THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ^ CAGs 
 
 cop. u. 
 
 !lL!N^iS HISTORICAL SUHVtY 
 
 
 ... lirA/.^ 
 
 ''II '; ,„:""ii..-i||, 
 
 'ii,,, 'I L";;.,"!'"!! 
 
 IHiliH 
 
 ^11 iliil flllilf Sif^
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF \i[mn\S
 
 SERMONSiADDRESSES 
 
 QUESTION DRAWER, 
 
 OTHER PROCEEDINGS 
 
 Christian Convention 
 
 Held in Chicago, September 18th to 20th, 1883. 
 
 UlfDEB THB DIRECTION OT 
 
 D. L. MOODY. 
 
 Verbatim Rerorts Carefully Revised. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 FAIRBANKS, PALMER & CO. 
 
 1884.
 
 COPYRIGHTED BY 
 
 FAIRBANKS, PALMER & CO. 
 1883. 
 
 CHAS. N. TRIVESS, PRINTER, 
 CHICAGO.
 
 ^30 
 
 "USii-^ei 
 
 O^- 
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Tl 
 
 4 
 
 ijo^ Among all those, from Paul to the devout of our own day, who 
 can truthfully say : " I determined to know nothing among you 
 save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," few^ have succeeded so 
 well in singleness of purpose and strength of faith as Mr. 
 Moody. Through no self-assertion he has come to occupy a 
 prominence which would gratify the most high vaulting ambi- 
 tion; but no man could be freer than he from ambition, as a 
 motive power. His whole heart is in the work of saving souls. 
 In the vineyard of the Lord there are other labors to be per- 
 formed, apart from the direct work of personal evangelization, 
 but it must be conceded that he has "chosen the better part," 
 and is engaged in the noblest work on earth. 
 
 However large his audiences and frequent his discourses, Mr. 
 
 Moody can reach only a very few people, comparatively, and 
 
 out of his zeal for the conversion of sinners has flown a stream 
 
 of influence upon all evangelical churches in which the English 
 
 language is spoken. The importance of this stream God alone 
 
 can measure. Tlianks to the printing press, he may address 
 
 -:::i millions. And it is to the credit of the Christian ministry, and 
 
 >: of the lay piety of all our churches, that there is a very general 
 
 ' ' anxiety to feel the inspiration of his magnetic zeal, and to emu- 
 
 iii. 
 
 I 03 I 87 1
 
 ly PREFACE. 
 
 late his spirit and methods, so far as practicable and possible. 
 The Pharasaical spirit which sneeringly asks: "How knoweth 
 this man letters, having never learned?" is not manifested. On 
 the contrary, the most learned of our ministry delight to sit at 
 his feet, and the most eloquent gladly take lessons from him in 
 that oratory which wins souls to Christ. The phenomenal favor 
 with which Mr. Moody and his work have been received on 
 both sides of the Atlantic will stand in the history of Chris- 
 tianity as monumental evidence of the humble piety and high 
 devotion of the period. The fact that this book has now 
 reached the twentieth edition, with an accelerated demand, is 
 only one of the many evidences of this most encouraging state of 
 the church. 
 
 The Christian Convention, which met in Chicago, September 
 iS, 18S3, remaining in session three days, was the immediate occa- 
 sion of this latest, but not last, edition of Moody's Sermons. The 
 material furnished by those proceedings will be found to be of 
 the very deepest interest and most vital importance, including 
 not only Mr. Moody's sermons, and less formal, but not less 
 valuable remarks, but also the addresses, brief and pithy, 
 often sublimely eloquent and always appropriate, of other 
 Christians of eminence in the work of saving souls. The 
 varied experiences of many workers in independent vineyards, 
 under widely diverse circumstances, brought out a flood of 
 light such as few occasions and books could possibly focalize. 
 It was by no means a one-man convention. Mr. Moody was 
 surrounded and assisted by pastors and lay preachers upon 
 whose labors the Master has impressed the signet of his 
 approval by the ingathering of souls and the upbuilding of 
 His church. 
 
 The publishers are indebted for the report of these meetings, 
 to the journalistic enterprise of '■'■TAe Inter- Oceanr It was
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 found unnecessary to have a corps of our own reporters present 
 for that work, as it was being done to meet the Immediate 
 demands of the newspaper public. The benefit of this econ- 
 omy, in the cost of the twentieth edition, is given entirely to 
 the public, as the edition is sold for the same price as the 
 old and smaller one. 
 
 It is well known that newspapers aim to publish what their 
 readers want, and the fact that a great daily journal in the 
 eminently busy city of Chicago, should devote two pages a 
 day to the proceedings of the Christian Convention, is a deeply 
 significant attestation of the general interest taken in the 
 proceedings. Not only the religious element of the city took a 
 profound interest in them, but thousands of ministers and laymen 
 from without, came to Chicago for the sole purpose of attending 
 the meetings. Could they have been held in the Tabernacle, 
 made sacred by the great revival meetings of a few years 
 ago, the reports of which are given in this volume, it would 
 have been crowded to overflow. But that temporary structure 
 long since disappeared, and Farwell Hall, with its hallowed 
 associations, afforded the best attainable accommodations. 
 
 Those who did not enjoy the holy luxury of attending 
 the meetings and those who did, will alike find the report of 
 those proceedings most suggestive reading, rich in seeds of 
 thought and incentives to religious endeavor, at once intensely 
 spiritual and thoroughly practical.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Morning Sermon, Sept, 16,1883, by D. L. Moody . . 866 
 Evening " " " " « " . . 875 
 
 How CAN WE BEST SECURE A PREPARATION FOR ChRIST's 
 
 Work, Rev. E. P. Goodwin, D. D. • • . 890 
 
 Same subject continued, Major D. W. Whittle . . . 892 
 
 " " " H. L. A. Stevenson. . . 893 
 
 " « " D. L. Moody . . . .893 
 
 The Great Hindrances, Rev. J. H. Barrows, D. D. . 895 
 
 « " " " C. L. Goodell, D. D. . 901 
 
 " " " " D. L. Moody . . . 902 
 
 Question Drawer, conducted by D, L. Moody . . 905 
 
 How TO Interest the Lay Element of Our Churches 
 
 Rev. C. L. Goodell, D. D 909 
 
 How Faith Spreads, Rev. S.J. McPherson . . . 914 
 Question Drawer, Conducted by D. L.Moody . . 918 
 
 How TO reach Habitual Non-Church Goers, Rev. H. 
 
 M. Scudder, D. D. 923 
 
 Same, subject continued. Rev. M. M. Parkhurst . . 929 
 " " " Rt. Rev. C. E. Cheney, D. D. 931 
 
 What Shall be done to Secure a More General At- 
 tendance OF the People upon Worship, Rev. P. 
 
 S. Henson, D. D. 933 
 
 Same subject continued, J. L. Houghteling . . . 937 
 How CAN THE Influence of Christian Homes be In- 
 creased, Rev. Dr. Ninde ...... 940 
 
 Same subject continued, Rev. R. M. Hatfield D. D. . 941 
 i.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Devotional Exercises, Rev. W. M. Lawrence, D. D. . 944 
 « " Charles M. Morton . . '947 
 
 Methods of Organization for Religious Work, 
 
 William Reynolds ....... 948 
 
 Question Drawer, Conducted by D. L. Moody . "95^ 
 
 Sermon. Text in Titus 2; 11--14, D. L. Moody • 955 
 
 How CAN THE Personal and Social Study of the Bible 
 
 be Increased, Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D. . 969 
 
 Same subject continued, B, F. Jacobs .... 974 
 
 How MAY Our Foreign Population be Evangelized, 
 
 Rev. F. E. Emerich 975 
 
 How TO Reach the Germans, Rev. L. M. Heilman . 977 
 " " " " Prof. Samuel Ives Curtiss . 980 
 
 How shall We Interest Our Children in the Gospel, 
 
 Rev. E. C. Ray • . 988 
 
 How may Music be Best Used and Controlled in Pro- 
 moting Worship and Spreading the Gospel, Ira 
 D. Sankey 993 
 
 Same SUBJECT continued, James McGranahan . . . 998 
 " " " D. L. Moody .... 1005 
 
 " " « Rev. P. S. Henson, D. D. . 1006 
 
 « « « Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D. . 1007 
 
 Closing Addresses on " Consecration For the Work," 
 
 Rev. E. P. Goodwin, D. D 1008 
 
 Same subject continued, William Reynolds, Prof. 
 Morehead, Mr. Lattimer, Rev, Dr. Hatfield, J. S. 
 Smithson, Major D. W. Whittle, Bishop Cheney, 
 Rev. Dr. Henson, and others. 
 
 Closing Address by D. L. Moody loio
 
 CHEISTIAIST OO^TYENTIOK. 
 
 HELD AT FARWELL HALL, CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER l8, I9 AND 20, 
 1883. PREFACED BY THE TWO SERMONS PREACHED BY 
 MR. MOODY THE SUNDAY PREVIOUS. PROCEED- 
 INGS AND SERMONS REPORTED IN FULL. 
 
 MORNING SERVICE. SEPT. 16, 1883. 
 
 For the first time for many years, D. L. Moody, Chicago's own 
 great evangelist, appeared on a pulpit platform in that city, where 
 he grew into greatness. The mere announcement that the great 
 evangelist was to preach at the Chicago Avenue Church was suffi- 
 cient to secure the filling of that church many times over. Long 
 before the doors of the church were open, dense crowds covered the 
 sidewalks on the two street sides of the church. 
 
 After the opening services Mr. Moody made a few remarks 
 relative to that particular church, before entering upon the theme of 
 the occasion. 
 
 Moody's church. 
 You are all aware that this is a free church, I see some of you 
 putting your hands in your pockets, seeing what I am coming at. 
 A good many of my friends said to me that this church could not 
 succeed, because it was an undenominational church; because it was 
 not a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Presbyterian church; that no 
 undenominational church could live. Well, it has lived now for 
 twenty years, and, while I am no prophet, I think it will live twenty 
 years longer. My heart has been wonderfully cheered that I have 
 not had to raise any money this time to pay pastors' bills. Every- 
 thing is paid up to the present time, and I believe the true Scrip- 
 tural idea of a church is that every one should give as he is prospered 
 from day to day and week to week. We don't ask you to give 
 what you haven't got, but w^e want you to give this morning as you 
 have been blessed in worldly store. There is one thing that should 
 be remedied at once — the sidewalk on Chicago avenue in front of 
 the church. I almost feared the crowd this morning would break it 
 down, and I should like to have a stone side'walk put there instead 
 of the old wooden one. We need $2,000 for this, and that is not 
 much for a congregation like this so there will be no danger of the 
 865
 
 866 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 sidewalk breaking in and the people getting hurt. So we will 
 devote to that purpose the collection both this morning and evening. 
 THE MORNING SERMON. 
 
 I have, said Mr. Moody, four texts this morning. One is a 
 question, another is an exhortation, another is a command, and the 
 last, the fourth, is a promise. 
 
 And, first, the question: It is the first words that fell from the 
 lips of Christ as recorded by John. Other evangelists record other 
 words, but these are the first recorded by John, "What seek ye?" 
 According to the commentators, John wrote the Gospel about sixty 
 years after Christ was gone, the last New Testament book written, 
 and he was so impressed with the interview he held with Christ 
 that it figures in his opening sentence. It was in the afternoon on 
 the day after John had been baptized. On seeing the Saviour in 
 the presence of His disciples, John cried out, " Behold the Lamb of 
 God ! " And John followed Jesus, and Jesus turned to John and his 
 accompanying disciples and said, "What seek ye?" 
 
 Now, all classes sought the Lord when He was on earth, the 
 rich and poor, the learned and the unlearned ; there was not a class 
 to stay away; the priests and the Levites, the Pharisees and the Sad- 
 ucees, all classes sought Him. But they didn't all seek Him with 
 the same motive, and therefore they didn't all get blessed alike. 
 
 Some sought Him that they might see a sign. They wanted 
 to see Him perform a miracle They wanted to see a man lame 
 from his birth jump up and walk, and see him leaping and praising 
 God. That's a sight they'd like to see. They didn't care anything 
 about the explanation. They only wanted the excitement of the 
 spectacle. Some were a little skeptical and didn't believe. But they 
 didn't come there to believe; they didn't want to believe. And so 
 they were constantly coming to see a sign. And one day He turned 
 Him to them and asked them the question of the text. We can 
 imagine that these men spread the reports of what they saw all over 
 Palestine. 
 
 It was a great wonder, indeed, that here was one who could 
 make bread without flour. It was a marvel, truly, that He could 
 give them food in the desert without any preparation, the very best 
 bread that ever they had eaten. Fresh from the hand of the Cre- 
 ator, of course it was good bread. They didn't care about anything 
 else, except to say that they had seen and tasted it. Just so nowa- 
 days ; some men rush to hear somebody preach to just be able to say 
 that they have heard him. They don't care what he says, but they 
 love to say, " Oh, yes, I have seen him and heard him." And so 
 there was that class of men who sought Him. 
 
 And others sought Him because they thought He was going to 
 set up a temporal kingdom, and they would be the first in authority
 
 CHRISTIAN' COXVENTIOX. 867 
 
 under Him — wanted to be prime ministers and secretaries of state, 
 and all that, monopolizing all the fat offices of the land. I have not 
 any doubt that such was the motive that took Judas into the ranks of 
 the Lord; he wanted high position, the fishes and loaves of worldly 
 prominence and lordship. The same class existed then as now, and 
 with the same motive ; they followed the Lord because it promised 
 rewards of an earthly kind, and to be His disciple would be the 
 fashion. 
 
 Another class sought Him that they might entangle Him in His 
 conversations, that they might accuse him before the law, and take 
 Him out and stone Him to death. They wanted to get something 
 against Him. They wanted to trap Him into some utterance against 
 Csesar. They had nothing but murder in their hearts. Others 
 sought Him because the crowd went that way, for multitudes were 
 going into the desert to see the signs and the wonders that were 
 wrought. Many went because others w^ent, and if tliey answered 
 truly the question, " What seek ye?" they would have answered, 
 " I am going to see what is going on." Another class wanted to 
 hear some new thing. They would like to hear this new doctrine. 
 And there was another class that didn't care. They were ready to 
 take in anything that was going on. 
 
 And another class — and I am sorry to say that is a small class — 
 sought Him for what He was. And let me say right here that no 
 man or woman was ever disappointed. Christ is all, and more than 
 we make Him to be. Men grow smaller and smaller, but don't 
 grow larger and larger. No man ever made too much of Christ 
 Jesus. Some people have a very small Savior, and are continually 
 venturing into sin. Why ? Because they do not know the power 
 of that Savior, have no intimate acquaintance with Christ, don't 
 know much about Him. But when he is the great and mighty 
 Savior, and recognized in the soul as such, then a man's path is safe. 
 
 And now let me look into this audience this morning and let me 
 ask the question. What seek ye? and answer me truly. The text is 
 not changed. It is the same to-day as when Christ uttered it, and 
 is man changed? Not one bit. I think if this audience could be 
 sifted and you could get at the reasons that brought people together 
 this morning you would find much similarity to the old reasons. 
 Hundreds of men and women came here this morning who did not 
 come to learn. It is the hardest thing in the world to reach such. 
 I believe hundreds and thousands of people go to church Sabbath 
 after Sabbath, and go away without one thought of duty upon them, 
 just as untouched as for the last twenty years. They did not come 
 to the house of God to meet God, they do not bring their souls into 
 contact with the grace of Christ. 
 
 Now all are seeking for something, and let the question come,
 
 868 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 What seek ye? Come, friends, ask the question of yourselves. 
 What was your motive in coming here this morning? Did some 
 come for information? "I just came," you say, "to see what was 
 going on. I was going down street this morning and saw the great 
 crowd and thought I would just cone in and hear what was going 
 on." You have just dropped in. Well, glad you are here, and if 
 you haven't come with the best motive I hope God will meet you. 
 
 Another, perhaps, has come in order to please his mother. " She 
 has been very anxious," ^-ou say, "that I should come out to meet- 
 ing, and I thought it would please her." Well, I am glad you have 
 come, even if you didn't come with a better motive than that. 
 
 On my last visit to London I was preaching in Agricultural Hall 
 when a man dropped in out of the rain, and he staid till he found 
 the Savior. Well, I was reminded of Sir Rowland Hill, who said 
 that he had heard of people making a cloak out of religion, but this 
 man made an umbrella out of it. [Laughter.] Another time a man 
 dropped in who said he hadn't been in a church before for years. 
 This was in Philadelphia where I was speaking one Tuesday night. 
 He was a bricklayer, a great strapping six-footer, a hard-drinknig 
 man, and very profane. Well, somebody had told him it was a 
 remarkable sight to see ii,ooo empty chairs on one floor, and he 
 thought he would like to see them. Didn't care for the Gospel, but 
 wanted to see the empty tabernacle and those chairs. Low motive, 
 wasn't it? So, early in the evening he came up, and as soon as the 
 sexton unlocked the door he popped in ahead of everybody, and ran 
 up the aisle to see the empty chairs from the foreground. He said: 
 " What do so many fools rush in here for?" But he stayed, and the 
 divine word and Holy Spirit began to tell on him, and he has 
 adorned the doctrine of God his Savior ever since. That's the kind 
 of people to preach to. They are open to God's truth. I would 
 rather preach to that kind than those who become hardened under 
 pulpit ministrations. Those are the hardest to reach. 
 
 If you have heard the word unmoved and disobedient, I don't 
 think there is much chance for you. God in His mercy may save 
 you, but there is not much hope for you. However, come ahead ; 
 even if like that bricklayer you haven't come with the best of 
 motives. Our God is a great God, and He is able to bless every one, 
 and he knows our needs better than any one. So let us pray God 
 that every one may seek His face and find Him precious. 
 
 The next text tells us to " Seek the Lord while He may be 
 found." Now notice how it reads: " Seek the Lord while He may be 
 found." It does not say seek happiness, seek peace, seek joy. And 
 yet a good many people are only seeking these; seeking peace, 
 seeking joy, seeking happiness. I cannot see any place in the Bible 
 where we are told to seek for peace, for happiness, for joy. If we
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 869 
 
 seek after the virtue, we will have all those things following. If we 
 have the spirit we will have the fruit. We cannot get an apple 
 without we have the tree. We cannot have an orange without w^e 
 have an orange tree. Set a good tree and you will have good fruit. 
 Therefore, what is wanted is to seek the Lord Himself. If we get 
 the Lord we will have peace, joy, rest. We cannot have them 
 without Christ. Christ Himself comes with them; brings them to 
 us. He is the author and bearer of them. If we want peace, there- 
 fore, and joy and happiness, and rest, we must seek Him. 
 
 Call upon him while he is near. 
 
 I remember, when I was a boy, a little fellow, smaller than this 
 boy here, I would try — you may think I was a foolish fellow — I 
 would try to catch my shadow. But many a time I have tried to 
 tread on my shadow, but I never caught my shadow. I would run 
 after it a good many times, but never caught up with it. But once, 
 running to\vard the sun, I saw my shadoAV coming after me; and 
 one of the sweetest lessons I have learned in the school of righteous- 
 ness is, and was, that the fruit comes after our seeking the Lord. 
 Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good. Seek Him and w^e 
 have all the hope, the peace, the rest, and happiness that we desire. 
 Now, dear friends, if we seek these things instead of seeking Christ, 
 we shall be disappointed. 
 
 Do you think the Lord can be found in this house before twelve 
 o'clock ? Can a man who has been living in sin up to this hour, who 
 has never sought the Lord imtil this hour, do you believe that such 
 a man can see Him within this house, before twelve o'clock? Yes! 
 I believe it, just as much as I believe in anything. If there is any 
 man who cannot find Him, I believe it is because he does nothing to 
 find Him ; and the reason that so few people find the Lord is because 
 they do not seek Him in their heart. They cannot find Him in the 
 head. The seeking after the Lord is the work of revelation, and 
 revelation comes to the heart and not to the head of man. When 
 people seek God from the heart they find Him. When I said to 
 another man that I could tell him when he would be converted, he 
 answered: "Mr. Moody, I did not know that you claimed to be a 
 prophet." I said that I was not a prophet, nor my father before me. 
 If men will be earnest in their souls they need not go out of the 
 house to find Him. 
 
 His salvation is within the reach of every soul here if he will 
 wake up as the man did on the day of Pentecost. The cry was, 
 "What must we do?" And when He told them, they went and 
 bowed themselves down. And if you are wilhng to do what God 
 wants you to do, and seek Him with all your heart, you will find 
 Him. Once, at one of my meetings, a man was leaning upon a post 
 with both his hands in his pockets. "Are you a Christian, friend?"
 
 870 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 I asked. He said, " No ! " '* Would you like to be one ? " "I have 
 no objection," he replied. Now, I don't think that man is fit to be 
 saved with that kind of a spirit, and I do not believe that any man 
 will ever step into the kingdom of God in that condition of mind. 
 If people were as anxious about their eternal welfare as they are 
 about their temporal welfare, there would be no trouble to men and 
 women getting into the kingdom of God by hundreds. 
 
 People are so earnestly bent on their temporal affairs, so dili- 
 gent and self-sacrificing in piling up earthly riches, that they have 
 softening of the brain, so much are they troubled in reference to that 
 which perisheth. They are terribly in earnest about these things 
 which are earthly and which perish. Shall we not be ia earnest about 
 the things eternal ? It is no time to seek God when the house begins to 
 fall, when the walls are coming down, when we are tortured on the 
 bed of sickness. It is no time then to seek eternal riches. It is this 
 beautiful Sabbath morning, this very hour, that we should call 
 upon Him while He is near. 
 
 Is He near? That is the question of many. If any man or 
 woman thinks He is far away, let them remember that He said that 
 when only " two of you are together, I am with you." Is He not 
 still merciful? Is He not still gracious? Does He not still want to 
 lift up the world ? Does He not wish to place you on the heights 
 above? Did God not show His love for us when He sent His only 
 begotten Son down into this world for our salvation, when He left 
 the throne and came down into this dark world, and passed by the 
 columns of the palace and went to the manger? Was he not in 
 earnest? And, dear friends, if God was in earnest when He came 
 among us to die on the cross, shall we not be in earnest? Is it not 
 time to turn toward Him — to seek the Lord when He may be 
 called? 
 
 The text shows that the time has come. There are many that 
 have called when it was too late. 
 
 Now take the third section of my text, and that is a command: 
 " Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these 
 things shall be added unto you." Now, if that means what it says, 
 and I have no doubt it does, it means to seek the kingdom of God 
 before you go out of this house this morning. It means you are to 
 seek Him before you go home — before you take another step. 
 There is not a thing that you can put between your salvation and 
 your soul — no solitary thing. No man or woman in this place ought 
 to think of waiting for a moment. You know that all of God's 
 blessings have come that way. Take the life of Christ while He 
 ■^vas here, and its one teaching is, be obedient. 
 
 Every solitary one who did what he thought he ought to do was 
 Messed. Take blind Bartimeus who was commanded to go his way,
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 871 
 
 and he went and was blessed in the very act of going. To another 
 this blessed Lord said, " Go home and tell your friends what great 
 things the Lord has done." He started home and he was blessed on 
 the way. He said to the ten lepers, " Go show yourselves to the 
 priests! " These men might have said, " We show ourselves to the 
 priests! AVhy they have banished us to the desert, sent us outside 
 the walls of the citv, crying 'Unclean! unclean!'" But the ten 
 obeyed, and what was the result? They were healed in the very 
 act of obedience. I would like to have seen those ten men who were 
 healed, as their wholeness dawned upon them. " Why, look here, 
 John, I am whole; I feel as if I could leap over a stone wall." And 
 "another says, " vSo am I," and the whole ten find that they are whole, 
 and walk and leap and praise God. 
 
 And vou remember the paralytic to whom the word came, " Take 
 up thy bed and walk." He did not withhold obedience one second, 
 and God gave him power to fulfill the word. So you can always 
 take God at his word, and in obedience to vour salvation. What he 
 has commanded He will give you ability to perform. Obedience, 
 that is the first and great thing. No other question will compare 
 with that of our immortal destiny. 
 
 I can imagine the commotion there would be in this audience this 
 morning if a whisper should go through the congregation, " Solomon 
 is here." How all eyes would turn to yonder door in wondering 
 expectancy. And if he should walk to the platform, how hushed 
 you would be. I can imagine ou would look up to him in rev- 
 erence and love. I can imagine his saying to you, " Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no knowledge 
 in the grave whither thou goest." Do what thou hast to do with 
 all thy might. My friends — is there any other question of import- 
 ance to compare with this question of eternal life? 
 
 To buy and sell, to get gain, and live a little longer in Chicago 
 — is that so important as this question of eternal life? vSuppose you 
 had rolled up the wealth of Croesus, and had not eternal life; suppose 
 you should live many years longer without eternal life; is there any- 
 thing in this life compared with the life beyond? 
 
 And I imagine another speaker coming in. He is the old 
 prophet of Carmel, the Tishbite. Wouldn't you like to hear Elijah ? 
 He has got a strange coat on, all camel's hair, walks like a giant. 
 You say, " I would like to hear Elijah." You would want me to 
 arop down into a seat pretty quick, and let the old prophet speak. 
 And what does he say? " How long halt ye between two opinions? 
 If God be God, then serve Him; if Baal, then follow him." 
 
 He called to a nation that was in need of decision. That is 
 what Chicago wants to-day; for you serve either God or the devil. 
 You cannot serve both. Oh, I believe the curse of the day — the
 
 872 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 present day — is this worldliness that has come into the church. 
 People try to serve both God and mammon. They are trying it in 
 Chicago. But no man can serve God that way. No. He must 
 have the whole heart. He won't accept of any other service. My 
 friends, it is decision we want. It is not more sermons, not more 
 light, but to obey the light we have. I have come this morning in 
 the hope that I may call you to decide what you will do. I spoke 
 to you of Solomon and Elijah. 
 
 I will speak to you of another person you would like to hear. 
 You would like to hear Paul, and I can imagine your saying to 
 yourselves: "Yes; wouldn't I like to hear him. I would walk a 
 hundred miles to hear Paul." If there is any man who is my ideal 
 of a preacher, Paul is that man. Well, suppose him here. What 
 does he say? Behold, to-morrow is the day of salvation? " Behold, 
 now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the accepted time." 
 
 This day, this hour, this moment! I have no right to speak to 
 you about to-morrow. Only three weeks ago I talked long and 
 earnestly with a dear friend, and he has just been followed to his 
 grave; and this morning and last night, at midnight, I thought of 
 different texts; and different subjects came up to me that might stir 
 the church of God; and it seemed to me that I heard it said — so 
 impressed was it on my mind — that there might be some one in the 
 congregation who would never hear a Gospel sermon again. There 
 may be some one here, and he may never hear my voice again ; and 
 so I took for my text this matter in hope that there might be some 
 who would hear my voice this morning, and, hearing it, would 
 heed. 
 
 Oh ! I beseech of you, my friends, don't spurn the gift of God. 
 If I could only picture eternal life, I would have one sermon, and 
 would go to heathen nations and take an interpreter, and just tell it 
 out. But I cannot do it. I have tried many times to describe what 
 it is, but somehow or other it seems that my tongue is tied. If I 
 could but picture what eternal life is, we should see a great rush into 
 the kingdom of God this morning. We would flock into the king- 
 dom by hundreds and thousands, if only we could see what it is; if 
 we could only grasp this tremendous thing — the eternal life of the 
 soul. What is life here ? The world is filled with sorrow ; filled 
 with disappointment. As I look over the audience I see on every 
 side the emblems of mourning over the victories of the grave; no 
 circle but what has been broken; no fireside without the vacant 
 chair. Before us all dawns the opening grave. In a little while 
 we must lie dow^n in its darkness. 
 
 But think of the life where there is no care; where the natural 
 strength never becomes abated; the eye never grows dim; where 
 the pulse is always firm ; a city that has no cemetery ; where death
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 873 
 
 ..ever comes; where sin never enters — for all that is sweet and pnre 
 and lovely is in its native clime. There we should be in the presence 
 of our dear Lord, and our bodies would be fashioned like unto His 
 own glorious body, and we shall be with Him for ever and for ever. 
 Blessed eternal life! 
 
 What is here but banishment compared to such eternal life? 
 To go on the Board of Trade and make a few thousand dollars; 
 whiitisthat? To live a few years; what is that? Nothing at all to 
 be mentioned with the life of the redeemed souls stretching in hap- 
 piness on and on and on, beyond the grave. 
 
 And this is my charge: ''The wages of sm is death; the gift of 
 God is eternal life." Will you, my friends, have it this morning? 
 Man! will you take it? Come, my friends, will you not tell rne 
 you are stretching out for it with every sinew of your soul; and will 
 you not now embrace it to your hearts? Oh! if yo.i will take my 
 advice, you will not go out of this house this morning until you have 
 eternal life. 
 
 The last text: That is the promise. The Scripture says: "If 
 thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in 
 thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, 
 for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;" for the 
 Scripture says, " Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." 
 Now, dear friends, there is the promise — that if we shall confess 
 with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe on Him, thou shalt not 
 be ashamed. 
 
 I believe that a great many are kept out of the kingdom of God 
 because they are ashamed to confess. If they could get into the 
 kingdom of God without the cross, they would be very glad to get 
 in. If they could get into the kingdom of God without confessing, 
 they would be willing to go in. But this taking up of the cross, 
 this self-denial, this it is that keeps thousands out from the kingdom 
 of God. Why is it that Mohammed has got so many more disciples 
 than Christ, many ask me. It is because his follower does not have 
 to deny himself of the lusts of the flesh like the follower of Jesus 
 Christ. I believe that the fear of the cross is keeping hundreds and 
 thousands out of the kingdom of God. But if you want to meet 
 Christ you must meet Him at the cross; and if you want Christ this 
 morning you must take up the cross. What is the cross, I would 
 know. It is different things to different persons. 
 
 I remember when last in Edinburgh a business man came to our 
 meeting. He had made up his mind that he ought to live right, and 
 that he ought to have a family altar. And as -he hurried his wife 
 and children up the next morning his wife said, " George, what's 
 your hurry ? " And he went into the parlor and said : " I have a con- 
 fession to make this morning, and I want to have you forgive me.
 
 874 CHRISTIAN CONVEXTIOX. 
 
 You have never heard me say any words in prayer. I am going to 
 commence this morning. I want you and I want mv children to 
 help me." And then he got down and confessed his soul as well as 
 he could. That was the way he took up the cross; and I do not 
 know of a man who was ever more blessed with God than that man. 
 He met God at the cross. Make up your mind that He tells you that 
 to-day is the time; that He tells you to call upon Him now. Will 
 3-ou respond to His call? Will you give yourselves henceforth and 
 forever to Him ? 
 
 Once, I remember, a ladv came into the meeting I was at, and 
 she came in like many others, just out of idle curiosity. She and 
 her father, her brother and her sister had been making a good deal 
 of sport of the meetings; but she thought she would go in. There 
 was not anything in the sermon that seemed to touch her; but there 
 was a lady at her side, and when the meeting was over this lady 
 spoke to her kindly, gently, in winning accents. The lady threw 
 up her head haughtily, and said, " I don't like such kind of preach- 
 ing." But the other lady asked her to come again, and she came 
 again, and this Christian woman soon won her affection. She came 
 to see this ladv, and promised to have a little talk with her, and 
 came back again and again. 
 
 But what kept her from the kingdom of God for about a week 
 was that she had to confess before her brother, her father and her 
 sister. She knew ^vhat bitter opposition there would be from them. 
 But, she said, if the Lord would take the burden she would take the 
 cross. She went home and told her father that she had made up 
 her mind to become a Christian. The opposition became very bitter. 
 " Now, won't you tell us what you have got there ? " they asked her. 
 She answered: "In the first place I have got self-control." And 
 she says: "You know, sister, if you had said half the many unkind 
 things you have said to me since I have been converted before I had 
 been converted, I should have answered back. Then I have got 
 peace, too — peace with* God, and peace with all around." The 
 sister broke into a flood of tears and exclaimed, " I have not got 
 them." " Go \vith me to the meeting," the other answered. They 
 both went and became firm friends of Jesus. But the father was 
 firm in his convictions. He said he would never be known to be at 
 such meetings. He was ashamed of people going to such places. 
 But the sisters worked along together, and finally they told their 
 brother that Mr. Black, of the University, would speak that night. 
 The young man turned pale and said: "There must be something 
 in it; I will go to-night;" and that friend led him into the kingdom 
 of God; and he had only been a Christian six weeks when he died, 
 and he called his father and said : " Was it not a good thing that
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. °'^ 
 
 Black got up and spoke? Was it not a good thing that I became a 
 Christian?" 
 
 Oh I dear friends, you may be spending your last summer, your 
 last winter on earth. Take the cross. Take it up, and thou shalt 
 be confessed to the Lord Jesus. Oh! that you may be saved; that 
 you may be blessed just now. Let us unite in prayer. 
 EVENING SERVICE. 
 
 At the evening services the congregation was fully as large as 
 that in the morning, and there was visible on the vast sea of faces 
 upturned to the earnest speaker on the platform an expression of 
 deep interest and emotion. Occasionally as the voice of the evan- 
 gelist pealed out the promises of God to those who love Him, and 
 tl le punishment to be meted out to the wicked, here and there a 
 handkerchief was raised, or a low sob broke upon the ear. 
 
 The services were opened with an offering of prayer and song, 
 after which Mr. bloody announced as the text of 
 
 THE SERMON. 
 
 Mark xii,, 34: " Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." 
 
 In this chapter, he said, I suppose the Saducees and Pharisees 
 both had met to attack Christ; at least they had come asking Him 
 questions in hopes that they might entangle Him, and get Him to 
 say something that would give them occasion to stone Him to death. 
 After He had silenced them, and they could ask him no more ques- 
 tions, a hiwver asked Him which was the greatest commandment of 
 all. He answered Him, and the lawyer was obliged to say that He 
 had answered well, and Christ made this remark to the young law- 
 yer: "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." I am afraid 
 if Christ had not made that remark we would have put Him down 
 as a caviler; that He had come in the same spirit that the Saducees 
 and Pharisees had come; but Christ was a prophet; He could read 
 this man's heart; He could see that this man could tell the diflference 
 between the external and the internal; that it was not just a matter 
 of form with him; that he knew that the law of God was pure, 
 and that he knew the spiritual meaning of the doctrines that Christ 
 had come to teach. Now, there was no class of people that thought 
 they were so near to the kingdom of God as the Pharisees did; and 
 there was no class of people that were so far from the kingdom of 
 God as these very men. They were the most difficult class of people 
 to teach, and it is so to-day. You can reach the abandoned a great 
 deal better and easier than you can reach the elder brothers and the 
 Pharisees. 
 
 Now, suppose that we had been in the temple when the Pharisee 
 and the publican went up to worship, we w^ould have put the 
 Pharisee down as a noble man, already in the kingdom of God, or, 
 if not, very near it; and we would have said that the publican was a
 
 876 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 good way from it. But God can see more than we can see; the 
 Pharisee was near the kingdom of God, but the publican passed 
 right by and went In. In another place Christ said to the Phari- 
 sees, " The publican and harlots shall go into the kingdom of God 
 before you." Why ? Because they repented and turned from their 
 sins. The kingdom of God is wide open ; the door is wide open to 
 any man that is willing to repent of his sins and turn to God, but 
 the man that is drawing around him the rags of self-righteousness, 
 and thinks that he is better than other people, is a good way from 
 the kingdom of God. 
 
 The object of the text and of the sermon to-night is to call your 
 attention to a class of people — I think it is a large class — that come 
 very near the kingdom of God, and yet miss it. I think you will 
 find the world is full of that class of men — that is, their represent- 
 atives. Cases have been recorded, and I think it may be a warning 
 to us. I never noticed until lately how Herod, who took the life of 
 John the Baptist, was once very near the kingdom of God. If a 
 'man had said to me a year ago, or two years ago, " Did you ever 
 think, Mr. Moody, that Herod came near the kingdom of God ? " 
 I should have said, " No, I do not think he ever came near it." 
 But there was one passage of Scripture that I had overlooked. Let 
 me read it. It is the sixth chapter of Mark, verse 3o: " For Herod 
 feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and heard him 
 gladly." 
 
 Now that snows that Herod was brought under the influence of 
 John's preaching. I can imagine when John was preaching there in 
 the wilderness there was a great crowd standing upon the banks of 
 the Jordan, listening to that wonderful man — one of the most wonder- 
 ful preachers, perhaps, that this world has ever had or ever will have. 
 Most any man' can get a crowd in a city, where people throng and are 
 numerous; but it is quite a different thing to get people together off in 
 the desert to hear a man preach. Here was a man coming into the 
 wilderness of Judea without reputation, without fame, without a long 
 title to his name — ^just a mere voice crying on the banks of the 
 Jordan, and that mighty audience flocked by thousands to hear him. 
 I can imagine, as he stands there preaching the glorious gospel of 
 the kingdom of God, that many who had been looking into the 
 future, trying to catch a glimpse of the coming one, must have been 
 thrilled as he stood there proclaiming the glad tidings; and while 
 he was preaching in that way I can imagine there was a great com- 
 motion in the congregation, and, perhaps, if Herod once in a while 
 had heard him — the idea that Herod should go to hear a street 
 preacher — that he should leave the palace and go to the banks _ of 
 the Jordan to hear this man ! 
 
 Every eye was upon him. Every once in a while you would see
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 877 
 
 them looking around to see how Herod took it; and I can imagine 
 they perhaps saw a tear in his eye, because it says he heard him 
 gladly, and not only heard him but he done many things, and if 
 you had gone into Herod's court in those days you would have 
 heard him talking of John the Baptist. I will venture to say there 
 was not hardly one who would talk about John the Baptist but who 
 would be told : " You want to go down and hear that man j^reach ; 
 I never heard a man preach like him; his words come right straight 
 from the heart; I never heard a man talk like him; I never had a 
 man talk to me the way that man did. I have stopped swearing; 
 I used to swear, and I haven't sworn since I heard him preach; in 
 fact I have done a good many things that I would not have done 
 if I hadn't heard him preach; he is just the preacher I like; he 
 talks right at me, and he tells me my faults." He was brought 
 under conviction, and under deep conviction, because when you 
 see a man breaking off this sin and that sin you may know 
 that they have been touched by the spirit of God. And 
 this was Herod ; the spirit of God was moving upon his heart ; but, 
 alas! Herod made a compromise; he wanted to be a disciple, and 
 yet he didn't want to give up all sin. I believe there are a great 
 many men to-day in the same position that Herod was. I believe 
 Chicago is full of men that have been or are to-night near the king- 
 dom of God; but, alas! they are going to miss the kingdom, be- 
 cause they are not willing to give up all sin; they want to make a 
 compromise. There are many different sins; perhaps he was in 
 the habit of taking bribes up to that time, and he had got to the 
 point where he would not take any bribes. It may be he was in 
 the habit of getting under the influence of liquor and got drunk now 
 and then. He says: "I must stop drinking so much; I must break 
 off many things;" and he was a hopeful subject. 
 
 I can imagine after John had preached one day, and then had 
 seen Herod brought under the influence of his preaching, it might 
 have been reported to John, "Well, I do think Herod will be 
 among the inquirers to-morrow when you get through pleading; I 
 think he has almost got to the point, and is just coming to see you 
 after you break up," because John did heal inquirers, you know. 
 Soldiers asked him what they should do ; civilians asked him what 
 they should do; publicans, they addressed words to him, and wanted 
 to know what they should do, and undoubtedly many of the disci- 
 ples thought that Herod would soon be among the inquirers ; that 
 he would soon be pressing up to the front to ask John what he must 
 do that he might inherit eternal life. Alas, Herod came near the 
 kingdom of God, but he missed it, and '♦• was not long before he 
 became w^orse than ever 
 
 Now, I hear people bring this charge against special meetmgs.
 
 878 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 They say they make some people worse ; well, there is no doubt 
 about that, but any one that knows anything about the teaching of 
 that book would not talk in that way. The Gospel \vill be, per- 
 haps, a savor of life unto life, or death unto death. It is the Gospel 
 that softens some hearts, and hardens others. The same sun that 
 strikes upon the ice in one moment, strikes upon the clay and 
 hardens it and the hardening process or the softening process is 
 going on here to-night. Men do not remain the same. You are not 
 the same you were ten 3'ears or five years ago. Sermons that would 
 have impressed you five years ago make no impression upon you now. 
 The sermon that would have brought tears to your eves five years 
 ago would make no impression upon you now, because the harden- 
 ing process has been going on in that time; men do not remain as 
 they were; men do not stand still; we are going on either for 
 better or for worse. If some one had said to Herod after he was 
 brought under the influence of Johns preaching, "Herod^ do you 
 know you are going to take the life of that good man? Do 3-ou 
 know you are going to have John beheaded, and do you know you 
 will do it in a few months?" He would have said, "Am I a dog 
 that I should do such a thing? That man with the voice he has? 
 I never heard such a voice ; I would rather hear him preach than 
 any man I ever heard in my life. Silence him? I silence him? 
 Never!" Alas! a few months after that and Herod was seven times 
 more a child of hell than ever, and it was Herod that silenced the 
 voice of one of the best preachers this world has ever known ; a 
 man of whom it could safely have been said, " Thou art not far 
 from the kingdom of God." 
 
 Now let us notice the mistake Herod made; it was that he didn't 
 make clean work of it. No man can get into the kingdom of God 
 that does not make a complete surrender; it is an unconditional 
 surrender that it needed; it is not ninety-nine sins out of a hundred, 
 but it is every one. If a man does not make clean work he can- 
 not get into the kingdom of God. Now there are a good many 
 men want to be saved, but they do not want to give up all their 
 sins. There are some secret sins. I used to think men had intel- 
 lectual difficulties; there were so many mysteries in the Bible that 
 men wovild not give their hearts to God, but I have got over that. 
 There is no trouble about getting into the kingdom of God when 
 vou are ready to part \vith sin. Let the wicked forsake his way 
 and the unrighteous man his faults and go to God and be abun- 
 dantly pardoned. But Herod had a secret sin, his life was not right, 
 but at last John pointed out that sin. Thank God for such preach- 
 ers. I will tell you, what we ^vant to-day is men who Avill go into 
 the pulpit and tell you what your sin is. It is not these men who 
 will say "Peace, peace, peace," when there is no peace; it is not
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 879 
 
 these men who will come with oily words and a silvery tongue, 
 men who believe all is right in sin because it is all wrong. The 
 day of retribution is coming. God has got a conti-oversy with sin 
 and is going to punish sin, and if we do not w^arn men of their 
 sins, wdiy we are not faithful. I am so thankful that John was 
 true, and told Herod that he could not go on sinning; he pointed 
 out his sins. He saw Herod's difficulty; he knew what was keep- 
 ing him from God; he was living in adultery, and, my friends, I 
 believe the day has come when ministers have got to speak out 
 against this course of sin. 
 
 I firmly believe more men and women are kept out of the king- 
 dom on account of adultery to-day than strong drink. A man when 
 he gets drunk goes rolling through the streets and publishes it, and 
 every one finds it out; but this sin is covered up, and it is a delicate 
 thing, and ministers do not like to speak about it on account of the 
 young in the congregation; but the time has come when we have 
 got to speak out, "No adulterer shall enter into the kingdom! No 
 adulterer shall enter into the kingdom of God!" Do you believe 
 it? Do you believe it? Well, if you do, then, dear friends, break 
 with sin, and if that is your besetting sin, may God help you to- 
 night to make clean work of it, and do just as Lot did, flee out of 
 Sodom, turn your back upon it, and cry, "God have mercy upon 
 me. Oh! God, forgive me." I don't know of a quicker way down 
 to death and hell than the way of the harlot, and it is a sin some 
 people seem to make light of; they do not seem to realize it is going 
 to destroy their soul and their body as it did poor Herod's. Yes, he 
 liked John's preaching ; he liked his style, he liked his manner,he liked 
 the truth, but, alas, he did not like it enough to bring him out from 
 his sin. 
 
 Now, it may be I am speaking to-night to some man or some 
 woman that has been kept out of the kingdom of God on account 
 of this curse of sin. May God deliver you to-night. May that 
 person cry from the depth of his soul, "Oh, my God, have merc}^ ; 
 niy God deliver me," and from this night let the cry go up, "Oh, 
 mv God, help me; God forgive me;" or vour fate will be like that 
 of Herod's. 
 
 Ages have passed and Herod — how black his name is! What 
 a bitter end was his! Do you remember after he beheaded John 
 that Jesus came preaching and the news spread through the country, 
 " The crowds are flocking to hear this Galilean." I suppose it was 
 Herod's conscience which rose up. Herod whispered . " It is John 
 risen from the dead." It was his conscience. "John risen from the 
 dead; w^hat w^ill become of me? This man that I have slain to 
 gratify the woman that led me astray ; he is living again ; " it was 
 his conscience that was troubling him.
 
 880 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 But let me pass on, because there are many things 1 want to call 
 your attention to here to-night. I want to bring to your mind some 
 other Bible characters, and bring home to you your sins in order 
 that you will see yourselves, because that is the object of these Bible 
 characters; it is that we may see ourselves. I believe Pilate was as 
 other men that came near the kingdom of God. He was different 
 from Herod, but he represents another class. I believe that the day 
 Christ was before Pilate was Pilate's golden opportunity; it was 
 Pilate's chance. Every man has his chance, and when Pilate met 
 Christ first, you will remember he was prejudiced against Him; he 
 didn't believe in Him. He believed He was in the wrong, but when 
 he came to talk with Him, he found that he was mistaken, and after 
 making a close examination he came out and said to the Jews, " I 
 find no fault with this man." 
 
 He would have been glad to have found some fault in His char- 
 acter; he would have been glad to have found some fault with Him, 
 but after making a thorough examination, this was his testimony: 
 "I find no fault in Him; I will chastise Him and let Him go." 
 What is he going to chastise an innocent man for? Nor do you 
 know the weakness of Pilate's character. Do you know Pilate 
 wanted to be popular? That is all. He wanted to be on the popu- 
 lar side. There is a good many men kept out of the kingdom of 
 God because they haven't got the moral courage to act up to their 
 convictions; they are not far from the kingdom ; almost in, but they 
 haven't got the moral courage to "do right and let the heavens 
 fall," if they will; do right because it is right. And when Pilate 
 found out He was an innocent character, he ought to have taken 
 his stand and immortalized himself. His name would have been 
 associated with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus; his name would 
 have been associated with the twelve apostles; his name would have 
 come down through the ages, and shone brighter and brighter as 
 the ages passed away. He would have become immortal if he had 
 only acted up to his conviction; but, alas, he wanted to release 
 Christ and he wanted the applause of the world ; he wanted the 
 favor of the Jews; he wanted to hold office a little while longer; 
 poor, vacillating character, and yet how many men there are in this 
 congregation to-night in exactly the condition of Pilate. 
 
