Life and labors of Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist ...

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Preface

Dwight L. Moody was one of the most remarkable men of modern times. With few early advantages he rose grandly above all obstacles and by sheer force of character, untiring zeal and stirring appeals to the hearts of the people became the greatest Evangelist of the century.

For nearly forty years Mr. Moody's name has been a household word both at home and abroad, and during this time no other person exerted so great an influence in the religious world. Vast multitudes hung upon his lips and were swayed by his overwhelming eloquence. The results of his labors are unparalleled in the history of Christianity.

He was a giant among men, possessed of tireless energy,

remarkable knowledge of human nature, ready tact and common

sense, a bright and sunny disposition, and a devotion to the sub-

Jime work in which he was engaged, worthy of the grandest heroes

and defenders of the faith that the world has ever known.

Mr. Moody's marvellous career is vividly depicted in this volume. It pictures him in his humble New England home; follows him to the great city where he goes to seek his fortune ; relates his early struggles and victories ; tells of his rare industry and perseverance ; and describes the humble manner in which he began his work that aroused the whole Christian world.

After Mr. Moody had carried on a missionary work in Chicago which probably no other man could have performed, he and Mr. Sankey began their evangelistic labors abroad in England. This most interesting volume tells of the small beginnings ; the prejudices finally overcome ; the rising tide of Evangelism ; the great multitudes ; and finally the thrill of enthusiasm that stirred Great Britain from centre to circumference. As we follow these devoted men through Scotland and Irelard and finally to London, the great metropolis, their career reac s more like a miracle than the

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actions of ordinary men. From the nobility to the denizens o{ the lowest slums the people were stirred by the pungent addresses of Mr. Moody and the Gospel songs of Mr. Sankey, his fellow-laborer.

The history contained in this work follows Mr. Moody on his return to his native land, where in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, New York, Hartford, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and other large cities and towns, his work was the wonder of all beholders and the joy of all Christian people. Pastors and churches were united; the largest buildings were secured; immense choirs were formed; meetings were held both week-days and Sabbaths ; and this new Evangelist and his work were the theme of every tongue.

Mr. Moody was a thorough believer in educating the young. He knew that impressions could be made upon young people far easier than upon those who are older. His whole heart became enlisted in educational work, and he established his famous Seminarv at Northfield.

Not only did he carry on this grand institution for many years, but his religious conventions, held in the summer at the same place, became noted throughout the world and drew visitors from far and near. He showed himself to be a marvellous organizer as well as financier.

"The Cedar is Fallen." This expressive language of the Bible is appropriate to Mr. Moody's death. It was like the fall of the majestic cedar in the forest. He labored with unabated zeal up to within a very short time of his departure. Never did he seem more earnest or eloquent than during his last services. His removal produced a shock throughout the religious world. Christian people everywhere have united in hearty praise of the map and his glorious work.

Mr. Sankey paid the following generous tribute to his friend and associate: "I consider Dwight L. Moody to have been one of the most remarkable men of the century, distinguished especially for his devotion to the cause of Christ and the preaching of the Gospel to the world. His character was marked by great common sense and devotion to his Master. To these two points I attribute in a great measure his wonderful success."

CHAPTER I. Moody's Marvellous Career

FOR nearly forty years Dwight Lyman Moody has been a lead ing figure in the evangelical work of this country and England. He began his great work in i860, and it was continued with unceasing vigor to within a short period of his death.

A man of sturdy frame, great physical strength and endurance, energy that seemed inexhaustible and a hearty manner that drew people to him, his power was felt by all classes r»{ people, and his achievements are the wonder of the age.

Mr. Moody was born in Northfield, Mass., in 1837. His father died when he was but four years of age, leaving a large family in a destitute condition. At seventeen years of age he was given a position in his uncle's shoe store in Boston, on the condition that he should spend his evenings at home and regularly attend Sunday-school. He joined church in Boston. Soon after he removed to Chicago and entered a boot and shoe store. There Mr. Moody began to labor at every opportunity among the waifs and ruffians of the city. He established Sunday-schools and missions, gathering in the little outcasts and sparing no efforts to start them in a better life.

