straw, the hard, bitter bondage, but 
 they did remember the onions and leeks and the garlic. 
 Now, what caused it? The mixed multitude; and when 
 you see a Christian minister making the ungodly people 
 in his congregation his society, look out for him. When 
 you see a man or woman in your church that would 
 rather be with the ungodly than with God's people, look 
 out for their piety. It isn't skin deep. It is a sham. 
 When you see a young mm that will hang around dis- 
 reputable places, look out for his Christianity, for it is a 
 sham. If you would rather go to a place where Christ is 
 sneered and jeered and scoffed at, than to go where God's 
 people are, there is something radically wrong. If you 
 are linked with the world and worldly things, there is 
 something wrong. God gave them angel's food, manna 
 
/62 Moody's sermons. 
 
 that came from heaven, and they left that manna, but 
 they looked for fish, the onions, the leeks and the garlic 
 of Egypt. Yes, and isn't that the condition of a good 
 many now? When you see a child of God that would 
 rather go to some places of amusement, and takes more 
 interest in them than in God's house and God's people, 
 isn't there something wrong? A friend of mine said he 
 had a beautiful canary-bird, and he thought it was the 
 sweetest singer they had ever had. Spring came on, and 
 he felt it was a pity to keep the poor bird in the house, 
 so he just put it under a tree right in front of his house. 
 He said before he knew it a lot of these little English 
 sparrows got under that tree (and you know they can- 
 not sing, any more than I can, and I don't know one 
 note from another), and went "Chutter, chutter, chutter, 
 chutter." Before he knew it, that little canary had lost 
 all its sweet notes. It had got into bad company. And 
 so with Christians. They cannot help it. After he 
 found out that he had made a mistake, he took the bird 
 into the house, and it just kept up that " Chutter, chut- 
 ter, chutter, chutter." He said he bought another bird, 
 but the canary nearly ruined it. He said that bird never 
 got back its sweet notes. Now, don't you know lots of 
 Christian people who had a beautiful testimony several 
 years ago, but they have lost their witness, and all they 
 do now is talk, talk, talk, talk. They don't say any- 
 thing, but it is just talk, talk, talk, talk. Did you ever 
 think of the yards and yards of talk that you hear that 
 doesn't amount to anything? Why? Because they are 
 out of communion with God, and have lost their witness. 
 A Christian in the world is all right. There is no trouble 
 about them. No one is saying anything against them. 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 763 
 
 You say, "Didn't Christ say He left His disciples in the 
 world?" Yes, and that is the place for us until He 
 calls us. 
 
 Some time ago I was on the Spray, and it went along 
 all right until they knocked a hole in it, and water began 
 to come in, and the boat "began to sink. Then it was all 
 wrong. The ship was made for the water, but when the 
 water gets into the ship, down it goes. I think the re- 
 porters of the morning papers, the moment the water 
 began to come in, wanted to get out of that boat. 
 
 There are a lot of Christians in the world about waist 
 deep, and then they wonder why they haven't any power 
 or influence. Man or woman, get out of the world and 
 keep out of it, if you want power! Some one asked a 
 Scotchman if he was on his way to heaven, and he said, 
 "Ah, man! I live there." Some one asked Billy Miner 
 how the world was getting on. He said he didn't know; 
 he hadn't been there for twelve years. This isn't our 
 home, my friends; we don't dwell here. Our citizenship 
 is up there. We don't belong down here. Some of us 
 have lived long enough to find that out, most of us have 
 lived long enough. A good many I am speaking to this 
 afternoon will be gone inside of thirty days. But don't 
 let the world get hold of you. Keep it under. Let me 
 read to you just a few verses about Jehoshaphat, 2 
 Chronicles, xvii, 1-7: " And Jehoshaphat reigned in his 
 stead and strengthened himself against Israel. And he 
 placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set 
 garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of 
 Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. And the 
 Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the 
 first ways of his father David, and sought not unto 
 
764 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and 
 walked in his commandments, and not after the doings 
 of Israel. Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom 
 in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat pres- 
 ents; and he had riches and honor in abundance. And 
 his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; moreover 
 He took away the high places and groves out of Judah." 
 He was king of Judah, and he strengthened himself 
 against the enemies of God. He had a great army, and 
 the heavens seemed to smile upon him. Now, just turn 
 over into the eighteenth chapter, first verse, "Now 
 Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and 
 joined affinity with Ahab." Down he went! I suppose 
 he reasoned in this way: " If I form affinity with Ahab, 
 I can, perhaps, win back Israel." He knew the edict 
 had gone out against Ahab. There was Ahab, one of 
 the worst men that had ever lived on earth. And yet 
 Jehoshaphat, with all that light and knowledge, went 
 down and formed affinity with him. What was the re- 
 sult? It overthrew his dynasty. It wasn't long before 
 the son went down and married Jezebel's daughter. All 
 of Jehoshaphat's sons were put to death, and not only 
 that, but the crown prince, his young son, was put to 
 death, and the kingdom passed over to some one else. 
 When the world forgets Christ, let you and I get out. 
 We are identified with Him. You go down the Missis- 
 sippi river, and after you drop down below Quincy, Illi- 
 nois, you will find the Missouri river runs into the Mis- 
 sissippi. The Mississippi is quite a clear stream, but 
 by-and-by the Missouri comes, and it is very roily. For 
 miles and miles these two streams run on separately, but 
 after they have gone on for a few miles, it all becomes 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 765 
 