 You know very well you ought to be a Christian. You know 
 your mother is as godly as the very God you do not serve ; you 
 know your early training was true ; that it is not now a myth ; that it is 
 not now a fiction; but you come up here to Chicago; you have left 
 a praying mother; you have left a praying circle at home, and you 
 have got in perhaps with some skeptic, perhaps with some men 
 who cavil at the Bible because they are living in sin and they want 
 to destroy the Bible in order that they may quiet their conscience;
 
 CHRISTIAN" CONVENTION. 881 
 
 you know very well if you come out, these very men will begin to 
 laugh at you; they will begin to jDoint the finger of scorn at you 
 and say, "So you are a Christian, are you? You have become 
 pious; you was up to hear that man preach the other night, was 
 you?" "Yes," and yet you have not got the moral courage to stand 
 up like a man and sav; "Yes, I have made up my mind I will be a 
 different man." I believe more men are lost because they haven't 
 got the moral courage to say "no" at the right time than for any 
 "other reason. 
 
 When I was in Edinburgh last winter I heard a gfood thinof. A 
 young man left a praying home and went up to Edinburgh, and he 
 had not been there but a few months before he got in with some 
 fast young men, and one night while they were on their way to a 
 house of shame, walking up Princes street, the great thoroughfare 
 of Edinburgh, the nine o'clock bell struck, and the young man said : 
 " This is the hour my father is taking down the Bible to have 
 family worship ; this will be the hour my father will be praying 
 for me," and he came to a halt and said: "Young men, I cannot go 
 with you." " Why not ? " " Well, I cannot go with you ; I can't go 
 there." Then they began to laugh at him. He says: "You may 
 laugh, but I can't go with you." He turned round; he went to his 
 room and got his Bible down; he got on his knees and cried to 
 his mother's God to have mercy upon him; he found heaven, and 
 to day he is one of the most eminent merchants in the city of Edin- 
 burgh, while these young men went down to ruin; they were lost, 
 but. this man returned to the fold; he acted upon his convic- 
 tion. That was the trouble with Pilate, he didn't act upon his con- 
 victions. That was his golden opportunity. One step would have 
 taken him into the kingdom of God; one step then and there, and 
 he might have faced Christ and said : " I will die rather than sigfn 
 your death warrant; you never shall go to the cross; I would 
 rather go there than send you there." It was a golden oppor- 
 tunity, and I say it is a golden ojDportunity for you to-night to take 
 your stand on the side of Jesus Christ. It is a blessed day; the 
 gates are standing wide open; God invites you to come. Sinners 
 cannot get into the kingdom of God without going to the gate and 
 leaving their sins behind them. Christ is the way, and this man 
 received sinners. The gates of heaven would be closed against sin- 
 ners, but Christ receives you and makes you meet for the kingdom 
 of God. It is Christ that gets you into the kingdom. 
 
 w Let me pass on. Here is another case, and that is Judas. I be- 
 lieve there are a great many hypocrites in the church to-day, and I 
 believe that Judas, notwithstanding all he did, I cannot help but be- 
 lieve that many a time he was very near the kingdom of God. I 
 believe that when he sat there on the Mount and heard that won-
 
 882 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 derful sermon that Christ preached — no man ever heard such a ser- 
 mon — I cannot help but believe Judas was almost persuaded to give 
 up his hypocrisy and press into the kingdom. I cannot help but 
 believe when he heard him utter those parables that Tudas was 
 almost persuaded to give up his hypocrisy. 
 
 I believe it could have been safely said, "Judas, thou art not far 
 from the kingdom." When he heard Him or saw Him perform 
 those mighty miracles, when he saw the dead rising out of their 
 graves, when he saw the lepers cleansed and those that he touched 
 made whole, I cannot help but believe that during those three 
 years Judas was almost persuaded to be a real disciple. And I 
 believe there are a good many hypocrites who come to the churches 
 who are almost persuaded to give up their shams and hypocrisy and 
 to come out and be real. And that is what God wants us to do. 
 May God help you to do it to-night. May God grant that this 
 mask may be torn away, and that they may not profess to possess 
 what they do not possess. 
 
 It may be that Judas stood near enough to Christ to touch Him 
 when He wept over Jerusalem; and was not his heart touched then? 
 As He came up Mount Olivet to see the city He loved, they were 
 waving palm branches in front of Him, and taking ofFtheir garments 
 and casting them in front of Him to do Him homage, but He seemed 
 to forget it all. As He came up that Mount He saw the city His 
 heart loved, and He saw Gethsemane, where He was to sweat drops 
 of blood, but He seemed to forget it all in a few moments. He just 
 wept over the city and said: "Jerusalem! Thou that stonest the 
 prophets ; how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth 
 her brood under her wings, but ye would not." Judas saw those 
 tears trickling down the cheeks of the Savior, and do you tell me 
 he was not then and there almost persuaded — that he was not then 
 almost persuaded.'' There was the King, and he was invited into 
 the kingdom; but, alas! he missed it. And is not that the thing that 
 makes eternity terrible to Judas.'* I believe it is far worse for him 
 than if he had never heard of the kingdom. It is far worse than if 
 he had never heard the sound of the gospel. 
 
 And I pitv, from the very bottom of my heart, the man or 
 woman who has attended the faithful ministry and heard the word 
 of God, Sabbath after Sabbath, and has turned a deaf ear to the in- 
 vitation and rejected the offer of mercy and goes on and dies in their 
 sins. ^ 
 
 If I had made up my mind to remain out and not become a 
 Christian, I would never hear another gospel sermon if I could help 
 it — never! I would never allow any man to talk to me about the 
 kingdom of God. I would never read the Bible or any religious 
 book. I believe we will take away with us into another world all
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 883 
 
 the memories of this. You may go out of this meeting to-night 
 and in ten minutes forget all about it; but there is a time coming 
 when God will say; 
 
 "Son! daughter! remember!" 
 
 All these things will come back, and you will remember every 
 sermon you ever heard. You will remember the text to-night; you 
 w^ill remember how this meeting w^as brought together this night; 
 how these people looked on the platform, and how they sang these 
 gospel hymns. You will remember how they sang: 
 "Jesus, lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly." 
 
 And you will remember the text to-night and what I am saying 
 to you. You are not far from the kingdom; some of you were al- 
 most persuaded to take the step that would have taken you into the 
 kingdom; but, alas! you did not take it, and it will be worse for 
 you. 
 
 We are told many of his disciples went back, and they walked 
 no more with Him. Sad day! They \vent back; and they walked 
 no more with Him. I suppose those disciples were very near the 
 kingdom — they were almost in the kingdom. One step more 
 would have taken them in, and it could have been said of them : 
 
 " Thou art not far from the kingdom." 
 
 But some accursed sin, some secret sin kept them. It was going 
 to cost them too much to take up their cross and be laughed at by 
 men, and they went back. But do you tell me that to all eternity they 
 do not regret that step? And is there not an army of such now — 
 almost disciples; almost ready to give up the world; almost in 
 the kingdom? They get so near they look in. One more step 
 would take them in, but, alas, like the children of Israel, when they 
 came up to Kadesh Barnea they laid themselves down in the 
 wilderness, when they might have gone in from Kadesh Barnea 
 into the promised land. I believe that Felix was just in that 
 condition when he said: "Go thy way this time, and when 
 I have a convenient season I will call for thee." I believe 
 he meant to call for him again. He heard the mightiest 
 preacher that ever preached on this earth — Paul. He stood before 
 Felix and he reasoned with him on righteousness and judgment to 
 come; and when he got to that point of judgment to come, perhaps 
 God opened his mind^ and it swept on until that day when he 
 should stand before the Judge of the earth and render an account of 
 the things done in the body. Felix trembling said: 
 
 "Go thy way this time; not to-night." 
 
 Is not that the condition of many here to-night? Am I not 
 speaking to more than 500 young men that are saying: "Wait! 
 Not now. Wait until I go into business for myself. Wait until I
 
 884 CHRISTIAN CONVEX TIOX. 
 
 am a free man, and then I will attend to this business, but not to- 
 night." Almost like Agrippa, but not altogether. And if you are 
 only almost, I think it is far worse to be almost, and not altogether 
 persuaded. It is a fearful thing to come near the kingdom and 
 miss it. 
 
 And now let me ask you a question. Begin here and let the 
 question sweep right up through the gallery, and go to every one 
 in yonder gallery. Has there not been some one time in your life 
 — let your mind travel back into the past — can you not call to mind 
 some one night, or some one hour when 3-ou were near the king- 
 dom? The word of God came to your soul with power. It might, 
 perhaps, have been the midnight hour, when you were called to stand 
 bv the bedside of some loved member of your family, who was just 
 leaving you. They were launching their frail bark out on the 
 ocean of eternity, and they said: 
 
 " Now, I ^vant you to promise me that vou will meet mc in the 
 kingdom of God." 
 
 And the powers of the unseen world seemed to lay hold of you 
 that night, and after they were gone you saw them silent in the 
 arms of death. You went to your room and you said: 
 
 " Ves, I must settle this question. I must be a Christian." 
 Have you never passed through that scene? Have you never 
 passed that station? Come, say, friends, to-night. Just ask your- 
 self that question. Have you not been in a state of mind of that 
 kind? 
 
 Or it mav be that the spirit of God came in the time of a great 
 revival in the denomination to which your family belonged; that 
 vour mother was a member ot; and your Christian friends gathered 
 about vou and pleaded with you, with tears in their eyes, to become 
 a Christian. That loved mother could not sleep nights, and she 
 spent her days in fasting, and she seemed to travail again over you. 
 She went to God with you in prayer. She said to you: 
 
 " If you would only come, my boy, I will be the happiest woman 
 m the world." Or: " O, my daughter ! won't you come into the 
 kingdom? I will be so happy if you will only say you will;" but 
 alas! you did not say it. And now you have come to Chicago, and 
 you have got in with free-thinkers and atheists, and you have for- 
 gotten that scene. " Thou art near the kingdom." Yes, you were 
 near the kingdom some hour in your life. Some hour the word of 
 God came and knocked at your ear. There was a gentle knock, 
 and you inquired who was there, and a still, small voice whispered, 
 "Jesus. I have come to save you and take you into My kingdom. 
 I have come to take you into My family and make you a joint heir 
 with Myself." And you have been almost persuaded to say, " Yes, 
 Jesus, I will take you; but wait a little: not to-night; not now."
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 885 
 
 Perhaps five, or ten, or fifteen, or twenty years have passed and you 
 are farther from the kingdom of God to-night than you have been 
 before. The sermons that impressed you ten years before make no 
 impression upon you at all now. You can laugh at death. You 
 can go down and attend to your business and can forget everything 
 you have ever heard about it. 
 
 I remember some time ago hearing of an eminent divine, who 
 said it was a solemn thing to see 2,000 persons listening to a sermon 
 on eternal things ; but I will tell you something more solemn than 
 that. It is to meet them ten minutes afterward and hear their 
 levity. They have forgotten all about it. Is it not true that 
 many here to-night have been very near the kingdom, but to-night 
 you can laugh at this sermon? You can make light of this text, 
 "and you can say without any trouble: "Jesus, go; I don't want you. 
 I have no desire for you. There was a time when I thought some- 
 thing about you, because my mother was such a beautiful Christian. 
 I could see Christ in her face; but she has been gone so long, and 
 those impressions have been all wiped out, and I am a great ways 
 from any serious thoughts." Is not that the condition of many 
 hearts to-night? Now, dear friends, let me to-night plead with you 
 to get into the kingdom of God, let it cost you what it will. If it 
 is thy right eye, out with it. If it is thy right hand, off with it. If 
 it is "thy right foot, let it go. It is better to go through life halt; it 
 is better to be maimed; it is better to be blind down to our graves 
 than it is to miss the kingdom of God. I would rather be torn to 
 pieces, limb from limb, and my heart torn out of my body and be 
 with a glorious hope of immortality than to live a hundred years 
 and lose heaven at last. If you miss the kingdom of God it would 
 be far better you had never been born. 
 
 Now, are you not near, some of you? Am I not speaking to 
 men and women who are saying to themselves, "I ought to be a 
 Christian; I ought to settle this thing to-night; well, then, I will do 
 it. God be good to me, God helping me, I will, I will!" 
 
 Do not be "almost persuaded," but be altogether, I remember 
 of reading, some time ago, of eleven men in the Alps, in 1870, that 
 were coming down through one of the passes, and there came up a 
 sudden snowstorm, and these men got lost, and they wandered 
 around for some time, and at last they dug themselves out a place 
 in the snow, and laid themselves down. The next day guides were 
 sent out to hunt them up, and these eleven men were found within 
 five feet of the path. Five feet more would have taken them into 
 the path, and taken them safely to the hotel, to the inn; but they 
 missed it. They might as well have been five hundred miles from 
 the path as five feet. There they were. They came near saving 
 their lives, but they missed it. And so, dear friends, to-night are
 
 886 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 you not near the kingdom? Is not God in our midst to-nighit? 
 Don't you feel the working of the spirit of God? Is it all imagin- 
 ation? Is this all a myth, a fiction? Is not the spirit of God 
 brooding over this audience to-night? I have no more doubt that 
 the spirit of God is trving to woo you to Christ now, than that I 
 stand before vou. There have been a good many prayers gone up 
 to God to-night for this meeting. You have the power to spurn 
 and reject his offered mercy. Now, what will you do? You have 
 the power to say, "■ Go your way," or you have the power to receive 
 Him. What will vou do? Will you step into the kingdom? I 
 once heard a man get up and say, " There are three steps to heaven." 
 I thought that was a very short way. Only three steps ; out of self 
 into Christ, out of Christ into glory. But there is but one step 
 into the kingdom; out of self into Christ, and that is glory. Just 
 one step takes you right into the kingdom. The door is wide open. 
 God wants you to pass in to-night. Dear friends, there is no power 
 on earth can save you against your will. I imagine some of you 
 saying, " Why don't God save me against my will ? " I can only 
 say, He don't. He don't want machines in heaven; He wants sons; 
 He wants to draw vou by the cords of love. He could save you 
 against your wills, but He don't. 
 
 Let me ask vou this question: He gives you Christ, what more 
 can He do? If vou are waiting for God to do something more 
 toward your salvation, what more can He do? Just think a moment. 
 I believe a great manv are kept out of the kingdom of God be- 
 cause they think God could do more toward their salvation. But I 
 tell you God can literally do no more than He has done. He has 
 sent us prophets, and we killed them, He has sent us his only be- 
 gotten Son, and we took him to Calvary and put Him to death. 
 We know when a man goes into a court and the court decides 
 against him, he takes an appeal and carries it to a higher court, but 
 here men decided that Christ should go into the grave, and the 
 angels took Him to a higher court, and God took up the appeal and 
 put Him upon the throne. Now, what more would you ask Him 
 to do for vour salvation? Can He literally do any more? Dear 
 friends, God has done all that He can do. Now, you accept what 
 He has done. Do not leave this house until this question is settled. 
 I think some of us would be willing to spend this night here if we 
 we could only have the joy of knowing that \ve would enter 
 the kingdom of God. I think I would be willing to stay 
 here until the sun gets up to-morro\v morning if God would 
 give us some hope ; if vou will sav, "We ^vill not leave imtil we 
 have settled this question." Let the decision come to-night. Say 
 to-night, "I will go into the kingdom of God if I can get in," and 
 you \vill soon get in.
 
 CHRISTIAN COX\'EXTION. 887 
 
 Now, I can imagine Satan, while I am preaching, is at work with 
 vou, saving, " Don't be carried away by that man ; don't you act 
 rashly; be calm; be quiet; don't you do anything on the impulse of 
 the moment; plenty of time: take vour time." Now, bear in mind 
 that is the devil's work. Do vou think the Lord Jesus would whis- 
 per to vou and sav, " Don't vou decide to-night." Would your 
 godly praving mother say to you, " My son, don't you decide this 
 to-night; don't vou be in haste about it; take your timer" Do you 
 think vour mother would do that? Have you got a true friend on 
 earth that would ask vou to put this oft to-night? Not one. 
 
 Xow, dear friends, I do not want to leave this pulpit to-night with- 
 out warning you that procrastination is the grcatc -t enemy the human 
 race has got. If Satan can get you to leave this church to-night with- 
 out deciding, he has accomplished his work; for to-morrow there will 
 be a hundred things that will keep you from deciding this question. 
 Far better at the close of this holv Sabbath evening take your stand 
 and press into the kingdom of God. A few years ago, on the Old 
 Colonv Road from New York to Boston, just before the train came 
 up, a farmer saw near his house a landslide. There was not time 
 for him to get to the railway station and telegraph the night expres.. 
 to stop it, and he did not know what to do. He took his lantern 
 and went up the track, and just before the train came he fell down 
 and broke his lantern. He could not get another, but he was terribly 
 in earnest, and he took the broken lantern and hurled it at the engi- 
 neer. The engineer mistrusted something Nvas wx'ong, and he 
 whistled down brakes, and the train was stopped within a few feet 
 of the land-slide. I throw a broken lantern at your feet; dear friends, 
 take warning. Before I come back to Chicago again many of you 
 will be gone. Will vou die inside the kingdom of God. Will you 
 die with rhe glorious hope of immortality? May God keep you 
 from missing heaven. Let us unite in prayer. 
 
 The congregation bowed their heads, and Mr. Moody offered 
 the following praver: 
 
 Oh Lord, bless the words that have been spoken to-night in 
 weakness, Mav they be carried home and bear fruit, and may old 
 and young tu-night press into the kingdom of God. Oh, that our 
 hearts may be rejoiced to-night by seeing hundreds give their 
 hearts to Thee. Oh, that angels may rejoice in heaven over the 
 souls that shall be saved here. We praise Thee for what Thou 
 didst do this morning. We thank Thee that Thou wast with us, 
 and oh, this night may hundreds be sa\ed. Oh God of Pentecost, 
 give us a Pentecost this night, and mav there come a wave of bless- 
 ing over this congregation, and now at the silent hour, at the close 
 of this solemn meeting, mav the still, small voice be heard through- 
 out this buildinof. Mav there be many that shall hear the gentle
 
 888 CHRISTIAN COXVEN'TIOX. 
 
 voice of Jesus saying: 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden and I will give you rest.' Let the weary find rest here 
 to-night. May those that have been cast down for months and 
 years, may they cast their burdens on Christ just now^, and may 
 there come sweet peace and rest to their weary souls. Oh, Son of 
 God, pass this way to-night. Go through this congregation, and 
 while we are pnving and the silent prayers are going up from 
 many, may the dew of heaven come upon the congregation and 
 may the powers of the w^orld to come fall upon us just now. Make 
 this place aw^fully solemn. May we hear Thy voice, and now, 
 while the voice of man is hushed, may the voice of God be heard. 
 
 Speak, Lord, to every heart, and to every conscience. May the 
 deaf hear Thy voice and may the blind to-night see Christ as they 
 never have seen Him before. Oh, God, do this for Thy Sonship, 
 and now wdiile we are waiting on Thee silently, wilt Thou speak, 
 and mav manv hear Thee saying, "Behold, I stand at the door and 
 knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door I will go in to 
 him, and sup with him and he with me." Jesus, Master, come unto 
 all our hearts. Oh, we invite Thee to come, and may the proud 
 heart to-night yield. Help us to unlock the door. Help us to un- 
 bolt it. Help us to open it and give Thee a royal welcome. Oh, 
 blessed Master, just now deliver the captive. Help these men to 
 give up their besetting sin. Help these men to turn to right from 
 every sin and to bf' wholly Thine; and may there be an influence 
 go forth from this meeting that shall make glad the city of our 
 God. Amen. 
 
 At the close of the services in the main hall a meeting of seekers 
 after the truth was held in the lecture room, and a large number 
 placed themselves in the ranks of the army of the Lord."
 
 FIEST DAT OF THE COl^T^ENTIOl^. 
 
 The excellent report of the proceedings of this memorable con- 
 vention, furnished daily by "The Inter-Ocean," was fitly prefaced 
 by the following remarks about Farwell Hall and the accessories of 
 the occasion: 
 
 THE OPENING. 
 
 Nature seemea to sanction the good work inaugurated yester- 
 day morning in the fair opening of the Christian Convention. It 
 was veritably a "day of joy and gladness" beneath the bright sky ; 
 it was all this and far more within the walls of Farwell Hall, 
 where, at 9:30 o'clock, there had gathered between 2,000 and 3,000 
 Christian workers from far and near, with ears to hear and anxious, 
 docile hearts to believe. At 9 o'clock they had begun to throng 
 the large hall, that was to be taxed to its utmost capacity. Phrases 
 from the Scriptures, intoning the spirit of the hour and the conven- 
 tion, were displayed about the edge of the gallery. They read, 
 "Love the Brotherhood," "God Is Love," "Pray Without Ceas- 
 ing," "Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell to- 
 gether in unity," "Rejoice evermore," "Your body is the temple of 
 the Holy Ghost," "That they all may be one as Thou, Father, art 
 in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world 
 may believe that Thou hast sent me." 
 
 Upon the high wall back of the platform w:is hung an enor- 
 mous chart that is well intended to uplift its mute appeal in behalf 
 of foreign missions. It depicts by means of squares, each repre- 
 senting a million of people, the actual and relative numbers of man- 
 kind, according to their religion. Its showing of the prodigious 
 discrepancy existing between the number of the souls of Christen- 
 dom and heathendom can but prove a standing text for each hum- 
 ble worker of the convention whose influence, however slight, goes 
 for good in the slow and laborious process of universal Chris- 
 tianization. The chart shows the world's population to be divided 
 as to their religion and want of religion as follows: Protestants, 
 116,000,000; Greek Church, 8,000,000; Roman Catholics, 190,000,- 
 000; Jews, 8,000,000; Mohammedans, 170,000,000; heathens, 856,- 
 000,000. 
 
 889
 
 890 CHRISTIAN- COXVENTION. 
 
 After the opening exercises of prayer and singing, the suhject 
 and the first speaker were announced by Mr. Moody, namely: 
 
 Rev. Dr. E. P. Goodwin, pastor of First Congregational Church, 
 Chicago. 
 
 " HOW CAN WE BEST SECURE A PREPARATION FOR CHRISt's WORK." 
 
 Speaking to this. Dr. Goodwin, with that power that has 
 secured him a conspicuous eminence in the Congregational pulpit, 
 said: Dear friends, you could not possibly be more disappointed 
 than I am that it should have been appointed to me to have a word 
 to say here instead of the Ijrother whose name is upon the pro- 
 gramme. At a late hour last night, after an exhausting day's work, 
 including a trip to Graceland and work on missions, I was told that 
 this brother might be absent this morning, and I would be expected 
 to take his place, but still when I came here five minutes ago, I 
 hoped that some other arrangement might have been made to 
 relieve me. But I should be sorry not to respond to my duty to do 
 all that I can do, especially after so long an absence trom the city, 
 and after so great gladness has been put into my heart on my return 
 by seeing such a work commenced already as this one proposed by 
 this convention; not waiting till the mid-winter, but going forward 
 thus early, as if the Lord's people would say — how shall we best, in 
 these beautiful autumn days, put ourselves in training for doing this 
 great work and for deserving great blessings. It seems to me that 
 the Scripture way of putting the matter is about this: That God is 
 always prepared, and that there is nothing we need to see to, except- 
 ing that the people prepare themselves the right way for the 
 doing of the work. 
 
 You find many a passage in the Old Testament about preparing 
 the way of the army; nothing about the Lord. But the people 
 have sometimes a good deal to do about getting ready. And chieHy 
 of that it might be said, as the brother said, that the first thing todt) 
 is to get the hindrances out of the way, to prepare the way of the 
 Lord, by gathering up the stones, as in the old time when prepara- 
 tions were made for the king's coming — the highways swept 
 smooth, the stones gathered up, and everything put in readiness 
 that the great monarch could come without delay. You will notice 
 this thought in the Bible. Let my first suggestion or fir'5t though^ 
 then, be this: The way the Lord will have His people prepared for 
 His work is, first of all, to get a view of Him. You will notice in 
 the 6th chapter of Isaiah where one of the Lord's servants, in pre- 
 paring for a special work and message looking between God and 
 people, the first thing prominent is that Isaiah is not found in a con- 
 vention nor in a circle of even two or three, but personally He is 
 alone with God. Dear friends, it seems primarily necessary for you
 
 CHRISTIAX CONVEXTIOX. 891 
 
 and me as workers to bear in mind that the first fundamental con- 
 dition of our success and power is that we shall go alone with God. 
 These are the days in which God is thought little of. These are 
 the days in which God is made little of, in which God is largely 
 cast out of the thoughts and minds of men. 
 
 These are the days of such pressure of business and absorption 
 in worldly matters that men either at home or in the study find little 
 time for communion with God. I am sure I speak the mind of min- 
 isters, of brethren, when I sav that it is one of the hard things of this 
 day to be alone with God; and I am sure we shall fail in our work 
 unless we get before us the proper conception of who God is; that 
 before all else, over all business, over all pleasures, over all home 
 life, over all other sources that impress us, the great conception that 
 is to inspire us, the great fact that is to rule us is that we are God's 
 people, God's ministers; seeking first of all how we may glorify 
 Him. You will find that among all the long list of prophets who 
 had any special work of revelation, that somehow in the very earliest 
 stages of it, the prophet is closeted with Him, like Abraham, like 
 Gideon when the angel of the Lord comes to him; like Elijah. 
 Look at all the prophets. When in the work to which they were 
 called, they were with God. It was sometimes a month, not merely 
 an hour. It was a closeting with God, like that of Moses where he 
 bows down on his face until the fortv days and forty nights are ac- 
 complished. Great things come from praying; from finding out 
 God, from being with God, from seeing God, from feeling as God 
 feels. 
 
 And the only conception, it seems to me, we can get from their 
 examples is the consciousness that in us dwelleth no good thing; 
 that we need cleansing and purifying. The first conception of the 
 prophet is that I am unclean, and he thought that because he had 
 been with God, he must needs perish; but lo! there was cleansing, 
 and he was purged from his sins, and he could go out and declare his 
 message to the people. 
 
 Now, brethren, I am sure for myself, for you, that in this first 
 hour, the first thing, the supreme conviction of our hearts is that 
 God is here, and the dearest wish of our hearts is that we may 
 know God ; that we may be like God ; that we may be filled with 
 the power of God; then we shall be put in the wav of being so; 
 we shall have made the best preparation, and, I think, the best way 
 traced out for doing work; work that shall glorify God in these 
 coming days. Then will come what our brother has referred to. 
 You remember in the vScriptures, God's people are spoken of as 
 vessels, as the old vessels of the temple, down jeven to the very 
 smelters and the articles of the least significance, although sacred 
 as used in the service of God.
 
 892 CHRISTIAN COXVEXTIOX. 
 
 You will find that when, in Nehemiah's day, they held great 
 gatherings, perhaps like these, they read for_ hours every day the 
 hook of the law. You will discover all their names written to 
 the solemn covenant to God that thev would keep His law, obev 
 his commandments, cleanse themselves from everv form of defile- 
 ment, and from that time be His people and His alone. I am sure 
 there is meaning in that. I am sure that if we are willing to have 
 God's spirit poured upon us we shall be willing to cast aside our 
 pleasures and pride of the flesh. I am sure if we are willing to do 
 that, to put all things of the home life and the business life tempo- 
 rarily aside, and write over all, this is for the glory of God; to take, 
 every man his lips, his hands, and his feet into the closet, and say, 
 as the old priest said, these shall be kept for God, these are for the 
 service of God — we shall have for ourselves solved the question that 
 will get its blessing of answer, for everv qualitv, and in everv home, 
 in every business place, the power of God; and the power of God 
 will not longer tarry to come upon us for the salvation of souls." 
 
 Mr. Moody, a man who never lets the anvil forget the ring and 
 touch of the hammer, or the white heat of the ductile iron dissipate 
 itself and nothing shaped, briskly rose and said, "Major Whittle 
 will follow on this question." Thus introduced, this home evangel- 
 ist, who has made his campaigns against Satan, and Southron as 
 well, addressed the audience in his firm, tuneful, and measured way. 
 
 Major Whittle presented three questions which should be 
 answered. The first was personal experience of what conversion to 
 Christ Avas. The second was to study God's word, and the third 
 was to have faith in the presence and power in the spirit of God. 
 
 The speaker, in reference to the first question, read from Paul's 
 Epistles, giving the personal experience of the great apostle. We 
 were to lift up Christ as a personal Savior, to be witnesses to what 
 we had seen and heard and no more. We could not be \vitnesses to 
 anything more than we experienced personally, and that was all 
 that was expected. It was no credit to a man to be converted, and 
 it was no discredit not to be converted. There might be, there 
 were, many persons in the churches who had not had this personal 
 experience that they might stand as witnesses to a personal Savior. 
 
 They had never been brought to a personal knowledge, but 
 were standing on the forms of religion. The speaker had known 
 of ministers who had not had this personal expei"ience, and they 
 failed to exert that converting power that \vas necessary to the 
 work. This personal experience was the preparation we needed. 
 We were to search our hearts, to drive out forms and find a per- 
 sonal Savior. Then we would find ourselves prepared to do 
 Christ's work. 
 
 In the Gospel of John ^ve were commanded to search the Scrip-
 
 CT^IXJW
 
 LI BR aKY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 CHRISTIAN CONA'EXTION. 893 
 
 tui'cs. There were three things for which we should search the 
 Scriptures — for history and biography, for moral truth, and for 
 spiritual power Martin Luther studied his Bible on his knees for 
 years before he was used by the Lord. John Knox studied the 
 Scriptures before he was called to do any work for the Lord. So 
 it was with all men. They could not expect to be useful seryants 
 and called to d<j important work for Christ until they had studied 
 the Scriptures that they might find what was His work. 
 
 We were to be filled with the spirit. If we, standing on re- 
 demption ground, preached the word, that preaching ^yould haye 
 the power to conyert. We \yere given the promise of success. 
 God was just as anxious to fulfill His promise to-day as He was at 
 the Pentecost. 
 
 Praj'er was offered by the Rey. Dr. Herrick Johnson and hymn 
 93 -syas announced, Mr. Moody requesting that it be sung softly, for 
 all should remember it to be a pi'ayer. So in a prayerful key the 
 inyocations were uttered, " More holiness give me, more strivings 
 within." The opportunity for five-minute talks on the foregoing 
 topic was then given by Mr. Moody. H. L. A. Stevenson of Boston, 
 by the aid of illustration and anecdote, showed that the secret of a 
 hallowed life is found in personal communion with God. The 
 growth and fruitfulness of a tree depended upon its unseen root, un- 
 less the tree were a Christmas tree, which bore its crop all outside. 
 The Christian lives of some men were like the fruitage of Christmas 
 trees — hung uj^on the outside. 
 
 "Oh! happy day," was then started by Mr. Sankey, and the 
 obedient voices of the many hundreds took up the glad refrain. 
 
 Mr. Moody concluded the discussion with one of his plain talks, 
 striking home in every sentence. He said : I once heard a man say 
 he had a very good ^vell with two exceptions. It would go dry in 
 summer and freeze up in winter. There were a good many Chris- 
 tians like that well. They are good in spots. What we want is an 
 even temperature, good for 365 days in the year. It is this spas- 
 modic Christianity that is doing so much against our work to-day. 
 They are enthusiastic for a time and then they fall back into the 
 cold. 
 
 There must be a personal experience and an evenness. One 
 way to secure this is to call together all the hungry in our churches. 
 There may not be a dozen in any one church, but let them come 
 together, for it is often in such small meetings that we find the rich- 
 est results. We are told that "Blessed are they that do hunger and 
 thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." When I came 
 home from England in May last I found that an old oak tree near 
 my house was still filled with the dead leaves of last year. I tried to 
 pull the dead leaves off, but I found that would be a big work
 
 894 CHRISTIAN' COXVEXTIOX, 
 
 which I could not hope to complete soon. One bright morning I 
 found the leaves nearly all off, and the new buds were putting out, 
 showing signs of the new life. This new life, new sap, was cast- 
 ing off the old life. There are a good many old things in our lives 
 that should be cast off by the new life. Let us pray for this bless- 
 ing. Let us pray for this new life. Let the motive, however, be 
 pure. 
 
 Too often our motives are not right. We want to take up the 
 service before we receive the holy life. This is not right. We 
 want the holy life first Paul never said anything about winning- 
 souls, and is it not strange? No. He was enthusiastic for Christ. 
 He spoke always of knowing Christ, and when w^e come to know 
 Christ we may then take up His service and win souls. 
 
 There are three ways of knowing persons. We know them by 
 hearsay; we know them historically. Another class we know by 
 introduction, but we don't know much about them. We have heard 
 their names, but that is all we know. Then there are people that 
 we know intimately and have known them for years. There are 
 men on this platform that I have known for twenty years, and it 
 seems to me I learn something more of them each day that I live. 
 There are three ways of knowing Christ. 
 
 Some people know Him historically, just as they know Napoleon 
 and Caesar. They know Him irom what they have heard of Him. 
 These people come into the church because they think it a duty, or 
 it may advance them socially or in their business. There are others 
 who know Christ slightly. They talk and talk, but don't say any- 
 thing. They are as sounding brass. Their talk don't amount to 
 anvthing. There are too many in the church w^ho have no testimony 
 to give. You can count on your fingers those who can give per- 
 sonal testimony for Christ. They are like Lot in Sodom. He was 
 for many years there, and said to be an influential man, but when it 
 came to the test it was shown that in all tliose years this man had not 
 converted one soul. He even lost part of his family in that great 
 destruction. There are paying members in the churches, but they 
 arc not praying members. The result is that the church has little 
 power for Christ. 
 
 The woman at the well was taken into immediate service by 
 Christ, because she could give personal testimony, and we see that 
 she went out and at once turned the town upside down almost. If 
 we run into the field without the Master we will fail. That is the 
 reason we see so many failures among those that are working for 
 God. 
 
 There followed a few moments of silent prayer, and afterwards 
 the audible petitions of two of the brethren upon the platform. 
 Again the worship of song was resumed in the <juartet singing of
 
 CI£RISTIAX COXVENTIOX. H95 
 
 Messrs. Sankey and McGranahan, Mrs. McGranahan, and Mrs. 
 C'arrington, the congregation participating in rendering two of the 
 stanzas. 
 
 The hour — eleven o'clock — for the consideration of the second 
 topic, " What are the great hindrances to Christ's kingdom, and 
 how can thev be removed?" had arrived, and the Rev. Dr. J. H. 
 Barrows, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Chicago, allotted 
 twenty minutes for his subject, was introduced. 
 
 "the great hindrances." 
 
 Rev. Dr. J. H. Barrows prefaced his remarks by saying that 
 others would point out how the hindrances were to be removed, 
 his dutv being to show what they were. This pulpit orator, whose 
 speech rung as virgin metal, proclaimnig clear, true thoughts, bred 
 'mid the refinements of a generous scholarship, advanced to the 
 tront to hold his audience, saying: 
 
 This questicjn, as it stands, is w'orld wide, nay, wide as the 
 universe, for we have scriptural authority for believing that some of 
 the obstacles and enemies of the Christian Church are extra- 
 mundane. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they were wrestling 
 with fallen angels of different orders, that they were struggling 
 against wicked spirits in high places. 
 
 Here are obstacles or foes that we cannot remove, and to guard 
 ourselves against which the Apostle urges to take on the whole 
 armor of God, girdle, breast-plate; shoes, shield, helmet, and sword. 
 
 If we consider merelv the hindrances which are earthly and sen- 
 sual, omitting those which are devilish, we are brought face to face 
 with a varietv of obstructions, and different observers, occupying dif- 
 ferent points of view, will vary hi their judgments as to which are the 
 most formidal)le. The Rev. Dr. Jessup, of S}ria, looks on Moham- 
 medanism, reaching from the hearts of Africa to the heart of India; 
 Mohammedanism, with its iron crueltv and hardness of spirit, blast- 
 ing the lands it controls, and blinding the minds that inherit its faith 
 as the chief obstacle to the Redeemer's kingdom. The English mis- 
 sionary, toiling amid the 260,000,000 of India, regards the frightful 
 system of caste, with its immemorial grip on Hindoo life from the 
 cradle to the grave — caste which is rooted in an abominable theology, 
 and in its essence is the contradiction of the spirit of Christianity, as 
 the one mighty barrier to the regeneration of the most populous of 
 the continents. The Christian worker in Japan looks on that empire 
 as the key to the redemption of Asia, and finds his chief enemy in 
 the skeptical, materialistic philosophy which the emancipated Japan- 
 ese mind is rapidly imbibing from the translations of Renan, Strauss, 
 Spencer, John Stuart Mill, Paine and Ingcrsoll. The American
 
 89G CHRISTIAN CONVEXTIOX. 
 
 missionary in France, Austria, Spain, and Italy regards the down- 
 fall of Romanism, with its false doctrines, its corrupt practices, and 
 its persecuting tyranny, as the one thing needful to the speedy tri- 
 umph of the gospel. 
 
 Joseph Cook returns from a tour of observation around the globe, 
 and finds the chief obstacle to the progress of Christianization in 
 what he calls the "semi-universalism" of the home churches, paralyz- 
 ing missionary enterprise. Many a Christian pastor in America or 
 England reading of $700,000,000 wasted annually in strong drink 
 in each of these lands, a larger sum than the church has expended 
 in foreign mission work for 300 years, noting the demoralization 
 which drunkenness produces in the great centers of population, see- 
 ing its alliance with all that corrupts and degrades our political and 
 social life, many such a pastor has come to regard intemperance as 
 the one prodigious hindrance, the one heaven-defying obstacle to the 
 kingdom of righteousness, purity, and good will. If I should put to 
 you the question which I am to discuss I should get a great variety 
 of answers. Some of you would find the main hindrance to the 
 rapid advance of our Redeemer's kingdom in the weakness of the 
 pulpit, in the decline of Sabbath observance, in the selfish extrava- 
 gance of church members, in the wastefulness of the use of tobacco, 
 in the lack of that parental consecration which devoted the children 
 to God's service, in the unwillingness of Christians to do personal 
 work for others, in the church's comparative neglect of the great 
 masses of our citv populations, in the dread of revivals, in the lack 
 of thorough Bible study, and so on. And doubtless every answer 
 thus far given has truth in it, though the truth may not be one which 
 it would greatlv profit this con%'ention to consider. 
 
 What we need to perceive clearly and feel deeply is not so much 
 the external hindrances as those that are within the church. 
 
 I once asked a little company of earnest Christian workers what 
 was the most frequent excuse given by impenitent persons for not 
 coming to Christ, and they unanimously replied: '-'The faults of 
 Christians." And if we take an historical survey of Christianity we 
 must be convinced that opposition from without has been weaker 
 than corruption within, that Hophni and Phineas rioting in the tab- 
 ernacle had dishono'cd the Lord and defeated His hosts more than 
 the Philistines fighting for the ark. Reading the history of the 
 church, our distress ar.d sfeame are not so much over the attacks of 
 cruelty and unbelief as are the lapses of false teachers of the truth, 
 priests turning piactical atheists, right conduct disregarded in the 
 attempt to secure church conformity, worldliness and sensualism 
 creeping in among the successors of the apostolic fishermen, and of 
 Him who had not where to lay His head, wranglings among the 
 friends of truth, the church lowering its claims to please secular
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 897 
 
 power or to capture the worldly, Caesar consummating a diabolical 
 marriage with the Lamb's wife. 
 
 In those times when the church has been cold and sluggish and 
 self-cenlered and oppressive, the weapons of infidelity have been 
 forged. I have recently read a remarkable book called " Under- 
 ground Russia," written by a Nihilist, who describes the fearful 
 revolutionary world that plots and dares and dies beneath the throne 
 of the Czar. He narrates the ctory of the attack which infidel social- 
 ism has made on Russian institutions. 
 
 The first onset was on Christianity, and this, he says, was the 
 easiest citadel to capture. Translations of the leading works of 
 German and English unbelief were scattered over the empire, and 
 Christianity, as a system of national belief, was destroyed in the 
 minds of all cultivated people. In a land where such things 
 could be done, the Christian church mlist be in a sink of 
 imbecility and immorality. Allied with a tyrannical govern- 
 ment, disgraced by the lives of corrupt priests, feeding the people on 
 the pictures of saints and not the word of God, the Russian church 
 had no practical arguments wherewith to meet its foe. The 
 triumphs of unbelief to-day spring from precisely the same causes 
 w'ith the triumphs ot the heathen over the children of Israel in the 
 Arabian desert, and in the promised land, the disobedience and 
 faithlessness of God's own people. 
 
 In times of special religious interest, our sins, our shortcomings, 
 our imperfect lives rise up, a mountain of offense, between many 
 men and salvation. They look on us rather than Christ. It is a 
 deplorable fact that when men's minds are turned toward the Lord 
 Jesus, they are sometimes turned away by the sight or knowledge 
 of our moral delinquencies. They argue that If Christianity does 
 not make men more upright In business, more trustworthy In their 
 promises, more generous, gentle, humane, and courteous, then the 
 gospel Is a practical failure. 
 
 I know that God's grace gets hold occasionally of some crooked 
 sticks, and they always show thereafter something- of their natural 
 bent. ''Grace," it has been said, "Is like lightning; when it strikes 
 a man it follows the grain." 
 
 A coarse-fibred man may be converted to God and yet need a 
 vast deal of pounding on the anvil of God's discipline. An Intensely 
 selfish man may become a Christian and always be more distinguished 
 for prudence than for generosity. A mean, crafty, unscrupulous man, 
 like Jacob, may be converted to God and require a semi-annual 
 reconversion before he is fitted for companionship with the Apostle 
 John. There Is need of a vast deal of charity for men who Inherit 
 terrible constitutional obliquities or violent passions that come down 
 through a long series of ungodly generations. And we must also
 
 898 CHRISTIAN' COXVEXTIOX. 
 
 remember that God does not perfect human character immediately. 
 But looking on Christian men generally and on the average, thev 
 may rightfully be expected to exhibit a conspicuously higher moral- 
 ity than others. It is not enough for us to say that when men make 
 comparisons they choose a poor specimen of a Christian, and the 
 best specimen of an unbeliever. It should become plain to all the 
 v.'orld that the church aims directly, continuously, and with all 
 earnestness to make men truer, juster, purer, more helpful, and 
 more loving in everv human relationship. We must show that we 
 lielieve not only in the Christ who died on Calvary the atonement 
 for sin, but also in the Christ who, as the teacher of righteousness, 
 proclaimed the sermon on the mount. 
 
 But the main hindrances to the cause of Christ are not the flaring 
 sins which bring reproach on the Christian church. The sin of 
 Ananias and Sapphir*, the sin of Peter in denying his Lord, the 
 sin of Judas in betraying his master, these exceptional transgressions 
 Avhich you can put your finger right on and puncture with righteous 
 indignation are not those ^vhich most grievously dishonor Christ. 
 The body of Christ has received many wounds of this sort which 
 have been quickly healed. 
 
 Worse than a wound is general debility, a languid, low-toned 
 vitality such as people complain of in the spring of the year, when 
 thev sig-h for Peruvian bark and tonic bitter drinks. Malaria in the 
 church atmosphere, breathing depression and inertness over the great 
 body of believers, is often worse than swift and terrible disease strik- 
 ing down a few. When the cares of this world have choked the 
 word into unfruitfulness, when a systematic avarice fills up the 
 routine of lives externally honorable, when luxurious worldliness has 
 usurped the place of a self-denying other worldliness of mind, then 
 it is that we cause the name of Christ to be blasphemed, then it is 
 that the sound of the Spirit is dulled, then it is that the heavenly 
 flame is most completely smothered. A Christian woman has 
 described God's work of redemption as a fire. As soon as it was 
 kindled men tried to stamp it out, but it spread all the faster. Then 
 they tried to drown the fire in rivers of blood, but the fire rose up 
 through the blood in brighter splendor Then the engulfing 
 waters, heathenism and skepticism, rolled over the fire but the flame 
 was not quenched. At last there came a snowstorm, millions on 
 millions of little cottony flakes, fiilling, falling, falling, day after day, 
 week after week, year after year, on the divine fire, and it ahuost 
 went out. The dreadful quenching storm is the cold indifference, 
 the manifold worldly cares, the delicate dropping innumerable snow- 
 flakes of earthly interest and distraction, which more than outward 
 persecution and unbelief have subdued the fire of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 A spiritual, pure, self-denying, consecrated church, united with
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 899 
 
 Christ in His death to sin, united to Christ in the new and risen life 
 of holiness, united to Christ in separation from the world, united to 
 Christ in toil and suffering and hlessed expectation is God's mighti- 
 est force among men. It was for such a church that Jesus died, that 
 the spirit was given, that the New Testament was delivered to men. 
 It was for this that God's saints have suffered persecution and mar- 
 tyrdom. It was for this that in times of corruption God has raised 
 up John the Baptists and Martin Luthers. A pure and Christly 
 Church. Before such a church unbelief will be stripped of half its 
 armory of strength. By sue! i a church the forces that attack heath- 
 enism \vill be augmented ten-fold. Vital interests of benevolence 
 will not appeal in vain for adequate support. The great evils of the 
 land will be checked, for the church will sever the chains which 
 have bound her to much that was iniquitous and more that was ques- 
 tionable. 
 
 Two things ought right here to be considered. One is a fact of 
 history, the other is a fact of revelation. The historical fact is this : 
 that the external hindrances were never so great as at the beginning. 
 The mountains that confronted the feeble, hated, and despised church 
 in Judea overtop the hills which lie before the church of to-day, with 
 its'powerful hand on the civilization, the riches, the science, the 
 commerce, and the learning of the leading nationalities of the world. 
 Our internal dangers may be greater than those of the infant church 
 that felt the tide of love 
 
 "Stream on her from her Lord's yet recent grave," 
 
 but no such vast, complex, malignant, and mighty external forces are 
 now linked in unholy and seemingly invincible alliance against the 
 gospel as at the beginning. 
 
 The fact of revelation is this: Omnipotence is our ally. Back of 
 the day of Pentecost was a divine command to evangelize the 
 nations. Back of this command was a colossal "therefore." Back 
 of this "therefore" was the declaration of Him whose hand built the 
 heavens, and had laid that hand on the cross from love to the world, 
 and had smitten the might of death, and was about to ascend to the 
 throne of infinite majesty. "All power is given unto me in heaven 
 and earth." "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, and, lo, I am 
 with you always, even to the end of the world." 
 
 If the church then is at any time weak and fearful, and cries out 
 as did Judah before Ammon and Moab, "We have no weight against 
 this great company," it needs to hear what the spirit of the Lord 
 said through Jahziel, "The battle is not yours but God's." During 
 the great struggle in the British Parliament over West India eman- 
 cipation. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton kept his Bible open every 
 day at the fifteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of Second Chron-
 
 900 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 icles. And it Avould be well for the church daily to read, "Ee not 
 afraid nor discouraged by reason of this great multitude, for the 
 battle is not yours, but God's." 
 