At the sessions of the Sunday-school he was all energy and

vigor. Before long he gave up his work in the store and devoted

himself exclusively to Christain effort. This was in i860. He

had labored under difficulties on account of a defective education,

and now he set to work with diligence to relieve this defect. His 2 17 eloquence and peculiar power as a preacher began to attract much attention.

In 187 1, while attending a convention of Young Men's Christian Associations at Indianapolis, he first met Ira D. Sankey. He induced him to go to Chicago and help him in his work, and afterward the two worked together with great success. In 1S73 they crossed the Atlantic and spent some i ime in the principal cities of Great Britain, gaining many converts. They made a very successful tour of the United States after their return. Two more tours in Europe, spent chiefly in Great Britain and Ireland, were fruitful in good results.

VAST AUDIENCES AND WONDERFUL SCENES.

After Moody and Sankey returned from their first English tour in 1S75 they organized series of religious revivals in many parts of the United States. The}^ went to Philadelphia in November, 1S75, and conducted meetings, which were attended by immense throngs, in the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight depot at Thirteenth and Market Sts., which had been especially prepared for their work. At that time Air. Moody was a strong-headed, vehement man, being filled with the greatest enthusiasm for his work, and disposed, like Whitefield of old, to shake sinners over the very pit of destruction.

The Pennsylvania Railroad freight depot was at that time for sale. The neighborhood was dull and uninviting at night, comparativeh* deserted and poorly lighted. When the suggestion was made that the property would be temporarily renovated for an auditorium until the railroad company found a purchaser for it, there was a good deal of derision, especially over the thought that President "Tom" Scott was helping along the cause of religion. But Scott had a hearty and large way of doing things, and he told the men behind Moody that they could have the use of the property at the rate of a dollar a year, provided they were ready to get out at a month's notice, when the company should effect a sale.

It was about this period, however, that a Philadelphia merchant was forming his plans to branch out in a business way.

He made the Pennsylvania Railroad Company an offer for the old depot and became its purchaser, but before proceeding to occupy it he consented that the interior shonld be temporarily reconstructed for the great revival of which he had been one of the chief projectors.

In a few weeks there came into existence an immense hall. Probably at least $40,000 was spent in its constrnction and equipment. The first floor of the depot was fitted np with not fewer than 10,000 seats with a platform big enough to hold a regiment, with spacious aisles and retiring rooms. The original intention had been to engage the Academy of Music for Moody and Sankey, but this was overruled by George H. Stuart, who insisted that the novelty of such an auditorium as the one at the depot would alone draw thousands. This judgment was entirely correct.

GREAT RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM.

The success of the undertaking, from the religious point of view, surpassed even his eager expectations. Multitudes filled the hall day after day from November to February ; even President Grant visited it on one occasion. As many as 200 ushers were required to clear the aisles at the end of each service, or to guard the "inquiry rooms," and on some days prayer meetings were going on at a dozen places in the neighborhood, like Dr. McCook's church and Dr. Boardman's church.

Such a swarm of sinners smitten with repentance or softened and mastered by the emotions of a new and sudden ecstacy had not before been seen since the days when George Whitefield thundered out his eloquence. Irreligious people smiled with a halfamused contempt ; the worldly made Moody and Sankey a butt for ridicule, and not at times unpardonably, when the exultation of converts reached the point of intense frenzy ; Kennard Jones, the then Chief of Police, had his hands full in regulating the beseiging crowds, and in thousands of homes and workshops that winter men and women were talking for the first time in their lives of "grace," "salvation" and "regeneration." It was estimated that fully twelve thousand persons were taken into the

Protestant churches in and about Philadelphia as the result of this extraordinary season of pious exhortation.