 roily. That is a picture of the world. There is a pure 
 and an impure man yoked together. By-and-by the 
 pure man becomes impure. "How can two walk to- 
 gether, except they be agreed?" You cannot walk with 
 the ungodly without conforming to them. Now, some- 
 times you see a great forest when you have been riding 
 on the cars. There has come a great storm and has 
 torn that forest all to pieces. What is the trouble? The 
 trees were just on the surface. There is a great rock and 
 a little soil on it, and for years the trees have grown and 
 flourished on that soil. But when the testing-time came, 
 down went the tree. Why? Because there wasn't any 
 depth. Now, what we want is to be rooted and grounded 
 in Jesus Christ. You go down to Florida or to Cali- 
 fornia, and they will tell you that the best oranges are 
 where the tap-root goes down forty feet. The orange- 
 tree that strikes water at ten, bears oranges that are 
 considered very poor. If it strikes water at twenty, the 
 oranges are fair. If it strikes water at thirty, they are 
 good ; but the very best oranges are where the roots don't 
 strike water until they get down to forty feet. What we 
 want is Christians that are just rooted and grounded. 
 Every Christian ought to be like the orange-tree. I be- 
 lieve if we are growing as He would have us grow, we 
 would be like orange-trees. 
 
 But I must close. My time is up. I just want to say 
 one thing more. Enoch walked with God, and God 
 took him. He walked the wilderness to-day, and the 
 promised land to-morrow. Abraham walked with God 
 and became the friend of God, and so what Enoch, 
 Noah and Abraham did, we can do if we will. It is the 
 privilege of every one of us to walk with God every 
 
y66 Moody's sermons. 
 
 day if we will. We can walk in the light from this 
 hour on until we meet Him in glory, if we will. Let us 
 unite in prayer, and let us pray that God may bring each 
 one of us into fellowship with Himself. 
 
The Agony in the Garden. Luke, xxii. 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 
 
 Thirteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel, first nine 
 verses. We have been sowing for the last thirty days. 
 We have sown on all kinds of soil, bat we are not re- 
 sponsible for the soil we sow on. But let the congrega- 
 tion beware and be on their guard to see that they don't 
 belong to the first three classes. I firmly believe that 
 if there isn't real true, not only conviction, but contri- 
 tion for sin, and if there isn't a straightening out of the 
 past life, as far as it lies in us, then the seed will not 
 take deep root, and it will not be long before many of 
 those that claim to be young converts will relapse into 
 their old life. But when a man or woman is thorough, 
 and they do the things God commands them to do, and 
 there is real true contrition, a true turning from sin to 
 God, and if needs be there is true restitution, then there 
 is very little falling away. I don't believe we need to 
 have so many backsliders if men and women will only 
 start right. 
 
 Let me read a few verses in the fourth chapter of John: 
 " Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then 
 cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up 
 your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white 
 already for harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth 
 
 769 
 
yyo moody s sermons. 
 
 wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: That both 
 he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice to- 
 gether. And herein is that saying true, one soweth and 
 another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon you 
 bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are 
 entered into their labors." 
 
 I believe that it is literally true. I don't think any one 
 need to say, "Four months, and then cometh the har- 
 vest." This is about as good a harvest field as you will 
 find anywhere in Christendom, right here. Now is the 
 time just to move; let this be the time; let this be the 
 hour; let each one of us thrust in the sickle. 
 
 Now I come to my text, in the twelfth chapter of 
 Daniel. It is the third verse, but I will read the second 
 and third verses: "And many of them that sleep in the 
 dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, 
 and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they 
 that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
 ment; and they that turn many to righteousness as the 
 stars forever and ever." These are not the words of 
 some hot-headed evangelist; they are not the words of 
 some young fanatic, some young man just starting out in 
 life; but they are the words of an old statesman who had 
 had a rich and deep experience, who had seen a great 
 deal of the world's glitter, who had been in the court of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius, who had seen 
 a great deal of public life; and now we find the old 
 statesman and prophet is about ready to go home, his 
 work is about finished, about over. And he takes up 
 his pen and writes these words, " And they that be wise 
 shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they 
 that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 771 
 