 Therefore, it seems indisputable that one of the chief hindrances 
 to a more rapid spread of the gospel is our failure to see our 
 Divine Leader as John saw Him — on the white horse, with bow and 
 crown, going forth conquering and to conquer. The secret of the 
 church's power is not in glittering ceremonials, or vast machineries, 
 or prosperous organizations dra\ving the fashionable crowds, 
 though I believe thoroughly in Christian ceremonies, and Christian 
 machinery, and in endeavoring to bring the rich to Christ ana to His 
 church. 
 
 The secret of Christian power is the alliance of our souls bv faith 
 with the loving heart of Him who called Abraham from a life among 
 idolaters to a life of trust in Jehovah; of Him who empowered 
 Moses to carry the burden of his people's woes because he lived as 
 seeing the invisible God, of Him who gave victory to Joshua and to 
 all ^vho in human weakness have leaned confidently on divine 
 strength. There is a doctrine of divine sovereignty which has made 
 heroes, men of high enterprise and valorous achievement, which has 
 armed the sling of David with might above Saul's or Goliath's spear, 
 which made Elijah victorious over Ahab, which gave to Paul and 
 Luther and Whitfield a spiritual power that has moved the nations. 
 "VVe deplore the unspiritualitv of the church. What do we mean by 
 it? Partly this — that Christian disciples have, like the unbelieving 
 world, fallen into distrust of spiritual forces. They believe in many- 
 things, in works of charity, in intellectual preaching, in boards of 
 benevolence, in a hundred excellent things, but they do not heartily 
 and practically believe that the church is supported and made effi- 
 cient by supernatural power, they do not believe in the Bible doc- 
 trine of prayer, and this is resolvable into unbelief in an ever-present 
 and almight}' Lord, sovereign, gracious, and available to all the needs 
 of his church. Dr. Fairbairn relates in a recent work the story of "a 
 sturdy Scot, valiant in speech as in deed," who as English Embas- 
 sador to the Couil of Prussia sat at the table of Frederick the Great, 
 then meditating a war whose sinews were to be mainly formed of 
 English subsidies. Round the table sat French wdts of the infidel 
 sort, and they and the king made merry over decadent superstitions 
 and the follies of the ancient faith. Suddenly the talk changed to 
 war and war's alarms. 
 
 Said the long-silent Scot: "England would, by the help of God, 
 stand by Prussia." ''Ah!" said the infidel Frederick, "I did not 
 know that you had an ally by that name," and the infidel wits 
 smirked applause. " So please your majestv," ^vas the quick retort, 
 "He is the only ally to whom we do not send subsidies," The out-
 
 CHRISTIAN' CONVENTION'. 901 
 
 spoken faith of the sturdy Scot in the alHance of Jehovah with 
 Christian England ilkistrates the livine^ faith in the ah-sufficiency of 
 Christ, which is the secret of the astonishing- power which is some- 
 times ^viclded by the church, a faith which needs to be quickened in 
 manv of our hearts. One remark only, in closing, as to the method 
 of removing these hindrances. It is a method \vhich aims at a 
 thorough and widespread revival — a re\ival from within the 
 churches, not a general movement which sAveeps along outside the 
 great mass of our members — but one which, beginning, it mav be, 
 with the pastor's own heart, reaches into all our Christian homes. 
 Such a revival, coming from the Holy Spirit, through a simpler and 
 more direct preaching of Christ, and in answer to faithful and per- 
 sistent praver, will sweep away the miserable obstructions to a 
 glorious spiritual life in many of our churches, will send forth multi- 
 tudes to preach the gospel in the streets of Chicago and the streets 
 of Asia, will cause new and abundant riches to flow through the 
 channels of benevolence, will answer a thousand cavils of unbelief, 
 and be a stream that shall gladden the citv of our God. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Ban-ows' address the congregation sang, 
 "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," followed by Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
 Granahan, who sweetlv rendered " Showers of Blessing." Prayer 
 was then offered by Bishop Fallows, and the second speaker, by 
 appointment, on the question treated by Dr. Barrows was introduced. 
 
 Rev. C. L. Goodell, pastor of Cong'l church, St. Louis, Mo., 
 continued the discussion, and in a simple, direct way, forcibly set 
 forth some of the hindrances to Christ's kingdom, indicating at 
 the same time how thev might be removed. All the hindrances, 
 he said, were on the side of Christian people. These hindrances 
 •were cruel things, obstacles In God's highway, and should be 
 hated. As torpedoes were placed in the way of the Czar of Russia, 
 which, exploding, killed him, so modern infidelity was planting 
 torpedoes and waiting to see them explode, and the church thus 
 overthrown. 
 
 The first hindrance was a want of honor for God's house and 
 respect for His ordinances. While he loved the home, there must not 
 be forgotten His love for the gates of Zion. His house was dis- 
 honored, and yet how easy for all to put such a hindrance away, and 
 the house of God be filled. How great the blessing that would fall 
 when the old sentiment of loyalty to God was again turned. 
 
 A second hindrance was the tendency to show and display in 
 •worship rather than one to open the fountains for the thirsty that 
 they might come and drink. If there were to be cast out of God's 
 house all that did not tend to edify and save men, how much would 
 go; but there would be souls left to take the water and bread of 
 life unto a new service. Stitching on this and that beautiful appa-
 
 902 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 ratus would not save men. Let the word sweet and pure be given 
 them, and instead of losing the house and the people there will be a 
 gain, for where the water is there will the thirsty come. 
 
 Another practical hindrance, perhaps raised unconsciously, was 
 the seeking to gain hearers rather than doers, multitudes rather than 
 converts. It was one line of policy to fill pews and make things 
 grand so that how many will say, "We've got the right man now; 
 this one will convert the world." But there was a line of work 
 which tells over this mere hankering for numbers; it was that in 
 which one sought to convert to Christ, and shape the life of the 
 church around Christ, seeking to bless and to save men. Heaven 
 sent forth such a man and the power was given him to lead others. 
 Another hindrance to be removed was the resisting of the spirit 
 and the grieving of the spirit of God. This was constantly done by 
 all, for man loved the world and resisted the call. The power of 
 the church went out, but there was no arrow to the mark. 
 
 Another hindrance was the loss of the first love. The mightiest 
 in the home is the love of husband and wife for each other. They 
 love each other, and will sit by each other through the year, bearing 
 burdens for each other. Love was strong. It was the strongest 
 thing in the church. It was the unity of the church. The lo^'e of 
 Christ in the early church made it mightier than Ciesar. It carried 
 it through deserts and over mountains. 
 
 What we want in this city is to go back to our first loves, and let 
 all our being go out to Christ. Another thing is faith. The word 
 was pronounced often. We wanted a practical, earnest belief in 
 what Christ said. The faith men were the mighty men. The 
 skeptical men were weak, and they had never accomplished anything 
 in this world. It was faith that helped Columbus to find out this 
 new world. No skeptic would ever have accomplished what that 
 faith man accomplished. The disciples were not able to cast out evil 
 spirits, because of their unbelief, Christ said. It was the same unbe- 
 lief that was weakening the church to-day. We needed more faith. 
 We needed to bebeve as the church believed when it went out to 
 conquer the world. Faith would conquer, and did the church have 
 faith it would conquer. Prayer and faith and love and righteous- 
 ness were the powerful things in the world. When we had these 
 we need not fear the sinful things. 
 
 Dr. Goodell had hardly finished when the leader, Mr. Moody, 
 was on his feet and talking a race with the seconds, as though he 
 was trying to make a ten-minutes' speech in the two minutes left of the 
 morning session. "One great hindrance," said he, "is so much talk 
 about the hindrances. The less said about hindrances the better. 
 [Laughter.] I have known a great many congregations to be dis- 
 couraged by talk on the dark side. Wlien a man loses heart and
 
 IIBRAHY 
 
 OF THE 
 ^mERSiT^ Of ,m,^o,3
 
 D. L. MOODY.
 
 CHRISTIAN' CON^^EXTIOX. 903 
 
 becomes discouraged, he begins to look on the dark side and is not 
 fit for God's service. You can't find from Genesis to Revehition 
 where God has ever used a discouraged man. Four times he tells 
 Joshua to take courage. The moment that he gets his eye oflT from 
 God he begins to look at the darkness and the walls of Jericho, and 
 he savs, '• We are not able to go up and possess the land." But the 
 Lamb is going to prevail. It has become a lion. Let infidels talk 
 as thev will, Christ is going to prevail. I heard a man in Boston 
 talking about the wickedness — just as you people have been talking 
 about the wickedness in Chicago. Don't talk about the wickedness. 
 You can't convert it by that. I said to my Boston friend who was 
 so discouraged, " Have vou any doubt about the final result?" He 
 looked at me a moment and then said, "No." He had never 
 thought of that. 
 
 Well, Christ is going to triumph. Let us not talk about dis- 
 couragement then. Let a minister go into a church and talk that 
 way and he will carrv his discouragement into all the pews. Why, 
 don't vou remember, it is promised that one shall chase a thousand 
 and two shall put ten thousand to flight. It won't take long to put 
 all our enemies to flight in that way. When a child is linked to 
 God and heaven he is a power. You remember what a power old 
 Elijah was on Mount Carmel. He was more powerful than Ahab 
 and all his court. They were not to be compared with this one 
 righteous man. But the moment the old man got his eye off from 
 God he was weak as other men. When he kept to his text he was 
 strong, but when Queen Jezebel sent to him her threatening mes- 
 sage he began to think of it instead of God and went over and sat 
 under a juniper tree to grieve. Thei^e are a great many Christians 
 sitting under the juniper trees like the old prophet. What we want 
 is courage and hope. Let us look on the bright side. Let us 
 remember that it was a succession of victories from the manger to the 
 the cross. The men of that day, however, thought it was a failure. 
 They thought it was all dark when they laid away the Lamb in 
 the tomb, but on the third day tliey saw Him rise a lion. Let every 
 one of us remember this, and that Chi'ist is bound to triumph. Let 
 us look on the bright side." 
 
 With hymn iiS, by the congregation, the morning session was 
 concluded. 
 
 THE NOON MEETING. 
 
 But who thought of leaving? Few, indeed. The hour for the 
 noon praver-meeting had arrived, and the announcement was duly 
 made bv Mr. ?vIoody. He bade the people move into what seats 
 were vacated, and hymn 334 to be sung. There really seemed no 
 decrease in attendance. DuriuGf the entire morning there had been
 
 904 CHRIST I AX COXVHXTIOX. 
 
 men standing in the rear of the auditorium, and hoth gentlemen and 
 hidies had hunted out some " coigne of vantage " on the gallery stairs 
 leading to what ma}' he called the proscenium. So the prayer-meet- 
 ing became a continuation, in the matter of close attention and 
 interest, of the morning session proper. After the hymn prayer was 
 offered by J. W. Deane, the evangelist, and another hymn sung. 
 Then Mr. Moody addressed the people on a theme befitting the 
 designated character of the hour. He called the attention of his 
 hearers to Christ as an e ;ample in prayer, a man of prayer. In 
 everything He did He praved. Again, His prayers were ver}- short. 
 The only one of any length was John xvii. Christ spent one w^hole 
 night in prayer before the choosing of the twelve, and before that 
 memorable sermon on the Mount. He had heard directly from the 
 Father in prayer. Whv might not man expect an answer from 
 Him? 
 
 Illustrative of the efHcacv of pra^-er, Mr. Moody drew from the 
 experience of himself and Mr. Sankev, and told with increasing feel- 
 ing of the efforts of the two evangelists when first they appeared at 
 Cambridge University, England, and set themselves the crucial work 
 of addressing the students, with a view to their conversion. It was a 
 Saturday eve in November, Guv Fawkes night. The first attempt 
 was cruelly discouraging. The students not only applauded the 
 hymn, but the prayer, tinning the whole service into ridicule. So 
 it was on the following Monday night, Wednesday the evangelists 
 assembled some of the mothers of the town, and there was prater. 
 Wednesday night came, and the university meeting was again held. 
 Under the circumstances, and beneath such criticism as they were 
 enduring, Mr. Moody could preach with but little fervor, though he 
 felt that the prayer would be answered. And he asked if there was 
 one young man in the universlt}' who had the moral courage to rise 
 and go to the gallery, where he might be talked with by the evan- 
 gelist. It was an awful test, said Mr. ^loodv, but at last one arose, 
 and it seemed as if fifty more followed. From that hour until they 
 left, the evangelists found more work than they could do. 
 
 A few days ago, in the way of fruits of this first trial, Messrs. 
 T^Ioody and Sankey were asked to return to Cambridge, where they 
 now have the pleasure of heroes in knowing that the good they did 
 lived after them. And what was the agency In all this? Not, said 
 Mr. Moody, in his own preaching, nor in the singing of Sankey, but 
 in prayer. So, concluded ]Mr. Tvloody, what was wanted was to get 
 into living communion with God in prayer. Let men get together 
 and see how c[uick the blessing comes. 
 
 When !Mr. jMoody had concluded, Mr. Sankey announced hymn 
 356, "All-seeing, gracious Lord," and the congregation joined in 
 with a hcartv good will. Pravers were offered by various members
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 905 
 
 of the congregation, when, the doxology being sung and the bene- 
 diction pronounced, the immense gathering filed slowly down, occu- 
 pying the sidewalks for blocks in every direction. 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 
 In the afternoon the hall began to fill up an hour before the 
 opening and even before all were out from the noon prayer meeting. 
 
 Mr. Sankey came in at 2:15, and went at once to the organ, 
 inviting the people to pass the fifteen minutes remaining before the 
 opening in singing familiar hymns. 
 
 At 2 130 sharp Mr. Moody stepped upon the platform, and at 
 once opened the convention by announcing the hymn, "I will sing 
 of my Redeemer." 
 
 The Rev. Flavel Bascom made the opening prayer, after which 
 the congregation, led by Mr. Sankey, sung, "Lo! the day of God 
 is breaking." 
 
 Mr. Moody said that Dr. Goodell had a church of 850 members 
 and he understood that the pastor knew each one of these personally. 
 He would like to ask how he did this. He understood that the 
 Doctor visited all his people, and he would like to ask how he found 
 time to do it. 
 
 Dr. Goodell answered that he made it. 
 
 "How do you make it?" asked Mr. Moody. 
 
 "I take the time from other things. I spend all my evenings in 
 \isiting and do not spend one at home with my good wife. I try to 
 see some one." 
 
 "How many members had you when you took the church?" 
 
 "I had ninety-two." 
 
 How many have you now?" 
 
 "Nine hundred and fifty," was the answer. 
 
 Mr. IMoody said there was nothing like success, and those pas- 
 tors who were successful he would like to have them tell this meet- 
 ing how they succeeded. 
 
 He then called upon the Rev. Mr. Weston, of Peoria, to tell how 
 he managed his church. 
 
 Mr. Weston said Mr. Moody was a good man to ask questions, 
 and a better one to answer them. He then said we wanted^ the 
 preaching of doctrine and of duty. Preach that this was a lost world, 
 that the jDCople were perishing on the right and on the left God 
 had ordained that this world should be saved, but He would save it 
 only through human mstrumentality. They should preach to the 
 laymen. God had ordained that all the members of the church army 
 should take part in this work. There were none so rich or so cul- 
 tured that they had no responsibility in this matter. There were 
 none so poor and so obscure that thev were not responsible. All
 
 906 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 were responsible, and all were to take part in the work. They were 
 to preach this to the people, and not settle down on a few prom- 
 inent members to do all the work. 
 
 When the walls of Jerusalem were to be rebuilt, every one took 
 part and built that portion of the wall opposite his own door. It 
 was not enough though to preach this, but the minister must set the 
 example. The people needed leaders, and the pastors were the best 
 ones to lead. 
 
 It was not enough to tell how to do the work, but to lead in the 
 work. If the pastor was going to take strongholds of sin, he 
 should ask his people to follow him. 
 
 Then there must be organization if the church was going to do 
 anvthing. The hit or miss style would not do. Every one work- 
 ing as'he pleased might do in some cases, but it was by systematic 
 work, thorough organization, that the work always could be 
 depended upon. The church people were surprised at the success 
 of the politicians who were able to move the whole country. It 
 was because the politicians were organized, and when they struck a 
 key note the whole people heard. God's people must be as wise as 
 the world's people, and then they would be as successful. In 
 organizing church works there must be a place made for every 
 man, and every man fitted to a place in which he could work. Let 
 each class work where best fitted. 
 
 In his church Mr. Weston said he had four classes. He had the 
 little boys of the church work in one department, the young ladies 
 in another, the young men in another, and the married ladies in the 
 fourth. 
 
 Dr. Goodwin asked Mr. Weston what proportion of his church 
 he succeeded in bringing into the work by this plan. 
 
 Mr. Weston answered that the proportion varied with different 
 times in the year, but on an average he believed he had fully one- 
 half at work. At certain seasons, as now, the opening of the year, 
 when they were preparing the winter's work, the proportion was 
 somewhat larger. But he did not always use the same plan in get- 
 ting his people to w^ork. One plan would do for one year and the 
 next year they would need an entirely difierent plan. He changed 
 his plan of work every year. 
 
 It was asked what Mr. Weston did with his married men. He 
 answered that the majority of the men of his church were railroad 
 men, and they had to work day and night, Sundays included He 
 could not very well put them into harness. But they worked in the 
 young^men's dass. He had Soo members, and had built it up from 
 a small mission. 
 
 Mr. Moody here took up the discussion. 
 
 He spoke of a gentleman in New York who had been inquiring
 
 CHRISTIAX CONVENTION. 907 
 
 about Mr. Weston's church. A man in New York had died and 
 left about $1,250,000 for this good friend to invest where it would 
 do the most good for Christianity. He was looking out for the 
 good places. 
 
 This was the most vital question that \vould come before the 
 convention. Thev wanted pi^actical men and women in the 
 churches. Thev did not want any sleeping members. In England 
 silent partners were called sleeping partners. There were a good 
 many people who had an idea that the Lord wanted sleeping partners. 
 
 In London thei'e was a church called the Church of Ease. A 
 good many people thought the churches were all places of ease. 
 They were not. We had an eternity in which to rest. We should 
 work while here. We needed leadei's. It was said that Csesar's 
 success ^vas in saying "come" instead of "go." 
 
 Mr. Moody had twelve propositions to lay down. 
 
 First, let the church lay out its work. 
 
 The second field of labor was to let those who were competent 
 go into the Sabbath School. 
 
 The third was to secure for leaders in church work those who 
 were leaders in society. 
 
 Fourth — They should get all the music possible into the church, 
 and get all the singers into the choir. Let them sing the best they 
 could; do not quarrel with them if that is not very good. Mr. 
 Moody said he could not sing much, but when he sang the best he 
 could that was as much as Mr. Sankey could do. Singing was a 
 great power in the church. The Methodists had sung the gospel 
 clear round the world in a few years. They should get the lay 
 element to work and get them to sing. Get five hundred in the choir 
 if that many wanted to sing, for their preacher would have a good 
 congregation in the choir if no place else. Let all join who wished. 
 If thev did not sing in time let them sing the b'^st they could, and 
 get them to sing from the heart. Mr. bloody did not know any- 
 thing about time, but he could tell when people sung from the heart. 
 With good music the preachers would preach better. About one 
 out of twenty in the churches were fond of fine music, but the other 
 nineteen were not, and he would advise that the one be allowed to 
 look out for himself, while the churches looked after the nineteen. 
 
 He told a story of two doctors, one of whom was better in his 
 studies, but the other was more successful in practice. The student 
 wanted to know the reason for the other's success, and he replied 
 that only one in twenty people stopped to think. The student was 
 after the one, the other got the nineteen. One went for cla^s, and 
 the other got the patients. The preacher should not be always 
 looking after the cultured, the educated, the people of influence. 
 Let him look after the people.
 
 908 CHRISTIAN COXA'EXTIOX. 
 
 Fifth — The non-church goers should be looked after. There 
 should be a record kept of such people in the parishes. Have them 
 visited often, and after awhile they would go to church to get rid of 
 the visitors. The idea that we should open the churches and invite 
 the people to come was not the idea of the Gospel. That was to go 
 out and bring the people in. We were to be seekers. Mr. Moody 
 would have a committee to visit the non-church goers. The minis- 
 ter should look to it and have peojDle in the church who did not 
 want strangers in' their pews, fill them up with their friends. The 
 pews should be full, and if the pew-holders did not fill them, let the 
 ushers do it. 
 
 He then told several incidents showing how church people often 
 drove strangers from their churches by coldness and a lack of interest 
 in them. 
 
 There should be a committee to visit the sick. It was folly to 
 talk about <-he minister being the best person to visit the sick. The 
 speaker said he would rather go almost an}- pjace than to a sick 
 room. He never had been sick in his life, except sea-sick, and he 
 did not know how to sympathize with sick people. He wanted 
 those who knew what sickness was to do this work, for none would 
 know better how to express sympathy and give comfort. He would 
 also have a mothers' committee. Not one minister in one hundred 
 could talk to young mothers and give them advice. The ministers 
 could not rear their own children. To talk to the young mothers 
 he wanted the godly mothers who had reared families. We wanted 
 to make these young mothers practical. He would also have a com- 
 mittee of the best and pleasantest people in the; church to meet stran- 
 gers when thev went to the service, and show them the best pews. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon gave up the best pews in his tabernacle to stran- 
 gers, and for that reason his church was popular and he had a great 
 field. We should not think too little of other men's talents, and 
 think they could not do anything. Every man could do something. 
 Everv one had a talent for something. 
 
 He told the story of a Swede who could not speak English who 
 asked to be set to work in the meetings held in Farwell Hall sev- 
 eral years ago, Mr, Moody had not known what to do with the 
 man, but at last sent him out on the corner of Clark and Madison 
 streets to give out bills. The man had a sweet face and it was 
 always beaming wath smiles. He could not understand English and 
 he staid there giving to every man that passed a bill. Sometimes a 
 passer-by would curse him, but the poor Swede did not know but it 
 was a "God bless you," and sounded sweeter than ever. 
 
 In Edinburgh the ladies of the churches went down into the poor 
 district and took charge of the babies of the mothers there while 
 thev came to his services.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 909 
 
 If there was any class of people he sympathized with it was 
 these mothers with large families, deprived from all outside com- 
 forts. He hoped the time would come when mothers would be 
 invited to bring their babies to church. 
 
 This proposition seemed to be understood by a little one in the 
 rear of the hall, for it set up a cry that would have discouraged any 
 speaker but Moodv. 
 
 The audience laughed at the incident. Mr. Moody was not in 
 the least disconcerted, but said : 
 
 I like to hear babies cry. One of the best things I ever saw 
 was a big, strapping fellow trying to lull a crying baby to sleep 
 while its mother was in the inquiry-room. The babe had been cry- 
 ing and the mother was almost distracted. The young man watched 
 her for awhile and then said: "You go into the inquiry-room and 
 let me take care of the baby." And he took the child in his arms 
 while S,ooo people looked on and strode up and down the aisle with 
 it while it cried. If they do cry it won't drive me from the pulpit, 
 nor do I want it to drive the mothers from the meeting. If the 
 child cries aloud I can speak louder. 
 
 ISIr. Moody lifted his voice a pitch higher, while the baby in the 
 rear of the hall, which had continued to cry, raised its little voice until 
 it was almost a match for that of the speaker, and the audience 
 again laughed. Mr. Moody, proceeding, said he was preaching in 
 London once when a ferryman came to the meeting, who was 
 allowed to do so by one of the wealthy men of the church running 
 the ferry during his absence. Another way to interest the people 
 was to invite the church-goers to call upon the non-church goers. 
 It would benefit both. 
 
 The topic of the afternoon was: 
 
 " HOW TO INTEREST THE LAY ELEMENT OF OUR CHURCHES." 
 
 The discussion was opened by the Rev. C. L. Goodell, D. D., of 
 St. Louis, with the following address: 
 
 The purpose of this convention seems to be not to discuss new 
 truths, but practical truths; to stir the movements of old creeds in 
 Zion,that they may bring forth old churches to better service. Truths 
 are very simple, and yet to handle them so as to bring practical 
 results requires great skill and devotion of heart and spirituality of 
 life. To pick up the doctrines that we have heard and apply and 
 connect them so as to make it better is no slight thing. God only 
 can help us to do it; and the application of these truths and princi- 
 ples, that seem so commonplace because we have heard them so 
 much, is the question we have before us. 
 
 How to set to work the lay elements in our church is a very 
 practical and important question. It may be divided into two sec-
 
 910 CHRISTIAX CONVEXTION. 
 
 tions. First, the doctrines that incite to effort; second, the methods 
 by which it is to be directed. 
 
 To consider first the doctrines that incite to effort. In a cold, 
 dead time in the Church of Enghmd, when the hearts of people 
 wei-e spiritually dead, in the diocese of Winchester, a powerful 
 preacher was set to stir the clergy. From all over the diocese 
 they came together to hear him. He announced his subject as 
 " The existence of God." " Why," they said, " that will not quicken 
 our hearts, I supposed he had brought to us some new truths, some 
 truths that would startle us." But the outcome of the service was 
 this; he said: "If God does exist. His threatenings are true, His 
 promises are true, and anything revealed concerning Him is true, 
 and they are burning truths. We must preparq to meet our God in 
 all our shortcomings. Prepare now to meet thy God." 
 
 The sermon broke up the spiritual lethargy of his hearers, and 
 they went to their homes and worked powerfully. That sermon 
 sent them home to w^ork, sent every man into his vineyard with his 
 spade. Now, so must we do as ministers and Christian workers 
 to-day. If we would set the people to work, speak of the Lord 
 Jesus', speak of His wondrous love, of His great sacrifices, of His 
 saving cross, of His righteousness, of His truth. Preach Christ. 
 There is no truth under heaven so fit to stir the heart; there is no 
 truth so fit to interest a true man, year after year. Nothing is 
 better than to listen to the preaching of Christ from the uplifting 
 on the cross to the wonderful story of His love. The old, old 
 story! It will stir the heart to service. 
 
 It will inspire all the finest qualities of the heart to work. So 
 the minister who wants to draw the people to work and stir the soil 
 in the vineyard and make every tree fruitful — let him begin with 
 Christ; let him preach Christ and Him crucified until all the people 
 see the cloven side and grasp the bruised head. The person 
 loving Him the most will do the most in His vineyard. The per- 
 son whose soul is most faithfully imprinted with the worth of His 
 sacrifice, is the person who will be best, in and out of season, in 
 drawing souls to His feet. And the minister and worker who 
 keeps nearest to him will bring others nearest to Him. And the 
 man who does most in leading will do the same for himself. How 
 essential is it that we preach the word baptized in the blood of the 
 cross; vitalized and made pure by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 A thousand things may be preached full of novelty and attrac- 
 tion; but soon they go out, and leave the whole a desert. But he 
 who preaches Christ and Him alone, and sets forth the words of 
 redemption, is the one who will succeed. His work will be hal- 
 lowed by the Lord. Now we have tried to do this. We have 
 sought to preach Christ, and to set forth His truth. But we must
 
 CHRISTIAN COXA'ENTION. 911 
 
 be near Him at first. Wc must be warm in his doctrine of j^race 
 and love and mercy. We spoke this morning of the liiiuh^ances to 
 the spirit of the kingdom of God. 
 
 In every heart is the want of grace. Christ's words on tender 
 and melting souls melt under the power of Christ's love. For that 
 person who seeks that power every hindrance is overcome, and 
 there is no obstacle to that believer. He sees Christ. He sees the 
 power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation to every one 
 that believes in Him. Now, it is the preaching of great truths that 
 makes great preachers. This it is that makes great men; great 
 churches, powerful churches. This it is that makes institutions; 
 that places great eras in Christian history. 
 
 What brought the Puritans to plant the Word of God in this 
 country? What brought them here but to unite together in wor- 
 shipping God? What has taken missionaries around the globe, car- 
 rving the cross far and near? It is the shining cross in their own 
 hearts. Having tasted Christ's love they carry it to others; having 
 known His salvation themselves, they are anxious to deliver the 
 message of redemption around the globe. Now nothing but this 
 will accomplish this great thing. Men are not sent as ministers to 
 please the public. The church is not a cow to be milked for them. 
 They will not get any cream if they do. They are not sheep to be 
 shorn of their wool. If they try it they will only get bristles. It is 
 not more respectable to preach the gospel than to plant corn. It is 
 not that. That style of Christian worker never will move the Chris- 
 tian world. It must be Christ's great doctrine of salvation, the 
 truths as they are in Him, that must be preached. And a man to be 
 powerful must be nearer to Christ than his hearers if he would lead 
 his church nearer to him. 
 
 A celebrated divine of England said to be otherwise was like a 
 man meeting another on the side of a mountain ; both were the same 
 height from its top and its base. But the one was going down to 
 the base out of the light, out of the wide-spreading glories of the 
 sun, out of the glory of God, to the shades below. To turn him was 
 no promise of success in power. The other man, though level with 
 him at first, was passing to the summit, when God spoke, when 
 God's word was revealed; passing to the summit, caring nothing for 
 sufTering, caring only for spiritual power to save souls, because he 
 had the heart that loved Christ's kingdom. It is going in that suc- 
 ceeds, not coming out. The word blesses more and more it is 
 sought, and draws nearer and nearer our hearts to God. It quickens 
 all the community. These essentials are of exceedingly great 
 importance. 
 
 If we want power with which to fill the church, keeping out no 
 man, a great procession marching along God's highway in truth and
 
 812 CHRISTIAN CONVIiNTION. 
 
 praise, we must be filled with Him and speak for Him, and live in 
 Him. Now this is the doctrine. 
 
 If a man preach this, and teach this, and live this — there are the 
 elements of the mighty church, of a powerful, spiritual community. 
 Such truths beget sons and daughters of God. Such truths quicken 
 and vitalize society. Such doctrines build up, and never pull down, 
 and where the word of God is so given out with the believing heart, 
 a heart trusting in God, and beating with the love of God, there 
 will be blessing indeed. There will be movement. It will be the 
 sti'eam of life. 
 
 The church will be the river of God, and as it flows on it will 
 be separated according to the various conditions of all. Here into 
 prayer sunrise, here into Sunday school work; in other places accord- 
 ing to the ability and fitness of the people. 
 
 Then comes the question how to utilize this power that this 
 truth has awakened, that such doctrines have begotten, that such 
 fullness and presence of Jesus in the church has inspired? How, I 
 say, shall we utilize this power, and quicken and gather the saved 
 up, because the soul that is not set to serve soon perisheth; loses its 
 energy; wastes its power. When Saul was converted he asked, 
 "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" This is the question of 
 every soul when conveited. 
 
 What will the Lord have me to do? When Christ ascended to 
 heaven. His disciples stood aro'uid the Mount of Olives, and in a 
 little time Christ sent an angel down to stir them up— an angel 
 straight from His throne to put them to work. Then came the 
 Pentecost and the fire; then the zeal everywhere working — founding 
 churches. So the faithful pastor, the true preacher, the successfid 
 Christian leader, will be careful to take all this fire and intelligence 
 and love and devotion, and turn ofl["into channels of usefulness and 
 high Christian endeavor. Now what profits it if you melt the one 
 in a furnace and do not draw it off, but simply go again the next day 
 and melt it, and again do not drav/ it ofT, but let it cool in the fur- 
 nace? And yet how much just such work is done like this. Men 
 go to prayer-meeting and associate together and rejoice. They do 
 not go next day to see a sick brother, to look up a wandering 
 Sunday-school scholar; do not go to work among their own children, 
 but simply continue in the old way until next meeting, and then heat 
 the ore over again. This is barrenness. The ore is soon burnt and 
 spoiled. The pastor should be a wise master-builder. You must 
 send out the runner, the swift of foot, throughout the parish, 
 throughout the community, as a flame of fire that will send hearts 
 that have been Jcindled, to your church; to your Sunday services 
 and your week night services. 
 
 How do you get water to the family across the way? The
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 913 
 
 water will never leap from the river to the house. Men must lay 
 the pipe. How is a room in a house to be lit? A pipe must be laid 
 from the gas-meter to every room in the house you want lighted. 
 How are we to bring this Gospel of Christ to those who do not go 
 to the meeting when the fire is kindled? By making every person 
 take a live coal and touching with it the lips of the other brethren, 
 of the child and brother who go wandering, of the lost soul. In 
 my early jDarish there w\'is opposite my study a beautiful little home. 
 A fountain played before it; a wide lawn encircled it; shady trees 
 protected it, and a lovely household filled it. Day after day I 
 prayed to God earnestly that His Spirit might come to them, and 
 that they might be saved. One day, standing there watching the 
 house — God had not yet answered my prayer, but time was going 
 on — they seemed as far from the water of life as ever. Standing 
 there I saw the gas burning in a rooms of the house. It had been 
 "brought" there. Water played in the fountain. It had been 
 brought there by patient effort. God spoke to me in that thought. 
 I asked myself, "How will Christ be brought to them unless you 
 are the conductor? Go to them." And that afternoon I went to 
 the house. Soon the lady bowed in prayer in the parlor, and gave 
 her heart to the cross. .Soon her husband was led to the Lord, and 
 the whole family. That was the greatest lesson that has ever come 
 to me during my ministr}-. I said afterward that I would lead the 
 living stream to perishing souls; and I venture to say that a thou- 
 sand souls have been redeemed to the cross through the providence 
 of Christ. 
 
 And I give the incident to-day as a practical way in which we 
 are to take Christ to others. When I asked the lady if she would 
 accept Christ, she said, "I will. I have been hoping you would 
 come around and see me many a day " How many in our parishes 
 are waiting for the word! How many are waiting for the water of 
 life! How many are waiting for the light of life, and we can 
 carry it if we will. Now, there are a few departments of special 
 work — dependencies on the house of God — that the pastor should 
 watch with great care and prayerf ulness and spiritual wisdom. I 
 Avish to speak of the utilizing of some of the special classes of 
 people in a church, and I commend the words that I have spoken to 
 those that shall hear. The remarks that I shall make will seem to 
 some commonplace. But their carrying out is that which fills the 
 church and keeps the spiritual fire burning on the altars of God. 
 
 First, of all; keep the services of the Lord's day open; keep 
 them warm; keep them full of the love of Christ and the power 
 of God. Keep your light lighted. Teach your family to honor 
 the house, the Lord, and the day; teach them that that is the place 
 in which to honor God and in which to expect to receive His special
 
 914 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 blessing. That old truth made new by the presence of the Holy 
 Sph-it will fill our church; give effectiveness to our Sabbath servi- 
 ces; produce changes over the entire face of society. 
 
 And the prayer meetings and the mid-week services, they have 
 a work to carry on of joy and sweetness, to elevate the world. Let 
 the excellence of Carmel come there, and the sweetness and majesty 
 of Lebanon, so that men shall delight to go to them. Let the Sun- 
 day school life be fresh and vital. Let there be an eye on every 
 class, watchfulness and care everywhere. Let there be Bibles and 
 libraries, and maps and other helps, quickening in every way the 
 efficiency and advice. Do not expect that this work will take care 
 
 of itself. . . 
 
 Then let there be a missionary spirit; let there be a missionary 
 library, for the most vitalized Christian life is beyond the seas,_in 
 foreign fields. " The home work may have been dimmed for a while, 
 but mformation shows that it was never more powerful than now 
 in foreign fields. Christianity here feels its influence. It is under 
 its influence, and the work for it, that new light is spreading over it, 
 Let the history of heroic missionaries speak for it; of great devotion; 
 praise it. Let the histories of this work be put into the hands of 
 every child, and the maps of it too. Let the spiritual work be 
 done from house to house. 
 
 Let the parish be mapped out and districted, and from all these 
 departments have reports made to the pastor and to each other in 
 meetings. 
 
 Let there be cottage meetings in the distant districts, in the neigh- 
 borhoods where it is not so easy to preach in. Let every week be 
 held cottage evening meetings. Those who first slyly attend these 
 will soon become warm and blessed and become regular attendants 
 upon the larger meetings. Prayer and work, doctrine and duty, 
 truth and light from God carried in the heart along every highway 
 and byway ,"into every home, and those that are distant and cold 
 shall be warmed, and the parish shall be alive, and God shall be 
 over all, and over the parish there shall be new births into the king- 
 dom of Heaven. 
 
 " HOW FAITH SPREADS." 
 
 The next topic for discussion was assigned to the able hands of 
 the Rev. S. J. McPherson, of the Second Presbyterian Church, of 
 
 this citv. 
 
 " How Faith Spreads" is plainly told in the last words of Jesus 
 Christ, recorded by Luke. He there instructs His disciples that 
 " repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name 
 unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Ye are witnesses 
 of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of My Father
 
 CHRISTIAN CONN'ENTION. 915 
 
 upon you; but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power 
 from on high." 
 
 Here are at least three fundamental facts, i. The power Ity 
 which Christian faith spreads is "power from on high" — the ITolv 
 Spirit — operating through Christ's regenerated disciples. 2. The 
 process of spreading it is by gradual radiation from the vital center 
 of personal faith to the world lying dead in unbelief, '■• from Jerusa- 
 lem " — from Chicago — "' unto all the nations." 3. The means bv 
 which it is spread is the Christianized contagion of personal 
 influence. That is, before we preach the gospel we must possess 
 the power; and our immediate work must always be with those 
 who are next to us; and after we have ourselves become johotographic 
 negatives of the living Christ, we must, under the gospel's own 
 light, imprint His image upon men by actual contact with them. As 
 illustrative of this principle, notice a few New Testament symbols 
 — Faith is a leaven. Beginning always in a leavened center, it sends 
 infectious power throughout a lifeless mass by touching every par- 
 ticle of it until the whole is leavened. Faith is a mustard seed. 
 Within it there is found, latent, the force which slowly produces the 
 mustard tree, "the greatest among herbs." Its seed is in itself, 
 absorbing into its energies the inert elements. adjacent; it mightilv 
 assimilates them to its own nature. 
 
 Faith is living water which, risinji- out of Chris", its original 
 fountam, not only slakes eternally the thirst of e^•ery receiver, but 
 becomes in each a new fountain springing up to everlasting life for 
 others. Faith makes Christians the salt of the earth and the light 
 of the world, because they both possess Christ-like character and 
 exert Christ- like influence. .Salt preserves; light creates. Salt acts 
 from w'ithin, by permeation, from atom to atom, seasoning and con- 
 serving whatever it touches; light acts by diffusion, from a center, 
 by radiation, illuminating and quickening whatever it falls upon. 
 Salt is opposed to false profession ; light to useless possession. Salt, 
 so long as it retains its saltness, is forced bv its natural pungency to 
 preserve; and light is so compelled bv its natural radiance to shine 
 that you cannot destroy its rays without destroying itself. For light 
 consists in shining. Faith is a baptism of fire. Burning first in 
 Jesus, and then in His followers, it sweeps outward in all directions; 
 not by leaping over long intervals, but inch by inch, each bit of 
 glowing heart-fuel communicating it to the next; yet it ever burns 
 with the divine energy of the kindling spark. Again, faith is a life. 
 It must reproduce itself. No lower force can generate it. But it 
 will be propagated in proportion to the energy existing in its origi- 
 nal source and to the sympathy of those who transmit it. 
 
 Faith, then, does not come by chance. It is Jesus Christ repro- 
 ducing Himself in us and through us, accomplishing at every step
 
 916 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 the nearest and most natural effect of His power, and instantly con- 
 verting each effect into a new cause. It is after this fashion that 
 faith has spread in every period of sacred history. For example, 
 when God would obtain a peculiar people among an apostate world, 
 He called not a race, but one man. To Abraham was the stupend- 
 ous promise given that in him should all the families of the earth be 
 blessed. That promise first awakened Abraham's own faith and 
 made him the personal friend of God; then through Abraham it 
 reached Sarah and Isaac and the patriarchal household. Thence 
 through Isaac and Jacob it descended to the growing race of 
 Hebrews, and thence through Jesus to mankind — the individual, the 
 family, the nation, the world. These are the stages in the propaga- 
 tion of Old Testament fiiith. The same fact appears in the earthly 
 career of Jesus. He did not send faith down out of heaven; He 
 brought it; He exemplified it; He died for it. Most of His min- 
 istry was private, opening the fountain of rapturous faith in a few at 
 the beginning of the stream of Christian history. 
 
 For thirty years He illustrated the new life in the strange silence 
 and solitude of Nazareth. Even in his brief public ministry it was 
 rather the exception than the rule for Him to present his gospel to 
 promiscuous assemblies, as when he fed the 5,000, or preached on 
 the mount to multitudes, or made His triumphal entry into Jeru- 
 salem. The universal proclamation was rather reserved for a later 
 stage of development; his personal ministry was mainly to "the 
 lost sheep of the house of Israel." He proceeded from the few to 
 the many only so rapidly as he could vitalize those nearest to Him. 
 Hence, He revealed His divine power at the wedding in Cana, to 
 the obscure mourners in Nain, to one depraved woman at the well 
 of Samaria, among the dear household of Bethany, in the wilder- 
 ness, by the wayside, and most of all among that select school of 
 disciples who were to graduate as His apostles. These he trained 
 precept upon precept, line upon line, making sure that they experi- 
 enced the grace which they were to preach, and then, after 
 they had become eye-witnesses to the marvelous events cul- 
 minating in His resurrection and ear-witnesses to the gospel revela- 
 tions embodied in His own person, and, most of all, heart-witnesses 
 to the regenerating powers summed up in the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. He sent them forth to communicate to others the divine 
 contagion which they had caught from Himself. 
 
 In planting and training the Christian Church, His apostles con- 
 tinued to follow the same method. Pentecost ,was the original mus- 
 tard seed, which has grown into the wide-spreading tree of Chris- 
 tendom. 
 
 The risen Savior's handful of witnesses, because they were filled 
 with the Holy Spirit, began to speak with other tongues as the
 
 CHRISTIAN COX VEN TIOX. 'J I 7 
 
 spirit gave them utterance, and " the same day there were added 
 unto them about 3,000 souls." One touch of the quickened body of 
 Christ's followers began to waken a dead world to life, and "every 
 nation under heaven" felt the resistless impulse of divine life. From 
 that vitalized center the vital leaven of Christ's grace was steadily 
 propagated in all directions, from atom to atom of mankind's huge 
 mass, until this leaven of the spirit was neutralized in the Roman 
 Empire by the poison of political power, and the life of faith was 
 s;nothered in tne papacy by the smoke of ritualistic incense and of 
 grinding ecclesiastical machinery. Faith declined because the gos- 
 pel was preached by Avorldliness and ceremonialism instead of con- 
 secrated personal influence. The church became bloated and mori- 
 bund; immorality honeycombed her with "indulgences;" the 
 " dark ages " ensued. Not until the emancipated monk of Erfurt 
 lifted his face to Jesus Christ, saying " Thou art my righteousness 
 but I am Thy sin," did faith again begin to spread among man- 
 kind. 
 
 That one man, Luther, transformed by simjDle faith, became the 
 quick center of the new world of Protestantism. Like Wesley, and 
 Edwards, and Finney, and many others great and small, in our own 
 day, he illustrated afresh the true centrifugal force of Christianitv. 
 That is, it spreads by the sole power of the Holy Spirit; it spreads 
 outward from a vitalized heart to dependent extremities; and it 
 spreads gradually, step by step, by a law of personal contact. With- 
 out stopping to inquire why the Master has preferred to propagate 
 faith by what we may call this natural method rather than by a per- 
 petual series of miracles^ observe how it does in fact spread, now in 
 concentric circles throughout all the spheres of Christian life. 
 Beginning with the outermost ring, it operates thus: 
 
 1. In the foreign mission work, whose flourishing periods have 
 always followed times of special consecration in the church at home. 
 For example, it was characteristic of the second stage of apostolic 
 history, when Paul and his colleagues carried the gospel over the 
 Roman Empire. In the middle ages it languished because the 
 church was stagnant at home. To-day it again sweeps over the 
 world in ever-widening waves, because our churches are recovering 
 apostolic faith and zeal. 
 
 2, It operates similarly in home mission work. Plymouth 
 Rock, like the stone that smote the image in Nebuchadnezzar's 
 dream, has become a great mountain and is filling the nation. But 
 Plymouth Rock lay dead, the inert plaything of restless sea waves 
 for ages, until it was made a living stone by Puritan faith and prayer. 
 So to-day, in proportion as the Church of Christ in great centers of 
 population is aflame, like the consuming, unconsumed burning bush, 
 do we see the fire of the gospel glowing in the towns of the frontier.
 
 918 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 3. Faith spreads similarly around every local church. A 
 church's spiritual influence is in direct ratio to its own faith and 
 fidelity. It can win its neighborhood to Christ, not merely by its 
 wealth, or its culture, or its social position, but solely as these and 
 other talents are inspired by vivid faith in Christ crucified. That 
 Master says: "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 
 
 4. But these principles must operate specially in the individual 
 Christian. Indeed, every general movement of faith has been radi- 
 cally nothing more than an aggregate of personal influences. The 
 Church, the body of Christ, is a corpse wntil it is filled with His 
 spirit, and that spirit acts chiefly through persons. It is not so much 
 by means as by instruments, not so much by humanly organized 
 conventions as by their divinely awakened men, that faith in Christ 
 spreads. Like begets like. The Christian bears fruit after his kind. 
 The believer propagates belief. The duplicate of Christ multiplies 
 Christ among men. "Ye are my witnesses," says the ascending 
 Savior. As for us Christians, Christ is Christianity ; so for the world, 
 in a high sense, we are' Christianity. The only way, therefore, to 
 spread Christianity is by being genuine Christians ourselves, and 
 then we can hardly help spreading it according to our talents. It is, 
 of course, true that in order to be safe, in order to be happy, in order 
 to have peace with God and with the universe, in order to acquire 
 perfect character, like that of Christ we must be Christian. 
 
 But, further than that, we must likewise be completely Christian, 
 in order to be completely useful. As a labor-saving device in the 
 work of doing good, as a matter of mere skill in power to help 
 and redeem mankind, eager faith in Jesus Christ is the supreme 
 thing. The best policy is always the best principle, and the best 
 principle is regeneration by God's spirit. How do we Christian 
 workers long to reach the highest efficiency in Christ's service! 
 Yet it is, fundamentally, but a question of the deepest consecration. 
 O, for the gift to our lean hearts and barren lives of that faith in 
 Christ by which to educate the ignorant for eternity, of the love of 
 Christ to win the wayward back to God, of the power of the living 
 Christ to save the lost, of the self-sacrificing, of the dying Christ to 
 raise the dead to immortal life. Faith will spread by me when it 
 is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me. Let me, then, 
 have at least the beatitude of gospel hunger and thirst. 
 THE QUESTION DRAWER. 
 
 The last half hour of the afternoon session was devoted to the 
 question drawer. While several hymns were sung, the question 
 box was passed through the audience, and any who pleased were 
 allowed to ask any question about practical work, but Mr. Moody 
 said no questions upon controverted or doctrinal points would be 
 recoarnized.
 