We instance these services simply as specimens of the great meetings conducted by Moody and Sankey in many places. Wherever they went it was the same story — wonderful crowds, deep religious fervor, vast numbers profoundly impressed, and a great wave of enthusiasm carrying forward all the churches on its crest.

A MASTER OF MEN.

Moody at that time was the incarnation of the Christian militant. Indeed, his aggressiveness often j arred on persons of gentle sensibilities. His personal presence was not engaging, his voice was strident and his manner fierce when he was worked up to his highest pitch of zeal. But there was an air of fearlessness, as well as of tremendous sincerity, in the man ; and the power and mastery with which he handled the vast crowds inspired respect for him among men who, while having no sympathy with his purposes, were interested in the strength and originality of his methods. The reporters, in transcribing their notes of his addresses, often had a sorry time in straightening out his disjointed syntax, but this was due to his impetuous, rapid utterance.

His simple, direct English was the language of the people ; it was expressed in short, burning sentences ; and it had that robust homeliness characteristic of the style of Bunyan. The effect was sometimes wonderful on the vast audiences in the sobs or in the ecstasy which it produced ; and usually after he had concluded, or rather, after Sankey had sung his impressive hymns, there would be a long procession of sinners to the " inquiry room."

In 1878, 1883 and 1887, Mr. Moody made extended tours through Canada, the meetings being marked by the intense enthusiasm which everywhere greeted his preaching. Countless audiences have felt his power ; the quiet, but intense appeals of Moody and the thrilling songs of Sankey have influenced many thousands for good. After he opened his schools at Northfield, in 1887, part of Mr. Moody's time was given to education ; he still found much time to devote to his preaching work.

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As a writer, Mr. Moody also exercised a widespread influence. Among his principal works have been : "The Second Coming of Christ" (1877) ; "The Way and the Word" (1877) ; "The Secret Power; or, The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Work" (1881) ; "The Way to God and How to Find It" (1884) ; "Glad Tidings" (1876); "Arrows and Anecdotes" (1877); "Best Thoughts and Discourses " (1877). Both as a writer and preacher the predominant quality of Moody's style was directness, simplicity. His sermons were largely anecdotal, but the illustrations were always reverent, powerful and convincing. He was especially fond of the parables, and his preaching was in large measure based upon their form and teaching.

SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AT NORTHFIELD.

During the twelve years preceding Mr. Moody's death his educational work at Northfleld, Mass., grew to large proportions. First he opened his own home for a few young ladies, and thus started his young ladies' boarding school. Next he erected a modest building across the way ; then East Hall was built at a cost of §30,000. Next followed Frederick Marquand Hall, costing $60,000, the gift of the Marquand estate. Following was Stone Hall. A new library building was then erected, costing $20,000, and an additional dormitory, costing a like amount. Two additional frame houses were fitted up for dormitories. These facilities afforded accommodation for about 300 young ladies.

The school buildings occupy 250 acres, which are beautifully laid out in park and woodland, traversed by a romantic glen, called Bonar Glen. An artificial lake of some three acres has been provided at a cost of $4,000. Mount Hermon, the school for young men, is about two miles from Northfleld. It is beautifully situated on the west bank of the Connecticut river, and consists of 400 acres, purchased at a cost of $12,500. This school was started with a gift of $25,000 from Mr. Hiram Camp, of New Haven. It was opened in the old farm building, with the addition of a wooden building, for a recitation hall.

Next, four brick buildings were erected and a large dining

22 MUUDY'S MAKVELLUUb CAREER.

hall. But soon the school exceeded the proportions of these buildings, and Crossley Hall and a new dining hall was erected, with accommodations for over 200 additional students, and with halls for chapel, library, museum, etc. Over a thousand young men and women, representing a dozen different nationalities, have been trained in these schools. Mr. Moody was no fanatic. His extraordinary energy in religious work was accompanied with broad and enli'ghtened views on the subject of education, by the practical results of which the whole world was benefited.

u Be good and you will be happy." This was Mr. Moody's motto, and he lived up to it to the time of his death. If any- one could have doubted this homely maxim the} T could have found fulfilment of its promise by looking into and studying the life of the great evangelist. There probably never was a man who accepted and practiced and instilled religion with so much cheerfulness and heart sunshine as did Mr. Moody.