 ever." Now, notice how that has been fulfilled and how 
 it is being fulfilled constantly. Although that statesman 
 has been gone twenty-five hundred years, there never 
 was a time in the history of the world when he shone so 
 brightly as he does now. Not because he was premier 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, not because he was chief 
 executive under Darius — I don't think we ever heard of 
 him as a statesman, as an eminent man, as a politician 
 — but it was because he lived for God. He looked be- 
 yond this world and into the glory of the other. He 
 lived for eternity, and how he shines to-day, and how he 
 is going to shine on! Who can tell us who were the 
 wise men of Babylon? Who their great geologists and 
 scientists? We don't know the names of any of them. 
 Who can tell us who were the great millionaires of that 
 time, the leading business men of Babylon, the great 
 bankers and financiers? Their names we do not know; 
 they were forgotten long, long ago, ages and ages ago 
 and yet this man shines on. Now, the fact is, we all 
 like to shine; and I want to say that there is no true 
 child of God here to-day that may not shine if he will. 
 
 Now, we talk about the hard field. We say, " You 
 know it is a very hard field here. You will find it very 
 peculiar." I never yet went to a town where I wasn't 
 told that it was a peculiar place. Now, that is only one 
 of the devil's own arguments. Who ever had a harder 
 field than this prophet? He was taken and made a 
 slave; and not only a slave, but he was a Hebrew, and 
 there wasn't a nation under heaven that the heathens 
 detested as they did those Hebrews. This man couldn't 
 speak a word of the language. All the royal court and 
 every one there was against everything this man believed 
 
7J2 MOODY S SERMONS. 
 
 in, and yet he went down there and began to shine, and 
 he went on shining right through to his old age. Now, 
 if he could work in that field that was so dark and un- 
 promising, do you tell me there is any man or woman 
 here who cannot work if he or she will? 
 
 Then you say you have no influence. You can make 
 an influence. No position? You can make a position. 
 Where did the Lord find Moses? Back there in Horeb, 
 in the desert looking after sheep. Not a very high occu- 
 pation in the sight of those proud Egyptians! He had 
 been there forty years, but he was just the man God 
 wanted, and when God called him, He qualified him. 
 And see how he has been shining all these centuries! 
 He might have stayed in the Egyptian court, but he 
 stepped over the crown of this world, and took up the 
 cross and identified himself with the unseen God. And 
 he has become immortal. Where did God find Elisha? 
 Behind twelve yoke of oxen. He was not a man of let- 
 ters, not a man of position in this world, but he was 
 just the man God called to take Elijah's place. Where 
 did God find Gideon? Thrashing. Very common kind 
 of work, but the Lord God took him. Where did God 
 find David? Why, when Samuel went to the house of 
 Jesse to get some one to take Saul's place, they called in 
 all the sons but a little boy who was taking care of 
 the sheep. They thought he was too young; but that 
 was the very one God wanted. That is where God found 
 him. Don't talk about not having a position. God will 
 give you position if you have a heart for the work. If 
 you are willing to just take up the cross and follow the 
 Son of God, you will have position. Where did God 
 find the twelve apostles? Not in Brown university; not 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 773 
 
 in Oxford; not in Cambridge; not at Harvard, nor at Yale. 
 He found them up there fishing at the sea of Galilee. 
 They were not lettered men, but they did the work very 
 well, and they shine pretty brightly, don't they? They 
 outshone the whole of that crowd of men that looked 
 down upon them. One hundred years ago Napoleon 
 was a wonder to the nations. People seemed to speak 
 his name with bated breath; they looked upon him as 
 almost a little god; and some thought he was the Anti- 
 christ. But where is his glory to-day? I was in Paris 
 in 1867, and when Napoleon the Third rode through the 
 streets the people went nearly wild. I made inquiries 
 in regard to the excitement, and they said it was the 
 young prince that had come into the exposition. Paris 
 was just wild over the name of Napoleon. That was in 
 1867, and only four years after that he was an exile, and 
 only a little while after that he lay in his little narrow 
 coffin, a coffin no larger than we shall have. And his 
 body hasn't been taken back to France yet. They won't 
 have it taken back. His glory is gone; but the glory of 
 the fisherman of Galilee hasn't gone. They shine on, 
 and are going to shine on. We have the privilege to go 
 out and work. Let every man use the talent God has 
 given him. Don't be mourning because you haven't 
 more, but just take what you have and go to work. 
 