 CHRISTIAN CON\'KNTION. 919 
 
 The first question the evangelist took from the box was as to 
 whether he \\ould preach the law or only the love of God. He 
 said : " The law has its place. I preach more law than I did a few 
 years ago. If a man preaches only one side of the Gospel he will 
 not have success. A man wants to know that he is sick before he 
 want a doctor. He wants to know that he is a sinner before bee 
 will look for the Savior." 
 
 The next question asked was: "What would you do if a person 
 were in one of your meetings and should give a shout?" 
 
 "I should let them shout once or twice anvway, especially in a 
 union meeting. I have known a great many good meetings to be 
 broken up by a few people who thought they could not be happy 
 without a great deal of noise. Where there is too much wind there 
 is not much thought or work." 
 
 "What would you do if you were in a church where the best 
 members would say that they were overworked in obtaining food 
 for their families, and could not work for the Lord?" 
 
 "I have never been in such a place. Such men you will find are 
 not practical. They have no system, I will venture that such men 
 waste an hour or two evei'y day. If they will husband their time 
 they can save many hours to devote to the Lord's w^ork." 
 
 "Do you think that the evangelist should belong to some church?" 
 
 "I do. That is perhaps a hit at me. I do ])clong to a church, 
 and I was kept out of it for a year because I was not converted. I had 
 too hard a time getting into the church to leave it. I am still a 
 member of a Chicago church, I believe. I never heard of my being 
 turned out. It is the only organization I care to belong to. I have 
 no sympathy with the men who stand outside and try to tear down 
 the church. It is easy to tear down. We want to build up." 
 
 "What can be done to reach the non-church-goers?" 
 
 "We had that question pretty fully discussed this afternoon. 
 Every man and woman has his or her work. When we work 
 together the world will be reached. But in this country we are fast 
 driftmg like the old country. In England, in the manufacturing 
 cities, it is said that 98 per cent, of the population never go to the 
 house of God. Dr. Dale, of Birmingham, thinks this is exagger- 
 ted. He puts it at 95 per cent. But even if it be only 90 per cent, 
 it is very bad. These men gather in their shops on Sunday, or some 
 place else, and talk communism or infidelity. They are not poor, 
 for they earn from £3 to £S a week. They are hard-hearted and 
 hard-headed men, and the men who uphold the cross in their midst 
 have a hard time. Wc are drifting in the same way in this country. 
 The church should take steps to reach these people. We need a 
 band of men and women who will stand in the gap between them 
 and the churches; men and women vv'ho will take the place of the
 
 920 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 minister here, because these people are prejudiced against the min- 
 ister and will not listen to him. These people may be called mis- 
 sionaries or what you will, but we need them. They must go into 
 these cottages to meet these people and t each them. Too often, 
 though, we find men who can do nothing else, who are given this 
 work of the Lord to do. We send them out to preach. 
 
 What we need is a training school for these people, that they 
 may be taught and trained in their work. I know the need of this. 
 I walked the streets of Chicago day after day, feeling that I must 
 preach, yet knowing that I was not fitted for the work and wanted 
 to learn. But I felt that to give up ten or twelve years to this prep- 
 aration would be a sin. Had there been some place where I could 
 have been trained and allowed to study, while I was at work I could 
 have been more successful. We need such schools. 
 
 Then the preacher needs another school than that of theology. 
 He needs to be trained in the school of human nature. They need 
 to rub up against the world and learn how to read men. They fail 
 to get hold of men for this very reason. Had they been business 
 men and learned something of the world, or had they been like 
 these reporters, seeing all sides of life, they would have known 
 something of the other side and how to approach men. We want 
 a training school to educate just such men for this work. In New 
 York the other day I was speaking of this to a gentleman, and he 
 said, all right, Mr. Moody you start such a school, and here is 
 $5,000 to help with the work. 
 
 He made me take it, and when I came to Chicago another busi- 
 ness man added $5,000 to it, and said start it here. That is what I 
 say. Let Chicago have a training school for these men and 
 women, and if there are any more of you gentlemen and ladies 
 who want to contribute to such a work, come on with your money. 
 I have been blamed for going away from Chicago; now if you 
 want me to return give me some such work to do. We should 
 have 200 or 300 men and women at work with the lower classes 
 of people here in Chicago. I tell you it will pay. In London 
 they have a thousand, and they are men and women, many of 
 them who have not only given their wealth but themselves to the 
 work. Some of the ladies are wealthy, yet they devote their lives 
 to going about among these people and doing good. In this coun- 
 try our people are willing to serve the Lord by proxy. They are 
 willing to spend their money, but not to work. I say to the rich 
 men of Chicago, their money will not be worth much if commun- 
 ism and infidelity sweep the land. You had better lift up these 
 men, and the best ^vay is to take some from their own nimiber. 
 Some of our brightest men are in the billiard halls. Let us get 
 this thins: started.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 921 
 
 I should like to have something practical grow out of this con- 
 vention. We shall be here for three clays and have a glorious 
 time, and shout over it, and say let's have another one next year. 
 It will last just for one year. But is that all? We can 
 do so much more. We can do something that will be lasting 
 in its results. There is no reason why these people should not 
 be reached. But you are not going to reach them by a few sermons. 
 The time has come when we will have to go into these people's 
 homes and work. The church has been on the defensive long 
 enough. It is time she was beginning an aggressive movement. 
 We have lawyers ^vho are eloquent in their pleadings in the courts. 
 Why should they not plead in other places for these people? The 
 work cannot be done by the ministers alone. We want the lawyers 
 and the business men — all classes of men and women to go into the 
 work, but especially we need a trained band of laborers to reach 
 the lower classes. 
 
 The outlying homes will be reached quicker by this than by the 
 preachers. You say these men have not logic. No matter. Let 
 men preach for souls, not heads. If a man has not logic and cannot 
 be appealed to by reason, drive straight at his heart. I like heart- 
 preaching better, any way. 
 
 A few years ago a gentleman in London invit-ed me to go down 
 to the dog market. I asked him what that was, and found that it 
 was a place where these rough men congregated on Sunday morn- 
 ing, and if they had anything to sell or trade or bet on for drinks 
 they went there. 
 
 Well, we went to the dog market, and as I looked out at them 
 it seemed there were acres of men — men rough and cursing, men 
 with dogs to sell or to bet on as fighters; men with fighting cocks 
 betting on them. It was one of the queerest sights I ever saw. 
 And I was to-day to sjDcak to them. They paid no attention until 
 it was announced that I was an American. Then they listened to 
 me for a few moments, because they had an idea that America was 
 a sort of fairy land. But while I spoke a man stood at my side with 
 a fighting cock under his arm, trying to hear what I was saying, 
 but at the same time looking out to see if he could find another cock 
 to match his against in a fight; and another man jostled me, trying 
 to be a respectful listener, had a sharp lookout for a chance to get 
 up a dog fight. And all there were, if listening to me, at the same 
 time looking out for business in some shape, and my talk had no 
 effect on them. But a blacksmith was able to interest them, and I 
 sav that is what we need. Let us use all kinds of talent. If we 
 can put such men into training schools, and prepare them for teach- 
 ing their fellows, we will do a grand w^ork. It is practical and can 
 be carried out here in Chicago better than in any city in the country.
 
 922 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 " What is the best thing to do with a man who always speaks on 
 one subject? " 
 
 These men are more numerous than you think. They are hobby- 
 ists. They do a good deal of harm, too. They break up many 
 good meetings by presenting their hobbies at the wrong time. If 
 a solemn impression has been made they will spoil it by presenting 
 their hobby. I don't say that these are not good men, but they do 
 much harm. I would try to keep them quiet by gentle means, if 
 possible, but under no consideration would I allow them to go on. 
 If they would not keep quiet for asking I should make them. I 
 like temperance, but I don't want to talk about it all the time, and 
 I like the doctrine of sanctification, but I don't want to hear of that 
 and nothing else. It brings these good old doctrines into disrepute 
 such harping on them. If I take my watch to the jeweler and ask 
 to have the balance-wheel made double its present size, I am told 
 that it will ruin the watch, for all the other machinery will then be 
 out of proportion. Take any doctrine of the Bible and put it above 
 every other and it will die. 
 
 "How are the foreign population to be reached?" Mr. Moody 
 said it had been his privilege to go to Paris and see the work of one 
 man there who did not understand the French language, and for a 
 long time had to speak through an interpreter. This man had had 
 a beautiful home, which he left, and himself and wife devoted them- 
 selves to the work of evangelization in Paris. He had worked 
 steadily for years, and now he could speak a little very bad French, 
 but he had a hall larger than Farwell HaH, Chicago, which was 
 always crowded, and no man in Paris could draw a greater crowd 
 to hear him speak than this evangelist. Mr. Moody had himself 
 spoken to these people through an interpreter, and he thought it 
 was a terrible dull talk, and he wondered that the people did not all 
 rush out of the hall, but when he got through they remained, and 
 when he invited a few to remain and hear about how to live a 
 Christian life, they all remained while he preached another sermon- 
 Then when he invited those who could to remain to talk' about soul 
 saving, they all remained, and he could not get them to go home 
 until the gas was turned off, and they left in the dark. The for- 
 eigners were eager to hear the gospel. And here in Chicago we 
 did not have to go to France or Germany or Sweden to find them. 
 They come to us, and the best way to reach the foreigners was to' 
 train those here and send them as teachers to their native 
 lands. 
 
 It was especially a good time to I'evive the religion of Christ in 
 Germany this year, when the 400th anniversary of Martin Luther 
 was to be celebrated. He then spoke of the work of an evangelist 
 in Berlin who had been recognized by the Crown Prince and Prince
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 923 
 
 Bismarck. The doors of the nations were opened to vis, and it was 
 time to enter and possess. 
 
 "Do you think it is best to have steady work in the church, or 
 revivals?" 
 
 "Both. Some people oppose revivals and preach against them, 
 and they do a great harm. The church was born in a revival." 
 
 Mr. Aloody then spoke of those people who are always crying 
 out against revivalists, and evangelists. He told the story of the man 
 who said at a dinner-table, when a missionary convert was present, 
 that in all his travels in Asia he had never seen a native convert. 
 The missionary did not repl}', but after a while asked if he had ever 
 seen a tiger there. The man replied that he had seen many, had 
 huated and killed them. The missionary's reply was that he had 
 never seen a tiger while abroad. He had been hunting for con- 
 verts, and not tigers. 
 
 We could find converts if we hunted for them, but the converts 
 were not going to come round and ring the bell to let us know they 
 were converted. 
 
 There were several other questions in the box, but it was 5 
 o'clock, and Mr. Moody is prompt in closing as in beginning, and 
 announcing the doxology,it was sung, and the convention adjourned 
 until 8 o'clock. 
 
 EVENING SESSION. 
 
 If the interest of the people in the afternoon amounted to a 
 certain degree of absorption, the interest in the proceedings of the 
 evening was to a still greater degree intensified 
 
 The exercises being opened in the usual way, Mr. Moody 
 announced the topic for discussion, and the first speaker of the 
 evening : 
 
 "how to reach habitual non-church goers." 
 
 Rev. Dr. H. M. Scudder, pastor of Plymouth Congregational 
 Church, Chicago, 
 
 Dr. Scuttder said: 
 
 Several answers may be given to this question. There are 
 advocates of various schemes. Some say " Establish gospel services 
 on Sunday evenings in halls and theatres." Others say, " Try to 
 reach destitute populations through mission schools." Others call 
 for street preaching. Others advise more extensive efforts on the 
 part of Young Men's Christian Associations. And the most recent 
 re2Dly is : -' Do it by Salvation Armies." I will not enter upon the 
 consideration of any of these, but will give an answer, which, while 
 it interferes with none of these, seems to me to be one of the most 
 important things which can be said in reply to the question, viz: 
 Make the sanctuary itself so attractive as to draw men into it.
 
 924 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 Who shall do this? Not ministers alone. Not laymen alone. 
 Either attempting it singly will fail, at least in a measure. If both 
 heartily combine, there \vill be success. This Christian Convention 
 consists of ministers and laymen, and I will ventvn-e to offer on this 
 subject a few suggestions to each. 
 
 What shall ministers do to make the church attractive? In 
 treating this, my dear brethren, I hope you will not think that I 
 assume to be your teacher. I have no such spirit. The directions 
 I give are rules unto myself. They may be useful to you, as I 
 know they are to me. 
 
 There are some things ministers should not do. In order to 
 avoid stiffness kindly allow me to use the second person in address- 
 ing you. 
 
 1. Do not make your sermons too doctrinal in form. Do not 
 misunderstand me. A sermon without doctrine is good for noth- 
 ing. It ^vould be like a body without a backbone There must be 
 a iDackbone to give points of attachment for the limbs, to suj^port 
 the vital organs that are clustered around it, and to sustain the 
 masses of muscles which execute so many motions. But if the body 
 were all backbone and nothing else, it would not be a very agree- 
 able spectacle. If when you looked for a body to meet you, you 
 saw only a bare backbone approaching, you would run away from 
 it. There must be a backbone, but over it should be the comely 
 vesture of ruddy flesh, and at the top of it a living brain In a ser- 
 mon the doctrine should be clothed, as in the body God has clothed 
 the backbone. 
 
 2. Do not let the sermon become a mere essay. It should be 
 sqmething other than a pretty, elaborate, finical, symmetrical essay. 
 It may be poetic and polished, artistic and aesthetic, and quite beau- 
 tiful to behold, and yet the people will soon grow weary of such 
 preaching. 
 
 3. Do not overweight your sermon with learning. Iron is the 
 most useful of metals, and it is proper that ships should carry it from 
 country to country, to give it universal currency, thaf it may be 
 applied to uses innumerable. But if you overload your vessel with 
 ii-on till it sinks to its deck, and then spread your sails, and attempt 
 a voyage, your ship, though a good one, will go to the bottom, iron 
 and all, and you will be lucky if you yourself escape. Some ser- 
 mons do not float, but go down overfreighted with learning. 
 
 Not that the minister can have too much learning. Christ has 
 described the New Testament minister as a " scribe which is 
 instructed unto the kingdom of heaven." The word " scribe " had in 
 that day, a very different meaning from that which it now has. It 
 meant a " learned man." Such the minister should be. It \vould 
 be well if he knew everything, and had it at the end of his tongue.
 
 CHRISTIAN CON^'EN'TIOX. 925 
 
 But he must V)c wise in using his learning. Resuhs should appear 
 rather than processes. There should be no parade of learning. 
 The sermon which merely carries a cargo of erudition is a doomed 
 ship. It will not discharge its cargo in the port which the author 
 of the sermon should steer for, but on the floor of the ocean. 
 
 Avoid sameness and repetitiousness. We sometimes hear such 
 complaints as these: "Oh, he has a new text, but yet it will be the 
 old sermon over again. We have heard it a hundred times. We 
 are tired of it." Our Lord says that the minister must bring forth 
 " out of his treasure things new and old." He must possess a treasure 
 of acquisitions, and out of it must come new as well as old. Also 
 our Master has said, " When ye pray use not vain repetitions." and 
 this injunction may rationally be extended so as to read, " When ye 
 preach, use not vain repetitions." 
 
 Let us turn fr(;m the negative to the positive. What shall min- 
 isters do to make their ministrations attractive? 
 
 I. Let there be more expository preaching. I feel sure that there 
 is not enough of this done. Make your sermon an exposition of 
 Holy Scripture. I do not mean that you should take up a chapter 
 or a pai^agraph and explain it verse by verse, and word by word. 
 What I mean is this: Choose a chapter or a passage which has im- 
 pressed you. With a few sheets of paper before you, sit down at 
 vour desk, and study^ the passage carefully in the original ; for if 
 possible, every man who expounds Scripture should know Hebrew 
 and Greek. When I was in the theological seminary I sat under 
 the teaching of Dr. Edward Robinson, and a remark of his has had 
 a very potent influence upon my life as a student. 
 
 He said, "Young gentlemen, they who teach the Bible, should 
 be able to read it in the languages in which the Holy Ghost revealed 
 it." And if I knew nothing of Hebrew and Greek I would, on 
 going home from this meeting to-night, begin w'ith Aleph and 
 Alpha; and I rejoice in the work that Professor Harper has been 
 doing in this city this summer in organizing classes for the reading 
 of Hebrew. 
 
 Open then vour Hebrew or Greek Lexicon according as your 
 selected passage is in the old or New Testament. Scrutinize every 
 word; run each word through all its senses in the lexicon, and as 
 you do this write down every thought and every illustration that 
 comes into your mind. Do not aim, m this stage of your work, at 
 any order. Set down every idea as it arises in you. The roots of 
 the Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible are living things. 
 Give them a chance in the soil of your intellect and heart, and there 
 will be a crowd of branches and leaves and blossoms and fruit. 
 Professor Guyot, of Princeton College is a Hebrew scholar as well 
 as a geologist! I heard him say many years ago that the roots of
 
 936 CHRISTIAX COXVEXTIOX. 
 
 the Hebrew words used in the first chnptcr of Genesis to describe 
 the cosmogony there recorded, were Hving geologic germs, carry- 
 ing within them ideas which if stated could not have been under- 
 stood, but which, now that the time is come, verify themselves in 
 the discoveries of geology. When you have gone through the pas- 
 sage and written down all IThat the examination of the original 
 \vords has suggested, you will find that you ha^e rich materials, in 
 abundance, for a sermon. Now reduce these materials ,to 
 order. 
 
 Look for the central thought of the passage. Seize upon it. 
 vSelect the verse that presents it — that central thought. Make 
 that 3'our text Arrange all the other thoughts as satellites around 
 this central thought and you \v\\\ find that vour sermon is rising up 
 before you as a solar system, with its sun at the center, and planets 
 and asteroids moving around it in light and warmth and harmony 
 and beauty. It will not appear to be an expository sermon, but it 
 will be such in the highest and best sense of that word. You may 
 say that this will involve much time and toil, but a sermon ought 
 to cost us something, and if we follow this plan of work we shall 
 learn to do it with increasing rapidity and facility; with much 
 fervor of mind and gladness of heart. And I would make 
 expository preaching include the exposition of the volume of nature. 
 Holy Scripture and nature are God's two great books, and the truths 
 of Scripture have their analogies in nature. Have you a Scripture 
 truth in hand? Search for its analogy in nature. The pursuit 
 will be a delight, the discovery a joy, the appropriation an enrich- 
 m.ent. And, having discovered it, illustrate the Scripture-truth by 
 this, its embodiment which you have found in nature. Your hearers 
 will never forget a truth so exemplified. Modern science has 
 opened up to us this realm of nature. It is no\v a library rather 
 than a volume. Be at home in this library. Acquaint yourself 
 with its departments, that vou may be able to bring into view the 
 material expressions of spiritual truths. 
 
 A sermon thus constructed will be an expository discourse. It 
 will be fresh, vivid, instructive, interesting, and so far as it catches 
 the spirit which dwells in the Scripture and in nature it will be 
 spiritual and divine. It 'will be a sermon that has spimng up, not 
 out of one's own shallowness, but out of the great depths of God's 
 mind and heart. 
 
 2. Let the manner of your utterance be colloquial. In the pul- 
 pit the simply natural is to be prefen-ed to the rhetorical or the 
 oratorical. Talk to your audience. Speak to them as you would 
 to individuals in your own parlor. Unify your congregation so 
 that it shall stand before you as a single person with whom you are 
 about to argue and plead; whom you desire to conciliate, convince,
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 927 
 
 and lead into the love and practice of the truth which you arc incul- 
 cating. 
 
 3. Let the truth which you propose to preach first thoroughly 
 master you. Men like to see exhibitions of power, and no mani- 
 festation of power is more impressive than the perceived dominance 
 of a truth over the speaker who is proclaiming that truth. Let 
 your theme completely subdue and possess and absorb your own 
 soul. Come into the pulpit every Sabbath with a week's new illu- 
 mination and a week's spiritual glow. 
 
 4. Concentrate your energies on your own church and parish, 
 ^linisters are called upon to do much exterior work. Do what you 
 can of this, without neglecting your own sphere of labor. Let that 
 be the limit. Bevond that, learn to say "No." Sacrifice, if needs 
 be, outside popularity to inside usefulness. The minister who thus 
 restricts, and disciplines and develops himself, will draw hearers to 
 himself. He will have something to give, and men generally find 
 their way to the place where they can get anything. 
 
 But though the minister fulfill this scheme of thought and prep- 
 aration and action, his success will onlv be partial, if he has not 
 the hearty co-operation of the members of his church. 
 
 What then shall laymen do to ?nake the church attractive ? 
 There are three effective things they can do. 
 
 I. Set a good example in attending church yourselves. See 
 how it is now in most churches. The members come in the morn- 
 ing. The house is full. But to a great extent they have abandoned 
 the evening service. They require their minister to preach, as well 
 as he can, to empty pews, unless he can draw in strangers that shall 
 occupy them. When these church members called this minister to 
 be their leader they promised to support him. Instead of fulfilling 
 their promise they break his heart by their absence. They 
 tell him to lead, thev call him their captain, they push him to 
 the front, they put the banner of the church into one of his hands, 
 and bid him take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God in the 
 other; and yet they who are his soldiers, who have vowed to stand 
 by him, desert him, and from a distance, the distance of their 
 respective homes, cry out to him and say: "Fight it out, bepluckv, 
 do not give in, be valiant; we admire what vou are attempting." 
 What can be more disheartening than this? It puts a burden upon 
 the minister he cannot carry. He staggers under it. I was not 
 long since in a church which has a distinguished, eloquent, devout 
 and learned pastor. He has a good audience in the morning, and 
 about a hundred in the evening. His health gave way last winter, 
 and an officer in his church said to me, " This was what broke him 
 down." 
 
 How can we expect outsiders to come in, w^hen the insiders set
 
 928 CHRISTIAN CON^■E^'TION. 
 
 such an example of indifference and disloyalty? It is no wonder if 
 people say: " Christians stay out, why should we go in?" 
 
 If the laymen would attend church in the evening as they do in 
 the morning, the minister would be greatly encouraged. The pres- 
 ence of his people, the thought that they were praying for him, 
 would be a stimulus to him. He would preach ten times better than 
 he does. 
 
 2. Not only attend the services, but assume the right attitude 
 toward sti^angers. 
 
 There is a tendency in the churches to degenerate into aristocratic 
 religious clubs; a tendency to welcome the rich, and repel the poor. 
 This is an evil spirit. Exorcise it. Open your pews freely. Open 
 your hearts. If you see a stranger in the audience, go to him at the 
 close of the service, speak a kind word to him, give him a cordial 
 grasj? of the hand. He will not forget it. He will come again. In 
 a church where I was the other night, five young men were sitting 
 in a pew in front of the deacon. When the service was over he 
 went and shook hands with them all. They will remember that. 
 
 Honor the poor. Let the fact that you are better off than they 
 lead 3'ou to pay them special attention. Do it, not as though it were 
 an act of condescension, but with a loving heart. Choose as ushers 
 your best men ; the kindest, the aptest, the most courteous, the men 
 who possess the most social qualities. Thus make the church as 
 attracti\e as possible. 
 
 3. Let each member try to bring in some who are not accus- 
 tomed to attend church. Do you know one such? Invite him. Set 
 your heart on him, prav for him, go for him. 
 
 In order to accomplish any great achievement two things are 
 needful. First, a definite purpose. Nothing worthy can be attained 
 at hap-hazard. There must be an aim, a goal toward which we 
 intelligently, resolutely, prayerfully, and persistently strive. Let 
 this be the aim; let pastor and people unite in this determination: 
 "We will fill our church with people, and by God's grace endeavor 
 to convert all that come into it." 
 
 And there is a second thing, for, though we propose this to our- 
 selves, we shall not succeed without enthusiasm. Revert to the 
 origin of this word which means "inspired by God," "full of God." 
 Christ is our God. He is our Immanuel, God with us. But He 
 must be even more than that to us. He must be Christ in us, 
 dwelling in us by His holy spirit quickening, guiding, and sustain- 
 ing us. This is the divine baptism, pcipetual and effective. If we 
 have this, the church will be attractive, and it will become the place 
 where many souls shall be reborn. 
 
 The succeeding feature of the evening's session was the singing 
 of the "Song of the Soldier" by the male choir. It had a sturdy,
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 929 
 
 martial ring, worthy of soldiers of the cross; so much so that Mr. 
 Mootlv sprang up — and the spirit that moves Mr. Moody is an 
 awfully active one — and exclaimed, in his blunt, honest way, that 
 that was the ^vav to reach non -church-goers, by a male choir. lie 
 liked that singing, he said; he liked it better than speaking anyway. 
 Then incidentallv he told of the success in training enjoyed by cer- 
 tain bands of men in Glasgow whose voices at first were simply 
 execrable, but which proved susceptible of such improvement that, 
 after a time, their worthy owners were mighty factors in drawing 
 large audiences to this and that building in the city of Glasgow by 
 the power and tunefulness of their cultivated voices. So Mr. 
 Moody had reason to applaud the good work of the choir at his 
 elbow, and demand, with his little fling at the speakers, while 
 laughter arose, another hj-mn from his staunch auxiliaries and his 
 audience combined. 
 
 Following Dr. Scudder there -were appointed as speakers the 
 Rev. Bishop C. E. Cheney, and the Rev. M. M. Parkhurst. 
 Rev. Dr. Parkhurst began by saying that he supposed that ministers 
 had studied the question from the beginning of their work, and 
 it had been as much a question of thought and work as any other. 
 The class of people to reach in the consideration of the question was 
 the non-church-going one. The convention had been told that 95 
 per cent, of the workingmen of Manchester did not go to church. 
 We would find that this number was increasing about us. It was a 
 hard thing to break down the habit of non-church-going. There 
 is, in the first place, a prejudice on the part of this class to encounter. 
 They feel that they do not kno\v the people who attend the 
 churches, and that the church is not their social club. 
 
 There were people in the city who did not know whether the 
 church in their block was Protestant or Catholic, German or English. 
 One could hardlv believe that such a thing existed, yet it was 
 true. One of the first things to do was to break down the prejudice 
 entertained by this class that ministers were mere hirelings, acting 
 in a perfunctory way. An incident was related that occurred at the 
 Annapolis naval school during the war. An order was issued one 
 morning to all the men to attend service. There were sixty Roman 
 Catholics who refused to obey an order, as they understood it, to 
 attend a service outside their o'wn church. The commander said 
 they would have to go, or suffer the consequences of a disobedience 
 of orders. The speaker said that there was a chance for a fight 
 and trouble. He went to a Catholic priest, and, telling him what 
 had taken place, asked him if he could not arrange to have these 
 men attend a service conducted according to their own belief. 
 The reply was, certainly, and a service was held. The men attended 
 and found that places had been reserved for them in the church.
 
 CHRISTXAX C0X\"EXT10X. 
 
 When tbej rdtumed tbej felt pleased, and in the afternoon they 
 gliadlj tnumed out to hear the speaker preaidi, and said that they 
 vconld alvrajs he ready to hear him. By kindness their pmejudices 
 had been oveicome. 
 
 The speaker had found that funerals afforded a good opportu- 
 nity, and i^hile the hearts of those present v^cps still -warm, and 
 bef cure the teams 'weie iBiriped ainray he had something to say that 
 w^ould diavp them to the ^urch. At \reddings, too, there was an 
 o|^K>rtunity to say something An excellent means of bringing 
 on^deis into the church mras the Tilting of Ladies am<mg the people 
 in foUovring and 'working up any particular movemenL - 
 
 He suggested that a le^(»ii could be learned from the shre\ird 
 bsssiraess man in his efforts to leacli the people. He yeas constandy 
 advertising. When his sales have reached millicHis why not stc^ 
 adverti^ng? He knew that w^hen he dropped out of the public eye 
 his bnsuness ^d so too. 
 
 The force of this w^as iUntstrated by relating an e3q)erience in the 
 First M. E. Church. When he w^as first cormected with it he 
 found that but about aghty perscKis attended the Sunday night ser- 
 vices. He had ypoo circulars printed for cUstribution every Satur- 
 day night, announcing the service of the evening following. There 
 was not a store, or restaurant, or place into livhich they did not find 
 idirar w^av. The result of this constant and ccHisistent advertising 
 was that in a year's time the attendance increased to 400. It 
 was hard work, and could be accomplished ordy by hard and con- 
 stant hammering. Besides there must be isrorkers to follow^this up. 
 
 Similar incidents vrere retated. In a shoe-making suburb of 
 Boston, of 5^00 people there were no church-goers. Every Sat- 
 urday night texts were distributed through the shops, **Remember 
 to keep holy the Sabbath,'' among others. In ttarec years there 
 ■was a church of over 700. Yhe B?"f^Tii:t« foUow^ed, and then the 
 Unitarians in the work. 
 
 At Elgin, on the -west - : : ; : . there was a population 
 
 *** 3*5**» yactically none ..-goers. A young man 
 
 was statioiKd aoKXig tk. ':• 'work. In eleven 
 
 nMxiihs a Sunday schoc. ndance of 300 w^as 
 
 bniltnpL 
 
 Getholdof thepeopiv ^ : : -- . B-!ld 
 
 jip a fire, and whoe ther r - 
 
 Nobody cared ta gather a _: 1 : . 11 _ _- .-^.-:~ 
 
 the fire of the love of God. You must have warmth or you will 
 freeze. 
 
 Tv; .rtzttrouUe ^rasthat enoogh inrork ^ras not done. He 
 wir V - vr the fire and irarmdi of this great convention go out 
 
 : and the Northwest.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 931 
 
 After a hymn by the choir, and prayer by Dr. Savage, Bishop 
 Cheney was called upon by Mr. Moody to speak on the same topic. 
 Bishop Cheney said : He confessed that he was appalled when he 
 stood before the vast audience, not appalled at the audience, but at 
 his ability to pack in ten minutes' time the thought involved in this 
 question. 
 
 He wanted to draw a clear and distinct definition. First of all, 
 to reach and influence the hearts of those outside, there must be a 
 revival in the church. It had been well said that there was a preju- 
 dice against the church, and the pride of church members, and the 
 coldness of the ministers were complained of by outsidei's. Was it 
 not time that the church needed an outpouring of the spirit that 
 would kindle the fire of love? There was need of a quickening of 
 the hearts and souls of the professed Christian, that would make 
 them consistent followers of Christ, so that when one of them 
 passes by it could be said. There is a Christian man, or woman. 
 When that jooint was reached the professed Christian would be able 
 to extend his influence over those outside. 
 
 There was need of personal effort. He indorsed everything 
 that had been said about the thorough advertising and meetings and 
 services, and about the efforts to build up evening services. The 
 great trouble was that not enough effort was made to reach the in- 
 dividual, but all was directed toward the masses. 
 
 The masses could only be reached through the individual first. 
 He believed that a great mistake had been made by the churches 
 on this question. The great question was, "How can I reach the 
 individual ? " We want more individual effort, and on the part of 
 the layman above all things else. If we are to reach and touch the 
 souls that habitually neglect the gospel, we must give them some- 
 thing that they cannot get in anv other place. Tell the old story 
 of the gospel. Christ crucified alone touched and influenced man.
 
 SECOI^D DAY OF THE C0]^VEE"TI0I!^. 
 
 MORNING SERVICE. 
 
 The second day of the Christian convention was as largely 
 attended as the first, and as early as eight o'clock there were 
 hundreds of people seeking admission to Farwell Hall, that the), 
 might secure eligible seats, and at nine o'clock all the seats on the 
 first floor were taken, and many in the gallery. 
 
 'how shall we secure a larger attendance at public 
 
 WORSHIP?" 
 
 Rev. P. S. Henson, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist Church, 
 Chicago, addressed the audience as follows: 
 
 I might speak to you of a score of points, each one of which 
 would be helpful in its measure to secure the object contemplated 
 in this question, but I shall speak of only a few that suggest them- 
 selves to me, and I pray that God will help me to emphasize these 
 few as their supreme importance demands. 
 
 And, first of all, allow me to say, for it is on my heart,and in it, 
 that in order to secure a larger attendance of people upon public 
 worship, there should be Sunday-school training of the children in 
 the direction of attendance on the preaching of the gospel. The 
 first thing to be done is in the sphere of the Sunday-school. I thank 
 God that I live in the foi^emost age of human history, for I am not 
 one of those who are continually inquiring why the former days 
 were better that these. I believe these to be the best days the 
 world has ever seen, and I thankful for the realization in our time 
 of the Scriptures saying, "A little child shall lead them." Yet I 
 cannot ignore the fact that in connection with mighty movements 
 in God's kingdom there are always present occasions of peril. 
 There is a disposition to the divorcement of that which God joined 
 together, and man was never meant to put asunder. 
 
 In former times parents took their children with them to the 
 house of God, and sat with them to listen to the ministrations of the 
 Gospel, but now the tendency is to post the children off to the 
 children's service, while the poor pastor is likely to be left alone 
 with a cold adult congregation from which the young life has ebbed 
 933
 
 934 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 away. If I am bereaved of my children I am bereaved indeed. So 
 it follows that in many communities the Sunday-school bond with 
 the church is broken, and that Sunday-school children, when they 
 cease to be Sunday-school children, never having been in the habit 
 of attending worship in their youth, are, of all classes, the most 
 difficult to reach. I have no protests to make against the Sunday- 
 school; for I have given the strength of my life to it, and shall 
 ever continue to support it. I would not tear up the rails because 
 of the dangers of railroad travel. I would not quench the fire in 
 the locomotive, but would see to the switches, make sure of the 
 bridges. Let superintendents and Sunday-school teachers see that 
 the children in their charge are brought up to attend on the preach- 
 ing of the word. If the alternative were to disband the Sumlay- 
 school or to have a separation of the children from the preaching 
 service, I would sav shut up the Sunday-schools for all time to 
 come. But it is not necessary. Let us see to the church training. 
 Let us bring our children with us to the house of God, I speak 
 not as a Christian minister, but as a Christian man, profoundly so- 
 licitous for all the far-reaching interests of Christ's kingdom. 
 
 There must not only be Sunday-school training, but more per- 
 sonal solicitation. There is an idea widely prevalent that our 
 churches are select and exclusive; that they are religious clubs; that 
 they are concerned alone with their own enjoyment; that they are 
 out of sympathy with general humanity. This is not true. There 
 is not a minister on the platform here who would not rejoice in a 
 crowd. Mr. Moody is not the only one who likes a crowd. Where 
 is there a minister whose heart would not rejoice and whose eye 
 would not glisten at the incoming of the masses? Our hearts yearn 
 for them, and yet there is a presumption that the churches do not 
 care to have them come; that the churches are close corporations; 
 and, judging from the looks of many who join in pious procession 
 to church with their prayer-books and hymn-books under their arms, 
 unmindful, apparently, of the multitude around them, who are as 
 sheep without a shepherd, the world has reason to believe that they 
 do not care for the souls of their fellows. To dispossess men's 
 minds of this false impression, we must go from house to house, and 
 canvass the whole community, and give earnestness to our invita- 
 tion. It is not sufficient to open the doors. Christ did not simply 
 open an office at Jerusalem. He came to seek as well as save them 
 that were lost. We must go after the masses and bring them in. 
 There is wonderful meaning in the passage of vScripture which 
 says, our Saviour took the man by the hand and led him out of 
 town. We must take them by the hand and lead them into the 
 house of God. 
 
 Not only must we have this and vSunday-school training, but
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENT lOX. 935 
 
 Christian living also. The great reason why many men do not go 
 to church is the revulsion of disgust which comes to them from see- 
 ing the contrast between living and profession among those who 
 do go to church. They look at the lives of church-going people 
 and often see painful evidence that church-going does hot avail to 
 make them holier and happier; and so they say: "What is the use 
 of attending church if one is not better for it?" 
 
 If I am broken down almost with constant strain of heart and 
 brain, and I see men coming back in the crisp autumn time from 
 sea-shore and mountain, bronzed and brawny, with new elasticity in 
 every step, I say to myself, I, too, will drink health-giving waters; 
 I will inhale the breezes of mountain air; I will riot in the surf, 
 that I too may recover back the lost vigor of my life. So if God's 
 people are seen to be the better for their going to church — if those 
 who come forth from its doors are found to be more stalwart and 
 pure in all life's relations, and if by manifestation of the truth they 
 commend themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, 
 then there will be streams of people pouring into God's house; for 
 in the most degraded heart there are flashes of angelic beauty as 
 well as traces of demoniac evil, a vague, vast longing for a better 
 life; but men must first be made to believe in Christians before they 
 can be made to believe in Christianity, or be brought to seek it in the 
 house of God. 
 
 These things that I have spoken of are things outside. Then 
 there must be things done inside if we would increase the attend- 
 ance; and one of these is cordial, hearty welcoming. There is a 
 great deal depending upon how a man is met at the church-door. I 
 will not enter now at length upon that much mooted question of 
 free churches versus rented jdcws. There are considerations that 
 may be urged in behalf of both sides of the question. There are 
 advantages in having it understood that every seat is free to every- 
 body — free as the air and the light and the water that God gives. 
 There are advantages in that. There are advantages also in the 
 system which allows a whole family to go together, the little child 
 nestling in God's house by the side of the parents; in having peo- 
 ple gather in groups and circles as in the family. There is much 
 to be said on both sides of this subject. But do you know that a 
 man in a free church, who has come to preempt a seat by long oc- 
 cupation, may look as grim at any stranger, taking it as though he 
 had paid a thousand dollars for it [laughter], while, on the other 
 hand, a man may pay a thousand dollars for a pew, and he may- 
 make it free by the beaming smile, the joyousness, the hearty hos- 
 pitality with which he asks you to take a seat in it. [Applause.] 
 But whether a church be nominally free, or whether its revenues be 
 raised by members taxing themselves by pew-rents, if a man rents
 
 936 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. • 
 
 a pew to hold it against all comers, I would not have him hold it 
 a minute. 
 
 Then, again, 1 would have strangers met at the door by the best 
 men that the church has — representative men, noble men — big- 
 hearted men, who shall give to the stranger the best seat in the 
 house. A great deal depends upon this cordial welcoming of 
 strangers, and bidding them come again. 
 
 And then another thing is gospel preaching, and I say this be- 
 cause it needs to be said. There is a great deal of preaching done 
 by those who do not deserve the name of preachers. Of course we 
 all desire to do the best thing possible, but we are apt to be mis- 
 taken as to what is the best thing. In this age of culture and ad- 
 vanced thought, a minister may think that he must be fully posted in 
 all that is in the latest books, and to tell it all to show his hearers 
 that he is abreast of the age, and that they may be profoundly im- 
 pressed with his stores of knowledge. I don't know anything about 
 that kind of preaching, and I thank God for it. [Applause]. I re- 
 member pi'eaching some sermons in answer to Tyndall. There 
 were others answering him, and so I thought I must take my chance 
 at him, and launch a polished shaft at him. And I did — not one, 
 but many. 
 
 Coming out of the house one day, after one of these sermons, a 
 big-brained, big-hearted man met me, laid his hand on my shoulder, 
 and said: "We don't care a continental about that man that you have 
 been preaching about to-day. [Laughter.] Preach Christ crucified 
 and we shall enjoy it better." I replied, " May God forgive me, and 
 I hope you will." And since then I have delivered all the scientists 
 over to the special care of Jehovah. Talk about Tyndall! The 
 biggest brained men in the community who come to occupy seats in 
 your church do not care on the Lord's day about your logical con- 
 catenation of scientific arguments. They have hearts that want to 
 be fed, and are full of infinite yearning after the old gospel. The 
 old, old story is the newest thing out — the most beautiful thing be- 
 low the shining stars. And that is the story to tell ; that, the thing 
 to preach. What were Christ's words? "If I be lifted up I 
 will draw all men unto me." We must have the preaching that 
 exalts Christ, that draws men to him — the plain, pungent preaching 
 of the old truths that are infinitely deep and infinitely high and in- 
 finitely tender. These are the things that grapple with men's con- 
 sciences; that get hold of men's heart strings and draw them to God. 
 You may preach culture, politics, humanity; and you will soon 
 wear them out, but the story of the gosj^el is as new to-dav as when 
 the Lord Jesus first proclaimed salvation on the hills of old Judea. 
 
 One thing more and I have done. I have spoken of Sunday- 
 school training in its relation to church-going, of personal solicita-
 
 > 
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 937 
 
 tion, of cordial welcoming, and of gospel preaching; and there is 
 one more thing, and that is spiritual quickening. We hear much 
 talk about men of magnetic power. We want men who will draw, 
 and churches that will draw. What is anything good for unless it 
 will draw; what is a chimney good for that will not draw, or a lo- 
 comotive, or a man? [Laughter.] We want men who will draw. 
 Some preachers, monotonous preachers, who don't draw, who 
 never stir themselves nor others, protest against what they call sen- 
 sational preaching. I believe in sensational preaching. A minister 
 cannot indeed afford to make a mountebank of himself, because he 
 is God's ambassador. He cannot descend to the juggler's tricks 
 that are unworthy of the minister of Jesus Christ. But all great 
 preachers that have stirred men's hearts were sensational. Jesus 
 Christ and Paul and Martin Luther and Calvin were sensational. 
 What vou want is a man that will rouse men— -a man that will draw. 
 In order to draw, in order to have this magnetism, there must be 
 the communication of the divine Spirit. A magnet may be made 
 out of a piece of cold iron. You pass a coil of w^ire around it, 
 called a helix, and then you turn on the electricity. The electricity 
 sweeps around, and it is transformed into a magnet, and lifts and 
 draws in a wonderful way. 
 
 Just so, if a preacher in the pulpit be compassed by this divine 
 influence, this subtle power of the Spirit, if there be connection with 
 the poles at the very throne of God, then he, too, will be a magnet; 
 God having filled him with his own divine power. So on the day 
 of Pentecost there came from heaven the sound of a rushing, 
 mighty wind, and it filled the house. That is what we want. It 
 filled the whole house where they were gathered, and the apostles 
 were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And mark what followed. 
 There were no placards on the wall, no advertisements in the news- 
 papers, and yet it is recorded that just as soon as the Holy Spirit 
 filled the place, the people from without came together. And that 
 is the way to fill the house of God. The people will find it out. 
 The tidings will fly like an electrical flash; and you will soon wonder 
 where the multitudes come from. God sends them. And so the 
 house is filled. And if we be thus filled with the divine spirit, this 
 question of the filling of the house will have settled itself, and we 
 shall have to lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes and break 
 out on the right hand and the left, for the place in which we dwell 
 will be too strait for us; and all flesh will see the glory of our 
 God. [Applause]. 
 
 Mr. J. L. Houghteling, President of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association, being introduced to continue, in a ten-minute talk, the 
 subject of church attendance, prefaced his remarks by saying that 
 his standpoint would be that of the pews, as Dr. Henson's had been
 
 938 CHRISTIAX COXVEXTIOX. 
 
 from the pulpit. The newspapers said this morning, oegan he, that 
 the Christian Convention was one of the greatest gatherings of 
 Christian people that had ever been held. In the hall there were 
 3,000 people ; outside, comprising the remainder of the city, were 
 647,000 others. Supposing that instead of Farwell Hall the Exposi- 
 tion Buildings were occupied for the same purpose, there would 
 perhaps be a daily attendance of 10,000, aggregating in the three 
 days 30,000. This latter total then, when compared with the pop- 
 ulation of the city would represent alDOut the proportion of church 
 goers. The reason for this small proportion of church-going people 
 was found in the fact that through human corruption the church had 
 come to be designed for the few in question. The church had 
 become equivalent to a piece of merchandise, something with salable 
 features, like a position on the Board of Trade. This was hard 
 talk, remarked the speaker, but true. The facts of Christianity were 
 neglected in the churches, and too much attention instead, given to 
 theory. The people had gone back upon the facts, while to the 
 pastor was left the theory. 
 
 "Let me picture the average church in Chicago," continued Mr. 
 Houghteling, who forthwith sketched the reality most effectively. 
 He said that all the pews were let out under a sense of proprietor- 
 ship, and that there was no proneness to take in strangers. An 
 invitation to attend church was published in the Sunday morning 
 papers, with the invitation left out. When strangers from force of 
 habit or conviction attended they were met by a parcel of well- 
 dressed gentlemen, and could but observe that the service was of a 
 character somewhat habitual and perfunctory, conducted under the 
 belief that it would all improve one's chances of heaven. Was 
 there any wonder that the proportion of church-goers was small? 
 
 The Vented pew business, continued the speaker, who incident- 
 ally observed that he stood up from the pews, and so spoke for their 
 occupants, was a modern business, and a system which he was 
 inclined to say was one of the mistakes of Protestantism. He had 
 found no recommendation in the Bible about high places in the 
 synagogue. The pew-renting system was not found among Catho- 
 lics, unless they had been corrupted by juxtaposition with Pro- 
 testants. 
 
 In the great cathedrals abroad seats were free and room for 
 prince and beggar, side by side. 
 
 The speaker declared himself not afraid to say that free churches 
 were a very important element in drawing masses. Experience in 
 Chicago had proven this true. There was a little church in this city 
 where the seats were free as air — freer than water, for water was 
 taxed. In this little church there was more money spent in the ser- 
 vice of God than in any church of its size in all Chicago. Which
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 939 
 
 the active little congregation was Mr. Houghteling refrained from 
 publicly announcing, but expressed his willingness to tell, more pri- 
 vately, any and all. 
 
 In England it had been shown that the free churches were the 
 ones that drew. Perhaps some might say that our churches can't 
 be turned from proprietary to free churches. But the second ser- 
 vice could be made free as air, and every Christian man could 
 become a cordial host in the house of God. A cordial invitation 
 should be extended to people. And how? Let some family in 
 each block be named who should care for the interests of the 
 stranger in that block and see that they are invited to attend this or 
 that church as the denomination and locality of the family might be ; 
 while if the stranger were of a denomination not identical with this 
 particular family, then the latter should inform the pastor of that 
 other denomination that such and such people are within his juris- 
 diction. In this way should the interests of parishioners be followed 
 up, nor need there either, at the same time, be any machinery in it. 
 Another element of attraction to churches, and a factor for 
 good, was successful ushering. Besides ihe Spirit of Almighty 
 God a cordial manner and common sense were essential characteris- 
 tics of an usher. He should be honestly glad to see a person, and 
 should welcome him as his best friend and :n his own house. Again, 
 an usher should use discretion in the locating of strangers in church 
 pews. A poor mother, just from the washing of her dishes, and 
 clad in a humble way, would feel uncomfortable in a front 
 seat where she might feel that the entire attention of the congrega- 
 tion was attracted toward herself. Then, again, good judgment 
 should so far direct an usher that he would not place a modest young 
 country lad in the same pew with a young lady. He certainly 
 wouldn't feel at home, and it wasn't altogether certain that she 
 would be particularly pleased. 
 
 Speaking from personal information Mr. Houghteling alluded to 
 the pronounced success achieved by one good church oittcer whose 
 cordiality and sincerity of manner eventually brought into his 
 church seventy young men, who came to stand shoulder by shoulder 
 to worship. 
 