THE BUSINESS OF HIS LIFE.

His life's aim was to "never lose an opportunity to make somebod}^ happy," and when opportunities did not offer he made them. For forty }^ears Mr. Moody had been in the business of " making people happy." If he had expended the same amount of energy and ingenuity in any mercantile or professional line, he would undoubtedly have accumulated a fortune. Instead, he was as poor when he died as when he started upon the career of an evangelist, except for the wealth of love and reverence and gratitude that rushed to him from thousands of hearts.

Mr. Moody's success was not confined to America. In England he made a great stir, and the people of the London slums stopped and listened to this bright, fresh, hearty New Englander, who got down to their own level and extended a cordial, chubby hand in greeting, while he offered them a religion, not of sackcloth and ashes, but of rejoicing and thanksgiving.

Therein was the secret of Mr. Moody's success. He rose to his pulpit — and it was any pulpit, regardless of place or denomination — with a smile on his lips and in his eyes, which gave

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practical living proof of what his religion had done for him. Creeds did not limit the scope of his work, for it was Mr. Moody's contention that Christ recognized no creeds, bnt " preached the Gospel to all men."

Pews were never empty and their occupants never went to sleep when Moody preached, and people who never went to church, who boast of a "religion of their own," a "moral" religion, based on u common sense " and "things tangible," with a comfortable logic behind it, went to hear Moody preach and Sankey sing just to get inspiration from their cheerfulness and marvel at their faith.

STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL FAITH.

Before Mr. Moody was stricken for the worse, Mrs. Moody, his wife, in speaking of him, said in response to an inquiry whether or not he had hoped to recover : "His faith in his recovery was unlimited and beautiful ; he had no thought but to recover. He was cheerful, and during the moments he was free from pain was trying to make us laugh. We allowed him to see none of his mail, but we could not stop him from thinking. The schools were a source of worriment to him. You see, the students pay only half the cost of tutorage, and the other half had been secured through Mr. Moody's efforts.

" Something of that life ? It has been a life of work ; a work which he loves, a work which has made him a model for all who were fortunate enough to be near him. His disposition has ever been sweet and humble, and his character forceful and strong. The influence of this simple presence is wonderful. I know of no day or hour in Mr. Moody's life when he had ceased for a moment to preach his religion ; not always in words ; Scripture lessons are not all of his religion. It was sometimes in what he did not say, when most of us would have spoken, or the pressure of his hand, or an act of kindness which no one but the one who needed it would ever know. As husband and father, counselor, companion, guide, he has acted always in accordance with what he preaches, and his faith in God has helped us through many a difficulty and made the travel smooth over many a rough road."

His death, removes from religions life a great force which made for the improvement of men and of society. He had his predecessors and he will have his snccessors. Somewhere there is to-day some 3 r oung man behind a connter or in a railroad office who will continne his work ; jnst as he took np the work which Finney dropped ; j nst as Finney at a longer interval resnmed the work before done by Wesley and Whitefield.

Nothing is wider of the trnth than to imagine that men like Mi. Moody create their opportunities. They find them and receive them. Great religions forces alwa}^s exist in society. Great religions desires are there. Men are not religions because religions exist. Religions exist because men are religious. There is present in every life, however careless and however depraved ; however busy and however thronged ; however ignorant or however commonplace ; a dim, dumb desire for an interpretation of the universe ; a wish faint, fitful and feeble, but none the less real, for some word or message which will set the soul in harmony, bring life in tune and in unison with its better purpose, free men from the chains of habit and desire and give them an impulse upward.