 I saw a picture some years ago, and I was stupid 
 enough to think I would buy it. I thought it would be 
 a fine thing to have in the house. It represented some 
 poor lost one just coming up out of the water on to a 
 rock which had a cross on top of it. The figure had 
 both arms around the cross and was saved. I suppose 
 some one had a better idea of it than I did, for they 
 
774 Moody's sermons. 
 
 soon got out another picture representing the same one 
 coming up out of the water and putting one arm round 
 the cross, and stretching out the other to save some one 
 else. That was it. There are lots of Christians who 
 have both arms round the cross, and they say, "I am 
 safe. Let the world perish. I joined the church 
 twelve years ago. " And that is all you know about their 
 Christianity. I have very little sympathy with this idea 
 that you have got to look up some old musty church 
 record to find out whether a man or woman is a Chris- 
 tian or not. I believe this -city could be turned upside 
 down inside of a week, if every man would do what he 
 could. Don't attempt to do some great thing, but do 
 what you can. Some years ago I heard of a man who 
 did something when he was seasick, and that is about 
 the time when I feel as if 1 couldn't do anything. That 
 is about the last place for a man to attempt to do any- 
 thing for another; he is so occupied with himself. But 
 this man was very sick, and all at once he heard a cry 
 on deck, "Man overboard." "Poor fellow, I wish I 
 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 put a lantern at the porthole, and 
 by-and-by the news came that the man was saved. He 
 lay down again and had a turn at being seasick. By-and- 
 by he crept up on deck and got into conversation with a 
 man. After some talk with him he found it was the 
 very man who had been overboard. He began to talk 
 with him about how it happened. 
 
 The man said he was going down the third time and 
 had given up all hope, when some one put a light at the 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 775 
 
 porthole, and they just saw his hand and grabbed it. By 
 putting that light at the porthole, he saved a man's life. 
 My dear friends, you can just hold the light for some 
 one else, can't you? You can do something if you will. 
 Now, my friends, what we want is to do something. 
 Just think of the work that could be done here if each 
 one of us would do some one thing! Some one has 
 described this world as two great mountains; one a 
 mountain of sorrow and the other a mountain of joy. 
 If you can take a little off of that mountain of sorrow 
 and put it on the mountain of joy, the mountain of joy 
 keeps growing. Doesn't it? If you cannot do as much 
 as some one else, just do what you can. God doesn't 
 ask me to improve ten talents if I have only one. But 
 if I go and bury my talent because some one else has 
 more, then I am not going to hear the Master say, 
 "Well done." Now, I want to say that there is some- 
 thing that every one can do if they love Christ, and I 
 am talking to Christians this afternoon. If we are true 
 Christians we can speak to some one every day about 
 spiritual things. Now, I have been asked to say a word 
 and tell the people how they can keep from backsliding. 
 A good way is to make it a point to read a portion of 
 Scripture every day of your life, and not let a day pass 
 that you don't speak to some one about spiritual things. 
 If you do that you will never backslide. You have got 
 to keep your own heart warm, in order to talk to other 
 people. Just go right to work and do something for 
 some one else. If you see a man in trouble just try to 
 help him. Just a kind word may do him good. Go and 
 nurse a sick person for one night if they are not able to 
 hire a nurse, or, if the wife has been watching by the 
 
7J6 MOODY'S SERMONS. 
 
 husband for weeks, just take her place for a night. In 
 this way you will get hold of these families that are now 
 godless and Christless. Then another thing. There is 
 many a man that can be reached by a kind word spoken 
 in the spirit of Christ. Just a little word on the street 
 or when you are doing business, a word about the Savior 
 will have weight with many a man. 
 
 What are we doing to save these men? Come, my 
 friends, let's arise and go to work. I heard a man the 
 other night discussing higher criticism, and I found out 
 he was living in sin. I said to him, "You ought to 
 confess sin and get rid of it." 
 
 Now, mark ye! " He that winneth souls is wise." It 
 doesn't say, "He that discusses is wise." I believe that 
 is the highest occupation on the face of the earth. I 
 don't believe there is any higher call on this side of 
 heaven, and you can all have a hand in it if you will. It 
 is said of Napoleon that he had a medal struck off, on 
 one side giving an account of the battle, and on the other 
 side these words, "I was there." Long years after 
 Napoleon had died, those old veterans would take out 
 their medals and say, "Just look there. Read that." 
 And then they would turn the medal over, and you would 
 read, " I was there." They were proud of the fact that 
 they were in the thickest of the fight. My dear friends, 
 there is a terrible fight going on between darkness and 
 light; between God and Satan. Let us have a hand in 
 it, and on the hill-tops of glory we shall meet, and say, 
 '•'I was there." Every one of you can do this if you 
 will. 
 