 Let the churches be made as free as grace, as free as his call who 
 had said come all and be refreshed. Let the facts of Christianity 
 be brought up to its theories, and the churches would be filled. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Houghteling's remarks, Mr. Moody 
 said if all these advocates of free churches would come over to 
 Chicago Avenue they would be given seats. As Dr. Henson 
 said, there were two sides to this question. There was a class of 
 people who wanted to be together in church as a family. These 
 should have some consideration. When in London he had made
 
 940 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 inquiry regarding the management of Mr. Spurgeon's church. 
 He found that the pews there were rented, but the highest-priced 
 pew was ys. 6d. or about $3 in our money for the quarter, or $8 a 
 year. Thus the very best seat in the tabernacle could be purchased 
 by the poorest laboring man to hear the grandest man on the 
 face of the globe. The cheapest pew was about one-fourth this 
 amount. If we could not have free churches, we could have them 
 with pews at a price within the reach of every one. The}'' could 
 make a compromise. 
 
 The hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves" was sung, and Major 
 Whittle led in prayer 
 
 The quartette on the platform sang "Peace, Be Still." 
 Dr. Ninde, of the G-arrett Biblical Institute at Evanston, then 
 took up the topic: 
 
 "how can the influence of christian homes be 
 increased?" 
 
 He commenced by saying that he felt both oppressed and stim- 
 ulated by the magnitude of the theme. He doubted if there was a 
 more important theme in the programme, however inadequate the 
 discussion might prove. The union of the hearts by the marriage 
 tie constituted the home; the indissoluble union of the Christian 
 hearts constituted the Christian home. How can the influence of 
 such a home be increased ? 
 
 1. By increasing the attractiveness of the home in its natural 
 features. Amid the havoc and wreck which sin had made the home 
 is the oasis in our social desert. Missionaries speak of the heathen 
 women as looking in through the doors of Christian dwellings and 
 weeping as they contrasted the barrenness and misery of their own. 
 By seeking to make our home life warm and genial and beautiful, 
 we indirectly but powerfully increase its influence for religious ends. 
 
 2. We may increase the influence of the home for religious ends 
 by deepening our conviction of the great idea for which the home 
 was founded. God's purpose in the home was to seek thereby a 
 godly seed. The religious nurture of childhood is therefore the 
 grand work of Christian parents. And to effect this purpose we 
 need to revive the old and faded truth of the church in the house. 
 We are too apt to associate God's special presence and Christian 
 work too exclusively with the temple where the Christian commu- 
 nity gather for religious worship, and forget that this earth has no 
 more sacred place than the dwelling consecrated by the devotion of 
 loving hearts. 
 
 It is a gloiious privilege, amid the religious indifference of these 
 times, to stand within one's own threshold a divinely anointed rep-
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 941 
 
 resentative of the family, and declare that, "as for me and my house, 
 we will serve the Lord?' The great work of Christian parents is 
 to create, instrumentally, and nurture piety in their children. This 
 work must be done promptly. The work must begin even before 
 the dawn of self-consciousness. To delay is to lose the best oppor- 
 tunity and to imperil the souls of our children. It must be pursued 
 continuously. God never wavers in His gracious work. At no 
 moment is He absent from the heart of the child. It must be done 
 with infinite painstaking. No press of worldly cares must interfere 
 with our unwavering devotion to the religious welfare of our chil- 
 dren. And the discipline we employ must be largely self-discipline. 
 There is an unconscious influence which goes out from our very 
 tones and looks and powerfully modifies the character of the young. 
 Such painstaking care will lead to a holy tact in presenting 
 religion to our children. We shall present religion, not by obtrud- 
 ing, but by insinuating it. We too often preach to our children. 
 We assail and overwhelm them with it, and thus too often arouse 
 their prejudices and defeat our purest wishes. To expend care now 
 is to save ourselves care in the future. The worst furies that lash 
 the soul of many a father and mother are the living or dead victims 
 of parental neglect. 
 
 3. The influence of Christian homes may be vastly increased 
 over those who are its transient inmates. ^lany a one has felt a 
 strange impressiveness in the very atmosphere of a pious home 
 leading him to Christ. The Christian home ought to be signalized 
 by gracious, saving influences upon all who enter within its sphere. 
 Rev. Dr. Hatfield followed Dr. Ninde in the discussion of this 
 topic, and said it was the most important question that had been 
 befoi-e the convention. But one might better try to preach ten ser- 
 mons on it than deal with it in ten minutes. He had read an article 
 in one of the popular quarterlies on "The Dangerous Classes." He 
 had supposed that this referred to the tramps and communists, but 
 was surprised to find that it referred to the wealthy men — the men 
 who were in the great corporations, the monopolists, as the danger- 
 ous classes, and he quite agreed with the writer. Dr. Howard Cros- 
 by, or at least thought he was not far out of the way. He agreed 
 with others that every soul saved was of equal value before God. 
 When we become enthusiastic in caring for the neglected classes we 
 were in danger of missing a great class very much in need. He had 
 b«en making observations for years regarding the history and future 
 of children of prominent members of the Christian churches, and he 
 stood appalled at the facts that confronted him. 
 
 He had stood in the churches and looked at the leading men 
 there — men whose names were good for thousands — men who had 
 been in the church for years, and yet not one of them had a son
 
 942 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 worthy his weight in scrap iron, so far as religion was concerned. He 
 had gone to other congregations and found the same thing there. 
 He had looked over the churches in this city, and he declared that 
 it was a rare thing to find a man of prominence there who has a son 
 in the work of Christ, jMany of these sons were worldly, not a few 
 were skeptical and atheistic. Many were steeped in crime to the 
 ver}' lips, and they were bringing their fathers and mothers down 
 to the grave in sorrow. It was not so bad on the other side of the 
 house, but the daughters were living lives of pleasure. What was 
 the matter? He was afraid he woukl not pass a veiy good exam- 
 ination in the doctrine of election, and he would no doubt be pro- 
 nounced unorthodox, but he believed in the election of the sons and 
 daughters of Christian parents as much as he believed in the elec- 
 tion of any one. He could look over families and predict their 
 home life. " He knew of a moral certainty that the children would 
 be found at the Savior's feet. In the house of God one would see 
 the father, mother, sons and daughters all go to the table and par- 
 take of the sacrament. Then there were other families where it 
 was just as clear to his mind that there would be slight gleaning for 
 Christ. What was the matter, he asked? What was to be done to 
 increase the power for Christ in the homes? If they had to go 
 through the process of converting people over and over, and could 
 never plant missions where the children would be brought into the 
 church by the influence of the home, they could not expect to save 
 the world to Christ. 
 
 He believed in a gospel that saved men, and he believed in 
 emploving all classes, but he had not so much faith in that kind of 
 work that wanted to save alone the drunkard and the prize-fighter 
 and other men of the vicious classes. He believed in saving the 
 homes and the children who were born to God in Christian homes. 
 He believed in reclaiming the heathen, but there were the children 
 of the church to be saved and they must not be neglected. He 
 had often thought of what must have been the thoughts of our first 
 mother. Eve, with her first child. She had no mother to instruct 
 her in raising her child. He had something of the same feeling as 
 he looked upon the young mother to-day with her babe in her 
 arms. He paid a glowing tribute to the Christian mothers of the 
 land who were doing so much for character in the rising genera- 
 tions. 
 
 The first thing needed in this work was character on the part 
 of the parents, and especially on the part of the mothers. Some- 
 thing in the way of reproof might be necessary, but the thing that 
 environed the child from its infancy was the kindly influence of 
 Christian parents. He knew of one house where there were nine 
 children, and they could as men and women all testify to the fact
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 943 
 
 that they had never heard an angry word or received an angry look 
 from the Christian mother who presided over that home. And her 
 work was seen in the Christian character of the sons and daughters 
 left to revere her memory. God's blessing rested upon that family. 
 
 What could be done for the mothers especially? One thing 
 was of great and all-absorbing importance. The mothers should 
 be thoroughly convinced of the importance of the work given 
 them to do. He might be old-fogyish on this subject, but he was 
 not carried away by the idea of sphere in woman's work. 
 
 He believed the highest sphere for woman was in the home as 
 the mothers of families. He had heai'd one member of the conven- 
 tion remark that the husbands in his church stayed at home and 
 took care of the children while their wives were out doing the church 
 work. He preferred that his wife should remain at home where 
 she had so much influence for g-ood in molding the character of the 
 children. He said a man might go on the Board of Trade and be 
 greatly impressed v^ath the magnitude of the business transacted 
 there, but for him he believed that the work of the wives at home 
 was a hundred times more important than this. Yes, the mothers 
 were doing a grander work and were of more importance than the 
 President of the United States. In speaking of church going he 
 said he did not believe in holj-day Christians — people who w^ere 
 exhausted with one service, for whom one sermon was too much to 
 digest. They spent their afternoons reading the Sunday papers or 
 riding on the boulevards. The children were sent to Sabbath-school, 
 but for his part he preferred that his children should not be sent to 
 the Sunday school at the sacrifice of the preaching service. There 
 was in every man a fool age — the age when a youth was neither 
 boy nor man, but knew more than his father or mother or the 
 ancients, and he was too big to go to Sunday school. Had he been 
 trained in going to church the church would have some hold upon 
 him, but he had not and he was lost to the influences that the chuich 
 might have been able to throw around him. 
 
 These children of the Sabbath school were the ones who neg- 
 lected the church in their later years. They should be taken into 
 the church and made to feel at home there. In his own home it 
 had never been a question of going to church on Sunday morning 
 any more than it was as to whether the children should eat their 
 breakfast Monday morning or go to school. It was the order of 
 the household and everybody conformed to it. 
 
 He spoke also of Bible instruction, and regarded the mothers as 
 the best instructors. The mother had the children for seven days 
 in the week, and the Sunday school for one hour. In Sabbath 
 observance he found that the mothers had a great influence upon the 
 children. He had a word for the men who were "compelled" to
 
 944 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 work on Sunday, and said no man \vas compelled. No man was 
 compelled to own stock in the companies that were breaking the 
 Sabbath, "Give it to them," came from the rear of the platform, 
 and the Doctor w^ent on for a moment more pouring hot shot at the 
 corporations that indulged in Sabbath breaking. 
 
 Mr. Moody took the floor as soon as it was released by Dr. 
 Hatfield and said he would subscribe to most that he had said, but 
 he wanted him to pitch into the fathers as well as the mothers. 
 
 He then told how he had cornered a good Christian into confes- 
 sing that he had spent every evening away from home — no matter 
 if it was at praver-meeting and church services — was away during 
 all the day, and never saw anything of his children, and yet he 
 grieved that his children had wandered away from him. No man 
 had a right to do this. No minister had a right to give up seven 
 evenings during the week and reserve none for his family. For 
 himself he always reserved Saturday and evening for his 
 wife and children, and was very cross if asked to give up that day 
 to any other purpose. He thought every man should do this much 
 at least for his family, that he might get acquainted with his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 Mr. Moody introduced the first subject and speaker of the afternoon. 
 
 " DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. M. Lawrence, Pastor of Second Baptist Church, 
 Chicago, spoke as follows: 
 
 If comparisons are allowable, this question may be considered 
 as one of the most important ones presented in the schedule. It is 
 certainly one of the most difficult anywhere, but especially in this 
 city and vicinity, and in attempting to answer it I would say, first, 
 in our plan of work give the devotional meetings the place they are 
 given in the word of God. I understand by devotional meetings 
 the prayer gatherings, and I suppose that every minister and Chris- 
 tian workman has some sort of plan or some set of principles run- 
 ning through his %vork. His preaching service comes in for some 
 part, his pastoral ^vork comes in for another, his benevolent work 
 for another, his public work for another, and his devotional 
 work for another. If, then, these are to work in peace and profit, 
 let him adjust them and prepare for them as God's word — his chart 
 indicates. 
 
 I think you will appreciate this point better if you consider the 
 prevailing notions men possess who appear not to have studied this 
 phase of Christ's ^vork. Go into the majority of our churches, and 
 what do you find? A spacious audience room, carefully ventilated, 
 ample preparation for excellent music, seats that are comfortable, 
 the whole place easy of access, and in every way, inviting. Now,
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 945 
 
 what next? Up a long- alley and at the back of the building-, 
 or down cellar, or in the middle of the church is a room half the 
 size, seldom as large as that, is what is called the prayer room. 
 
 Sometimes it is in deplorable condition. It is so low ceiling it is 
 impossible to ventilate it. As a rule I do not believe in building 
 chapels and then the main audience rooms, but 1 have sometimes 
 thought it well to let it be done because the people might in that 
 way get a good prayer room. The common idea about the whole 
 thing- is that it is a second-rate affair. 
 
 Even the minister's conducting of the affair is looked upon and 
 expected to be a second-rate affair, a slovenly affair. And architec- 
 ture and service combine to teach the people that the devotional ser- 
 vices are secondary, and, like certain physician's prescriptions, may 
 be taken or omitted at pleasure, and they literally are. Now if you 
 want to have the meetings more profitable you must kill the pre- 
 vailing notion regarding them, and this can be done as I have stated, 
 by showing what position such meetings have in God's word. 
 
 And they are recognized therein. If you want a commentary 
 on the prayer meeting take the Book of Acts. Before you get 
 through the first chapter you have two prayer meetings. The first, 
 a meeting for consolation right after our Lord's departure. These 
 all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the 
 women and Alary, the mother of Jesus, was there and His brethren. 
 And the second was to ask advice about choosing a successor to 
 Judas. 
 
 Take the next chapter. They are again gathered in an upper 
 room, and suddenly there came a sound of a rushing, mighty wind. 
 The Holy Ghost came, and the Church of the Apostolic day was 
 born, 3,000 men were born, and where the characteristics of the 
 converts are given in the close of the chapter it is said that they all 
 remained steadfast in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in 
 breaking of bread and prayers. So the fourth chapter tells how, 
 after the release of Peter and John, they went to their own company 
 and had prayer and a new baptism and the Holy Ghost. And you 
 will not forget that after the release of Peter by the angel he came 
 down to where they had a prayer-meeting, and they could not 
 believe that the object of the prayer-meeting had been accomplished 
 so soon, and refused to believe Rhoda that Peter was at the door. 
 And then do not forget that woman's gathering at the place for 
 prayer where the European church was born, in the heart of Lydia, 
 and gather together these instances, and tell me if God's word as- 
 signs to the prayer gathering any such secondary idea that is so 
 common to-day. We elevate the sermon as though it were the only 
 way to reach a human heart; but the sermon is the testimonv of but 
 one man; the prayer-meeting, the testimony of many.
 
 946 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 ^. Give it the place in your church work that it has had in the 
 experience of successful^ Christians. Where are men. converted in 
 the prayer-room? It is true they are convicted under the preaching 
 — most of them, but the sun that ripens this fruit is a prayer-meet- 
 ing. It may be of two only. But the Lord is there. 
 
 "And heaven comes down our souls to greet, 
 And glory crowns the mercy seat." 
 
 I heard recently that all* the while Finney was preaching he 
 had a man out praying for him. When our brethren who are with 
 us to-day were in Philadelphia the meetings of power were the 
 prayer-meetings, and observe the moments of power at this session 
 have been the moments which we have spent before the cross. 
 Teach your people in every way that church success is prayer- 
 meeting success; that they cannot succeed without it. Teach them 
 what place it holds in the economy of church labor, and when you 
 have reproved the false ideas regarding its importance you have 
 gone a long ways towards making them interesting. 
 
 3. Give the people clear ideas of what a devotional meeting is. 
 If it is anything it has a purpose in it. They are called sometimes 
 "social" meetings of the church, but "social" should be- character- 
 istic of all your gatherings. But the social part of a prayer-meet- 
 ing is apt to come when the benediction has been pronounced, and 
 people go to get a little dry religion and look out for a pleasant 
 time afterward. They are devotional meetings — meetings where 
 all the people give themselves into the hands of the Lord, to realize 
 His presence. They are meetings for conversation, for confession 
 of Christ, for confession of sin. They are the family meetings of 
 the church, where plans of work are to be broached and God's 
 wisdom invoked. 
 
 4. They are the people's meetings. 
 
 Let the leader, whoever he may be, remember that his place 
 is guide. Especially let him consider this in the selection of his 
 topic, so that it shall have some relation to the life of his people that 
 week. To engage the attention of the people upon the condition of 
 the inhabitants of Alaska, when God is pouring out His Spirit upon 
 the Sunday-school is folly. Let the topic be born out of the v'ery 
 life of the people. Let the condition of the church give rise to the 
 topic, and you will have something that everybody has been think- 
 ing about. Of course, if nothing special suggests itself, a topic from 
 some topic book may be shown, but I never would follow any topic 
 simply because it was in the book. 
 
 Another thing, do not be too formal nor too exhaustive in your 
 opening remarks, or you will get more than you aim for. I do not 
 say that a man should only talk so long. That depends — ten minutes
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 947 
 
 may be too short or too long, according to circumstances. His 
 opening should be like a lever to turn on the power, and if a foot 
 will do, all right. Some places need more than others, but be sure 
 you have something for somebody else. One reason I never can 
 get any help out of these books on Bilile readings, etc., is because 
 they help too much. I have read so hard to keep up with them that I 
 haven't any strength left to go alone and then try to keep the people 
 reasonably close to the topic. If the Lord puts a thought into a 
 man's heart or a song into a man's he^frt it ought to come "out, and I 
 venture to affirm that it will, if the Lord puts it there, have some 
 relation to the topic, if that is also from the Lord. But my trouble 
 is, I announced a topic and nobody for some time seemed inclined 
 to respect it or to talk upon it, but a few kind words and a great deal 
 of perseverance have accomplished much. And further, remember 
 to encourage all to come to prayer. I say encourage, because no 
 one wishes to come to anything as a criminal. Encourage the bus- 
 iness men; take them individually; show them how they need it, 
 how their Christian strength will be increased; how their souls w\\\ 
 obtain rest, and do this especially if you live in a city where it is the 
 flishion to seek rest anywhere but in God's house. What sight more 
 efTective than to see a young man and his employer in the same 
 prayer-room ? And finally, look out for the working of the spirit 
 in every meeting; you expect it in some way, not in all. 
 
 Dr. Lawrence, through Mr. IN'Ioody, asked Mr, Sankey, before 
 leaving, to sing hymn 378, "Beyond the Smiling and the Weeping," 
 one, the people were reminded by Mr. Moody, that was held a 
 favorite by President Garfield. ' So the song was tenderly sung, 
 Mr. Sankey being assisted in the refrain by a lady's voice that proved 
 a very tuneful coadjutor. 
 
 Mr. Charles M. Morton, pastor of Railroad Chapel, then, as the 
 assigned ten-minute sj^eaker on the above topic, advanced, and began 
 by saying that it was the world's verdict that prayer meetings were 
 not interesting. Whenever they were interesting it was the excep- 
 tion. The world had only grace enough to enjoy that which was 
 interesting. There was a grand little band in every prayer meet- 
 ing ready to bear their part in w^hatever came up. In most prayer 
 meetings we knew every one who was going to pray, and what 
 they were going to pray about. 
 
 The only question was as to how long they would pray. He 
 had been in such prayer meetings, and he thanked the Lord that he 
 did not live in the town, so that he would have to attend such meet- 
 ings all the time. 
 
 In every prayer meeting there were men and women capable of 
 doing good work. But something must happen to break the ice 
 and bring these to the surface. The men who sprang to the surface
 
 948 CHRISTIAN CONVEXTIOX. 
 
 soon after beang converted were the men who did the best work. 
 John B. Gough said he had as much diffidence now in appearing 
 before an audience as he did \vhen he first began work in the lec- 
 ture field. But when he began to speak he was all the better for 
 his diffidence. 
 
 JVIr. Morton then gave his own experience in being converted 
 under the preaching of Moody. 
 
 The leader of the meeting should have a great deal of common 
 sense. Common sense and flie Holy Spirit in such places were 
 generally found together. The leader should only make sugges- 
 tions, so that the others might take them up. But too often the 
 leader talked for half an hour, exhausting the subject, and leave 
 nothing for others to say. He had seen leaders in the noon meet- 
 ings in Farwell Hall talk for thirty-five minutes, and then sit down 
 and ask the brethren to be brief. He thought that to do that 
 required a good deal of cheek. It was just like when he was a boy 
 and had to wait when there was company. He was posted at the 
 door to see if there was anything left for the children, and he gen- 
 erally found that there Avas not much. The leaders used up all that 
 was good and left only the chafF and middlings for any who fol- 
 lowed him. 
 
 Then there should be care in the selection of hymns to be sung. 
 These were too often wholly out of order in the meeting. There 
 w^ere some hymns, he thought, that were mere stuff anyway, and fit 
 for no meeting. For instance, "Plunged in a gulf of dark despair." 
 There \vas no comfort or enjoyment in singing such hymns. 
 
 The prayers should be short and for each other rather than for 
 something they knew nothing about. It did a man a great deal of 
 good to hear himself or his friends prayed for. It made him feel 
 that his friends thought of him. 
 
 The next topic and speaker were 
 
 "methods of ORGANIZATION FOR RELIGIOUS WORK." 
 
 !Mr. William Revnolds, of Peoria, Illinois, spoke as follows on 
 this subject: 
 
 He supposed that there were hundreds of people in the audience 
 whose pleasure had been somewhat marred because there had not 
 been present others whom they would have liked to have had their 
 own enjoyment of this great feast. He supposed that there were 
 possibly hundreds of ministers, who as they had been sitting in the 
 meeting during the session of the convention, had been longing and 
 wishing that the people could be with them to hear all the things 
 that had been said and enjoyed. 
 
 He would not attempt to theorize. What he would hav^e to say 
 would be of a very practical character, and everything that he should
 
 CIIRISTIAX CONVENTION. 949 
 
 advocate would be things that he had tried and found to succeed. 
 If he was to take a text for his remarks he would take two, as fol- 
 lows: "Go, son, work in mv vinevard," and "To ever^- man his 
 work." 
 
 God never said work to any one excepting to His children, to 
 those to whom He had given the power of becoming sons of God. 
 God expected service from none but His children. The speaker 
 thanked God that there was as much Christian activity in the 
 churches as there existed to-day. There never had been in the his- 
 tory of the world so much Christian effort as now, as there was at 
 this hour. In this State of Illinois alone there were 60,000 men and 
 women teaching God's word in the Sabbath school. In this Union 
 there were 7^0,000 of its best men and women teaching voluntarily, 
 without money or price, God's word. But only a fragment of the 
 church were doing its work. 
 
 What could be done to develop workers out of the idle element 
 of the church? We had the talent, the men and women, the brain 
 and heart of the countr}-, and the world inside the church, that we 
 might use and that would be wilhng to be used, if they knew what 
 to do, if properlv pursued. How could we make them realize their 
 responsibility and stir them up to do their duty, or what it is rather 
 their privilege to do, for it ought to be a privilege to work for Him 
 who died for us — saved us by His blood. 
 
 As a result of the convention, the speaker expected that better 
 sermons would be preached next Sunday throughout all the North- 
 west than had been preached for three years, perhaps for five years 
 past, and he thought the theme of them would be what the preach- 
 ers had seen at the convention. He advised every minister to tell 
 what he had seen. They should not let the melted ore cool, but go 
 to work at once when thev had stirred up their congregation, and 
 mould their people into workers. Tvlany failed to do this. That 
 was the trouble. They were stirred up by a good stimulative ser- 
 mon, but let its effect cool till its influence was lost. What was 
 wanted was organization. They had been told the day before that 
 it was the best organized political party that won in a campaign. 
 The best organized army won the battle. Many of our churches 
 were said to be like great religious mobs. They came together and 
 went away ; and nothing was accomplished. 
 
 Wesley and Whitfield were mighty men in the last century. 
 What was the result of their work? Where now were the results 
 of Whitfield's works? Largely in heaven, sitting at the right hand 
 of God. 
 
 What did Wesley leave? Not so great a man as Whitfield, but 
 what was the result of his work? The grandest church in this 
 countrv. Why was there this difference between the results of the
 
 950 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 work of these two men? The difference lay between Wesley's 
 organized work and Whitfield's work without organization. We 
 must put every man into his adapted place of work; not try to make 
 every man do the same kind of work. Some men are fitted for 
 one thing, some for another, and if put into the wrong place will be 
 sure to fail. 
 
 If a man was found not to succeed in one place he should be put 
 into another, and another, until the right place was found for him. 
 
 The speaker knew a man once. He had a big heart, a broad 
 face, and still a broader smile, but he had a most wonderful faculty 
 of getting rid of his Sunday-school class [Laughter] that he had 
 ever heard of. Now that man has found a place in the church that 
 just suited his talents. He was placed at the door to receive the 
 people as they came in, and the broad smile and the hearty manner 
 and his big heart made him a gi'and success. 
 
 He was a man of grace in that church, because people with 
 such welcomes as he gave them were made to feel at home in the 
 church, and they came again. There must be division of church 
 work, and it must be organized work in every division. If the 
 srjeaker was looking for a minister he would look for a good 
 organizer in preference to a good pulpit orator, not that he did not 
 think highly of the latter, but because organizing powers would do 
 more than oratorical powers. 
 
 Every element in the church should be organized. They should 
 be organized into three divisions, to be sub-divided if necessary. 
 The first division should be the Sunday-school, for that was the 
 right arm of the church. The next division should have charge of 
 the missionary work — going out visiting from house to house. 
 That was next in importance. 
 
 The third should be the social department. Some were specially 
 adapted to this work, though good for nothing as Sunday-school 
 teachers or as ;v-issionaries. This department was an important 
 one, because the social element in our Nation was an important part 
 of it and should be administered to. A good sanctified laugh was a 
 good thing. If the church wanted to keep the young men and 
 voung women in the church, it must look well after this depart- 
 ment. The social element must be recognized. 
 
 Next, it should be understood that any one who joins the church 
 joins with the expectation of going to work, and something suitable 
 to them must be given them to do. The school children must be 
 turned into teachers. A young home visitor must be sent with an 
 old one to learn the best methods. 
 
 At the close of Mr. Reynold's remarks a duet was sung by Mr. 
 and Mrs. McGranahan, and afterward Hymn 102 by the congre- 
 oation.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 951 
 
 The hour, 4:30, being then aiTived for the opening of the 
 "Question Drawer," Mr. Moody bent himself to the answering 
 of queries. 
 
 THE QUESTION DRAWER. 
 
 The first question was: 
 
 "Is not an association for women as much needed as that for the 
 men in Christian work?" 
 
 What I have seen of these associations in this country and 
 Europe, I have found they have much that is good. These associa- 
 tions reach the girls in the city and save them from ruin. When in 
 LiverjDool I visited a building which was being erected there for 
 such an association by the women of England. It is as fine a build- 
 ing as in the city, and the ladies have built it without the assistance 
 of the men. It will be opened next month. In the several rooms 
 in that building the girls of the city who go there to get work will 
 be instructed in the Bible and made good Christian women. They 
 are not only taught on the Sabbath but during evenings through the 
 week. We talk about the expense of such institutions. Why, 
 nothing will stop expense but death, and a man who is afraid of 
 expense had better die. I was glad of the opportunity to go to a 
 man the other day and ask him for $50,000. He said he had not 
 given $50,000 in a lump for a good while, and he hesitated. But 
 he said he had made it a rule to give $500 a day to some good 
 work, and he never went to bed at night until this had been accom- 
 plished. I say, Lord bless such men. We need just such men. 
 
 There are lots of men in this country who would be much hap- 
 pier if they would give $500 a day for a year or two to some good 
 cause. It is estimated that there are 30,000 fallen women in the city 
 of Chicago. I hope that is not so, but if it is there is a great oppor- 
 tunity for work here. Remember that it is not themselves alone, 
 but they are dragging down your sons to degradation. If there was 
 a Woman's Christian Association here to help these women and pre- 
 vent them from going so low it would be a great work. But Dr. 
 Lorimer knows more about it than I do, let us hear from him. 
 
 Dr. Lorimer said he was always ready to lend a hand in Mr. 
 Moody's work. Talk about the expense of such institutions as this 
 referred to, the people should see that it was the wisest economy to 
 prevent crime. There was a Woman's Christian Association in 
 Chicago, but it had no building of its own as it should. And the 
 ladies of Chicago should be ashamed that it did not. There were 
 ladies of wealth here and a building could be ei'ected without 
 trouble. We were talking too much about women's rights. He 
 would not say but he was in favor of the women having their rights. 
 He was a great defender of the purity of women. It would make
 
 952 CHRISTIAX CONVENTION. 
 
 the heart sick to show what were the scant earnings of tlie girls 
 who come to this great city and found work. They were so scant 
 that one was surprised to know that any people had to clothe them- 
 selves and live respectable on the allowance. And that w^as one rea- 
 son why they did not live respectable. They did not go into such 
 lives because they liked it; they were niore often driven to it. The 
 city should have an association to look after these. In this great 
 city it was a shame that so little was being done for the purity of 
 women. In Boston and New York there were associations with 
 large buildings. The doctor hoped that something practical would 
 come of this convention, and nothing better could be done than this 
 kind of work. The Christian people wantetl to impress upon the 
 world that they were interested in fallen humanity. 
 
 Mr. Moody said one thing had impressed him in the old country, 
 and that was the number of institutions there. There were so many, 
 too, that were carried on by men and women privately. In Scot- 
 land and England there were hundreds of missions and chapels and 
 homes and other like institutions supported by private individuals. 
 In Edinburgh one lady had a child hospital, and she not only paid 
 for its support but she visited it daily and helped nurse the little 
 people. . 
 
 " Are we going to get m(jney for all these missions?" 
 
 I heard a man complaining vesterdav that he had not been 
 called to give anything for a long time. I have no doubt that we 
 will get all the money needed. I would just as soon go and ask a 
 man for $ ^0,000 as not. You are not asking for money for your- 
 self, remember. It is for the Lord, and you can ask for it with 
 perfect good grace. 
 
 " Is it best to have one speaker or two at an evangelistic meet- 
 ing?" 
 
 One, by all means. I have often seen one man get up and 
 make a good impression, and another come along and wipe it out. 
 It is better, too, to have one man right along for several weeks. 
 And I want to say right here — not to flatter you — that Chicago 
 has to-day better and abler ministers than I ever knew before in my 
 twenty-seven years' knowledge of the place. I never saw the 
 churches so well manned. Let us thank God for such men. No 
 city in the country has so much ability in her pulpits to-day as 
 Chicago. If these men were invited into the different parts of the 
 city the)- would draw crowded houses and do great good. They 
 would not, of coarse^ care to go to preach to empty benches, and I 
 don't blame them for refusmg ic go to preach where preparation 
 has not been made for good meetirigs. The greatest v^ork that 
 had been done in England had been in missions, established by the 
 Church of England. The different churches in the great cities
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION 953 
 
 had established these missions and their different ministers left their 
 own pulpits for ten days and gave this time to the missions. Some 
 of them went from one mission to another and gave up several 
 weeks to this work. The preachers of Chicago could be induced 
 to do the same, and such men as Dr. Lorimer and Dr. Hatfield 
 would fill the churches and convert many people. 
 
 Let the pastors on the North vSide, and the South Side and the 
 West Side change pulpits, and hold revivals. There was no danger 
 but that the people would come out to hear such men, if the 
 speakers were well advertised. Some ministers objected to having 
 their names placarded on the walls, but why should they ? 
 
 The theatres advertised their plays, and why should not the 
 churches advertise their work. There would be no trouble in _ 
 always getting the people if a little common sense was used. There 
 were a hundred men in Chicago who could preach the gospel better 
 than any of the evangelists from abroad. Mr. Moody did not think 
 that one or two sermons a week w^ould convert Chicago. There 
 must be sermons every day. He then told the story of his own con- 
 version, and said he attended services in Boston for weeks, and 
 every Sunday he felt thrilled by what h^ heard from the pulpit, but 
 before another sermon came the effect of the last had been lost. 
 Had there been sermons every day he would have been converted 
 much sooner. It was practical to convert Chicago. It was a good 
 place to start this new movement in. The men who could preach 
 should do nothing else. They should let all the machinery of the 
 church go and do nothing but preach. There were men who had 
 talents for different parts of the work. Some were good pastors 
 and some were capable of looking after the machinery, and others 
 were good preachers. Some of the preachers were afraid of repeat- 
 ing themselves. He was not. He believed in repeating a good 
 thincr. When a man preached a sermon that moved the people and 
 had good results, he should repeat it to others and see if he could 
 not convert them. In England good sermons were repeated, and 
 he remembered one place where he saw it announced as the 4S5th 
 night of one service. When he found that he had a sermon that 
 the people liked he would not take the trouble to get up another 
 until that had been exhausted. Those who wanted a new sermon 
 every day, and were afraid of repeating themselves, were afraid of 
 losing their dignity. They wanted to maintain their reputation for 
 learning. 
 
 " Can you tell us anything about the Mildmay?" 
 I wish we had a Mildmay in this town. The Church of Eng- 
 land started it several years ago. There are training-schools there 
 where people are trained for different works. There was a training 
 school for nurses, and these nurses were sent for all over the
 
 954 CHRISTIAN CONVEXTION. 
 
 country. They were Christian women, and hy their innuence as 
 nurses were able to do a great deal for Christianity. 
 
 Chicago \vas a good place for this work. 
 
 " Is a person justified all at once? " 
 
 Yes. But sanctification is another thing. 
 
 " How do you get children interested in sermons? " 
 
 At my school in Northfield I wanted my boys to hear Mr. 
 Pentecost preach, and, as it was late, I was afraid they would go to 
 sleep. So to keep them awake I offered to give the boy one 
 dollar who could remember most of what he said. The result was 
 they all got note books and pencils and began writing down what he 
 said. Some of them remembered nearly evei'y thing he said. Some 
 ministers give up five minutes of their sermon to the children. 
 They need not fear spoiling the sermon. To get hold of the 
 parents the best way is to get the children, 
 
 " Is it well to number converts?. " 
 
 Elijah got into trouble by trying to nuniber Israel. It is best 
 to let, the Lord keep the record. It makes me creep all over to hear 
 a man tell how many he has converted. It is best not to triumph. 
 
 " Is there any danger starting men into the work too young?" 
 
 There is a good deal of danger, in not starting them to work 
 soon enough. Pitt wa in Parliament at 21 and was Prime Minis- 
 ter at 32. Napoleon was younj^ and Alexander had conquered tl\e 
 world at 32. There is danger sometimes in flattering young men 
 who are at work for Christ Spiritual pride is a very great injuiy. 
 The young men in Chicago could be used to good advantage. 
 They could go out and talk seven nights in the week while the 
 minister preached but one. And these young men could reach 
 men who could not be approached by anybody else. 
 
 "Do you believe in open air preaching." 
 
 Yes ; but not every man who can talk is fit to preach to open- 
 air audiences. It needs a peculiar talent to go there. He wants to 
 have tact, to know how to get along with these people. These 
 meetings were attended bv shrewd men, infidels and skeptics, and 
 they were always ready to trip up the preacher. The man preach- 
 ing to open-air audiences should not allow himself to be drawn into 
 controversy. 
 
 "How "can vou get the people out to the week day meetings?" 
 
 Make them interesting. The prayer-meeting should be made 
 interesting. The great work of the church was in the prayer- 
 meeting. Make the prayer meetings short and pithy. Send the 
 people away hungry that will want to come again. I knew a man 
 once who preached until he had driven every soul away from the 
 church. He said he though* it was a pity to stop as long as he had 
 any body to preach to.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 955 
 
 "What do you mean by a training school?" 
 
 A place where men well along in life could go and study and 
 receive training for religious work. They are too old to go off to 
 school. Thev need to be prepared for the work and they have not 
 the time to take a regular course at the colleges and the seminary. 
 They are to be taught in the Bible. In this work of saving souls 
 we want the laymen as well as the preachers. There are hundreds 
 of young men in Chicago who would go into such schools and be 
 fitted for the work. We want to train the women too. In North- 
 field we have a ladies' seminary, and the girls are educated for this work. 
 They are the ones to go to the fallen women. The men have no 
 business in such places. It is the w'omen, the great-hearted, noble 
 w'omen, who can save their fallen sisters, A lady in Birmingham 
 has devoted herself to this work, and has rescued over 300 women. 
 It is sad that Chicago, with its 30,000 fallen women cannot be 
 reached and saved. Then men should be taught in German and 
 French. I would give $100,000, if I had it, could I speak German. 
 There is a great work to bfe done there, and the doors are open. 
 There is no reason why there should not be another such a revival 
 there as that started by Martin Luther. 
 
 There were other questions, but Mr. Moody had already used 
 up more than his half hour, and the audience was beginning to tire 
 of the long session. The long meter doxology was sung, and the 
 people dismissed. 
 
 EVENING SESSION. 
 
 The feature of this evening service was 
 
 MR, Moody's sermon. 
 
 His text was found in Titus ii, 11, 12, 13 and 14, "For the 
 grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. 
 
 "Teaching us, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should 
 live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ; 
 
 "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of 
 the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ; 
 
 "Who gave Himself for us,'that He might redeem us from all 
 iniquitv and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works." 
 
 Mr. Moody spoke as follows: 
 
 I want to call your attention to grace in a three-fold aspect : 
 Grace that bringeth salvation; and grace for living, grace for ser- 
 vice; the grace of God that bringeth salvation as it appears to all 
 men. He didn't send it, but Christ came and brought salvation, and 
 Christ is God's gift to this world. He gave Him up freely for us 
 all ; and if a man is lost it is because he spurns God's gift, because 
 he won't take Christ as his Savior.
 
 956 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 Now, salvation is as free as tlie air we breathe. I believe that 
 in Christendom where the gospel is preached, more men are kept 
 out of the kingdom of God because they are trying to merit salva- 
 tion by their works and their own virtue than any other one thing. 
 Now it is "To him that worketh not, but believeth." I will admit 
 salvatioji is worth going around this world on our hands and knees 
 for it, it is worth climbing its mountains, swimming its rivers, and 
 going through its deserts — but we are not going to get salvation in 
 that way, but we must take it on God's terms, and that is as a gift. 
 We w^ork because we are saved — not to be saved. When we work 
 to be saved we work away from the cross and not toward it. After 
 salvation is ours we are ready to work. A good many men are try- 
 ing to work to heaven, and throw this passage into your 
 face : 
 
 "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 
 How are you going to work out what you have not got? Sup- 
 pose you send your boy to school and tell him he may spend $500, 
 but he has not got it to spend — how can he spend it? I gave my 
 boy this year a part of the garden to plant with just what he pleased. 
 I said : 
 
 "I will give it to you on condition that you work it out and don't 
 let the weeds get the advantage of you," and he took it and went to 
 work. Now, he had to have it before he could work it. 
 
 You might as well try to leap over the moon as to work out 
 your salvation in your own name and strength. You can't do it. 
 It is the gift of God, and Paul says in Ephesians, first chapter 
 and second verse: 
 
 "For by grace ye are saved. By grace and not by yourselves; 
 for that is the gift of God. Take heed lest ye should boast," 
 
 There is a good deal of boasting in Chicago, but you will hear 
 nothing of that in Heaven. Men get suddenly rich here, and they 
 will tell you how they came here poor boys and got rich, and they 
 are very proud of the money they have accumulated. But when 
 you come into the kingdom of God, all boasting is excluded. We 
 have got to come as a beggar. Some one has said that if you come 
 to God as a beggar you will go away as a prince, and if you come 
 to Him as a prince you will go away as a beggar. Now, there is 
 no apostle who has" said so much about works for salvation and 
 about salvation as Paul. 
 
 A man ought to work day and night if he is saved ; he ought 
 not have a lazy hair in his head or a lazy drop of blood in his 
 veins. What had Saul ever done up to the time Christ met him? 
 He had done everything that he could to stamp out Christianity. 
 He was then in the very act of going to Damascus to take every one 
 lie could find that called upon Jesus, and bind them and kill them ;
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 957 
 
 but Christ met him, and He dealt in Grace with him. The voice 
 that he heard out of Heaven was the voice of love: 
 
 " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" 
 
 And the hard heart of Saul was broken, and he was ready to 
 receive the crucified Christ, and instead of going to crucify Christ, 
 he went to praise and glorify God. I was in a Southern city awhile 
 ago, and a minister pointed out in the congregation a man, and 
 told me his history. When the war broke out he lived on the 
 other side of Mason and Dixon line, and of course, he joined the 
 Southern army. He was arrested as a spy, and was tried by court- 
 martial and was condemned to be shot. In the cell, waiting to be 
 executed, every time the soldiers took in his rations — it seemed as 
 if he laid awake nights to heap up names against Abraham 
 Lincoln. It made the soldiers angry ; and at last they got so mad 
 they said they would be glad when the bullet went through his 
 heart. 
 
 They would like to have silenced that tongue, and they wanted 
 to let him starve to death. One day an officer came to the man. 
 He was still full of bitterness, and he expected the officer had come 
 to order him out to be shot. When the officer came in he com- 
 menced again against Abraham Lincoln, but the officer handed him 
 a pardon, signed by the President of the United States, Abraham 
 Lincoln. The man looked at the pardon, and then broke down and 
 wept like a child. He said: "Abraham Lincoln pardoned me, that 
 never spoke a good word for him." The officer said: 
 
 "You have some good friend in Washington, and he has got 
 Mr, Lincoln to pardon you." 
 
 And the minister said : 
 
 "There is no man in the country that is more reverent to the 
 memory of Lincoln than that man." • 
 
 That is grace. There is not a man in Chicago that salvation is 
 not offered to, "Whosoever will, let him come and partake of the 
 water of life freely." And do you know that is the last invitation 
 let down into this thirsty world. I can imagine after Paul had 
 written his letter that the Master Eye could see that somebody 
 would be stumbling over the doctrine of election, and would be in 
 despair because they were not of the elect. John was in the spirit 
 on the Lord's day in Patmos — and what a day that must have been 
 for John when he heard that old familiar voice. For sixty years he 
 had not heard it, and when that gentle hand was again laid upon 
 him how it must have thrilled him. 
 
 And he heard that sweet, silver Voice saying : 
 
 "John, write these things to the church !" And he took up his 
 pen and wrote. And the Voice said: "Put in one more invitation 
 before you seal up the book!" And this is the last invitation let
 
 958 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 down into this world: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let 
 him that heareth come." And lie wrote, and the Voice again said : 
 "Put this in, ' Wliosoever will, let him come and take of the water 
 of life freely." Friend, will you take it to-night? It is freely 
 offered. I read soine time ago of a Sunday school teacher who had 
 a class of little boys, and he had a silver watch, and he offered it to 
 the largest boy in the class, and says: "Take that watch; I give it 
 to you." And the little boy laughed at him and wouldn't take it. 
 And he offered it to the next one, and the next one, and when he 
 got to the smallest boy in the class the little fellow reached up and 
 took it. [Laughter.] The teacher said: "Keep it and put it in 
 your pocket, you have taken me at my word. Take it home. It is 
 yours. Don't bring it back to me." And the rest of the class says: 
 "Teacher, you didn't mean that. You didn't mean to give him that 
 for good ?" 
 
 " Yes, I did," said the teacher. 
 
 "Oh! if we had known that, we would have taken it.". 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 You would not have to go out of Chicago or out of Farwell 
 Hall to-night to see that boy. When we speak to you about this 
 unspeakable gift, there is not a man in this hall that would turn 
 from it if he thought the gift was in his reach. 
 
 Now let me pass to the second head : " Grace for living," teaching 
 us, denying ungodly lusts, etc. Now, dear friends, I believe a good 
 many people get the gift without getting light. They don't get it 
 in all its benefits. He came that we might have life more freely 
 and more abundantly, and I believe that there are hundreds and 
 thousands of our church members who are like Lazarus when he 
 came out of the sepulchre. They are boiuid hand and foot, \vith a 
 napkin around their mouth- — they can't speak. They are without 
 power to use their tongues. Jesus came that we might have grace 
 in all its fullness, and that we might have life abundantly, and if we 
 b.ave not got it there is no one to blame but ourselves. He says : 
 " Boldly come out and get help in the time of need." Is it not the 
 time of need now? Do you mothers not need grace to train vour 
 children for time and eternity?. Don't you laymen need God to 
 dn-ect you in your business? O, I pray most fervently that the low 
 standard in the church of God may be raised. If we could only 
 get the standard higher and get filled with the grace of God we 
 ^^^ould see marvelous results. I do not fear the opposition outside 
 of the church one-half that I fear the low standard in the church. 
 
 I fear the casting of shadows around the heart of the word of 
 God a thousand times more than the Roman spear that went to His 
 heart These so-called friends of the cross, and yet its enemies, by 
 their worldly lives ! They have the name, but not the power.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. G59 
 
 "Teaching us, denying ungodliness in every shape," He died for 
 that very purpose — that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and I 
 do pray earnestly that this convention may result in a higher stand- 
 ard of Christian' life right here in Chicago. I said to my friend, 
 Mr. Sankey: "I don't know but we might better go up and preach 
 to Christendom, and go right through the church, and preach to 
 you Christ and His grace than to sinners." Whenever you have 
 seen the church setting its face toward Bethel, and coming out of 
 Shechem, and out of Egypt and coming up to Bethel, the power of 
 God seems to fall upon the ungodly, and the churches are crowded 
 with men inquiring the way to Zion. What we want is more 
 grace. If you ask me what the church of God needs more than 
 anv other thing, I would say ^r^ce, that we might live to adorn the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now, you find a great many people in bondage and in constant 
 fear. They are in fear that -death is going to be dark and terrible, 
 and things before them are dark and gloomy. 
 
 Dr. Bonner made this remark some time ago, that gave me a 
 great lift. Once in a while a sentence from a child of God will be 
 like a flood of light. He made the statement that "Tnere is noth- 
 ing before the true believer that is not glorious." If we get that 
 into our minds we would not be so sad, cast down and gloomy. 
 And if you will show me a church that is full of joy and gladness I 
 will show you a church that God has used. And if we can only 
 realize that everything before us is glorious, we would be of good 
 cheer, and we would sing songs of gladness. I went to my Bible 
 and I found our garments are to be grace and glory, our songs are 
 to be songs of glory, our home is to be the home of the glorified, 
 and our I'est is to be glory. This vile body is to be fashioned as 
 His glorious bodv. "Ah," some of you say, "Death!" Well, death 
 is onl}- the gateway of immortality. It is through the portals of 
 death that we pass into everlasting life. All that death can do to 
 the true believer is to take down the house and put him into a fa rbet- 
 ter one; a body that cannot be tainted by sin; a body like His own. 
 Speaking about death, I think that the twenty-third iPsalm is more 
 misquoted than any other one thing in the whole Bible. 
 
 How many times I have heard people get up in our social prayer 
 meetings and quote the verse in that psalm: 
 
 "Yea, though I walk through the dark valley" — and then empha- 
 size "dark." Do you know dark is not in it. It says: "Yea, thougn 
 I walk through the valley of the shadow." Did you ever see a 
 shadow where there was not light? Put out the light in this hall; 
 go down into a cellar, and sec if there is a shadow. All that death 
 can do is to throw its shadow across our path. Well, a shadow 
 don't hurt us. We can walk right through a shadow.
 