A DESIRE COMMON TO ALL MEN.

This wish is universal. It exists as a fact in the observation of every man within himself, and without in the men about him. Whether one accepts or rej ects the sufficient explanation that this is due to spiritual and divine forces, which ensphere the lesser life of man, it remains true as a simple fact, apparent to all, that the wish and desire for moral harmony between the soul and those things in the world about which make for righteousness can be observed in every nature and felt by every man. This fact is as demonstrable by experience and as unmistakable in its record as any in the round of human nature.

Whenever any man like Mr. Moody, with sincerity, with faith, with earnestness and with eloquence, faces this unspoken yearning for deliverance from sin, the response is instant. He succeeds in his appeal for exactly the same reason that the original appeal of the Gospel won men when, weak and unknown, the message of a feeble folk of weak and stammering tongues, it was presented to the world of Rome. The message prevailed then because it met the needs of men. It prevails now because neither men nor message have changed.

This primal fact, on which rests the power and might of a great faith, is obscured by the mass of machinery the churches have piled up around the message, obscuring its purpose, dulling its truth, dimming its light, and blunting the edge of its swordlike words. By the time a man has washed off the results of a week's work, put on his best and unfamiliar clothes, peacefully walked through quiet streets, entered a dim and beautiful interior, heard music that charms, and settled in a cushioned seat he is far away from the struggle and temptation, the mire and sweat, the sin and suffering which in his work world have made him cry aloud and mightily yearn for a deliverer.

MERE FORMS ARE NOT LIFE.

The closed pew door, the carpeted aisle, the stained glass window and its dim religious light, put any minister at a tremendous disadvantage in telling a man how he shall escape from the body of this death, whose weight he wearily drags. These are all valuable in preserving the church as a useful, sacred, consecrated organization, within whose fold men, women and children already are in peace, comfort and a comfortable assurance ; but when it comes to deal with men whose wish for better things is choked and stifled by the things of this world and its clatter, these things move not.

But the wiser revivalist takes the man, wearied with sin or, worse, wearied out of early weariness with it, in his working clothes, fresh from the street, the smell of the hot furnace of his daily life still in his garments, heavy laden with the sense of failure which afflicts us all in our effort rightly to do an honest day's work honestly, and then when the revivalist in some depot or shed, some place where men have worked and sweated and borne the burdens of the world, delivers point blank a message which fits their need and moves their inmost being, there is certain to be what men call a revival.

The realit}^ of the amazing phenomena which followed Mr. Moody's labors along these lines it is as impossible to donbt as any other social phenomena. Beginning with depots, sheds and halls, he passed on to churches, and did there what other men conld not do. His technical abilities were of the highest order. He had a voice under perfect training and control, of amazing power and penetrating force. Bnt these gifts of the flesh wonld have been nothing bnt for his sincerity, his earnestness, and his conviction that every ticking second saw eternity decided for some sonl. He was desperately in earnest.

A MESSAGE RIGHT FROM THE HEART.

This filled his sonl with flame, and he had a message to present of self-snrrender, self-sacrifice and personal service which for nineteen centnries have shone from the manger abont which the Christian world in reverence kneels. He fonnd men weak and left them strong. He smote the spell of appetite. He qnickened weak resolntion. He filled empty lives with pnrpose. Many fell away. Many lost their first love. Bnt there remained a great mnltitnde whose lives attested that they had won what the}^ songht, and who through long years have been of service to their fellow men.

These things he did, but in all his wonderful life nothing was more clear to himself or to the social observer than the fact that his real power lay in giving the message he had as it was first delivered, not hampered by the routine, ceremony and machinery which dull its simple, direct truth.