 Now, there are just two words I would like to leave 
 with you. You may forget all the rest of my sermon, 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? J77 
 
 but just remember these two words: Consecrate and 
 concentrate. First, consecrate your life to God, and 
 then concentrate your life upon some one thing. It will 
 cut a channel so deep that your influence will be felt. 
 Just consecrate yourselves wholly and fully to God; and 
 when you work, work for Him and not for yourself. 
 Work directly for Jesus Christ, and you will not be dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 So let us just consecrate our lives to Him. Let us 
 not be selfish, and want our children converted just to 
 make our lives a little sweeter, but let it be for His sake. 
 And then let us just concentrate our lives upon one 
 thing, and do what we can to extend the kingdom. I 
 believe what made Dr. Duff so mighty was because he 
 just gave his life for India. He just lived for that one 
 country, and his influence is felt all through India to- 
 day. I was in Scotland when he was there. I knew 
 he had concentrated his life upon India and was accom- 
 plishing something. O, I do like to meet such men, 
 because their whole life has been concentrated upon one 
 thing, and they are a success. He made a speech in 
 1866, and it was an appeal for India. I bought a copy 
 and read it. They had plenty of money in their treas- 
 ury, but they couldn't get any men to go there. And 
 the old man stood up there for an hour and a half and 
 plead and wept for India. Then he fainted away, and 
 they carried him out into the vestibule and worked over 
 him for some time. When he came to, they said to him, 
 " Do you know where you are?" And for a few mo- 
 ments he seemed bewildered, and then he said, ' ' O, yes, 
 I know now. I was making an appeal for India before 
 the general assembly. I didn't quite finish my speech. 
 
778 Moody's sermons. 
 
 Take me back." But they told him if he went back, he 
 would do it at the peril of his life. But he said, "I 
 must make one more plea for India," and George H. 
 Stuart said it was one of the sublimest scenes of his life 
 when they brought that old man back, and the tears 
 flowed all over the hall. The old man crept up to the 
 desk again and said, ' ' Is it true, fathers and mothers, 
 that you have no more sons to give for India? The 
 Lord Jesus has been calling for years for men to go and 
 preach His gospel there, and the call has been denied, 
 and word has come back that Scotland has no more 
 sons for India. When the queen calls for men for her 
 army, Scotland is very anxious to get her sons enlisted; 
 but the Lord wants them, and the response is, ' We 
 cannot spare our sons to go to India.' If it is true, al- 
 though my health is broken down, and I have come here 
 to die among my friends, if it is true, I will pack up to- 
 morrow and be off to the shores of the Ganges and let 
 those men there know that there is one poor old Scotch- 
 man that will die for them." That is the kind of men 
 we want to-day. You tell me those men are not going 
 to shine? Why, Dr. McDuff shines all through India 
 and in the kingdom of God. O, I wish I had the 
 spirit of the Lord Jesus! If I only could say something 
 to stir you up, what a grand day it would be, not only 
 for this state, but for all this republic! Why, 
 sometimes when I read the life of Paul, I am ashamed 
 of the Christians of this nineteenth century. You take 
 your stand beside that little warrior. He has been 
 beaten four times. The Jews had given him thirty-nine 
 stripes, and they are going to give him thirty-nine more. 
 In those times many a man died in the very act of being 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 7/0, 
 
 scourged. That little tentmaker had been scourged 
 four times already, and they were going to do it the fifth 
 time. Take your stand beside, him. I see the old 
 warrior, with his eyes as keen as an eagle's, when he is 
 asked what he will do when he comes out of that diffi- 
 culty, he says, ' 'Do! This one thing I do, I press toward the 
 mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
 I am not going to be overcome by such little difficulties as 
 these." They bring the rods down over that weak body; 
 he is all bruised and mangled by the blows he has re- 
 ceived from those enemies of Christ. They ask him 
 what he is going to do if he comes out of this difficulty. 
 They say to him, "You had better go off into Arabia 
 again and rest," and some one tells him not to be so 
 fanatical, so much in earnest. But he says, "This one 
 thing I do. I press toward the mark for the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Look at him 
 again. They have stoned him, and I don't know but 
 that they have stoned him to death. They pick up 
 great stones and hurl them at that little man, and there 
 he lies all mangled and bruised. I see him get up, and 
 he staggers. Is he going to sit down and write a letter 
 to some paper and tell how he has been abused? Look 
 at him again. He goes over into Macedonia, and the 
 first thing that happens is that he is arrested and put 
 into the Philippian jail. I think if any of this choir 
 were put into the jail they wouldn't sing very much. I'm 
 afraid my friend Jacobs wouldn't sing very much, or if 
 he did sing I am afraid it would be something like 
 
 " Hark a doleful " There was no sign that they 
 
 were going to get out of the jail, and they thought per- 
 haps they had got to die there, but they sang praises as 
 