 960 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 Dear friends, what we want is to live in the power of the gos- 
 pel, and we haven't a thing to fear in Hfe or in death. If we could 
 get more of the grace of God, that shall lift us up above all these 
 circumstances. People say: "Well, you don't know the difficulties 
 and trials I have. You don't know the circumstances that surround 
 me." Well, my friends, what does the psalm say ? "As thy day 
 is, so shall thy strength be. My grace is sufficient for thee " And 
 if He had grace enough to carry the twelve apostles in such a tri- 
 umphant way at the end, has He not grace to carry us to the end. 
 Talk about our sufferings! What are our sufferings to the suffer- 
 ings of the early church? 
 
 I don't know but that if the sufferings of martyrdom were to 
 come again it would be better for the church of God. It would 
 burn out this luke-warm spirit that is with us. In the second 
 century a king told a martyr that if he didn't recant from his 
 Christian belief he would banish him, and he said: "Oh, king, you 
 can't banish me from Christ, because I am with Him to the end of 
 time." The king said: "I will take your property away." He 
 said: "M}" treasures are upon high and you can't get at them." 
 The king stamped his foot on the ground, and shouted : " I will 
 kill you." And he says: "You can't; I have been dead forty years 
 in Christ." What can you do with such martyrs as tliat? Let 
 t^ie king take his life; he would only be in glory in the presence of 
 the King. 
 
 Now I come to the third head. There is grace enough if we 
 will only eat\vhat bread God gives us. He died that He might redeem 
 us and make us a peculiar people, jealous of good \vorks. I hope 
 the people of this convention will be stirred up to good ^vorks. If 
 we can only light up our torch and go to our different fields of 
 labor, this convention will do us more good than any convention 
 ever held in the Northwest. 
 
 Here are representatives of the whole Northwest, and God can 
 use the weakest saint here, if you are only willing to be used. 
 Some one sent me a tract entitled, " What is That in Thy Hand? " 
 I liked the title, aixl it brings out this thought: When God called 
 Aloses to go down into Egypt, Moses began to excuse himself. At 
 last God said, " AVhat is that in thy hand?" It was a rod which 
 Moses had cut from a bramble bush, probably to help him tend his 
 sheep. And God said: " With that. ye shall deliver the children of 
 Israel." I can imagine ISIoses starting down into Egypt and meet- 
 ing some freethinker who had been acquainted \yith him. He said 
 to Moses: 
 
 " Moses, where are you going ? " 
 
 " I am going down to Egypt." 
 
 " What are vou Sfoingf down there for? "
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVEXTION. 961 
 
 " To bring up three million of bondmen." 
 
 " Do you think Pharaoh will let them go?" 
 
 " I don't know. I will bring them. 
 
 " Where is your army ? " 
 
 " I have no army." 
 
 " What will vou do it with? " 
 
 '- With this rod." 
 
 Why, he would have thought the man was clean crazy, but bear 
 in mind God had linked His almighty power to that rod. He had 
 given His word that Moses should deliver the children of Israel. I 
 suppose the king looked upon the rod with a great deal of con- 
 tempt, but ^vhen he refused to let the children of Israel go, Moses 
 turned the waters into blood with it, and he brought plague 
 upon the Egyptians with it, and when he stretched that rod 
 out over the waters of the Red Sea, the mighty host of God passed 
 through dry shod. When thev wanted water in the wilderness He 
 struck the rock with that rod and a pure, beautiful stream flowed 
 out, and the weary, thirstv multitude were revived by it. Centu- 
 ries have rolled away but the story of the rod has not failed yet. 
 Let us give God what we have, and not what we have not got. 
 You say you haven't much. Just use what you have got, A man 
 said some time ago that he felt like a mere cipher. Just put God 
 alongside of a cipher and it becomes a good deal. When a man is 
 next to nobody God will take him up and use him. 
 
 When the committee ot official men from lerusalem went down 
 to see who John the Baptist was, he said: "I am nobody. I am 
 nothing but a voice," But when Christ came John began to preach 
 down himself and up Christ, and he was a mighty preacher. When 
 we, who are nothing, want to work for Christ, He will use us. 
 Look at Joshua with his 600,000 men walking around the walls of 
 Jericho. SujDpose you had met him on the seventh day and asked him : 
 
 "Joshua, what does all this performance mean. You have been 
 walking around here six davs. What are you going to do?" 
 
 "I am going to take the walls of Jericho." 
 
 "You are?" 
 
 "Yes; we will have them down before night." 
 
 "Where is your battery ? Where is your artillery?" 
 
 "Here with these rams' horns," 
 
 And they went on blowing their rams' horns and down went 
 the walls of Jericho. If we cannot blow a fine trumpet let us take 
 what we have, and with a stammering tongue, but with a heart on 
 fire for God, ^ve can be used. 
 
 Take Gideon. When he marshaled his 32,000 men, and he 
 knew the Midianites had 130,000 men, his heart sank within him, 
 and he said :
 
 962 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 "What shall I do with these 30,000 men ?" 
 
 But the Lord said: "You have got too many. Take those 
 that are afraid and send them home to their mothers. Take two- 
 thirds of this audience of this house and let them go away, and if 
 the rest of us have God with us we will be more than equal to the 
 whole number. Gideon had only 10,000 men left, but the Lora 
 said: "Gideon, you have got too many yet, take them down to the 
 brook and try them." And ali but 300 rushed down to the brook, 
 and the Lord says: 
 
 "Those 300 men are the men whose hearts will be loyal to the 
 king. Let us have them." 
 
 The first Quaker said that every Quaker ought to shake the coun- 
 try for miles around him. Wesley said if he had a hundred men 
 that feared nothing but sin he would set up the gates of God on 
 earth, and I believe he would. If you had met Gideon with his 
 300 men you would have said : 
 
 "Where are you going?" 
 
 "Going out to meet those Midianites." 
 
 "What have you got to meet them with?" 
 
 "Some pitchers and some lights in them." 
 
 What a contemptible thing, you would think. But Gideon 
 went on and routed the Midianites with just those empty pitchers. 
 He used what he had. 
 
 Take Samson. He was going out to fight a thousand men. 
 Suppose you had met him and said : 
 
 "Why, Samson, what have you got to meet those men with?" 
 
 "The jaw-bone of an ass." 
 
 I suppose he just saw it on the ground and picked it up, and the 
 Lord heljied him and he slew a thousand men. Now if the Lord 
 can use the jaw-bone of an ass, can He not use you? Will you let 
 Him use you? I heard a man in Scotland say that every man in 
 Saul's army knew that God could use him to meet Goliath, |Dut 
 there was only one man that knew He would, and went out 
 and slew Goliath. 
 
 There is a good deal of difference between what God can do 
 and what God will do. I believe every one here thinks God can 
 use him, but how many would take five stones out of the brook 
 and go out and meet the giant. 
 
 Samson was playing with a shamgard, I heard a preacher in 
 Glasgow say, and a man came running over the hill and said: 
 "Six thousand Philistines are coming after you." Samson said: "I 
 can take care of them." And he took his oxgoad and slew 400 of 
 them. He used what he had. 
 
 The Bible is full of such instances. Look at the man out there 
 in the desert with but five little barley loaves and two small fishes.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 963 
 
 I can imagine how the disciples, when they were giving bread to 
 the first man, gave him a veiy small bit, but it held out, and by and 
 by they gave larger pieces, and soon they were breaking the loaves 
 in two, and giving every man all he wanted. Look at that good 
 Samaritan. Look into his saddle-bags, and you will find that he 
 had but a little oil, but it was a pretty good thing for the man that 
 fell among thieves. Some people would have Avanted to save him 
 with sermons, but you have got to have something else. That 
 vSamaritan preached a grand sermon, when he poured the oil into 
 his wounds. Suppose he had brought out a large manuscript or a 
 long article on science. The poor man didn't want that, he wanted 
 some one to care tor him, and get his arm under him and lift 
 h;m up. 
 
 ISlany a man in Chicago has fallen among thieves and among 
 drunkards and among harlots, and he ^vants some one to tell him 
 not what a bad man he is, but to come to him in pity and try to help 
 hmi out. Some people carry a bottle of vinegar, but it is better to 
 have oil. vSometimes I think it is better to get above this sectarian 
 feeling. You know the Jews hated no people worse than Samaritans. 
 They wouldn't sell them anything. Yov know a Jew has to hate 
 a man pretty well if he wont sell to him. The Jews believed that 
 the Samaritans hadn't even a soul. In this parable of the Good 
 Samaritan God teaches us to rise above this miserable sectarian 
 feeling — shall we stop and ask whether a man is a Roman Catholic 
 or a Protestant? 
 
 If we see a man perishing let us hasten to his help, and use what 
 we have got. Dorcas used onh' a little needle, but how she set the 
 needle going through the earth. Mary had an alabaster box of 
 ointment. It was not worth much, I suppose, but she dropped it 
 upon the feet of the Saviour, and the fragrance of it is in the 
 church to-da\'. 
 
 "I do not know that Mary was a strong-minded woman, or that 
 she was wealthy as beautiful; perhaps she did not move in the very 
 best societ}-, but there is one thing I do know — she could love. 
 "Wherever the gospel of the Son of God is preached, that story is 
 told out. I suppose Mary forgot all about herself, but she loved the 
 Master, and she jDOured that ointment out upon Him. Eighteen 
 centuries have rolled away, but the name of Mary of Bethany is as 
 fresh as it ever was. I suppose there is no woman's name so fresh 
 as her's, except the name of Mary, the mother of the Savior. I can 
 imagine some man when Christ was on earth, prophesying that that 
 story would be told in the nineteenth century, and not a man on the 
 face of the earth would have believed it. We look back on the 
 days of miracles, but we forget we are living in the days of mira- 
 cles. Missionary societies in New York and London have put the
 
 964 CJIRISTIAX CONVENTION. 
 
 story of Mary into 250 languages, and have sent out millions of 
 copies of it. That story will live as long as the Church of God is 
 upon earth. She made herself immoital by that one act. Nothing 
 you do for Jesus Christ is small. We want to-day men and women 
 who are willing to do. 
 
 I suppose if these reporters had been living- in the days of Mary, 
 and heard on the streets of Jerusalem that she had broken that ala- 
 baster box upon Him, they would not have thought it was worth 
 noticing; but it has outlived everything else that took place then. 
 If they had seen that widow cast those two mites into the treasury 
 of the' Lord they would have said, "There will be no one in Jeru- 
 salem that will care for that." 
 
 But see! Eighteen centuries have rolled away, and that story 
 has outlived anything else that occurred there. 
 
 If a man gave a thousand pounds to the temple the Jerusalem 
 reporters would have published that in their papers. [Laughter.] 
 When the widow cast in her mite, the Lord saw her act, and He 
 said : 
 
 "She has given more than all of them." 
 
 If there is heart in it, God will accept your service. If you have 
 only one talent, and make use of that, you will hear the Master say 
 in the evening of life, "Well done." We should never call any- 
 thing small that we do for the Lord. When the prophet's servant 
 came back and said he saw a little cloud no larger than a man's hand 
 coming up out of the sea Elijah knew what that meant, and he said. 
 
 "Make haste and tell Ahab to get home." 
 
 He knew there was abundance of rain in that cloud. Have 
 you a Sunday school class? It is a great thing to be permitted to 
 be a co-worker with God. It is a great thing to have the privilege 
 of leading one little ewe lamb into the kingdom of God. 
 
 I remember of being in a place some time ago, and I saw a 
 teacher who had a class at 3 o'clock. I saiil : 
 
 "Have you a class at 3 o'clock?" 
 
 'Oh !" she says, "I have a class." 
 
 "Were vou at your class to-day ?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Did ^ou tell the Superintendent you would not be there?" 
 
 "No, "Sir." 
 
 "Did you get a substitute?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Well," I said, "did your class have any teacher to-day?" 
 
 "I think not, for I saw a good many teachers in the hall to hear 
 you." 
 
 "Who took her I'oom?" 
 
 "I suppose no one did."
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVEXTIOX. 965 
 
 "Is that the way you take to do the Lord's work?" 
 
 "Well, vou &ee,'there are only five persons in the class?" 
 
 Now, among that five persons, I said, there may be one who 
 might be a reformation in himself — a Wesley, a Whitfield, a Luther, 
 a ]NIelancthon. It is a great thing to have five human souls to 
 teach. Each one of this class may become a herald from heaven, a 
 blessing from abo\e, and do a hundred times move good than you 
 can do. And each man and woman can well afi'ord to spend a 
 whole life to get even one soul into the kingdom of God. Paul, who 
 brought Simon and Peter to Christ. And \vhat did they? Peter 
 got three thousand at one time. Peter led them to Christ. And, 
 dear friends, you may be instrumentalities in leading some one of 
 these thousands of foreigners to Christ, and they may go back to 
 their older country and be themselves the instruments of lighting 
 up their own people with the glory of God, and spreading around 
 the glad tidings of Christ. Oh,' that God might take the scales 
 from over our eyes to-night that we might have the glorious luxury 
 of working for Him to-night. 
 
 I believe that there is not an angel in heaven but what would, if 
 they could have the privilege of leading one soul to God, would 
 come down to earth to do it. 
 
 It is a great privilege, a wonderful privilege, to be the instru- 
 mentality in the hands of God of leading one dear, precious soul to 
 God. Now, mv dear friends shall we not at this hour come again 
 fresh to God? "We ourselves cannot convert the world. Our world 
 is not responsible to us. We must simply be faithful. God will 
 judge our work and reward us for it. I believe that if the archangel 
 Gabriel himself should come down to-night and should preach with 
 all the eloquence of heaven itself and every offer should be held up 
 to his hearers, with the glory of that upper world painted before 
 them, there would not be a soul among them converted excepting 
 through the Holy Ghost working upon it. All we have got to do, 
 dear friends, is to preach Christ crucified and tell the story of the 
 cross, and the Lord will do the rest. He will bless the seed we 
 sow. 
 
 Let us sow it by the side of the living waters. A word spoken 
 here and a word spoken there will be blessed of God and souls will 
 be gathered up. The converting is for the Lord. The thanks 
 should be to the Lord. Oh that we may all be anointed afresh to- 
 night, and that many hearts may be kindled afresh. 
 
 I see a man sitting over there whom I know, and I hope he will 
 go back home to preach with renewed strength from God. I see 
 men from distant portions of the West — men from St. Louis. I 
 hope that God will send them, too, to work still better than they 
 have worked before. Perhaps it is only for a little while, a few
 
 966 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 days, a few weeks, a few months, that they will have to work in, 
 and then all their chance for work will be over. If we are ^oing 
 to wipe away the bitter tears from the helpless widow's eye, if we 
 are goini:^ to' lend relief to that poor, fatherless child, let us make 
 haste. The dav wall soon be ended, the night will soon be here. 
 There is no time to waste. I remember that when I was in Liver- 
 pool I made this promise: I said to a lady if you will find four likely 
 boys, I will try to have them trained at Northfield. I came home. 
 Only a few weeks had passed away. I w^as ready to retire to bed 
 at 10:30 at night, when I heard the ring of the telephone, and I 
 sent to mv otfice, and the station men telephoned up to me that 
 ther^' were three boys wanting me. I telephoned back to have 
 them sent to a hotel till morning, and when I w^ent there the next 
 morning I found three brothers that were orphans. Then I remem- 
 bered my promise. When I made that remark in Liverpool I for- 
 got all about it in a few minutes after making it. Even then the 
 mother of these three boys was dying. 
 
 I did not know it, but God knew if I did nut. Their flither had 
 been a hard-working man — a solicitor. He had died and left her a 
 widow with three children — three boys. They came over to me 
 well dressed. You could see from their appearance that a devoted, 
 loving mother had lavished her affection upon them — had cared for 
 them with a true mother's love. Her boys told me of that mother's 
 grief on her dying bed that she had to leave them, with no one to 
 care for them. Their mother was now in the grave far away. I 
 felt when these three boys came to me that I had had given to me 
 a great privilege — the privilege of having those orphans sent to me, 
 a gift from God. It refreshed my soul to think that I could look at 
 them, after the promise I had made at Liverpool. It was only a 
 ■word — a single remark — that dropped from their lips, but the fruit 
 of it came back to me, and the three are now in one room. They 
 have got the photographs with them of their loving mother. Think 
 of it, "how it all happened She died, and the next week they were 
 on their way over the sea to their new home, and now we are edu- 
 cating and training them, hoping that when prepared they may go 
 out to foreign lands as missionaries to spread abroad the gospel of 
 God Oh,\vhat a blessed privilege it is to have the privilege of 
 working for Christ; to have the privilege of doing a little — ever so 
 little. My friends, if you do not know what to do go to some one 
 older, some one more experienced than youi'selves, and find out from 
 them what you can best do. 
 
 If I had'a thousand working bodies instead of one, I could find 
 work for each to do. I remember how I did when I first tried^ to 
 work for the Lord. I did not know much. I did not know which 
 way to turn ; what was the best thing I could do. But I did some-
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 9G7 
 
 thing. I flicl mv little work the hest way I coiikl. Ami tlien God 
 blessed me, and kept giving me more and more to do, until I got so 
 much to do that if I had had a thousand different bodies to work 
 with I would still have had enough to do. Now, dear friends if, 
 any of you cannot hold as high a position as you would wish and 
 desire to hold, take such a position as you can get; go as a bearer 
 of wood, a drawer of water; do anything that you find that you 
 can do. If you can find nothing else to do, take a loaf of bread and 
 visit the poor widow, and the Lord wnll reward you. "He that 
 watereth shall be w^atered also himself," and "the liberal soul shall 
 be made fat." 
 
 ISIy friends, if you want to get out of the misery and sorrow and 
 gloom and sadness that are gathering around you, do something for 
 the Lord. A w-oman came to me some time ago, with a scowl on 
 her face. She said to me, "Mr. Moody, do you ever have any 
 doubts?" I replied, "My good woman, I do not have any time for 
 doubts. [Laughter.] If you work for the Lord you will have no 
 time to doubt." It is the people who do nothing but talk to them- 
 selves and about themselves that have time to doubt. My dear 
 friends, oh, look over the fields, and }'ou will see them white for the 
 harvest. 
 
 There was a nobleman In England in the last century. He got 
 so that he looked upon life as such a heavy burden that finally he 
 wanted to throw It away. He did not want to live any longer. 
 But it happened that he was approached by a child begging for 
 alms. He did not look at the child. He told him that there were 
 eight of them in the family ; that his father and mother was sick, 
 and they were starving. He said to himself: " I might just as well 
 give my pocket-book to the family, as I shall not want It any longer 
 now;" and so he went to the house and said to them, "There, 3-ou 
 can have all that Is In It, " and the tears sprang up Into the eyes of 
 the father and mother. They could hardly believe It. And the joy 
 that was there so touched him that he said he would call again the 
 next day ; and he went there on the next day, and he became the 
 most noted philanthrojDic man of his age, doing immense good. He 
 was saved by his own good deed; and you may be saved; and there 
 are many men and women In gloom and sorrow and misery and 
 sadness who may do the work of the Lord, and He will lift them 
 up to the peace and jo}^ of heaven. My friends, there Is plenty of 
 room In this city. The fields are w'hite for the harvest. I would 
 say now that I have never seen a prouder day than this. I think I 
 never saw a better night for the work of the Lord than last Sunday 
 night at the North Side church. They knelt down before the Lord 
 bv hundreds. I believe there will be streams of salvation breaking 
 out all over the city if the people will go forward in the work.
 
 968 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION 
 
 Shall we not take the city for Christ? Friends, let us preach 
 and hold Him up. The world cannot go on without Christ. The 
 world is perishing for the want of Christ. Let us preach Him at 
 all seasons, in season and out of season, and the Lord will bless us 
 if we go on. 
 
 Now, then, a great many people are afraid of being called 
 peculiar. Now I would not give much for a man that is not 
 peculiar in some way, I believe that old Enoch was the most 
 peculiar man that ever lived. What kind of a man was he, was 
 asked. Oh, a very good man, but he would not go to the theatre 
 on Sunday or any" other day. He wouldn't go to a horse race. He 
 calls it an ungodly world. And so they called him a peculiar man; 
 peculiar in the sight of theAVorld. A good many say that they do 
 not want to be called peculiar. If you had gone to some one in 
 those old days and asked what they thought of Elijah, they would 
 have said that Elijah was a good man enough, but he was a 
 peculiar one. He would not bow himself to Baal. My friends, I 
 would to God that we had many such men as Elijah with us now. 
 
 If you had gone down to Babylon in the days of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and asked what kind of a nian Daniel was, they would have 
 answered you, "Oh, he is a good man enough. He is not a corrupt 
 man. You could not bribe him, but he is a very peculiar man. He 
 prays three times a day." 
 
 Now our business men in Chicago do not have time to pray 
 three times a day. They have to go on 'Change and buy and 
 bargain and make money and pile up millions. They say they have 
 too much business to attend to to pray three times a day. But this 
 man Daniel, who was the prime minister of that country and had 
 all the business of the State to do, had time to pray three times a 
 day ; and who was the great man ? He or they ? Where are now 
 the names of the merchant 2:)rinces of Babylon, or their wise men? 
 You don't know the name of one of them. All have faded away 
 centuries ago; but the name of Daniel shines still brighter than ever; 
 and they that turned away to rejoice in the Lord are, as the stars, 
 forever and forever. 
 
 Dear friends, let us, as we hasten to go from this hall, say, 
 "Lord, here am I, Lord, choose me. I lay myself at Thy feet — 
 soul and body — a living sacrifice on the altar of God. Let me hear 
 Thy voice sending me out into the white fields to work for Thy 
 glory."
 
 THIRD DAY OF THE OOISTTEIs'TIOI^. 
 
 MORNING SERVICE. 
 
 The day did not break auspiciously, but the third day and final 
 sessions of the famous Christian Convention did — thei^e was no 
 storm inside. The usual vast crowd assembled, and the usual pre- 
 liminarv services of song as fitly led up to the work of the initial 
 hour. Prayer was offei'ed by the Rev. Mr. Stimpson, of Worces- 
 ter, jMass. and inspiration for the day sought in that hvmn of hope, 
 "Sing Them Over Again to Me, Wonderful Words of Life." Prayer 
 and stjU other singing ensued, ]Mr. Sankey conducting in "More Love 
 to Thee." ]Mr. Moody then continued the services by announcing 
 that Professor F. B. Fisk would read from the Scriptures. Profes- 
 sor Fisk chose the twelfth chapter of Romans, and forthwith read, 
 at times making brief comments, those concise injimctions for the 
 living of a godly life. 
 
 After the singing of "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and after Mr. 
 Sankey had sung, by request, that beautiful number, "The Mists 
 Have Rolled Away," effectively assisted by the congregation, Mr. 
 Moody announced a necessary change in the programme, and in 
 view of it introduced the Rev. Dr. Herrick Johnson, whose duties 
 at the Theological Seminarv demanded his being heard in the morn- 
 ing instead of the afternoon. 
 
 The topic was: 
 
 "HOW CAN THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL STUDY OF THE BIBLE BE 
 
 INCREASED?" 
 
 Rev. Dr. Johnson said: "How can the personal and social study 
 of the Bible be increased?" is the way the question is put. I should 
 prefer to put it, "How can the individual and associated study of the 
 Bible be increased?" Let me be swift to say that it has increased 
 in the last decade beyond all precedent, and is increasing. The 
 surest road to future success is by the way of the I'ecognition of the 
 fact and method of past success. I am instant to say this because it 
 has come to pass in our time that whenever any one stands up before 
 an audience to speak in reference to the shadows that fall upon our 
 world, and to picture somewhat the dark side of the truth, there is 
 969
 
 970 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 always some one ready to rush to the front and exclaim, "Behold, 
 another pessimist come to judgment. Lo! we have a weeping bul- 
 rush, and now look out for the lamentation of Jeremiah." 
 
 That fellow evidently thinks ihat there is no study of the word 
 of God, and he is blind to the facts of the hour: so I' am swift to 
 say that there is more study of the word of God than ever; that 
 more millions bend over the word of God to-day, with eagerness to 
 get at its contents, than have done so in any other age or hour of the 
 world's history. 
 
 You may go anywhere and hear something about the facts of 
 the Scripture. The best thoughts of the best men of the best races 
 are gathering their utmost, and are thus increasing the volume bear- 
 ing them into the track of Christ. Never before have there been 
 so many facilities for the study of the word of God furnished, and 
 such rare facilities offered as we have this very hour; and never so 
 many have there been willing to employ these facilities for getting 
 at the secrets and treasures of the holy word. 
 
 But saying this and understanding and believing this, it is never- 
 theless to be admitted that there are thousands upon thousands who 
 never read the word, or read it only once a day ; perhaps late at 
 night when worn with the labors and toils of the day, yet not willing 
 to sleep, and hardly daring to sleep, unless they have let their eyes 
 go down a half page of Scriptures. There are thousands upon 
 thousands in our Christian homes who read it only once a week — 
 on the Sabbath perhaps, and in their secret hearts, believing that the 
 Bible is, after all, a somewhat stupid book. There are thousands 
 of thousands who used to read it every Sabbath, who now never read 
 it, it being blanketed over with that great Sunday refuge from ennui, 
 the Sunday morning newspaper, and the cause of so much weak, 
 sickly, sentimental, formless, wishy-washy twaddle. The cause of so 
 much instability in the Christian faith is a want of familiarity with 
 this word of God. Nothing so largely puts good fiber into Christian 
 manhood and womanhood as Scripture pabulum, and we cannot 
 have the best of this sort of thing until we get a more thorough 
 study of the word of God than we have to-day. And the cause of 
 a great deal of the latent power in the church to-day — a power that 
 I believe is yet to be developed over and above anything that has 
 been developed in the past — is the want of familiarity with the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 How, then, can the individual and associated study of the Bible 
 be increased? 
 
 Let me say negatively, i. By not minimizing its truth. We 
 cannot crowd the word of God into "Come to Jesus" and say we 
 are preaching the word of God. The commandments are as much 
 a part of the word of God as any other portion. We cannot
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 971 
 
 expect that all will honor God's word and secure its extended study 
 and reading unless we are prepared to give it full and adequate 
 proclamation; and it was my joy, therefore, in the opening session of 
 this convention to hear Brother Whittle emphasize so distinctly the 
 importance of convincing men that they are lost befoi-e they are 
 ready to be saved. The Scriptures are a saving balm. But what 
 is a balm for, except for a wounded member, and who will care 
 anything about it unless he has one? The Scripture is a lullaby, 
 but it is more than that. The word of God is quickening, living 
 fire, sharper than imy two-edged sword. Does the lullaby pierce? 
 Is the sweet song a sword to the spirit? No. We must not min- 
 imize the truth if we are going to secure for the word of God 
 more attentive reading and study. 
 
 In the second place, ^ve are not going to secure its study by 
 mutilating the Bible tearing out sections and throwing away books. 
 It is a poor way of getting a hearing for a book to tear it up into 
 parts and shy leaves at a fellow [Laughter.] We cannot do what we 
 want by tossing away jSIoses, and flaunting at Paul, and eulogizing 
 Jesus alone. If the Old Testament must go the New Testament must 
 go, too. Moses and Jesus and Paul must stand or fall together. 
 Deuteronomy and Ezra and the Gospels and Epistles must stand or 
 fall together. For beginning at !Moses and the prophets the same 
 story extends all through the Bible. The crimson thread of the 
 Old Testament and the crimson thread of the New Testament, each 
 dyed in the blood of Calvary, are seen, and that thread stretches 
 from Moses to John, from John to Revelation, and all along upon 
 that thread are strung the connecting links of history. The course 
 of prophecy and history are one and what God has joined let no 
 man tear apart. Not by mutilating the Bible are we going to secure 
 the more general reading of the Bible. 
 
 Next, not by theories of its origin which put it on the level of 
 the purest naturalism can the individual and associated study of the 
 Bible be increased. Those books which constitute the Bible are not 
 a natural development in the order of nature. They did not grow 
 like Topsy. They were made — made in sections by the hand of 
 God, through His spirit working on in the minds of men. The 
 inspiration of Moses Is not the inspiration of Newton. Paul did 
 not speak as Confucius, or Zoroaster, or Vishnu, or Socrates spoke. 
 The men of the New Testament spoke like those of the Old Testa- 
 ment, for they spoke by the Holy Ghost. The men of the New 
 Testament said that they come with the wisdom that the Holy 
 Ghost teaches; the men of the Old Testament spake from God him- 
 self. And so we must elevate the Bible up to this high level and 
 keep it there if we would give It more general readmg. 
 
 Now, to take the positive side :
 
 972 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 By writing better living epistles we are to secure an increased 
 study of the word of God, individually and associated, by writing 
 better living epistles. We, in our lives as Christians^ ought to be a 
 perfect transcript of the word of God. Are we? We know ho\v 
 very far short we fall from being that, and yet there is no better 
 way by which we can emphasize and command attention for the 
 word of God than to put that word into a life. 
 
 We have heard a great deal recently about a new translation of 
 the New Testament, and I am one of those who rejoice in the " re- 
 A'ision." We need it, and ought to have it. I welcome and indorse 
 and believe in it. But the translation I believe to be most needed 
 is the translation of the word of God into action — living "epistles," 
 that shall tell to men everywhere what the truth is. 
 
 The walking epistle goes every^vhere. You can go into the 
 business place, the mart, everywhere, and walk the gospel right 
 into the eye and the heart of man, for 3 ou walk into them. 
 
 Mr. Moody said, and I echoed the remark because I thought it 
 wonderfully in the line of my own thought, and adapted to the 
 occasion, though used in a different connection — he said one of the 
 most humiliating things in the church is that there are so m;iny 
 portions of it who have no testimony. What is that but saving 
 that if we are going to send out this gospel and get men interested 
 in it we must put it into ourselves, and not do with it as if it were 
 something for our own experience alone. We should make men 
 look upon it. Look at that motto, " Your body is the temple of 
 the Holy Ghost." Oh! if this mass of Christians are to-day to realize 
 that — not simply to their own timid consciences, not so that a feeble 
 hope could be born from it, but so that men should be made to 
 believe it. Oh! that the Christi;in could see as each one walked the 
 street, the temple of the Holy Ghost. Oh! how the streets would 
 be crowded to find out where the cause of this power was. 
 
 Again, we may increase the study, individual and associated, of 
 the word of God by better methods in the h(Hisehold. Here is a 
 little child — 3-ou have often seen such a beautiful sight — nestled in 
 his mother's arms, hearing a Bible story, the story of Moses, the 
 story of Joseph, the story of Abraham, the story of Paul in prison, 
 the story of the shipwreck, those inimitable stories of Jesus told in 
 parable, and those other inimitable stories — parables in action — called 
 His miracles. The Scripture is full of them, of just such stories; 
 and that child, with open eye, and mouth, and ear, takes in the beau- 
 tiful stories, listening with eager, wondering interest, and asking the 
 mother to tell some old, old story, over again. The child never 
 tires of it. See that boy. He is 16 or 18 years of age. What 
 interest has he in the word of God? He has grown from babyhood 
 into manhood. He is in the same Christian home; and yet if you
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 973 
 
 will shut in such a young man who listened so eagerly to the sto- 
 ries ot' the Scripture when he was a child — if you will shut this 
 young man up with an almanac, a directory and a Bible, he will 
 turn over the pages of the first for a few minutes; do the same with 
 the second, but he will almost die before he will look at the Bible, 
 
 What is the trouble. It is because he has become — been made 
 — disgusted with the Scriptures. And yet Milton and Newton and 
 a host of other great men have kept the Bible ever before them, and 
 satisfied the calls of their intellect by going to the word of God for 
 inspiration and pabulum. Well, we must attribute something of 
 the trouble to the actual prejudices of the human heart. They have 
 been developed from time to time, and if he has not been converted, 
 they continue to increase. But I tell ^-ou the boy has not been 
 treated rightly in connection with the Bible. He has been taught 
 to consider its reading as a system of tasks, and he has been com- 
 pelled, with his father and mother to go through the tiresome gene- 
 alogies chapter by chapter, one chapter a day, from Moses to Reve- 
 lation. Oh! it seems to me if we want to keep our voung men in 
 the household f am' liar with the Scriptures, in love with them, and 
 glad to read them, we must not have any rigid order for their read- 
 ing it. Free it from the idea of a task. And I feel sure if this 
 were done we should have more Bible-reading in our homes. 
 
 Here is a field filled with the odors of sweet blossoms, and you 
 must cultivate it. Then, I say, that we should give more notice to 
 our methods in the household. 
 
 ]My third point is that, in order to increase the study of the 
 Scriptures in an individual and associated way, we should have bet- 
 ter methods in the pulpit, and here, of course, I am speaking to 
 myself as well as to others in the ministry. I believe that there is 
 a great deal of preaching not at all adapted to secure readers for the 
 Scriptures and make men in love with it. It is in this way that the 
 text is sometimes read at the beginning and that is the last heard 
 of it. 
 
 Another method is to take a text and stick to it, but he only 
 thumps and bumps at it. It is a repetition of the text turned up 
 and down in various forms. That is the sermon, but there is not 
 any gospel in it. He has simply given the text and verbal em- 
 phasis as he has thumped down the words. Suppose we treated 
 any other book in that way, and professed to be one who was going 
 to teach a great deal of Shakespeare, for instance, and we took my 
 "kingdom for a horse" for a text, and that is the last we say about 
 the king and the horse he wants. That would be one way 
 
 Or suppose we take the other way to teach Shakespeare, with 
 the same text. You commence, "Well, we will discuss the nature 
 of a king, and say something about a king. My second point is a
 
 974 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 horse, the fine points of a horse, the relation of a king to a horse." 
 How much of Shakespeare is going to be taught in that way. Is 
 not that the way in whicli the word of the Lord is often preached, 
 and is tliat method the best way of increasing the interest in the 
 word? What IS the best method of increasing the interest in the 
 word of God? It is to tell people to go and seek for themselves 
 after new riches in the word of the Lord. 
 
 It was my pleasui^e to follow Albert Barnes as his successor — all 
 honor to his blessed memory. It was his habit, Sabbath after Sab- 
 bath, year after year, to explain the Scriptures, to take passages at 
 considerable length and unfold their meaning : to show their drift 
 and their tendency and their fullest meaning ; and the result was 
 that I found in the church men and women who knew far more of 
 the word of God than I did ; who were familiar with the sacred 
 history from beginning to end, who were in the habit of talking 
 about it day by day, for they had been taught by that good man of 
 God to do so by his preaching and by the manner of his preaching. 
 Before God, I believe, if we want to have more study of God's word, 
 we must show by this connected way of preaching \vhat the way is. 
 
 Look at Scotland, remarkable for its knowledge of the word of 
 God — a knowledge attained largely through this method of teaching; 
 by multiplying the means for unlocking the secrets of the Bible, 
 and disclosing its treasures of thought and sentiment and poetry, its 
 sublimities, its glories, its pathos, its blessed facts and revelations; 
 keepuig ever high above all other thoughts, the fact that the Bible 
 is a divine revelation of God's word. Above all I would say keep 
 before you the purpose to make men believe that this word of God 
 is not onh^ the best history; not only the best poetry the world can 
 show in all literature, but beyond all and over all, that it is a divine 
 revelation, thrilling through all its nervous words with the inspira- 
 tion of Jehovah. [Applause]. 
 
 A hymn, •' My Jesus, I love Thee," was sung at the conclusion 
 of Dr. Johnson's address, and !Mr. Moody at once introduced INIr. 
 B. F.Jacobs, who was appointed for a ten-minute talk on this same 
 subject of Bible study. 
 
 Mr Jacobs began by saying, it had been said that the written 
 word of God was treated now as was the living word when Christ 
 was upon the earth. The problem to be considered was how to 
 overcome the neglect of, rather than the opposition to, the Avord of 
 God. To attain this end the speaker first recommended some change 
 in the treatment of the Bible in public worship, at \vhich time he 
 deprecated the putting of the hymn-book so far in advance of the 
 Bible. He did not altogether aj^prove of the method of the Episco- 
 palians, who incorporate a fragment of Scripture with the prayer 
 book or with the hymns.
 
 CHRISTIAX COXVENTIOX. 975 
 
 He believed that better and the best results would ensue from 
 a more liberal use of the Bible in the worship of God. 
 
 Again, he believed that the word of God should have place in 
 the i^rayer meeting. He declared, and his declaration evoked most 
 audible approval, that the Bible ought to be used in the Sundav 
 school and not lesson pajDcrs or question books. He reproved 
 those rich churches which neglect to furnish the Bible to their mis- 
 sion schools. He affirmed that the Bible should be used in family 
 worship and not Spurgeon's "Gems," or "Ray's Morning Exer- 
 cises." ]SIany a young man was setting up his family altar who 
 vitally needed to be shown the use of the sacred word. 
 
 ^Ir. Jacobs, in passing, showed what noble examples for those 
 sustaining the various relations of family life were contained in the 
 Bible lessons that are being taught in the Sunday school. He spoke 
 of the praying mother of Samuel, conscious of the truth that char- 
 acter is transmittable, who prayed before her son was born and aftei 
 his coming had blessed her prayers. He incidentallv touched upon 
 the little lessons of life, that the boy Samuel, in his various services, 
 preached for the children of all time. 
 
 He emphasized the need of organizing Bible bands, bv which 
 agency, while the family is assigned its daily chapter, the little 
 child, too, is not omitted, but is given its tiny verse. 
 
 As another aid to social Bible studv, he asked why there might 
 not be established in different parts of the city reading clubs for 
 Bible study, as there 'svere clubs for the profitable and pleasurable 
 reading of other literature. For what treasures there were to be 
 mined ! Poetry, biography, history were there in beautiful abund- 
 ance. Again, might not the ladies of the congregations go into the 
 houses of this city, carrying the word of God, as was done after 
 Miss Dryer's plan? To further promote the study of the Bible 
 personal diligence was necessary, for the Bible w^as a personal book 
 all the way through. God reached His people through His jDCople, 
 one by one. The Bible was the palace beautiful. If it was opened 
 at random and aid sought and none came, perhaps many a poor soul 
 wondered why the Lord did not meet his need. But the help was 
 there ; just the right kind for every one. 
 
 Prayer by Dr. Hatfield followed the remarks of Mr. Jacobs. 
 
 The topic for 1 1 o'clock was, 
 
 "how may our foreign population be evangelized?" 
 
 The Rev. F. E. Emerich said he had lived for many years in a 
 German home, and he had for that reason been selected to speak on 
 this question. God had wonderfully blessed America in bringing 
 to its shores the peoples from every country on the globe. God
 
 976 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION 
 
 had given America a heritage and a privilege of working for Him 
 that had been accorded to no other people. 
 
 It had been said that in this country there was to be enacted the 
 modern Pentecost — when all the peoples of the world would be 
 brought together to hear the word of God. 
 
 There was no difficulty in reaching the Scotch, English and 
 Welsh people by American methods, because they were so near 
 akin to ourselves that our methods reached them. But what were 
 we to do for the Germans and Scandinavians In his church, INIr. 
 Emerich said he had thirteen different nationalities on the church 
 rolls but the greater portion of them were Scandmavians. He 
 found no difficulty in reaching these people because they had been 
 taught by our methods. They had been reared in the grand old 
 Lutheran Church, and they had a great love for the memor}- of 
 Luther. They had been brought up in a Christian faith In ask- 
 ing the question of what should be done for the Germans, we 
 should remember not so much the infidelity and rationalism of the 
 Germany of to-day, but rr.ore the Germany of Luther, whose 
 400th anniversary was to be celebrated this year. Could these 
 people be evangelized ? Luther had ^vorked out his reformation 
 by faith. We should remember this, and that the great Wesley 
 had drawn his power to evangelize from German sources. If the 
 German had not the gospel in its churches it had the power of the 
 gospel in its church hj'mns, which had been translated into almost 
 every tongue, and were in fact our greatest power for evangeliza- 
 tion. 
 
 The evangelist need not give up hope for these peoj^le. 
 
 The Methodists were doing a grand work among these people, 
 and giving the Germans a literature that \vould bring good fruit. 
 Then there was the Lutheran Church, which had reached the Ger- 
 mans in its own way, and if we would remember the religious his- 
 tory of Germany rather than its infidelity, and take hope to work 
 with them, they could be evangelized. 
 
 But how were they to be reached? 
 
 First, we must acknowledge the work that was being done 
 among the Germans to-day. They had a love for the old mother 
 church of Luther. It was making itself manifest this year more 
 than for many years. The Germans loved that church. We must 
 acknowledge the work that church was doing in this country and 
 at home. It ranked third in the great evangelical churches, only 
 the Methodist and Baptist standing ahead of it. The church work- 
 ers of this country could not afford to fail to give recognition to such 
 a power for Christ. What if it did not have the same methods we 
 employed? The old notions that had clung to the Lutheran church 
 would drop off when it had become somewhat Americanized. We
 
 ClIKISIIAN CON\'EXTION. 977 
 
 should remember that the Baptists had stood where the Lutherans 
 did a century ^igo, but they had seen their mistakes when Edw^ards 
 and Whitfield gave them the proof. Why should not we be as 
 hopeful concerning the Lutherans? 
 
 As much could be done with the German churches as had been 
 done with others. 
 
 When the revival of God's spirit came upon them they would 
 speak the truth. They would learn as the American church had 
 learned to preach the gospel free from dogma. We needed patience 
 with chese German Christians. 
 
 The speaker had been greatly impressed with the patience of 
 God with Israel. We needed die spirit of Christ, and we needed 
 to remember what the Apostle Paul said about the patience of 
 Christ. The Germans came to this country with prejudices, and 
 these must be overcome. They came w^ith un-American ideas con- 
 cerning the observance cf the Sabbath and temperance. We should 
 remember that our ideas of these questions were as strange to chem 
 as w'ere their ideas to us. They had followed Calvin and Luther, 
 and believed they were right in then- way. Mr. Emerich said, as 
 for himself, he had lived twenty years in a German home and learned 
 the customs of the people, but he had afterward lived for sixteen 
 years in the homes of New England, and he had novy but one idea 
 of Sabbath observance, and that was the New England way. 
 
 He knew the German way and the New England way, and he 
 could look at the question from the German standpoint. He knew 
 how long it took him to learn that he must not buy on the Sabbath 
 day. He had no idea that he was breaking the fourth command- 
 ment until his old teacher kindly pointed it out to him. Many of 
 these German peojDle had never once had presented to them from 
 the standpoint of love, the fourth commanchnent. They ohould put 
 in the leaven of God's truth and it would do the work. 
 
 Then in answering the question of how to reach the foreign 
 population, he would say. by recognizing wdiat work had already 
 been done for the Germans, and by working in harmony with the 
 foreign pastors, helping them with sympathy and practical efforts. 
 We needed to have faith in the power of Christian community and 
 fellowship. Another way was to reach the foreign population 
 through the children. These people wanted their children con- 
 firmed, and chcy were much more careful about teaching them the 
 Scriptures then were our own people. 
 
 "HOW^ to reach the GERMANS." 
 
 The Rev. Lee M. Heilman, of Grace English Lutheran Church, 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 To evangelize all our foreign population would, in a large meas-
 
 978 CHRISTIAN COXVEXTION. 
 
 lire, revolutionize our courts of justice, our social life, and q-eneral 
 political and religious institutions. To bring under the power of the 
 gospel all the various nations and tongues of our land and make 
 them speak for Christ would be to convert Babel into a Pentecost, 
 and nations among us would be born in a day. There is, perhaps, 
 no topic that can claim the serious attention of such an assemblv 
 more profitably than this, for on the solution of it hangs on the one 
 hand the future of our land and the permanence of its free institu- 
 tions, and on the other hand assurance that here shall not be left 
 another district of Christ's church turned into heathen, Asia Minor 
 with no cross left. While these hundreds of thousands are coming 
 annually to us, we need inquire how the godlessness, the rational- 
 ism, formalism and infidelity poured upon us shall be made to dis- 
 enthrall great talent and turn it to the jSIaster's service. 
 
 It is, however, only just that I should protest against the too 
 prevalent idea among us Americans, that there is almost no piety 
 among those of anv other than the English speech. I speak for 
 Scandinavians and some Protestant Germans. Still that does not 
 change the fact that of these very nations, and many others more or 
 less foreign, are many hundreds neglecting their dearest interests 
 and thousands more of them doing violence to the kingdom of God. 
 
 To reach these with the saving grace of Calvary is of course to 
 reach souls in a common fallen race. There is but one Jesus, one 
 gospel, and one spirit of regeneration, to touch on the mainspring 
 of human want. The solution of the jDroblem in hand lies in ho\v 
 this Christ, the wisdom and the power of God, shall be brought to 
 this foreign population. This class of people has not been gener- 
 allv reached, and there are reasons for it, and these furnish the an- 
 swers hov: to bring them more to a knowledge of the truth. 
 
 There is, for example, in Chicago but one church for about 
 every 4,000 Protestant Germans and Scandinavians. There are 
 Lutheran pastors, it is estimated, w\\o have in their parishes at least 
 1,500 families. No church or pastor can there minister to the sick 
 and dying, and meet all other demands, and then yet properly cul- 
 tivate the field. Hence it is, many have only a nominal relation to 
 the church bv their occasional attendance of their children at the 
 schools and the burying of their dead by the pastor. Is it any 
 wonder that the best are tempted to careless and bad habits, and 
 that many are led to vice and clothe a quaking conscience with 
 scepticism ? Church life and influence, and the word of God are 
 wanting, and there the heart left without the ordained safeguards 
 is as uncertain of its course as is the serpent coiled on the rock. 
 Home life is soon demoralized and the young left imrestrained are 
 reared, especiallv in their idling Sabbath hours and at nights, for 
 every vice of tongue, eye and palate. With not room enough in
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVENTION. 979 
 
 churches, and not sufficient agencies to win the non-church-goino^ 
 voung men of Catholic, Protestant and no persuasion, and of all 
 "languages, the field hrings forth our most dangerous and God- 
 less classes. 
 
 Again, however, I remark, the foreign population must not be 
 treated "as a charity people. To build them churches, and have some 
 Americans at stated times take the part of workers among them will 
 never get into the heart of their real thousands. Money and prayers 
 have done great things, but proxy methods are not enough. God's 
 plan is to have churches where all classes actually unite into one 
 association. Besides, He appoints pastors who must have the "care 
 of souls and the oversight of the flock." They are to be among 
 them like the phvsician, for every emergency. The pastoral ele- 
 ment is divinely chosen, and there is no eloquence, or learning, or 
 any form of proper e^'angelization that can safely take the place of 
 its'oftice to care for the sick, the dying, visiting the doubting and 
 backsliding, or preaching from house to house the cross of Jesus. 
 Let all other agencies do their part but you cannot sustain a church 
 work properlv except by a " house-going pastor," who makes a per- 
 manent and "church going people " Do not, especially, seek to reach 
 the foreign population by proxy only, for if there is not a nearer 
 touch of heart to heart, they will feel the work as a kind of charity, 
 and that feeling tends to depress rather than to lift up and inspire. 
 