CHAPTER II. Early History of the Great Evangelist

MR. MOODY'S father died when he was only fonr years old, and a few weeks later twins were born, leaving the widow with nine children to care for. The little farm upon which they lived was encumbered by a mortgage. Mrs. Moody, whose birthday was the same as his own, died in 1896, at the age of ninety. Her heroic struggles to keep a roof over the heads of her large family were greatly appreciated by her children, five of whom survived their distinguished brother. The noble heart of the evangelist never showed itself more plainly than when he referred to the brave woman, who struggled against privations that would have made many persons break up their families and send their children to charitable institutions.

The early history of Dwight L. Moody was not such as to suggest that he would some day become the dominant personality of the English-speaking religious world. Northfield, the first and last home, regarded him as an " irrepressible, " and his widowed mother expressed many anxious fears as to the future of a boy so full of animal spirits, so reluctant to study, so impatient of control. Dwight at first preferred farm work to the village school.

There are many persons still living who recall Mr. Moody at that time of life. They say on the whole he differed little from the boys of his time. It was during this period of life, however, that his strong-minded mother planted within him those seeds of greatness which later bore remarkable fruit. Mrs. Betsey Holton Moody, the mother of the evangelist, was a remarkable woman. To her more than to the father was the famous son indebted.

The sturdiness of the mother asserted itself on the death of

her husband. In those years, when her children were young, she

struggled nobly through poverty and hardship. To her the son

is indebted for many of the elements that made him great.

When Dwight was seventeen years old, with his mother s permission he went to Boston to seek employment. His mother s brother was a shoe merchant in that city, and he gave his nephew work on two conditions : that he shonld be governed by his advice, and attend regularly the Sunday-school and services of the Mount Vernon Congregational Church. After Mr. Moody's conversion he applied for membership in the church. It is interesting to know what was thought of his future at that time. His teacher said that he was very "unlikely to become a Christian of clear and decided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness."

The committee by whom his application for admission was considered were doubtful at first about receiving him, owing to his defective knowledge of the doctrines of the Church, but after waiting a number of months for him to acquaint himself more thoroughly with these doctrines, he was received. He at once became an energetic worker in the Sunday-school, and was noted for his plainness of speech in the pra}*er meeting.

WAS ADVISED TO KEEP STILL.

In the fall of 1856 Mr. Mood}* went to Chicago and became a salesman in the shoe trade. He entered the Plymouth Congregational Church, and showed his earnest spirit by renting four pews, which he kept filled with young men and boys. He also wanted to take part in the prayer meetings, but suggestions were given to the effect that he could best serve the Lord by keeping still. But Mr. Moody was not to be silenced. He asked if he might become a Sunday-school teacher, and was told that he could if he would bring his own scholars.

The next Sunday he marched into the school-room at the head of eighteen ragged boys, whom he had collected during the week. Later he started a mission of his own in an empty tavern in North Chicago. His school grew so much that Xorth Market Hall was occupied, and John V. Farwell supplied benches for the scholars and became its superintendent. Largely under Mr. Moody's personal canvassing sixty teachers were obtained, and the average attendance of scholars was kept up to six hundred and fifty. In i860 he gave up his business that he might give all his time to religious work. He reduced his expenses to a minimum by doing without a home and sleeping upon a bench of the Young Men's Christian Association. In a short time he became a city missionary, and was able to assist others.

In 1862 Mr. Moody married Miss Emma C. Revell, one of the teachers in his Mission School, who has been to him a true helpmate. Her refinement and consecrated Christian life aided him greatly, not only at the evangelistic meetings which she attended, but in the homes of the cultured, where they were ever welcome guests.

"GIVE A FELLOW A CHANCE TO PRAY."

In less than a year the attendance at Mr. Moody's school increased to 1000. This school became one of the most famous of the West. Mr. Moody was frequently interfered with in his house-to-house visitations by some of the rougher people, and sometimes had to flee for his life. On one occasion, it is stated, he was cornered in a room by three men, who threatened to put an end to him. "Look here," said he, u give a fellow a chance to say his prayers, won't you ? " The request was granted, and he prayed with such earnestness for his persecutors that they quietly left the room, and he took to Sunday-school the children he came for.