780 Moody's sermons. 
 
 aforetime. If they were to go by the way of the 
 Philippian jail they had just as soon go that way as any 
 other. They were pressing toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I tell 
 you what (if you will allow me the expression), the devil 
 got his match when he got hold of Paul. He was just 
 pressing toward home. He preached the gospel every- 
 where he went. Like John Bunyan, they told him if he 
 would give up preaching they would let him out of prison. 
 He replied, " Let me out to-day, and I will preach to- 
 morrow." But look at Paul again. Here is a conse- 
 crated man, a man that has concentrated his life upon 
 one thing. He preached Christ and held him up every- 
 where he went. And that is the kind of men we want 
 now. " If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me." 
 Go and lift Him up in your homes, in the Sunday- 
 schools, in the darkest street you have in this city. We 
 can all do it. This little child here can lift Him up if 
 she will. Many a child has been used to lead some 
 giant, as it were, into the kingdom. When we become 
 as little children, then it is that God can use us. God 
 wants our weakness. 
 
 But look at Paul now. His warfare is over. He 
 picks up his pen and writes his last letter to Timothy, 
 " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
 I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me 
 a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, 
 but to all them also that love His appearing." Thank 
 God He never broke away. It was a good fight, wasn't 
 it? My dear friends, it is a good fight we are fighting, 
 we are on the. Lord's side. When he finished the letter 
 
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE? 78 1 
 
 they took him out, and Nero gave orders to have him 
 executed. When I was in Rome they tried to tell me 
 the road he walked. I used to walk that road, and I 
 just tried to get my feet into the footprints where Paul 
 walked. Tradition says they led him out two miles. 
 Talk about Alexander and Caesar! Rome never had 
 such a warrior. Walk along by his side. Let some of 
 these whining, mournful, sad Christians that have got 
 such a long, tedious face and experience walk along be- 
 side him and say. "Well, Paul, you have had a hard 
 time, haven't you?" "No! I have had a glorious fight. 
 I have had a grand fight and a grand battle." "Would 
 you like to live your life over again?" " Yes." " If you 
 had a thousand lives wouldn't you give a few of them to 
 Rome?" "No; I had rather serve Christ a thousand 
 times over than serve the god of this world. I served 
 the god of this world in Jerusalem, and I know what it 
 is. I know what it is to serve Jesus Christ." " Yes; 
 but they are going to behead you." " Well, Nero may 
 have my head, but the Lord has my heart." They 
 thought they were going to execute him, but they didn't 
 know what they were talking about. Paul looked be- 
 yond. He saw a crown and a city whose builder and 
 maker was God. " I press toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ." Do 
 you tell me the form of the fourth isn't there? Do you 
 tell me the angels were not interested in that execution? 
 Do you suppose the chariots of Israel were not gathered 
 around that man? God was with him, and when his 
 work was done God said, " Come home, Paul, I have a 
 welcome for you." Think of the eighteen hundred years 
 that he has of untold joy. I don't suppose that there 
 
782 Moody's sermons. 
 
 is an hour in the day but that there is some one con- 
 verted by reading some of his epistles. Look at the 
 fruit the man has had. ' ' They that be wise shall shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament." Isn't he going to 
 shine? And if he shines down here, how must he shine 
 up there! Think of it! Let us now reconsecrate our- 
 selves to God. Let each one take hold and do all he 
 can. If you can reach a man by taking him to the 
 Episcopal church, take him to the Episcopal church. If 
 you can reach him by taking him to the Baptist church, 
 take him to the Baptist church. Never mind about the 
 creeds and doctrines. Never mind about these names; 
 they are nothing. Why, we want to get above these 
 party walls. Now, to-night, God willing, I will speak 
 to the unconverted, and I hope each one of you will 
 bring some one else. WbJie I am preaching you just 
 keep praying. 
 
PUBLISHED BY 
 
 RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO., 
 
 Chicago. 
 
 411 handsomely bound in the best English and American cloths, with full Silver- 
 embossed side and back stamp; uniform in style of binding. Together making 
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 PRICE, $1.00 EACH. SENT POST-PAID. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES; in one 
 volume, complete. New (1897) edition, handsomely illustrated; 
 containing the many witty, pointed and unequaled stories as told 
 by Mr. Lincoln, including Early life stories, Professional life 
 stories, White House and War stories; also presenting the full 
 text of the popular Speeches of Mr. Lincoln on the great ques- 
 tions of the age, including his "First Political Speech," "Rail- 
 Splitting Speech," " Great Debate with Douglas," and his Won- 
 derful Speech at Gettysburg, etc., etc.; and including his two 
 great Inaugurals, with many grand illustrations. An instructive 
 and valuable book; 477 pages. 
 
 MOODY'S ANECDOTES; 210 pages, exclusive of 
 engravings. Containing several hundred interesting 
 stories, told by the great evangelist, D. L. Moody, 
 in his wonderful work in Europe and America. 
 Hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold. 
 Illustrated with excellent engravings of Messrs. 
 Moody, Sankey, Whittle and Bliss, and thirty-two 
 full-page engravings from Gustave Dore, making 
 an artistic and handsome volume. " A book of an- 
 ecdotes which have thrilled hundreds of thou' 
 sands." — Pittsburg Banner. 
 