 Then, again, there must be a care for their Americanizing. The 
 question of language, nationality, and habits presents enormous dif- 
 ficulties. Let the old people have the gospel in their mother 
 tongue, but have not for their leaders and ministers the 
 unprogressive who are sticklers for the forms, and seek to 
 propagate the formalism and spirit of their native countries. 
 Give them men of this modern age and who are filled with the 
 spirit of regeneration and of moral reform in Sabbath keeping, tem- 
 perance, and the general good of men. My observation has taught 
 me that there are ministers and people in various denominations, no 
 matter what earnest professsions they make, who, rather than leave 
 their own habits and tongue and their church, or suffer their Eng- 
 lish speaking children to do so, will let the church die and their 
 youths sent into the world. There is special need to care for the 
 more liberal and anglicized. There are towns and large districts in 
 the city where are no English churches. 
 
 Suffer me, however, to present this antithesis as a next remark: 
 These people ought not be too readily deprived of their own 
 churches unless they adhere to an unevangelical branch or prefer 
 another. Great harm and confusion have been thus often caused 
 and more souls sent from the cross than brought to it. If they are 
 ^^lethodists across the sea let them be that there. If they are Ger-
 
 980 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 man Reformed, or Lutheran, or Presbyterian, or Congregational, 
 they are reached and preserved far more easily in their own home, 
 if possible. Believe me as speaking from honest conviction and 
 knowledge on this point, and out of mercy for the souls concerned. 
 It is a duty to be wise as well as faithful, like Paul, who, to win the 
 formalistic Pharisee, claimed himself to be of them. I know, some 
 will be doubtful about the Lutheran and Reformed, and perhaps 
 the German Evangelical Union, but there are evangelical branches 
 of them, notably of the first named who are Americanized, pietistic, 
 and claim such men as Spener, Tholuck, Luthhardt, and Christlieb, 
 and their success, where they have been permitted to go, is proof of 
 this point. Go, however, my brother, and in any church 
 and way save the fallen and unreached thousands of all 
 classes. 
 
 Once more, I remark, the young people should be brought into 
 the church, whatever that church. . It is not enough to gather them 
 into the Sunday school, but when really brought to a personal 
 Savior let them profess Him and take on them the decided and 
 whole armor of the Christian life. In 1865 the Rev. Mr. Punshon 
 said in England that when Newcastle-on-Tvne, which was a very 
 hotbed of infidelity, was canvassed, "it was found that nine-tenths of 
 the most prominent members of the infidel clubs had passed through 
 their Sabbath schools.'' If you would really reach them, and through 
 them the older, bring them into full church life. 
 
 In a woi-d, let usbe consecrated in any way to save these hearts 
 athirst for the water of life. Let our work be popular and plainly 
 preach repentance and a living faith. Let us tenderly mingle among 
 them and learn to appreciate them, and so compel the worst to find 
 Christ the real want of the soul. Aid our Sabbath Association and 
 Young Men's Christian Association. Let us by our holy lives con- 
 vince the skeptic of the power of our religion, and by our real 
 brotherly union of all churches disarm the assault that we are really 
 at war among ourselves. We should remember that all tongues are 
 of one parentage and alike sinful, and that one Jesus alone can heal 
 the wound of death. 
 
 Professor Samuel Ives Curtiss, of the Chicago Theological Sem- 
 inary, in discussing this subject further, said he would first pre- 
 sent a few figures. Illinois had a native population of 2,494,294 and 
 a foreign population of 583,576; Minnesota had a native population 
 of 513,097 and a foreign population of 267,276; Wisconsin had a 
 native population of 910,072 and a foreign population of 405,425: 
 Chicago had a total population of 503,185, according to the census 
 of 1880, and of this 204,859 were foreign born. 
 
 He then spoke as follows: 
 
 I will first speak of some of the hindrances to the evangelization
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 981 
 
 of those Germans who were born in Germany, because of their edu- 
 cation and surroundings in that country. 
 
 1. The State has said, until recently, to all parents in Ger- 
 many, You must haye your children baptized. The fathers mi^^ht 
 say, But I don't belieye in Christianity; I don't belieye there is a 
 God. The State has said it makes no difference. It is the law that 
 eyery Protestant and Catholic child should be baptized; bring your 
 child or we will fine you. 
 
 2. The State has said, until recently, ever - oy and girl of the 
 age of thirteen or fourteen must be confirmed. Here again the 
 parents might say, "But we do not believe in Christianity." The 
 State has said, " I cannot help that. Your boy or girl cannot enter 
 upon an occupation without a certificate that they are members of 
 the State church 
 
 3. The State says you may not leave the church, and elect any 
 pastor you choose. With me rests the nomination of your pastor. 
 He is, to a certain extent, a State official. 
 
 What is the result of this? An estrangement of the masses in 
 the cities and towns from the ministry. Many a German says, the 
 minister does not care anything about me. He only cares for my 
 money. When my boy is baptized it means a fee; when he is 
 confirmed, another fee; when sickness invades my family, more fees, 
 and when death comes, other fees. Some pay them loyally. A 
 pastor in Leipzig once told me the story of a peasant who wished 
 to help his father, who was poor, and had a large family. He came 
 to him and said : " Pastor, I want you should write my funeral 
 sermon, and I will pay for it." In due time it was written and paid 
 for. After a time the peasant, seeing his pastor w^as not getting on 
 very well, came and said: "Pastor I want you should write a 
 funeral sermon for my wife, and I will pay you for it." It was 
 prepared, and so he went through the whole family. 
 
 The minister is not to blame. He says: "Here I am, with 
 my three colleagues, with a parish of 40,000 on my hands. What 
 can we do? I would gladly do more. My heart yearns for the 
 people. The church building was erected by the State, and it was 
 built to last. The dust of ages is in it. It is like being in a char- 
 nel house to attend service in it — cold, dark, gloomy. Are the peo- 
 ple there? No, they are in the sunny fields, listening to music in 
 the gardens, and at eyening attending the schools of wit in the 
 theater." 
 
 Now, can you wonder that the natui'al tendency for the ma- 
 jority of Germans when they come to this ccjuntry is to throw aside 
 these irksome restraints? How many thousands upon thousands of 
 native-born Americans who have been connected yyith pleasant 
 churches at the East, cease to be church members when they go
 
 982 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 West, and thus fall into indifferentism ? But this is far more true 
 of the Germans who come to this country. 
 
 1. The lack of vital piety among many of the ministers. 
 Religion is too often a matter of the head rather than of the 
 
 heart. It is taught in the schools like arithmetic and grammar, and 
 too often by men who are unbelievers. 
 
 Piety, a change of heart, is not at all necessary for a student of 
 theology. The ministry is a profession like law and medicine, and 
 it is too often the case that the men who cannot pass the terribly strict 
 examination for the legal profession, or think they cannot, study 
 for the ministry. 
 
 The students are more characterized for ochsen and kneipen, as 
 they call it, :nan for religious work. Not more than 60 out of the 600 
 theological students in Leipzig are engaged in practical Christian 
 work. I will not deny that the German church furnishes some of 
 the most devoted Christian pastors, but the system of religious edu- 
 cation, although in many respects valuable, is stunted and neutralized 
 to a great extent by this unbelieving atmosphere. The effect of 
 this upon all Germans who have been under this influence is to cause 
 them to be satisfied with a dead name. 
 
 It was a standard question at the tax ofhce when I resided in 
 Leipzig, whether the tax payers were Evangelical, Catholic or Jew- 
 ish. Everybody is either Jew or Christian, and if brother Moody 
 were to preach among the Germans, and hold an after-meeting, and 
 were to put the question to man or woman, are you a Christian, the 
 invariable answer would be, certainly. He would mean, have you 
 been born again ? They would mean that they had been baptized, 
 were members of the national church and had been educated in the 
 truths of religion. 
 
 This constitutes a tremendous obstacle in reaching the people 
 who have been under such training when they have come to this 
 country. 
 
 2. Another hindrance is in Sabbath desecration. 
 
 The German habit of making ihe Sabbath a holiday instead of a 
 holy day is one of the greatest obstacles to the evangelization of 
 Germans, whether in the fatherland or in this country. 
 
 The church can never be a power in this or that land when the 
 Sabbath is given up to worldly pursuits and pleasures. God must 
 have all or none. The ride for health, the friendly call, the journey 
 that ends Sunday morning or begins Sunday evening are the camel's 
 head, which will finally be followed by his whole body. The 
 Sabbath must be kept as the grand field day for the church, or 
 religion will be weak and sickly. 
 
 Now Leipzig, where I resided five years, is estimated to have a 
 population of 200,000. It has seven churches. It has perhaps three
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 983 
 
 Stirring preachers, but they do not preach every Sunday. They 
 alternate with colleagues, who have but little power to arouse the 
 people. I am sure, from my own observation, that an average 
 attendance of 3,500 to 4,000 a Sunday would be very large in 
 Leipzig; that would leave 196,000 non-church goers. But this 
 summe'i-, when I was there, on one of the Sundays 40,000 people 
 left on excursion trains for various resorts in the neighborhood. 
 Can religion be a power under such circumstances? Can such a 
 Sabbath "be a field day for the church? When in the whirl of the 
 business and pleasures of this life is room to be found to follow in 
 the sorrowful footsteps of our Lord who came to die for this world? 
 
 This is a tremendous hindrance to the evangelization of the 
 Germans. 
 
 Now, how shall we evangelize them? I must confess that my 
 heart yearns for them. I lived among them six years. Three of 
 my children were born among them. All that is mortal of one sleeps 
 ina German burying-ground. But I feel that I have no wisdom in 
 this matter. 1 have had no practical experience in the work among 
 them. 
 
 I will, however, venture to offer the following suggestions as 
 to those who work among them : 
 
 1. The ministers and evangelists who labor among them must 
 be consecrated, devoted men. No man is fit for the work who 
 thinks he can get a living in that way better than in any other, or 
 who proposes to make his work a stepping stone to anything else. 
 Men's hearts should be on fire with love for the work. They 
 should be ready to say within themselves, woe is me if I preach not 
 the gospel to them. 
 
 Men cannot resist the power of divine love as communicated 
 through human speech, and exemplified in a human life. 
 
 Ministers and evangelists may get a hearing when speaking in 
 a foreign tongue through an interpreter, or when using the lan- 
 guage imperfectly. Mutual love and confidence will cover u}^ a 
 multitude of defects. But there is a more excellent way than to 
 speak to them in a foreign language. 
 
 2. They should themselves be foreign-born and be able to speak 
 German with fiuency and correctness. 
 
 The prophet says in Is. xi., i, according to the Hebrew, "Speak 
 ye to the heart of "Jerusalem," If you wish to touch the hearts of 
 people, speak to them in the tongue in which they were born, 
 waken some sleeping memory of a praying mother, of a faithful 
 pastor. Let your language be that of sacred recollection, and that 
 which men use when they are dying, and you will have the last 
 medium of touching their hearts. 
 
 3. They shcnild know the history and customs of the people.
 
 984 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 It is not enough that a man should be a German to speak to 
 Germans. He must know the glories of the fatherland. He must 
 know her patriots and statesmen. While he ought to be an Amer- 
 ican through and through, he ought to be able to kindle into patri- 
 otic devotion when he hears such German songs as "The Watch on 
 the Rhine." 
 
 He ought to know not only that Germany had a Martin Luther, 
 but what ^lartln Luther did, and what Germany has been and is 
 to-day for the religious thinking of the world. He ought to know 
 their "social customs, and remember that the practice of using wine 
 and beer among the pastors and Christian people in Germany is 
 much the same as it was among our Puritan ancestors seventy-five 
 years ago. We should be patient and very charitable as to these 
 things. 
 
 4. Thev should avoid as far as possible antagonism to the his- 
 torical churches. In their own bosom (that is of the churches) the 
 powers are yet to work most effectually for the evangelization of 
 Germany. To treat them, therefore, as foes is to wound Christ in 
 the house of His friends. Let us fellowship with them so far as 
 they will allow it, going two-thirds or the whole of the way if 
 necessary to clasp hands. 
 
 5. Other churches which are not national may engage in this 
 w^ork. Like the Dissenters in England, they may stir up the old 
 historic church to new life and energy. 
 
 In any case, this work should go forth from the church, and 
 should return thither. For Christ loved the church and gave Him- 
 self for it, and we are one with Him w^hen we try to promote the 
 efficiency and spirituality of that body of which He Himself is the 
 head. 
 
 THE NOON MEETING. 
 
 The noon prayer meeting was simply a continuation of the 
 morning session, as many people coming in as there were those that 
 retired. Mr. Moody requested the audience to sing hymn No. 71, 
 "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds." 
 
 Dr. Moorhouse then offered prayer, and was followed by Brother 
 Millard in another prayer, after which the hymn No. 87, "Lord, I 
 Hear of ShoWei's of Blessings," was sung. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Arthur Little read Psalm 24, "Who shall ascend 
 into the hill of the Lord? or, who shall stand in His holy place?" 
 
 "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted 
 up his soul unto vanity ; nor sworn deceitfully." "Search me, Oh, 
 God, and know my heart." 
 
 In other words, my beloved friends, it has been my privilege to 
 be a listener here, and not a speaker, said Dr. Little. I have come
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVENTION. 985 
 
 to see that, if this convention has done any good to me, I must hum- 
 ble myself, and as I go to God's temple from day to day and week 
 to week, see that I have clean hands and a clean heart. In the last 
 three days this convention has proved that there was a terrible deii- 
 ciency on the part of the Christian churches and workers. If there 
 is not an honest effort made on the part of professing Christians to 
 bring in the thousands in the suburbs of the large cities who never 
 enter the Lord's house, it is useless to have brought Brother Mootlv 
 here at all. 
 
 Brother Moody then offered a prayer, in which he invoked the 
 Lord's aid in assisting the people and clergymen of this city to come 
 to the temple with clean hearts and hands. lie asked God to grant 
 that the reports of this convention, as published in the press of Chi- 
 cago, be efficient in stirring up a Christian feeling in the hearts of 
 those in distant portions of the land, so that a wave of Christian sal- 
 vation might sweep over the country, as it did in 1S57 and 1S58. 
 
 Hymn No. 77, "Sweet Hour of Prayer," was sung by the audi- 
 ence with a right good will. 
 
 Brother Moody then related a story of a family in England who 
 had an -erring son in Australia who was saved through the prayers 
 of his mother in England. 
 
 Fred Riebold, from Dayton, Ohio, related the manner of his 
 conversion some fourteen months ago, and how the love of God 
 completely filled his being now. 
 
 Major Whittle spoke in reference to Riebold, who, he said, was 
 one of the speculating and fast class of men in Dayton, and one of 
 a syndicate that manipulated a railroad. All this he had given up 
 for God's work. Major Whittle then offered a prayer, and the 
 closing anthem, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow" was 
 sung. 
 
 The benediction was offered by Dr. Bascom, and the immense 
 throng filed out of the hall. 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 
 There were several hundred people who never left the hall 
 between the morning and the afternoon sessions, but sacrificed their 
 lunches rather than lose their seats for the afternoon, and those who 
 did leave had their places taken by others as fast as they were made 
 vacant. At 3 o'clock Mrs. McGranahan, presiding at the organ, 
 led the vast audience in singing several gospel hymns. Mr, Moody 
 came in a few minutes before the time for opening the convention, 
 and was kept busy looking over notes sent to him.. He requested 
 3klr. and Mrs. McGranahan to sing "The Two Lives." It was a 
 touching song, telling the simple story of two lives representing the 
 two extremes of society — the rich and the poor. So widelv sepa-
 
 986 CilRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 rated in tins world, they both lay in the Savior's arms at death, and 
 "none could tell which had lived in the terrace house and which in 
 the street below." 
 
 No one was more affected by this little song than the man who 
 had requested that it be sung. Mr. Moody sat there with a look of 
 sorrow on his face afe the story of earthly trials was told in song, but 
 as the distinction between the two lives was wiped out at death, 
 there came a smile stealing over his face until there was a look of 
 complete and perfect happiness there. The face was an indicator of 
 the heart of the man, and the people noticed this and knew that 
 Moody was a man of great heart and deep feeling. 
 
 After a pra^^er bv Dr. Henson, Mr. McGranahan and his v>afe 
 sung " We shall be satisfied." 
 
 Mr. Moody said there had been some complaint from those 
 holding tickets that they had not been able to get into the meetnig 
 the night before. The committee were not to blame for this, 
 because so many people without tickets gathered about the doors 
 that the ticket-holders could not get near. The result was that some 
 got in without tickets and some holding tickets were kept out As 
 the next session would be the last, the rush would probably be 
 greater than ever, so it would be well for every one to look out for 
 himself and not depend too much upon tickets. 
 
 Mr. Moody said: I am going to bring a charge agamst the 
 ministers. They don't want children in the church during the 
 service. 
 
 Dr. Hatfield — I deny the charge. I invite my people to bring 
 the children to the services. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey — I know a man who not only invites the chil- ' 
 dren to his church, but he gives them note-books and pencils and 
 offers prizes of Bibles to those who will take down and remember 
 the text. 
 
 Dr. Goodman — Yes; and I saw that man present thirty-nine 
 Bibles to a class of boys, and I observed that he had 450 children 
 out of the 600 in his Sabbath school in his church. And I resolved 
 that I would try the same thing and see if I could not do as well. I 
 am going to try it. 
 
 Dr. Henson — I get tired of preaching to the old saints and sin- 
 ners and want young hearers. I encourage the children to come 
 and hear me. 
 
 Another minister said: "I believe that the church should be put 
 ahead of the Sunday school even in our talk to children." 
 
 Another said : "I invite my children not only to the church ser- 
 vice but to the prayer meeting." 
 
 Still another: "I am always glad to see the children at all ser- 
 vices. We want the infantry in God's army,"
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 987 
 
 J. H Walker said: "I deny the charge too. I urge my people 
 to bring the children, and I say to them that they have no business 
 iu the house of God without their children And last Sunday morn- 
 ing I had the accompaniment of a crying baby all through my ser- 
 mon, but it did not disturb me." 
 
 Dr. Johnson — Mr. Moody, you will have tc withdraw that 
 charge. 
 
 Mr. Moody — Well, I will take that back, but I will make 
 another They don't give the children anything when they do 
 come. [LaughterJ 
 
 Dr. Kendall — See here, Mr Moody, I have always stood by 
 vou, but I won't do so any longer if you do not speak the truth. 
 
 Mr. Moody — Don't I speak it. Do you give them anything? 
 
 Dr Kendall — I don't know I believe I do. At least, T try to. 
 I am reforming, or trying to I have found I could give the par 
 ents some good hard hits when I was talking to the children. 
 
 And so the brisk cross-firing continued, one or two other plat- 
 form speakers good-naturedly shooting their personal experiences 
 at Mr. Moody. He faced the interesting f usilade that he had drawn 
 out, with his back to the audience and his stanch and portly form 
 seeming big enough to stand a broadside of the kind of bombard- 
 ment he had provoked 
 
 The firing slackening up Mr. Moody threw in ^ bit of his own 
 experience. He said that he was seventeen years of age before he 
 had heard a solitary word addressed to children. He recol- 
 lected that for seventeen years he had thus heard nothing 
 that was intended for him and his like, and that, at that age, 
 he was waked up one day in church because he snored so loud. 
 With such vouthful memories he was glad that the ministers were 
 devoting five minutes to children's talks. Some time ago, con- 
 tinued the ready evangelist, there was a man who was asked how 
 it was that he had such fine sheep. He replied that it was becaui-e 
 he looked after the lambs. So, said Mr. Moody, look after the 
 children All in the same vein of illustration and comment Mr. 
 Moody told of a bit of a sermon that a little six-year-old girl, in 
 imitation of the firstly, secondly, etc., method of her father had pro- 
 duced. Firstly, she said: 
 
 "The Lord loves us very, very much." 
 
 Secondly. " But He does not like us to sin," 
 
 Thirdly. " Don't you want to love Him." 
 
 Fourthly. " Lord have mercy on us." 
 
 Still talking for and about the children, an aged, white-haired 
 pastor briefly referred to his successful work among the young 
 people during his pastorate in Cincinnati, and said that when Christ 
 came and made promises of salvation He put into these promises
 
 988 CHRISTIAN CONVEXTIOX. 
 
 salvation for two — the believer and his offspring. So, concluded 
 the venerable speaker, when I see a child backslide I feel as guilty 
 for that child as when I first repented myself. After another cleri- 
 cal brother had given his particular experience on this children's 
 topic, Mr. Sankey suggested that there be sung a children's hymn, 
 which was done, number 97 being selected. Dr. Johnson followed 
 in prayer, and there was sung, "Behold what love, what boundless 
 love." " The Rock of Ages" was then sent swelling upward, for 
 Mr. Moody wanted the singing of an old church hymn to open the 
 discussion upon the question of church music. 
 
 '•HOW SHALL WE INTEREST OUR CHILDREN IN THE GOSPEL?" 
 
 Rev. E. C. Ray, pastor of Presbyterian Church, of Hyde Park, 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 The same old gospel that has been preached from Eden down. 
 The same child-nature in Cain and Abel and our babies. The same 
 old promise, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
 he is old he will not depart from it." A good missionary's bad son 
 came to Christ late in life. His old mother said, "'I expected it; I 
 always believed the promise, 'Train up a child in the way he should 
 go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' " We take the 
 promise otherwise. There is only one way — Christ. We believe 
 that if ^ve train up our children in Christ they will never depart 
 from Him, never need to come back from sin to Him in old age. 
 Now what characteristics of child-nature must we consider in order 
 so to present the gospel that they shall be savingly, permanently 
 interested in it? 
 
 In working iron we use tools various. But fire to soften comes 
 first. Love is the force to make human nature plastic. We must 
 love the child not only when fresh, rosy bright, sweet, and clean; 
 but when dirty sick, ignorant, dull, cross. Love it because to des- 
 pise one of these little ones is to despise Christ; love it for what it 
 is in the kingdom of heaven, in the slums, in the present, in the 
 future. Such love never faileth. It is a force which makes the 
 child-heart soft for our molding. As God begins to interest us in 
 the gospel by loving us, so we must begin with the little ones. 
 
 And then the gospel must be addressed to their affections. 
 That gate into the child-heart stands always wide open. Take the 
 truth in by that gate. Longfellow, in his poem to the children, 
 said: 
 
 "The heart hath its own memory, like the mind, 
 
 And in it are enshrined 
 The precious keepsakes, into which are wrought 
 
 The giver's loving thought."
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVEXTION. 989 
 
 A little London girl who took the prize for a fine house plant, 
 was asked how it thrived so in her narrow garret room. "I moved 
 it around in the sun all day," she said. Keep the child-heart in 
 the love of God. That love is a force; heat is a mode of motion. 
 Show the gospel as it is, lovely. Make Sunday lovely. Make 
 church services lovely. Make home religion lovely. Plant the 
 incorruptible seed in the affections. You can't interest a child in 
 philosophical religion or in sour religion. A child in a household 
 where there is not the joy of the Holy Ghost is like a tender plant 
 in a cellar. 
 
 And love alone can interest children in gospel work. Dr. C. S. 
 Robinson says: "I once promised to help a disabled shoemaker with 
 work. The friend who asked me, a New York merchant, walked 
 six miles that winter night to cheer the poor fellow's heart with the 
 news. If ever I straightened myself up to do something for another 
 it was when I heard that. A man loved him ; then so did I." The 
 pitying love of God for the lost; the cross with its extended arms, 
 embracing all races; your own earnest desire to save souls; these 
 will interest the children in gospel work. Draw out a full clear 
 note from your violin and the harp in the corner will echo it. There 
 are tender strings in the child-heart that wait to be sympathetically 
 awakened. 
 
 Wordsworth, reviewing his childhood, found this: 
 
 " Heaven lies all about us in our infancy; 
 Shades of the prison house begin to close 
 
 Upon the growing boy ; 
 But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, 
 
 He sees it in his joy ; 
 The youth who daily farther from the East 
 Must travel, still is nature's priest. 
 
 And by the vision splendid 
 
 Is on his way attended ; 
 At length the man perceives it die away 
 And fade into the common light of day. 
 
 Imagination belongs to childhood and youth. The child-hunger 
 for Arabian Nights, Munchausen, Grimm, and Hans Christian 
 Andersen is from above, heaven-sent. The strong, vivid imagina- 
 tion w^hich makes a princess of a soiled rag doll, and of some old 
 boards a palace, must be utilized in interesting the child in the gos- 
 pel. Those Old Testament stories — we have to cudgel our brains 
 sometimes to get homiletics out of them and to keep the critics' 
 hands off — the children love them. That is how the Bible gets hold 
 of them. Biography, w^hich makes so large a part of the word, and 
 modern biography, "are inexhaustible stores of food for child piety. 
 Stories of martyrs and of missionaries, and little stories of Christian
 
 990 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 children, and stories illustrating all the phases of gospel truth, are 
 the natural food of the young. The common sneer against Sunday 
 school story-hooks seems to me a curl of the lip of ignorance. Why 
 do not such forbid Mr. Moody to use anecdotes? Because "with- 
 out a parable spake He not unto them." Above all, the story of 
 Jesus — ^it runs from Genesis to Revelation. A mother returning 
 from communion told her curious children the story of the Last 
 Supper. She illustrated on the sofa how they sat, and how John 
 lay in the bosom of the dear Savior. One little fellow looked up 
 with face all aglow, "Mamma, I should like to have been Johnny !" 
 The story, through his imagination, entered his heart and kindled 
 there love for Christ. 
 
 Remember that imagination deals only with what is already in 
 the memory. While you are talking the child's imagination is 
 building up the picture as w^ell as it can with what stores it already 
 has. So our words must be simple, child-words all of thcin. 
 
 I once told the Sunday school about David and Goliath, how 
 the lad slew him with a pebble. My little girl's memory had not 
 that word, so she took the one most like it, and told her mother 
 that David slew Goliath, wonderful thing, with a bubble! It takes 
 study and pains to speak clearly to the child imagination. Buy and 
 read to yourself some one-syllable books. Write out a sermon or 
 Sunday school lesson now and then in short words. Most of the 
 inattention of children is caused, I believe, by our long words, 
 meaning nothing to them, and shunting their minds from the track 
 of our thought. 
 
 Remember that the child-imagination builds ideals easily. Life's 
 aims are largely directed by" these. Hence children need sowing 
 and planting rather than weeding and pruning. Their imaginations 
 apprehend things positively, not negatively ; kindle and glow when 
 a holy life is pictured, but shrink timid and discouragedly under 
 cold rebuke. Continual fault-finding discourages them. Nagging 
 and scolding are fatal to child-growth. What a sad picture that is 
 in George Combe's autobiography, where he tells how all his child- 
 hood he pined and hungered for that approving, encouraging word 
 which never came. A smile, a kind word, a caress are gentle dew 
 and rain upon the fallow soil of the child-nature. Tell the little 
 ones more about that Savior who will forgive the penitent child 
 seventy times seven times in a day. Tell them about the prodigal's 
 Father. Lead them to Him. Have hope for them, and give them 
 the hopefulness. We are saved by faith. There is no danger of a 
 child having too much faith. Why, by rebukes and discourage- 
 ment, fill it with doubts and fears ? 
 
 Child-memory has two characteristics — readiness to acquire and 
 readiness to forget. Hence it should be stored with golden words
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 951 
 
 and thoughts, and they should be often reviewed. A child once 
 taught is not taught forever. After driving we must clinch. I am 
 afnud that we make a great blunder in filling these bright, hungry, 
 but slippery, little memories with a thousand non-essential things, 
 instead of taking more pains to drive home the great truths. Bet- 
 ter a few essential truths about God and the Bible and the soul, 
 clearly understood, and made a part of the child's being by reitera- 
 tion, illustration, explanation and example, than a thousand non- 
 essentials left unexplained in the memory, and which the youth or 
 man may have to give up with shock after shock to his faith. 
 This may be somewhat hard upon denominationalism. It will be 
 good for" the child and for Christianity. I would therefore stock 
 the memorv with the sweetest and richest and strongest things of 
 the Bible, clearly understood, and fixed there. I would make him 
 love the word of God above his necessary food, and I would leave 
 him to become wiser than all his teachers in minor and disputed 
 matters by his more mature study. 
 
 Children are intensely logical. They have that sort of logic 
 which Sir William Hamilton said that Dr. Guthrie had in his ser- 
 mons — where there is but one step between the premise and the con- 
 clusion — the strongest and the best logic it is. Sir William Hamilton 
 said. This should teach us several things. 
 
 The child must be brought to a decision for Christ. Drifting 
 in uncertainty is illogical, and the child knows it. "Are you a 
 Christian? Will you be one now and henceforth?" These ques- 
 tions requi^-e immediate pressing. This is not exactly "early con- 
 version," for the child may be already a child of God, and need no 
 conversion; but it does need clear, definite choice of Christ in any 
 case. The logic of the child-mind tends to follow out the choice in 
 a growing Christian life. 
 
 And the practical logic of child-nature demands that its ideals 
 be made very simple and every-day. Every talk at the mother's 
 knee about jesus, every .Sunday school lesson needs to be made 
 practical. The infant class teacher told the story of the cross and 
 asked, "What will you do for Jesus?" A poor little girl, who was 
 hardly used, and whose weary little bare feet were often reluctant 
 to go where they were bidden, said, "I'll run his arrants." Can't you 
 imagine how that lesson was made practical for her and the rest? 
 We often find it hard for ourselves to make the connection between 
 the boiler and the engine, as Phillips Brooks says, between our warm 
 love and our practical living; we must help the little folks to 
 do this. 
 
 Child-logic keenly comprehends the logic of a life, I was once 
 in a reform club meeting, and listened with interest, as all did, until 
 a neighbor drew a half-emptied whisky bottle from the speaker's
 
 992 CHRISTIAN CON^EXTION. 
 
 pocket. Logic was against him, and his words did not count atter 
 that. Who can express the importance of the teacher's own piety? 
 Of the parents' and Christian brothers' and sisters' home Hfe? If 
 we talk much about business and pleasure and our neighbors, and 
 little about spiritual things, the child-logic will value them accord- 
 ingly. If we have our boy give a penny to the heathen, and five 
 cents for candy or fruit, will he not value the gospel and the fruit 
 or candy accordingly? I am persuaded that the small gifts of 
 mature Christians are to be charged in part to the training of their 
 tender years. Children do not readily believe that one is a hypo- 
 crite. Thev sooner place the hypocrite's valuation upon the gospel. 
 The merciless and stern logic of our child demands a holy life 
 of us. 
 
 Individuality naturally comes last. " Train up a child in the 
 way he should go — according to his way" — is the Hebrew. We 
 can't make Christians as we do spools and buttons. We have got 
 to know each child and suit our approaches to his needs. I 
 remember how one little boy was urged by his teacher again and 
 again to be converted. Poor little chap, he was loving Jesus and 
 trying to serve Him. He needed encouragement, faith, hope. The 
 exhortations made him feel that something was wrong he knew 
 not what. So he gave the whole thing up in despair, and waited 
 fifteen years for the Lord to convert him. The teacher urged the 
 wrong boy. Soul-medicine must be given intelligently. And 
 remember that children change like that little green shoot of the 
 spring, which is tall and budding in a few months. Your boy of 
 six months ago is not the boy of to-day. While there are many 
 things which may be said to all" children, yet there are others which 
 must be fitted to each child's present heart. A quick, intelligent, 
 loving, familiar sympathy with the little one's inner life is essential 
 to success. Close that door to your child's nature by harshness and 
 unreasonableness, and you will never enter that inner life more. 
 We must be children with the children, and win, at any cost of self- 
 pleasing authority and government, the inner citadel of the heart. 
 And so we get back again to what we started with — the affections. 
 Love first and last. 
 
 And who is sufficient for these things? You thought when 
 your first-born came that all the difficulty would be in undei'stand 
 ing that heart! No. Each new child is a new problem requiring 
 a new solution. O hard and heavy task ! I felt what Mr. Moody 
 said Tuesday afternoon, " Ministers do not know how to talk to 
 mothers; it needs a mother to do it." That is true. I wish a 
 mother were in my place to-day. I wish my mother could speak 
 to you to-day. But I rest my faith and hope on Him who loved the 
 little ones; so that they came to His arms and sung His hosannahs.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 993 
 
 He loves my little ones, too, my Sunday-school class. I will seek 
 for guidance from that Spirit who was on Him without measure. 
 He is freely given to those who ask Him. 
 
 Mr. Sankey then addressed the convention on the topic: 
 
 "HOW MAY MUSIC BE BEST USED AND CONTROLLED IN PRO- 
 MOTING WORSHIP AND SPREADING THE GOSPEL?" 
 
 He said : 
 
 This is a broad question, covering a good deal of ground. 
 I will not attempt to cover all the ground, but I will make a few 
 statements, the result of years of experience in trying to teach the 
 gospel in song. About thirteen years ago I left my home in Penn- 
 sylvania to attend a convention of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association held at Indianapolis. I had been engaged in Christian 
 work for many years, and had been leading a service of praise in 
 my own town. I was sent by the Association to attend the conven- 
 tion at Indianapolis. I remember one morning, at the early hour of 
 six o'clock, a prayer meeting was announced, to be held in the Bap- 
 tist Church there, to be conducted by my friend who presides at 
 this meeting. My delegation promised to be there. Getting up 
 early, we went there and found the room crowded. The meeting 
 was going on, and an old gentleman, a godly man, was leading the 
 singing. He was singing some of the very old hymns with very 
 old tunes, and the congregation of young men were not singing as 
 they might. I remember a Rev. Mr. McMullen was sitting by me, 
 and during a prayer, he asked me at the conclusion to sing one of 
 the gospel hymns. 
 
 I did not like to interfere, but he said it was a young men's 
 meeting, and the young men were not taking the interest they 
 would if the music were such as they could and would sing. I 
 started one of the hymns I knew they were all accustomed to sing- 
 ing. We sang, "There is a fountain filled with blood." I remem- 
 ber how the young men there took hold of that hymn and such a 
 volume as rose upon the air. That morning was the first time I 
 ever met our brother here. We met in that prayer meeting, and 
 have been together almost ever since. I remember that twelve 
 years ago I came to this city at his invitation, and the day I arrived 
 we went to visit a number of poor families on the North Side. We 
 went into these poor homes, among the sick and the dying, and 
 Mr. Moody would pray with the people and ask me to sing a 
 hymn. The hearts of these people were touched and they were 
 bound to Christ, I believe that the work of that day will tell in 
 eternity. I believe God blessed that day's work. Then in the 
 winter after the fire we worked among these poor people and God
 
 994 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 blessed our efforts. I believe He blessed these gospel hymns, and 
 gave them a power that they never had before. 
 
 When we were in Glasgow a poor mother came up to me and 
 said, "I want to tell you about my little Mary. She was struck by 
 the gospel hymns, and especially by the one. 'vSafe in the arms of 
 Jesus.' The child loved the hymn and was always singing it. Six 
 months ago little Mary sickened and died, but just before she 
 died she said, 'Mother, raise me up, and get my hymn-book, and 
 find No. 13.' That was her favorite, and she sang it through, and 
 as I laid her down again she said, 'Mother, I am going now to be 
 with Jesus. Please lay my little hymn-book in the coffin on my 
 breast open at that page.' " 
 
 And so little Mary died singing "Safe in the arms of Jesus," and 
 was laid away with that h^aiiu in her grave. There are so many 
 of these little incidents that I have no question that God has 
 blessed these hymns, and they have been a blessing to the 
 people. 
 
 Very much depends upon the minister of the gospel in the sing- 
 ing iu church, as to whether it shall prove effective or not. I feel 
 the importance of this, that the church should take charge of the 
 music and conduct it, and not let the choir take it and do as they 
 please. I find that there are two parties in the church often, and 
 there is a difference of opinion as to conducting the services, I 
 think, though, all services should be conducted by the minister. 
 When the leaders have not good voices to lead, the church should 
 take charge and appoint those who will. I find that with very little 
 leading the people will sing well, and think that has been pretty 
 well demonstrated here to-day. There should be a good supply of 
 books in the pews. I agree with what Mr. Jacobs said this morning 
 about Bibles in the churches, but I also want plenty of hymn-books. 
 It is hard for the people to worship God without hymn-books. The 
 churches, many of them, most of them, have too large and too ex- 
 pensive i)ooks. If they would have smaller books and larger 
 collections of them, so that there would be books for all strangers 
 who come in, it would result in better singing. 
 
 Another point is regarding the organ. It should be in front, 
 near the pulpit. I would have the singers in front also. I should 
 have as many in the choir as possible, but they should all be Christian 
 singers to lead in the songs of praise. [Applause]. 
 
 When we went to England we made a point of this. We sent 
 word to the places where we were to hold meetings that we want- 
 ed Christian choirs. You know whether God blessed that work. 
 God was with the singers. I have noticed that so far as we have 
 departed from that rule we have not had the good results. We 
 have had excellent singing from choirs, but while the song was
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVENTIOX. 995 
 
 grand there was not that sph'itual power manifest when we had 
 Christians in the choir. 
 
 As to the organ-playing, I beheve in teaching the sons and 
 daughters to play. I have a son learning to play church music, 
 and I would rather have been a good player on the organ than a 
 finished pianist. If we had several in the Church who could play 
 the organ and be ready to take the organist's jDlace, we miglit not 
 have so much trouble with him. It would have a good cftect to 
 say to him once in a while that his place could be supplied if he 
 did not like to play the music the church wanted. If I could not 
 get a Christian choir, I believe I should go back to the old form in 
 Scotland and have a precentor — have a man stand up before the 
 congregation and invite the people to sing. That kind of singing 
 will get the congregation to singing better. Then there is solo 
 singing. I would use it sjDarely, but I would use it. If I had one 
 who had a voice and heart to sing I should let him or her sing, but 
 it must be from the heart. I believe David sung solos ; but I never 
 sung a solo in my life to worship God. I have sung little songs 
 that had a story which I wished to give to the people. 
 
 Mr. Sankey then told the story of meeting an old Scotchman 
 on board a steamer when crossing to Europe, and when they sang 
 some of the gospel hymns, he thought it was a sin to worship God 
 with songs composed by human beings. He wanted the psalms 
 sung. When that man heard the "Ninety and Nine" sung he wept 
 like a child and wanted the whole collection, and invited the singer to 
 visit him and sing them to his family. That man's prejudices were 
 broken down by a simple story in song. There was solo singing, 
 congregational singing, artistic singing, and evangelical singing. 
 In regard to the last, he believed in explaining the hymns and get- 
 ting the people to thoroughly understand them before letting them 
 sing. Mr. vSpurgeon always talked over his hvmns until the 
 people were fired with them and and all aglow with enthusiasm to 
 sing. 
 
 I think that if some ministers would make more of music it 
 would be better. Mr. Moody makes a good deal of singing; but I 
 think we might have more of it. If you give it to children you 
 will get their help. And so in regard to the matter of singing; if 
 you take hold of it you can make it a power. It will be a power if 
 you seek to make it so. But I would not like to have it frittered 
 away. I think the church ought to manage it — have charge of it. 
 
 Now, are there any questions you would like to ask? If so, I 
 will try my best to answer them. 
 
 The following questions and answers were then asked and 
 given ? 
 
 "What do vou think of interludes?"
 
 996 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 I would have a very simple interlude; possibly the concluding 
 strain of a hymn, perhaps the concluding strain of the hymn 
 you have just been singing; but you may have an impro- 
 vised interlude just to give the singers a rest. I do not like the 
 instruments. The melody is broken thereby. It is like a break in 
 a prayer meeting when nobody comes up to pray. The value of 
 the inte rlude is that the instrument keeps up the tune in which you 
 have been singing. I think there can be no objection to that. But the 
 interlude that is interjected sometimes between the verses, that have 
 nothing in them in the spirit of the singing, I think is all wrong. 
 I was quite interested once in a church where I was with my family. 
 After the services a little boy said to his mother: "Mamma, the tune 
 that that lady pla3'ed to was the tune that was played in Barnum's 
 procession." It really was that tune. It was a popular tune, and the 
 lady played it as we went out. Even the little boy, with his quick 
 ear, recognized it." 
 
 "How about the case of cornets and other musical instruments in 
 connection with the organ ?" 
 
 That question was asked me in private by a minister on the 
 platform. I said, "yes;" that there could be no objection to their 
 introduction if it was done by a body of Christian young men — dis- 
 tinctively Christian men. If they were such I would like them to use 
 them, ifthey wished. They had them or similar instruments in old 
 times — organs and cymbals and timbrels. I don't see if we have 
 them why we should not use them and have the best music we can; 
 though Idon't think I would have them used in regular church 
 services. But in evangelical services, I would use them, and use 
 them in a Christian manner." 
 
 'i Would you go out of church collections for hymns?" 
 
 No sir; I think there are plenty of beautiful hymns in our 
 church collections. 
 
 "What do you think of the introduction of classical 
 music? " 
 
 . I will tell you in regard to that. At one place in England 
 where we had four services a day, being tired, I went out and went 
 to a cathedral in the city, as it was said that at a certain time every 
 day, four o'clock, there was a beautiful singing service — classic 
 music — by the best singers in England. It was true. I went there, 
 supposing that I would hardly be able to get in, though it was a 
 very large cathedral. There were about fifty singers, and I believe 
 I never heard sweeter singing or more beautiful music. I sat down 
 and looked around for the congregation, but I saw none. Soon I 
 was lulled to a sense of sweet, melodious music. Again I looked 
 around to see how many had arrived and were listening to the 
 music. Just fourteen — a service that had cost several hundred
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 997 
 
 dollars for that afternoon alone; only fourteen persons to enjoy that 
 splendid music. 
 
 " Don't you think that circus songs can be converted into church 
 music?" 
 
 No, I don't think I would go out and get the circus tunes. 
 
 "What if the circus tunes become circumcised?" asked a humor- 
 ous minister. 
 
 Mr. vSankey, answering: "Perhaps it might do them good." 
 
 " Do you think it right to pay singers for their services?" 
 
 I have no objection to those who devote their lives to singing 
 being paid. The laborer is worthy of his hire. But I think you 
 can find enough singers in the congregation who will do it for 
 nothing; but the leader should be paid. 
 
 Answers were then given as follows to questions put: 
 
 I would have a choir and I would have more of its singing in 
 the church before the preaching commences. If you did this you 
 would get more practice and the result also would be larger congre- 
 gations. I think the tendency is to have too monotonous forms in 
 singing. We have had the same hymns sung here in half a dozen 
 different forms. I do not know, however, that I would have that 
 in regular services." 
 
 " What do you think about music after services are closed ? " 
 
 I would not have any playing after benediction is pronounced. 
 Mr. Spurgeon, when he closes his addresses, raises his hand and 
 pronounces the benediction, and they go away filled with the truth 
 and talking about it. They do not have the music to dispel the 
 service from their minds. I liked the method very much. They 
 went away filled with his service. I don't like the singing to come 
 in to drive away the gospel. I don't like the church to iDecome a 
 singing-school. 
 
 At this point some " unsankeymonious " infidel in the audience 
 called out: 
 
 " Will you please sing us • 99 ' to break this monotony." 
 
 Mr. Sankey good naturedly responded : 
 
 Yes, after I get through. I would advise the Sabbath school to 
 use such hymns as can be used in the church; and I would have a 
 children's hymn too. I think I would have a special hymn for 
 them. I would also have such hymns in the Sunday school as would 
 induce them to read good gospel truth. In the evening services 
 I would have gospel hymns sung, though using the regular hymn 
 book in the morning services. 
 
 "What do you think of singing in parts?" 
 
 I would have lead the whole four parts. In Germany, where 
 they have the best congregational singing in the world, they all sing 
 the same part. I think it is nice for the quartet to sing alone; then
 
 998 ClIllISTlAX COXVEXTION. 
 
 the congregation sing a portion. What can be objected to it? I 
 think breaking up the monotony by going from one part to congre- 
 gational singing is not a bad thing. 
 
 "Why cannot we have a singing union of Sunday school scholars 
 in Chicago as well as they have in London?" 
 
 There is no reason why we cannot; but I think the project of 
 Mr, ISIoody for a training school for Bible readers, colporteurs, 
 home missionaries, etc., would, perhaps, be the best. I think this 
 training school should have one department for training people how 
 to take charge of singing in the Sunday school. It is easy to criti- 
 cise a singer who conducts Sunday school exercises, but where can 
 they get trained men? They are prepared in regular colleges or 
 otherwise for singing in concerts, but there is no place where Chris- 
 tian singers can be taught their duties. I hope we will have a branch 
 of this sort. [Applause.] 
 
 Mr. Sankey having taken, as he thought, sufficient time in the 
 fruitful process of answering these pertinent questions on church 
 music, Mr. James McGranahan was introduced and continued the 
 subject. Propounding the topical question. 
 
 Mr. McGranahan said: First (negatively), it cannot be best used 
 and controlled in promoting worship by those who are not worshipers. 
 "God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in 
 spirit ancfin truth." It cannot be best used and controlled for spread- 
 ing the gospel by those who do not believe and receive the gospel ; by 
 those who have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good; who have 
 not quenched their own thirst by drinking of the water of life; who 
 have not received Christ, and with Him the gift of eternal life. 
 
 By education and culture a Pharisee may frame what to human 
 ear may seem a beautiful, well-rounded prayer, and yet be like the 
 one who stood in the temple, and prayed thus with himself ; "God, 
 I thank Thee, I am not as other men. I iast, I give of all I pos- 
 sess." It is the I, I, I, I, I, five times in a single breath: he has no 
 need of the Spirit to help his infirmities; he is praying ''with him- 
 self," while the poor Publican, you remember, could not so much as 
 lift up his ej-es, for he \vas not praying "with himself," but to God, 
 and as he prayed with the spirit "God be merciful to me, a sinner," 
 we are told he "went down to his house justified," 
 
 And just so may it be with the singer; by his art he may sing 
 the precious truths of the gospel with such careful expression and 
 studied effect that to human ear. there is, perhaps, nothing more to 
 desire, and yet if he has never bowed to the truth he sings, God 
 knows it is all art and not heart, and like the praying of the Phari- 
 see, it is more with himself than with the spirit of God. 
 
 Come with me into the studio of the sculptor; see that piece of 
 statuary — beautiful, true to nature — faithfully fashioned in every
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY or !| ( miS
 
 CHRISTIAN COXVENTIOX. 999 
 
 feature to "human form divine," as a work of art, it is a triumph, 
 but as a thing ofHfe, it is cold and inanimate as the quarry from 
 whence it was taken. It is nothing more than was Adam before 
 God breathed into his nostrils the bixath of life, and he became a 
 living soul. Life-like as it may seem, who would send it to Wash- 
 ington to represent them in Congress, or the Senate Chamber, or. if 
 tliey did, would the President mistake it for a Senator — he might 
 give it a place in his Cabinet — but it would be among his geological 
 specimens, and not his counselors. 
 