 MOODY'S GOSPEL SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangel- 
 ist, Dwight Lyman Moody, in his revival work in Great Britain 
 and America. Together with a biography of Mr. Moody and his 
 co-laborer, Ira David Sankey. Including, also, a short history of the 
 Great Revival. Each sermon is illustrated with a handsome, full-page 
 engraving from Gustave Dore. The book also contains an engraving of 
 D. L. Moody, Ira D. Sankey, Mr. Moody Preaching in the Royal Opera 
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 Moody's services) and "I Am the Way." A handsome and attractive vol- 
 ume of 443 piges. 
 
 MOODY'S LATEST SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangel- 
 ist, Dwight Lyman Moody. Handsomely illustrated with twenty- 
 four full-page engravings from Gustave Dore. 335 pages. 
 
 MOODY'S CHILD STORIES. As related by Dwight Lyman Moody 
 in his revival work. Handsomely illustrated with sixteen full-page 
 engravings from Gustave Dore and 106 illustrations from J. Stuart 
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 handsome volume Should be in ?verv family 237 pages 
 
Standard Publications, $1 each, bound in Clothe 
 
 6 SAM JONES' GOSPEL SERMONS: 346 pages 
 exclusive of engravings. Sam Jones is pronounced 
 ' 'one of the most sensational preachers in the world, 
 and yet among the most effective." His sermons are 
 characterized by clearness, point and great common 
 sense, including "hits" that ring like guns. Printed 
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 SAM JONES' LATEST SERMONS. The favor with which Sam 
 Jones' Gospel Sermons has been received by the public has induced 
 us to issue this book of his Latest Sermons. Each rermon is illustrated 
 with a full-page illustration from Gustave Dore's Bible Gallery. The 
 book is bound unifoimly with his Gospel Sermons, and contains, besides 
 illustrations, reading matter of 350 pages. 
 
 SAM JONES' ANECDOTES; 300 pages. An .exceedingly interesting 
 and entertaining volume, containing the many telling and • effective 
 stories told by Mr. Jones in his sermons. They strike in all directions 
 and always impart good moral lessons that can not be misunderstood. 
 Adapted for the young and old. A book which everybody can enjoy. 
 
 MISTAKES OF INGERSOLL; and his Answers 
 complete; ntwly revised popular (1897) edition; 
 illustrated, 482 pages. Containing the full 
 replies of Prof. Swing, Judge Black, J. Munro 
 Gibson, D. D., Chaplain Q McCabe, Bishop 
 Cheney, Dr. Thomas, Dr. Maclauglan, Dr. 
 Goodwin and other eminent scholars to Inger. 
 soil's Lectures on the "Mistakes of Moses, '- 
 "Skulls," "What Shall We Do to be Saved?" and " Thomas Paine," 
 to which are appended in full these Ingersoll lectures and his replies A' 
 fair presentation of the full discussion. 
 
 GREAT SPEECHES OF COL. R. G. INGERSOLL; complete; 
 newly revised (1897) edition; 409 pages. Containing the many 
 eloquent, timely, practical speeches of this most gifted o ator and states- 
 man, including his recent matchless " Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln," 
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 Farming," Funeral Oration at his Brother's Grave, etc., etc. Fully 
 and handsomely illustrated. 
 
 WIT, WISDOM AND ELOQUENCE OF COL. R. G. INGERSOLL; 
 newly revised popular (1897) edition, illustrated; 336 pages. Con- 
 taining the remarkable Witticisms, terse, pungent and sarcastic sayings, 
 and eloquent extracts on popular themes, from Ingersoll's Speeches; a 
 very entertaining volume. 
 
 THE FIRST MORTGAGE; 310 pages. A truthful, instructive, pleas- 
 ing and poetical presentation of Biblical stories, history and gospel 
 truth; fully and handsomely illustrated from the world-renowned artist, 
 Gustave Dore, by E. U. Cook, the whole forming an exceedingly inter- 
 esting and entertaining poetical Bible. One of the handsomest volumes 
 ever issued in Chicago 
 
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 EVILS OF THE CITIES: By T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.; 530 pages. 
 The author, in company with the proper detectives, visited many of 
 the most vile and wicked places in New York City and Brooklyn, osten- 
 sibly looking for a thief, but in reality taking notes for a series of 
 discourses published in this volume, which contains a full and graphic 
 description of what he saw and the lessens drawn therefrom. The Doctor 
 has alto exte. ded his observations to the "Summer Resorts," "Watering 
 Places," Races, etc., etc., all of which are popularized from his standpoint 
 in this volume. Handsomely illustrated and decidedly interesting. 
 
 TALMAGE IN THE HOLY LAND: 322 pages. The 
 Palestine Sermons of T. DeWitt Talmage, delivered during 
 his tour of th ; Holy Land. Including graphic descriptions 
 of Sacred Places, Vivid Delineations of Gospel Truths, 
 interesting local reminiscences, etc., etc., by his visit to the 
 many places made sacred by the personal presence of Jesus 
 and the great pens of Biblical characters and writers. 
 Copiously illustrated. 
 
 SIN: A series of popular discourses delivered by T. DeWitt 
 Talmage, D. D., and illustrated with 136 engravings by 
 H. De Lay; 411 pages. 
 
 N/TcNElLL'S POPULAR SERMONS: 373 pages. Delivered in Lon- 
 i 1 con and America by the Rev. John McNeill, one of the ablest and 
 ;, ost p pular of living divines, and known on both continents as "The 
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 A 11 ost edifying, instructive and entertaining volume for young and old. 
 
 EDISCN AND HIS INVENTIONS: 278 pages. Containing 
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 Profusely illustrated. 
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. A choice selection 
 of wise, eloquent extracts from Talmage, Beecher, Moody 
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 keenly interests. A good gift and center table book 
 300 pages. Illustrated 
 
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 TEN YEARS A COW BOY. A full and vivid de 
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 together with articles on cattle and sheep raising, 
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 contains reading matter 471 pages. 
 
 WILD LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. By C. H. Simpson, a resident 
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WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY 
 
 This Dictionary 
 contains every word 
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 ever defined, and 
 the following 
 
 Special 
 
 Features 
 
 An Appendix of 
 10,000 Additional 
 Words. 
 
 A List of i£, 000 
 Synonyms. 
 
 — o — 
 
 Pronouncing 
 cabularies of 
 
 SCRIPTURE NAMES 
 GREEB AND LATIN 
 PROPER NAMES 
 MODERN 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL 
 NAMES. 
 
 A Dictionary of 
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 gal Terms. Eighty- 
 six pages of illus- 
 trations, portraying 
 over 3,000 objects 
 difficult to discribe 
 in words. The 
 Flags of all Nations 
 in Colors. 
 
 Size 10^x8^x3^ inches; weight about 7^ lbs; 
 illustrated. Strongly and durably bound in three styles. 
 
 HALF RUSSIA . PRICE, &3.00 
 
 FULL SHEEP PRICE, $4.00 
 
 SPECIAL TAN SHEEP. . . PRICE, $6. OO 
 
 THUMB INDEX 50 CENTS EXTRA. 
 This Dictionary also contains a frontispiece portrait of Noah 
 Webster; author's preface; a memoir of the English language; rules for 
 pronunciation, etc., etc. 
 
 Printed on good grade of clear white paper, and especial care is 
 taken with the binding. For the sheep binding a beautiful cover design 
 was made. 
 
 RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 296 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 1,700 pages, 
 
FOR THE DEAF. 
 
 THE AUDIPHONE 
 
 tw Instrument that Enables Deaf Persons to Hear Or- 
 dinary Conversation Readily through the Medium of 
 fhe Teeth, and Many of those Born Deaf and Dumb 
 to Hear and Learn to Speak. 
 
 INVENTED BY RICHARD S. RHODES, CHICAGO. 
 
 Medal Awarded at the World's Columbia Expo- 
 sition, Chicago. 
 
 The Audiphone is a new instrument made of a peculiar composition, 
 posessing the property of gathering the faintest sounds (somewhat similar 
 to a telephone diaphragm), and conveying them to the auditory nerve, 
 through the medium of the teeth. The extei'nal ear has nothing what- 
 ever to do in hearing with this wonderful instrument. 
 
 Thousands are in use by those who would not do without them for 
 any consideration. It has enabled doctors and lawyers to resume practice, 
 teachers to resume teaching, mothers to hear the voices of their children, 
 thousands to hear their ministers, attend concerts and theatres, and 
 engage in general conversation. Music is heard perfectly with it when 
 without i, not a note could be distinguished. It is convenient to carry 
 and to use. Ordinary conversation can be heard with ease. In most 
 cases deafness is not detected 
 
 Full instructions will be sent with each instrument. The Audiphone 
 is patented throughout the civilized world. 
 
 PRICE: 
 
 Conversational, small size _-__--- $3.00 
 
 Conversational, medium si2e, _---_-- 3.00 
 
 Concert size, - - - - - -■-_.- - - 500 
 
 Trial instrument, good and serviceable, - - - - - 1.50 
 
 The Audiphone will be sent to any address, on receipt of price, by 
 
 Rhodes & McClure Publishing Co., 
 
 296 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 111. 
 
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