 Come, now, into one of our well-ordered (?) fashionable 
 churches. It is the morning service, and the exercises have just com- 
 menced. What a grand organ; brilliant organist, and the choir 
 superb, soprano so clear, alto so rich, tenor so tender, bass so deep, 
 and the music so delightful ! Nothing better outside of the concert- 
 room or behind the footlights. Isn't it fine? Well, suppose it is; 
 so is the statuary in the studio. 
 
 But how about the worship? Do they believe what they sing? 
 Are they Christians? They do not even profess to be. They sing 
 because diey love to sing, or, perhaps, they regard the church as a 
 harmless, respectable sort of institution, and kindly favor it with 
 their patronage, or, as a mere matter of business, sing because they 
 are paid for it. But, in the light of God's word, can the music under 
 such circumstances be regarded as in any degree calculated to 
 promote the worship of God or the spread of the gospel. As w^ell 
 might we expect a graven image to render acceptable service to the 
 President at Washington as the singer who is still dead in trespasses 
 and sins, not having been "born again " to render acceptable wor- 
 ship to the King of kings and Lord of lords. 
 
 When the sculptor, with his chisel, can put the breath of life 
 into his marble statue and mike it a living soul to fitly represent a 
 living people, then perhaps the smger who is spiritually dead may 
 hope to breathe into his song spn-itual life and power such as shall 
 promote the worship of God and the spread of the gospel. 
 
 But the sculptor does not claim life for his statue, but only a 
 likeness to life — an imitation of that which has life — a specimen of 
 his workmanship in the art of sculpture. And can more be claimed 
 for the music of the sanctuary when thus produced by those who 
 are, in the language of the Scripture, "dead in trespasses and sin ?'* 
 
 Would it not be in entire conformity with the truth sometimes, 
 if the minister, instead of saying, "Let us continue the worship of 
 God by singing tc His praise," a certain psalm or hymn, if he should 
 put it in some such way as this: "We will now suspend the wor- 
 ship of God for a short time and Hsten to some music from the 
 choir, who will kindlv give us a devotional selection in imitation of 
 the worship of God, that which has real musical merit, and will at
 
 1000 CHRISTIAN COXVEXTIOX. 
 
 the same time show off the voices to good advantage, that the con- 
 gregation mav see that they are getting what they subscribed for, 
 viz., good music!" 
 
 "But," savs one, "do vou object to good music in cburch ser- 
 vices?" I answer, "far from it." Let us have music fittin* and 
 appropriate and the best of its kind ; but v^'hen it is the mere render- 
 ing of good music for its own sake, a musical performance of wliat- 
 cver merits call it b\'- its right name— an entertainment, a concert, 
 anvthing vou deem proper — but do not miscall it worship. To ex- 
 pect spiritual power or blessing from such a service of song would 
 be like expecting a well-drilled army to defend our city against the 
 invasion of a mightv enemy without either bullet or ball. If noise 
 and smoke were all that were necessary, then powder and blank 
 cartridges might be sufficient; but since it is not the thunder of the 
 guns that does the execution but the shot and shell through them, 
 so it is not the voices nor the music, but the spirit of God through 
 them, that carries conviction with the truth that is sung. That 
 music has power is not called in question, Who has listened to the 
 strains of the old masters and not felt it? What can be more im- 
 pressive, at least to the musician's ear, than the wonderful har- 
 monies that Handel has used in some of his grand oratorio choruses. 
 For instance, the closing of "All We Like Sheep." where the 
 harmonies breathe forth so impressively the sad but life-giving 
 message, "And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 
 It seems to me no one can listen to it and not be moved; and yet if 
 they have no interest in the divine message it bears, but are simply 
 moved by "the concord of sweet sounds," its power is as fleeting as 
 the passing clouds and its effect vanishes as the morning dew before 
 the summer sun. He listens and weeps and goes on as before in 
 his selfish pursuit of pleasure and sin, regardless of God and the 
 Savior He hath given. 
 
 I remember on a certain occasion a musical director of some dis- 
 tinction, in speaking of the power ot music apart from and indepen- 
 dent of words, made reference to the "Hallelujah Chorus" in this 
 vv-ay: "The choir begins with 'Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah;' 
 and then sings 'Hallelujah, hallelujah,' after which they proceed to 
 sing Hallelujah, hallelujah,' etc., nothing but hallelujah, while the 
 music keeps building up higher and grander at every repetition of 
 the word." Now, at first thought, and perhaps to many a mind, it 
 may have seemed like a meaningless jingle of syllables thrown in 
 merelv to accommodate the music, but when we take into account 
 the meaning of this word "Hallelujah" — "Praise Jehovah," then we 
 have the sequel to its multiplied repetitions. It is hallelujah, hal- 
 lelujah, page after page, with music among the grandest that has 
 ever been written. And what is all this "hallelujah" about, the
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 1001 
 
 closing pages reveal it, "For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 
 We shall comprehend it better when His kingdom has come, when 
 He shall have appeared, when we shall be like Him and see Him 
 as He is. It was the mighty power of this inspired message finding 
 fit utterance through the music, that brought that royal audience to 
 its feet on the occasion of its first rehearsal, and ever since ni every 
 land, it is the custom for the audience, Christian and infidel, to rev- 
 erently stand during the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus." 
 
 Music as a performance is one thing, and its use in divine wor- 
 ship is another. Its power in worship is only manifest when it has 
 its proper'place and relation to the worshipers, and becomes a sim- 
 ple medium through which is poured forth, from hearts that know 
 the "joy of salvation" praise, prayer or adoration to Him whose they 
 are; or a means of expressing or enforcing the truths of the psalm 
 or hymn; and thus, if you please, it is simply an emphatic way of 
 preaching. 
 
 What speech is to the intellect song is to the heart. 
 
 The minister in the pulpit reads the psalm or hymn, and so far 
 as the power of speech may go he brings out the truth thereof. 
 Then the worshijDcrs, with the voice of united song, take it up as 
 the language of their own hearts, and pour forth their praises to 
 Him who alone is worthy. And as the Spirit, according to His 
 promise, guides into the truth and fills each heart with a sense of its 
 reality, then is made manifest the power and blessing of the "ser- 
 vice of song." 
 
 2. That the service of song may be effective we must, as in I. 
 Corinthians, xiv., 7, "Sing with the understanding." "Even things 
 without life-giving sound, except they give a distinction in the 
 sounds, how shall it be known what is piper or harper?" If these 
 things without life are to be clearly intelligible how much more 
 should living human voices be understood. Paul says, "Let him 
 that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret;" 
 and just so in singing. If the choir sing in an unknown tongue let 
 them have an interpreter, but if they sing in their own vernacular 
 let them so sing that there shall be no need of one. 
 
 Again he says (I Cor. xiv., 14), "If I pray in an unknown tongue, 
 my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful." Illus- 
 trations of this are not uncommon in the prayer-meeting whtre 
 some one in a distant part of the room undertakes to lead in a tone 
 too feeble to be intelligible to those around him. While he may be 
 praying with the spirit, he is become a barbarian to those who 
 would join with him. Again (15th verse), "I will pray with the 
 spirit and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing (in 
 the same way) with the spirit and I will sing with the understand- 
 insr also."
 
 1002 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 In my native town lives an old man now, who is always in his 
 pew on the Sabbath, and no matter what the tune — new or old, high 
 or low. loud or soft, he is always ready with his part, for it is always 
 the same, and no inatter whether there be scores or hundreds — like 
 the bass note of an organ when the key sticks — it may always be 
 heard. While, no doubt, his spirit sings, his understanding can 
 hardly be said to be fruitful, at least so far as others are concerned. 
 Paul plainly means that if we have voices, and the use of our pow- 
 ers, we are responsible for using them to the edification of others. 
 And as we see how God is using the singing of the gosp.el in these 
 days to reach men's hearts, it ought to stimulate us to a more general 
 education in this direction, until the ability to read the music would 
 be as common as to read the hymns. Why not? 
 
 3. To sing with the understanding I must be clear on two 
 points: First, is what I sing true? and second, am I true in singing 
 it? First, is what I sing true? Perhaps one of the greatest 
 hindrances to power in the " service of song " lies in the fact 
 that in the vast number of hymns that have been written, some 
 have found their way into use {more or less) that are simply the 
 production of human wisdom or fancy, and when brought under the 
 light of God's word are found to be but chaff. They may be good 
 sentiment and have poetic flow, but if they do not contain the ever- 
 lasting truth of God's word, power or blessing can not flow from 
 them. It is the Spirit's office to take of the things that are Christ's 
 and show them unto us; but if there be nothing of His in it, what 
 has the spirit to do? We have no promise of blessing on that which 
 stands only in the wisdom of man, apart from the wisdom of God, 
 for man's wisdom is foolishness in His sight. As it is wn-itten, " He 
 that hath a dream, let him tell his dream, but he chat hath my word, 
 let him speak it faithfully; for what is the chaff to the wheat, saith 
 the Lord." If we want power we must not sing dreams, but the 
 pure wheat of the gospel, according to the word of God! 
 
 Second, if what I sing is true, am I true in singing it? It is 
 not enough to sing the truth, but we must stand where we can 
 make it the sincere language of our own hearts. Not long since I 
 overheard a friend of mine ask a man — a church member — the 
 question, "Are you saved?" To which he calmly replied: "It is a 
 vefy solemn thing, sir, for any man this side of the grave to say he 
 is saved." "Yes," said my friend, "It would be a solemn thing for 
 any man to sav he had a thousand dollars in his jDocket if he did not 
 have; but if he did have it would quite alter the case." And yet 
 from childhood, I doubt not, this canny Scotchman had been singing. 
 
 "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want, 
 
 He makes me down to lie 
 In pastures green, he leadeth me 
 
 The quiet waters by.
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION, 1003 
 
 "Goodness and mercy all n:iy life 
 
 Shall surely follow me, 
 And God's house forevermore 
 
 My dwelling place sha)l be." 
 
 And what precious truth this is, and with what power and bless- 
 ing it comes to the trusting child of God. But suppose you just 
 ask this man the question- "Is it true that the Lord is your shep- 
 herd? Is it true that God's house is to be your dwelling-place for- 
 evermore?" I think I hear him answer, "It is a solemn thing, sir,' 
 for any man this side the grave to say that." And so it is, if he do 
 not say it truthfull^v, and though he may sing it with the voice of 
 a Brignoli, a Sims Reeves, a Whitney, aye, or angel from heaven, 
 if he be not true in singing it, it can have no power except it be to 
 condemn. How, then, can we expect blessing to flow from those 
 who, when thus singing, are changing the precious truth into a lie 
 upon their lips? 
 
 But says one, what shall we do? Must we stop singing?" 
 In the first place, if the truth condemns, be honest, accept- the 
 situation and turn to God by an earnest, unconditional surrender to 
 His Son as your Savior, for "There is no condemnation to them that 
 are in Christ Jesus." And then, heing on the side of truth, when 
 you sing it will not only bring blessing to your own soul, but to 
 those who hear. I remember an instance of a lady in Dundee, 
 Scotland, that will illustrate. We were all singing the hymn: 
 
 "I've found a friend, O, such a friend, 
 
 He loved me ere I knew Him. 
 He drew me with the cords of love, 
 
 And thus he bound me to Him. 
 And round my heart still tlosely twine 
 
 Those ties, which naught can sever. 
 For I am His and He is mine, 
 
 Forever and forever." 
 
 And as she sung along, the thought stole over ner that she was 
 dishonest in singing such utterances; that although she knew about 
 Jesus she never had accepted Him as her Savior and friend, and that 
 the language of her own lips condemned her, and right there she 
 accepted the situation that she was condemned and that Jesus was 
 the only friend that could help her, and before leaving the room that 
 night she did surrender to him and became one of the most success- 
 ful and earnest workers in the inquiry meetings. Then she could 
 sing "I've found a friend," and be true in singing it. And so, fel- 
 low-singer, I would say to thee, don't stop singing, but "Go thou 
 and do likewise;" surrender to Christ; accept Him as your Savior 
 and Redeemer and then on redemption ground you can sing with 
 the Psalmist, and be true in singing:
 
 1004 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 "He took me from a fearful pit 
 
 And from the miry clay. 
 And on a rock he set my feet, 
 
 Establishing my way. 
 
 "He put a new song in my mouth, 
 Our God to magnify." 
 
 I know of nothing so well calculated to promote the worship of 
 God as to get this new song in the heart: 
 
 "He put a new song in my mouth, 
 Our God to magnify." 
 
 And the result will be that 
 
 "Many shall see it and shall fear, 
 And on the Lord rely." 
 
 To have the new song in the heart is to be a new creature in 
 Christ Jesus. Then old things pass away. All things become 
 new. A lady once read a book recommended by a friend, but was 
 somewhat disappointed in finding it less interesting than she antici- 
 pated; but later she made the acquaintance of its author. She 
 admired him. She grew to love him, and he won her heart. On 
 returning to the book again she was amazed at her former stupidity 
 in failing to discover the beauty and charm that now seemed to 
 glitter upon every page. It was a new book to her. It was writ- 
 ten by the one who had won her heart. So, the simple gospel song 
 that was once so uninteresting, so meager, and almost empty, 
 becomes a new thing, full of sweetness and charm when we wake 
 up to the discovery that it tells the story of His love, who laid down 
 His life that He might win us to Himself; that He might make us 
 His bride. I never listen to the grand oratorios of the old masters 
 but I am seized with a desire to wield such harmonies for the glory 
 of my Master, for the "new song" in the heart is so grandly 
 sublime, and my poor pen so feeble and inadequate. And then I 
 think, perhaps if I could do so, it would defeat the very object of 
 my desire and only lead the hearer to exclaim, "Oh, what music!" 
 instead of, "Oh, what a Savior!" 
 
 We are told of a great painter who once undertook to represent 
 the scene of Jesus with His disciples as they were assembled around 
 the supper-table for the last time. He had summoned all his powers 
 as an artist to depict the heavenly visage of the divine and central 
 One. The work was completed; a group of admiring friends w-ere 
 gazing on the picture. One of them called attention to the exquisite 
 beauty of the cups and vessels on the table, when to their astonish- 
 ment "the artist with one sweep of his brush blotted them out of the 
 picture. The form of the Savior was to be the focal point — the
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 1005 
 
 central figure, and anything that would interfere with that idea was 
 out of proportion, and a blemish so serious that it could not be 
 tolerated ; and so it is with the " new song," Jesus is the focal 
 point, the central figure, and the music that recognizes this and keeps 
 Him there, is the music that will best promote the worship of God 
 and the spread of the gospel. And the music that does not put the 
 truth in the foreground, but by its beauty, its excellence, its grandeur 
 or its anything else, takes the central place for itself, if we are true 
 to our Master as the painter was to his art, in the name of the 
 Master what shall we do with it? 
 
 When Mr. McGranahan had finished his paper, which was well 
 received by the audience, Mr. Moody remarked that the Question 
 Drawer had been omitted from the programme that the subject of 
 church music might be the better ventilated. Having requested the 
 singing of two hymns, one, "Jesus Shall Reign," to the grand music 
 of "The Watch on the Rhine," and the other, "Am I a Soldier of 
 the Cross?" 
 
 Mr. Moody himself had something to say on the important topic 
 still presented to the brethren for further discussion. He said that 
 he knew it was a delicate subject, but that he thought the time had 
 come to speak out. He wondered that a man, such as Mr. Morton 
 on the previous day had mentioned, could know any fear and tremb- 
 ling before getting up to address an audience. For his own part 
 Mr. Moody never had a feeling of this kind for such a reason, but 
 when it came to hearing back of him one of those high-toned choirs 
 singing an unknown tune, then came a time when he was really 
 embarrassed. He had once occupied a pulpit when he gave out a 
 hymn that he felt sure they couldn't set a strange tune to; they surely 
 wouldn't find something new for "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," but 
 they did. 
 
 In Boston not long since Mr. Moody was attending one of its 
 most prominent churches, only to be distressed throughout the entire 
 service by seeing the organist, when he desisted from his perform- 
 ance, take up a Sunday newspaper, and read to within five minutes 
 of the close of the sermon. By such conduct and spirit a minister 
 was fettered in his work. Wasn't it time to speak out, exclaimed 
 Mr. Moody. There might be one in every twenty-five or fifty 
 who wanted the music that he abominated, but the congregations, 
 as a whole, wanted something they could understand, and their num- 
 bers were diminishing because they couldn't get it. If anybody 
 advocated the use of that kind of a choir that embarrassed him let 
 him speak out. Some one on the platform suggesting that perhaps 
 there might be more profit in reading a newspaper than in listening 
 to some preachers, Mr. Moody warmly retorted that he didn't think 
 a Christian man ought to read .Sunday newspapers. An old man
 
 1006 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 in the audience spoke up and asked if one coukln't ride in the horse- 
 cais on Sunday. '"No," tersely rejoined Mr. Moody: "you don't 
 want to take their Sunday away from somebody else." 
 
 Mr. Moody also seemed to hold strong views on the propriety of 
 Sunday railroad travelling. 
 
 Shortly he called upon Major Whittle, for the soul of both of 
 them was in this subject, and the latter advanced and said that he 
 would as soon have an unconverted preacher to preach as an uncon- 
 ycrted singer to sing. He held that it must be abominable in the 
 sij!-ht of God. He strengthened his assertion by affirming that 
 whenever there came a reyiyal in the church the singing was always 
 on the part of the people and God blessed the work. What power, 
 he reminded his hearers, had there been in Mr. Bliss, with whom 
 he went forth to preach Christ, when he sat do\yn by the organ and 
 sang God's truth Major Whittle had sat in Spurgeon's yast taber- 
 nacle, where 5,000 people united in praising God, and there he had 
 felt himself nearer Heaven than in any other place on earth. 
 
 But the day was drawing to its close. vSo Mi. Moody, doubt- 
 less with his soul refreshed by the timely woi-ds of his clerical lieu- 
 tenants, asked the singing by Mr. Sankey of the dear old "Ninety 
 and Nine." 
 
 Mr. Sankey complied. But first, as is much his wont, he spoke 
 a few words of earnest prayer that help might be his when soon he 
 should sing the song across the waters, in the land where it was 
 written. Then asking that there might be loyalty in the hearts of 
 all who sang in the service of Christ, this big, tender man of sim- 
 ple song, probably for the last time in Chicago for many a day, 
 sang, amid the silence that moves by its silence, the verses of the 
 touching gospel hymn, 
 
 'There were ninety and nine that safely lay 
 In the shelter of the fold." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Henson, of the First Baptist Church, rose, after the 
 singing, and said: 
 
 I do not believe in a pulpit performance and I do not believe in 
 a choir performance in a church. There are plenty of places to 
 perform in without going into the house of God. A church is not 
 for performances, but for work; and I believe that the minister is 
 responsible for the character of these services of song, and not the 
 choir. I believe if a minister cannot control the character of the 
 singing in his church, and keep it in Christian hands and in Chris- 
 tian ways, he is not fit for a minister, and had better abdicate. 
 [Laughter and applause.] I belieye ministers are consecrated for 
 the regulation of the services of God's house, and that the singing 
 is a part of that service. I remember going once to New York, to 
 preach for a church that had no pastor. Before I went the leader
 
 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 1007 
 
 of the music in the church sent me a note saying that I need not 
 bother myself about ihe selection of music for the service I was to 
 conduct. I sent him word that if he would come down to see me 
 I would adapt my sermon to his music. And he came down — in 
 more senses than one. [Laughter.] I have heard here soloists 
 that lifted me up to the very throne of God. I have heard a quar- 
 tet that made my soul respond to the soul of the music* I believe 
 in such music as that. [Applause.] 
 
 Dr. Herrick Johnson then rose and said: 
 
 And yet there is a word to be said about that. I know a 
 preacher who did not know the difference between an opera tune and 
 "Old Hundred." [Laughter.] No doubt this charge of the sing- 
 ing in a church ought to be in somebody's hands who has intelli- 
 gence in the matter, and who will see that it shall be made such a 
 part of the worship as it ought to be in a Christian church; just as 
 much a part of the service as the prayer — and a song is a prayer 
 when properly voiced, as it is in many of our homes. I believe in a 
 c[uartet choir, and in a trained choir, and I believe in time we shall 
 have them all over the country as we have them here in Chicago. I 
 hope we shall always have true church singing — singing from the 
 heart; music that makes melody in our hearts and souls. Now, in 
 reference to what we shall sing! We want hymn-books that may 
 be used by all. Songs should be sensible, and they should not be 
 unscriptuial. I have seen songs in song books that were neither 
 sensible nor Scriptural — songs that express a state of quiescence 
 simply, with no activity, no high service for God, and we ought not 
 to be set to singing those. 
 
 The exercises of the afternoon were concluded by Dr. Kennard, 
 who pronounced the benediction. 
 
 EVENING SESSION. 
 
 It is no use piling up adjectives in reference to the crowd that 
 tried to get into Farwell Hall this last night to get a last glimpse of 
 Mr. Moody and hear the last words that that great leader of the 
 people should utter before he should leave Chicago. It will give 
 one some idea of the jam that took place to say that many people 
 did not leave the hall, and at 6 o'clock there were i,ooo people on 
 the sidewalk waiting patiently until the policemen at the door 
 should say they might pass into the hall. No sooner were the doors 
 opened than the hall was filled in every part, and the people packed 
 in a manner that would have disgusted sardines. Even the stair- 
 ways were crowded, although there was no more hope of hearing 
 a word said in the hall above than there was getting into that hall. 
 The speakers who came late had to be lifted over the crowd that 
 choked up the entrance. As for the members of the press who
 
 1008 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 found themselves detailed to report the meeting, after their experi- 
 ence in passing through that crowd no one would wonder that they 
 could pass through key-holes after secrets. It would in theory be 
 easier to pass through'the eye of a needle than gain admission to the 
 hall through the crowd last night. 
 
 As the people were there and must remain it was concluded to 
 open the meeting nearly an hour earlier than announced, and_ at 
 7:10 o'clock Mr. Moody appeared and announced a hymn, which 
 was sung with enthusiasm. Mr. Morehead made the opening 
 prayer, and Dr. Goodwin followed him in a stining speech, urging 
 that the people consecrate themselves to the work. He spoke of 
 his recent sojourn in California, and the work he had undertaken 
 since his return. He believed that every man should present him- 
 self for such work as the Lord would have him to do. 
 
 Mr. William Reynolds, of Peoria, followed Dr. Good- 
 win, and after a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Williams, Professor More- 
 head and Mr. Lattimer made short speeches. 
 
 Dr. Hatfield took the stand to perpetuate the spirit of the eve- 
 ning. He said that the three days past had been days of special 
 interest, red-letter days in the lives of the many present. It all 
 reminded him of a scene described in the holy book, the scene of 
 the transfiguration, when Peter said, "Let us make three taberna- 
 cles." He would have all stay there permanently. So, continued 
 the speaker, would the people who had attended the expiring con- 
 vention look back and wish that they might continue to dwell 
 together. Yet it might be that all had lingered long enough in the 
 place of transfiguration, so let the people go forth into the field and 
 take up the work. 
 
 The speaker kindly and wisely bade no one be unhappy that he 
 or she could not do just what, or in the very way, that some one else 
 did, something for the cause. For each there was a mission. The 
 great thing was to be found honest and faithful in work. For 
 fidelity of service were the rewards at the last day meted out. Some 
 one had said (Johnson, thought the speaker), that if two of the 
 chiefest angels in all heaven were to descend to earth, one to be^ a 
 prime minister of a State and the other to sweep the streets of its 
 capital, with them there would be known no difference in vocation, 
 whether this was the oflice of minister and the other that of 
 scavenger. 
 
 To these servants of God there was no precedence. The sweep- 
 ing of a room might, in the very nature of the action, be made 
 divine. To glorify God as did the great sun was a grand thing, but 
 it was no mean thing to be as the little star that shone in the firma- 
 ment above. The mighty ocean was grand, but the little brook had 
 its place as well. There were no small things in God's cause.
 
 CHRISTIAN COSyESTlOS. 1009 
 
 The speaker bade his hearers when they departed to their 
 homes to go with stout, brave, Christian hearts. Much had Dr. 
 Hatfield and all heard about testimony, but the former had in his 
 mind an instance of testimony that was the most affecting he had 
 ever heard. And this testimony was the testimony of a poor deaf 
 and dumb girl who, at a camp meeting, in the sight of all, testi^ticd 
 mutelv, with her simple gestures, that her heart was God's. Very 
 much'like a camp meeting, resumed the speaker, was the convention, 
 though, he jocosely added to the amusement of many, all the breth- 
 ren could not appreciate the fact. Dr. Hatfield continued in saying 
 that he had noticed that at times of revival, men who had been 
 impressed and yet turned away, were in a worse condition than 
 before; and this seemed to be in recognition of a mental law that 
 truth not acted upon became a curse. If good resolutions were to 
 be their own end, then those who had come and made them had 
 been better off to have remained away. 
 
 He charged his hearers to see that their resolutions were followed 
 up, that thev might not be like men looking into a glass and then 
 going away to forget what manner of men they were. Revealing 
 in himself the liberal, undenominational spirit that seemed to pervade 
 the wdnole convention. Dr. Hatfield declared that if he and his associ- 
 ated brethren proved themselves bigoted and narrow-spirited after 
 all that had passed, they would all desire to be tumbled neck and 
 heels out of the fraternity. Pleasantly confessing that the barriers 
 seemed so thoroughly burned away that he couldn't distinguish the 
 Methodist brethren from the others, this man of God, of hard sense 
 and hardihood, w4th all his heart, quoted Bunyan, who puts into the 
 mouth of some one in his Christian narrative the remark that Mr, 
 Prejudice had fallen and broken his leg, but that it would have been 
 better if he had broken his neck. 
 
 Mr. Moody then called on Mr. J. S. Smithson. 
 Mr. Smithson began his talk by a reference to Christ's meeting 
 with the fishermen, and like their work ours was to be fishers. In 
 the first place w^e must clean nets, and it w^as not necessary for us 
 to be great speakers to become great workers in the Lord's cause. 
 A French surgeon being once asked how many operations of a 
 difficult and peculiar kind he had performed, replied 300, but wdiile 
 they were very brilliant, not one had been successful. An English 
 surgeon who had questioned him, said that he had had eight opera- 
 tions of the same kind, and all but one had been successful. With 
 the Christian worker it should be as it had been with the English 
 surgeon, and while we might not be brilliant, we might be success- 
 ful in what we undertook. It was not brilliant operations and big 
 heads, but with right hearts that we should work. What we want- 
 ed was downright hard work. Some said, it was not their sphere
 
 1010 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 to work this or that way. To those he said, do not be waiting for 
 a sphere. You must work where God found you. Some said they 
 could not see any success in the work ahead. That was not the 
 way to look at it, but go to work. The business man did not go 
 around and show his balance sheet and tell his clerks how much he 
 had lost or gained. Do your part, and you inay be doing a part 
 that may contribute to the great victory, as much as the clerks con- 
 tributed to the general result of tlieir employer's business. 
 
 The fishermen of the Scripture did not quarrel about who was 
 to catch the biggest fish. They just filled the boats. That was 
 what must be done in the churches. Many had heard the story of 
 the ragged boy with his crooked pin catching. fish right under the 
 nose of the gentlemen with fancy rods. It was not brilliant equip- 
 ment that afways caught the fish. Launch out. He rembered that 
 in Dublin they started out to work. Some fear was felt that it 
 would be dangerous and that perhaps there would be trouble. The 
 work w^as started, and a round of the lodging houses made, and 
 invitations given to the lodgers to come to a breakfast. They 
 elbowed each other, and smiled. They came, and in time those 
 meetings were soon attended by i,ooo Catholics and 500 others. 
 Start out, and go to work. All remembered the story of the great 
 artist who asked for the piece of rough marble, and how out of it 
 he carved the most beautiful figure of an angel. Right here in 
 Chicago there were plenty of pieces of rough marble, out of which 
 might be carved angels. If you thought you were nothing, do not 
 letthat hinder you, but remember that in your work is Christ. All 
 know that some had the trick of picking fish from others. 
 
 There was in England a class who steal in this w^ay, and are 
 known as poachers. There were some ecclesiastical poachers. That 
 was a very mean trade. Work earnestly in the best way you know. 
 No man ever lost anything by his religion. He never knew a busi- 
 ness man who yet lost anything by attending to the Lord's work. 
 There was many a fort 'to take, and like the volunteers in the 
 Crimean war who marched forward to take a certain fort, we must 
 march out right in our own city and assail the enemy. We could 
 fell the giants of iniquity, though we were but striplings, if we had 
 but faith to trust in God. 
 
 MR. Moody's closing address. 
 
 Mr. Moodv said that in '76, when the meetings were held m this 
 city, one of the ministers made a remark that had remained with 
 him ever since. They were speaking about the text. "I will pour 
 out waters upon those who are thirsty," and Dr. Gibson said he 
 would like to find the thirsty in his congregation that he might pour
 
 CHRISTIAX CONXENTIOX. 1011 
 
 out upon them the water. He had thouf^ht a good way to find the 
 thirsty would be to carry a bucket of water down the aisle, and 
 those' that were thirsty would drink. If the buckets were empty 
 we could not tell who were thirsty. He had thought that himself 
 and other ministers were carrying empty buckets. Was it not true 
 that they were \yorking without haying been anointed, without the 
 power for seryice.'' The influence of this conyention would be lost 
 within thirty days unless they could get power from on high. A 
 colony had gone to Africa, and when they would haye settled in 
 one place the natiyes told them there was one season when it neyer 
 rained there, and they moyed on. In another place they were dis- 
 couraged in the same manner. But at the third place, the natiyes 
 said the clouds were pierced, and they settled there. These Chris- 
 tian workers should go under the pierced clouds and then their 
 buckets would always be filled. The'y could then giye of the 
 waters to those who were thirsty and the buckets neyer be empty. 
 It was so easy to work when we were always filled. 
 
 A friend of his Hying oyer in Michigan, near the lake, had pipes 
 laid from the lake to his house so that he could draw off the water 
 by simply turning a faucet. 
 
 He said it was better than haying Lake Michigan, for if he had 
 the whole lake he would not know what to do with it. With the 
 connecting pipe he could draw off just as much of the lake as he 
 wanted and always have a plenty. It ^vas easy to go to a throne of 
 grace and be always filled. Mr. Moody said he had been 
 approached during the afternoon by a man who said he had 
 receiyed a blessing at the meetings held here seven years ago that 
 lasted him ever since. And the speaker belieyed that such blessings 
 should go out from this meeting. In Birmingham one kind-hearted 
 gentleman had established morning schools for the workingmen. 
 When Mr. Moody was in the place he thought he would look into 
 it. He found that several years ago this gentleman thought he 
 might do something for the workmen of the place, and he tried to 
 establish a school for Sunday mornings. He got up at 7 o'clock 
 and went about carrying out his plans, but it was discouraging, for 
 7 o'clock was before daylight in the winter mornings, and on Sun- 
 days the workmen could not be got up until about 10 o'clock. But 
 he was not discouraged, and kept at his work, until now in Bir- 
 mingham on Sunday morning one could hear the tramp of these 
 workmen as they went to their school. There were S,ooo men 
 gathered into this morning school and the Christian teachers were 
 there from all over the city to instruct them. It was a grand sight 
 to see this school, and when Mr. Moody visited it he found the 
 Mayor of the city there at that early hour teaching a class of men. 
 
 And the influence had not stopped there A lady had been con-
 
 1012 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 verted and her whole familj-. There was one member of this 
 family, a gentleman of influence at court, a man of wealth, and in 
 looking about for something to do for the Lord,, he thought of the 
 bovs. He went down to the "Seven Dials," one of the very worst 
 places in London, and he gathered the boys up that he could per- 
 suade to go with him. He gave them their supper, kept them at 
 night, and gave them their breakfast. He then promised to give 
 every one that remained with him a new suit of clothes and find 
 him a place. The boys remained, and night after night he went 
 down to that vile part of the city at 2 o'clock at night, or later 
 and each time gathered up several of these boys. This was not 
 only for one night, but for every night, and he kept it up for years. 
 And now, as the result of this work, he had a great training school 
 with 3,500 boys and youijg men, ranging from 17 1025 years of 
 age, who were learning the trades. It did not mean much being 
 free in this country, but in Europe it did mean a good deal. 
 
 Mr. Moody hoped the spirit of the Most High would fall upon 
 this convention and that it would bear good fruit. He hoped that 
 many would go into the vineyard and ask God to teach them what 
 was their work. He had never advised any man to go into the 
 ministry. 
 
 It was too high a calling. He had ncA'cr advised any man to go 
 into the foreign field, because it was too solemn. If God sent men 
 into this work they would be successful. If men sent them they 
 would break down. But he believed there would be fruit. He 
 neyer had seen a man who expected good results but \vhat he 
 worked so that he secured them. A man who had hope and faith 
 would succeed. The people in this convention all seem to have 
 faith. But they must sink public opinion. They should not look 
 into the papers to see what was said about them. They should not 
 care what the people said. There was no need to make any noise 
 so as to attract attention. It was not always the noisy things that 
 proved successful. There was near his house in the spring, a 
 little brook that went bubbling along over its pebbly surface 
 making a noise all the time, and always making itself known, but 
 when the heat of the summer came the waters of that brook had 
 dried up, and there was nothing left of it. Then, not far away was 
 a great, silent river. He had never heard that river; did not know 
 it was there, because it did not make any noise; but when he found 
 it moving along in its silence, and followed down its course, he 
 found along its banks mills and manufactories that were given 
 power by these waters. We need not blow a trumpet in our work. 
 On a deadwall in Paris there was an inscription which he liked. 
 
 It read: "They say. What do they say? Let them say." 
 That was a srood motto for Christian workers. They had a work
 
 CHRISTIAN CON\-ENTION. 1013 
 
 to do, and should go about it, not caring what was said. Should 
 thev go forth from this convention to work, or should they let its 
 influence be lost? It was said of Demosthenes that when bespoke 
 the people wanted to go at once to fight with Philij^, but when 
 Cicero spoke they went away, saying it was grand. One inspired 
 men to clo, the other merely made himself admired. Which should 
 this convention be like? They had had good speeches. Never had 
 he heard better. Never had he seen so much unanimity Never 
 had he seen Chicago pulpits so well manned as at the present. They 
 were grand men, and were united so that as Dr. Hatfield had said, 
 one could not tell Methodists from Baptists or Presbyterians, or 
 Congregationalists. There was a spirit of unity and he thanked 
 God that these denominational walls had begun to crumble. 
 [Applause.] "Never mind that now. That is not what we want. 
 We want work Let us go about it. Do all the good you can and 
 work as long as you can." 
 
 When he had closed, Mr. Moody stepped back into the crowd 
 on the platform and left the hall at once, taking the evening train for 
 his home in the East. 
 
 A hymn was then simg. 
 
 Bishop Chenev followed, and reminded the audience that they 
 had not attended the great convention for the pleasurable excite- 
 ment it had afforded. If they were to turn away from it and say it 
 had been delightful, and enjoyment was the highest thought in their 
 minds, then within thirty days the influence set in motion would be 
 completely lost Let them realize that the work of the convention 
 was but to set them at work Though the convention was ended, 
 its work was not done. 
 
 Dr. Henson came next with a brief, earnest talk •' What shall 
 we do?" was the question asked. The answer was suggested in 
 the quotation ' Whatever thy hand findeth to do " Take what was 
 next your hand. A gift of $10,000 from a rich man might receive 
 the applause of the world, but the music of* the widow's mite rose 
 to heaven. It was a grand thing to be a general, and see the battle 
 and hear the shouts of victory, but the life of the private in the 
 ranks was more heroic. Let us be willing to do our little in our 
 little sphere, and let us go down from the high mountain, from this 
 convention into the valley to work. Let us promise to right about 
 face and work. If we could not move great multitudes let us put 
 our hand on the shoulder of some brother and wish that he may be- 
 come a Christian. 
 
 Major D. W. Whittle then exhorted the audience, whether 
 they were Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, or Presbyterians, 
 to work together to attain the gi-eat object of bringing souls to Jesus. 
 They should not wait until January to hold their revivals; they
 
 ]014 CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. 
 
 should engage in the work of saving sinners without delay. A 
 questionable pride kept many away from God. Many of them 
 would find by bitter experience that they had sinful hearts and were 
 in need of God's mercy. If they worked for God and persevered, 
 their end would be glorious. Christ had given His life to save them 
 and they should trust in His ways of redemption. 
 
 At his request a large number arose and expressed their willing- 
 ness to obey God's law. Many also asked for the prayers of the 
 assemblage. 
 
 The services were brought to a close by the singing of the 
 "Sweet By-and-by." 
 
 THERE'S a land that is fairer than day, 
 And by faith we can see it afar; 
 For the Father waits over the way, 
 To prepare us a dwelling-place there. 
 
 2 We shall sing on that beautiful shore 
 
 The melodious songs of the blest. 
 And our spirits shall sorrow no more, 
 Not a sigh for the blessings of rest. 
 
 3 To our bountiful Father above 
 
 We will offer our tribute of praise, 
 For the glorious gift of His love, 
 
 And the blessings that hallow our days. 
 
 Cho. — In the sweet by-and-by, 
 
 We shall meet on that beautiful shore, 
 In the sweet by-and-by, 
 
 We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
 
 THE LIFE AND LABORS 
 
 -OF- 
 
 C. H. SFX7XICE01T, 
 
 The faithful Preacher, the Devoted Pastor, the noble Philanthropist, 
 the beloved College President, and the volumi- 
 nous Writer and Author : 
 
 DnG ElGoantly llluatratGd Quartn VnlumE, BSD PaoGS. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE C. HEEDHAM 
 
 Evangelist^ Author of " Recollections of Hoiry Moorhouse^'' " The True Tab- 
 ernacle^'' etc.^ etc. 
 
 9^HE author says in this preface, " No apology is needed for bringing before our Ameri- 
 ^ can public, in the present form, the life and labors of this well-known, beloved and 
 faithful minister of Jesus Christ. Mr. Spurgeon has universal fame without seeking it. — 
 Free from selfishness and ambition, and without aiming at popularity, he has enshrined 
 himself in the hearts of thousands and commanded the homage and respect of millions. — 
 His name and labors are interwoven with the religious history of England in the present 
 century; and any one who would acquaint themselves with the great ohilanthropists of 
 (the age, will seek acquaintance with this esteemed pastor." 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon has preached for twenty-eight years to a congregation of more than SIX 
 THOUSAND persons, and has now a church whose membership numbers over five thou- 
 sand. During this long pastorate he has extended the right hand of fellowship to nearly 
 TEN THOUSAND persons. For twenty-seven years his sermons have been published 
 weekly in all parts of the world, and translated into many foreign languages. He has 
 founded and presides over a COLLEGE which ia unique in itself, preparing one hundred 
 students for the ministry of the Word; is the originator and director of an ORPHANAGE, 
 giving a home to FIVE HUNDRED needy children. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of 
 his marriage, he gave the testimonial, then given him, of over thirty thousand dollars, to 
 provide an ASYLUM for a score of poor widows. 
 
 As a writer, he is the author of over forty diff"erent volumes, including Sermons, Com- 
 mentaries, Lectures and Esscjs — the sale of one book alone, — " John Ploughman's Talk," 
 having reached a sale of over three hundred thousand copies in England. He is also edi- 
 tor of a monthly magazine — "The Sword and the Trowel;" besides, he has started and 
 still watches over many other works too numerous to mention.
 
 Mr. Spurseon's Life and Example 
 
 Will be an incentive to Christian workers,, quickening their faith, inflaming 
 their zeal, and encouraging their hearts in labor for the Lord, In reading his thrill- 
 ing words, the faint-he;irtecl will find encouragement, despondency and unbelief will 
 give place to hopefuhiessand faith. All weary tollers for God, missionaries, pastors, 
 evangelists, students, and all who in the battle have had more than ordinary trials, 
 will thank God for this noble example, and take courage. 
 
 This is a timely book, — the bold, clear, faithful teaching of this great preacher, 
 will in some measure counteract the ill-balanced, weakly, and sentimental theories 
 afloat, as well as deliver from unscriptural, hurtful and skeptical preaching, — now, 
 alas! so general — manv disciples of Jesus. 
 
 To the thousands of families throughout the country who are isolated from 
 churches, or who may be surrounded by heretical teachers, and who prefer 
 to spend the Lord's day at home, than to allow tliemselves or children to receive 
 spiritual damage through corrupt doctrine — this work will be doubly welcome, as it 
 will supply interesting, moral and healthful I'eading. The story of Mr. Spur- 
 geon's life, the peculiarities of his ministry, the history of his Orphanage and College, 
 besides the reports given of the various features of his labors, cannot fail to command 
 interest. 
 
 MERCHANTS AND BUSINESS MEN 
 
 Who need a book which will not fail to beguile the tedious hours of relaxation — 
 a book which must not be dull or mischievous in its tendencies, will find chapters 
 in this volume from his pen which outrival for pure wit and homely wisdom any 
 work extant. Never vulgar, sensual or trifling, the humor of ]Mr. Spurgeon brings 
 diversion and help and hope with it. His " Talks " are full of sound advice, keen 
 satire, kindly suggestions, and friendly warnings. No weary man can spend an hour 
 reading these pithy sayings without feeling rested and benefited. 
 
 The AUTHOR'S British training, and personal acquaintance with Mr. 
 Spurgeon and knowledge of his labors, peculiarly fit him to write this great work. 
 He is an enthusiastic admirer of the great London preacher, and has had free 
 access to the private and public papers of Mr. Spurgeon, and has produced a book 
 which will furnish pleasure and profit and have the fullest approval of one's con- 
 science and judgment — a judgment which will sharpen the intellect, feast 
 
 THE SOUL, AND QUICKEN THE WHOLE MAN. 
 
 Ministers, lay preachers, Bible readers and all students will 
 find this work a mine of valuable information and suggestion. No book has ever 
 been published containing so much of the great preacher and his life and 
 
 LABORS.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Illustrations in this book, over forty in number, have been produced at 
 o-reat exoense, made expressly for this work by an artist who has proved to be one 
 of the best of our American artists. The mechanical part of the book is beyond 
 criticism, being done by the Cambridge University Press — the oldest and best in 
 America. 
 
 DESCRIPTION AND PRICES. 
 
 " The Life and Labors of C. H. Spurgeon" is published in one large square 
 octavo volume, of 650 pages, printed from clear new type, on fine, tinted, heavy 
 crown plate paper, made expressly for this book, and illustrated with a fine, lifelike 
 portrait of Mr. Spurgeon, and forty engravings. It is bound in the most elegant 
 and substantial manner, side stamps in black and gold, of beajitiful designs, and is 
 furnished to subscribers at the following prices: 
 
 $4.00. .in Oiive Green Cloth, Plain Edge, Silk Pattern, Beveled Board. 
 
 $4.75 in Olive Green Cloth. Gilt Edge, Green Pattern, Beveled. 
 
 $8.50 in Half Turkey, Antique Back and Marble Edge, Beveled. 
 
 AGENTS "WANTED. 
 
 The book will be sold exclusively through canvassing agents. In no case will 
 it be sold in bookstores. Active, energetic agents of good character and address, 
 v.ho will canvass closely, will be given specially liberal rates and absolute control 
 of territory, for which commission will be sent on application for outfit. Address 
 for terms 
 
 FAIRBAHKS, PALMER ^ CO. Publishers, 
 
 i33 WABASH AVENUE,
 
 ^CONTENTS> 
 
 Life and Lahnrs nf C.H.SpuraEnn 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. — Introductory. 
 
 u ■ II._AxcESTRY, Parentage and Birth. 
 
 « III.-?-C0NVERSI0N AND PrEACHING. 
 
 u IV. — Call to London. 
 
 u V. — Abundant in Labors. 
 
 « VL — Revivals. 
 
 « VII. — ^Multiplying Work. 
 
 u Vin. Results of Overwork. 
 
 « IX. Trials and Deliverances. 
 
 u X. Devising Liberal Things. 
 
 « XL The Metropolitan Tabernacle. 
 
 « XIL— The Pastor's College. 
 
 a XIII. The President's Report, iSSi. 
 
 « XIV. — Inaugural Address. 
 
 u XV.— Inaugural Address (continued). 
 
 « XVI. Stockwell Orphanage. 
 
 « XVII. Annual Report, 1881. 
 
 w XVIII. The Girl's Orphanage. 
 
 « XIX. vSuNSHlNE IN the HeART. 
 
 « XX. The Colportage Association. 
 
 « XXL—" The Sword and the Trowel." 
 
 « XXII. — Editorials (45). 
 
 « XXIII.— Contributed Articles by Mr. Spurgeon. 
 
 " XXIV.— Reviews. 
 
 « XXV. — Letters. 
 
 « XXVL— Personal Notes. 
 
 " XX VII.— John Ploughman's "Talks," and ^'Pictures." 
 
 « XXVIII. The Bible and the Newspapers. 
 
 u XXIX. — Mrs. Spurgeon's Work. 
 
 « XXX. — Charles Spurgeon. 
 
 « XXXL— Thomas Spurgeon. 
 
 « XXXIL— Sermons. fv
 
 A VAIiUABIiE BOOK. 
 
 The H ome Guide. 
 
 AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL THINGS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
 
 One Large Octavo Volume 
 
 OF FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE PAGES, ELEGANTLY ILLUS- 
 TRATED WITH SIXTY-EIGHT ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 C»PHE aim of "THE HOME GUIDE " is to give the very best of all that is to be found in ex- 
 ■'t\^ pensive and cumbersome works, in. a condensed, compact, cheap and convenient form, dis- 
 "^"jv pensing with all unnecessary words which mystify and confuse, sifting the wheat from the 
 chaff of all standard authorities, besides adding much practical and valuable information never 
 before published. After many years of toil, and expenditure of many hundred dollars, writing, 
 collecting, gleaning, condensing, and preparing the work for publication, we take pleasure in pre- 
 senting this Original and Unique Book, feeling we have accomplished a gi-eat task in supplying a 
 want long felt, — one that will be appreciated by the public,— a book long sought,;but never before 
 obtainable. A complete guide to every department of the household. The best experience of the 
 past condensed for the practical use of the present. A book every family should have, and having, 
 will not be without. The best ideas of the most advanced economists of the age are compiled for 
 common use in this book. Domestic Economy in a Nutshell. It contains Thousands of 
 Important Facts, Valuable Hints, and Useful Suggestions. It tells 
 
 How to Secure a Home. How to Preserve Health. How to Save in Furniture. How to Preserve Many Things. 
 
 How to Build a Home. How to Care for the Sick. How to Save In Fuel. How to Make Many Thirgs. 
 
 How to Furnish a Home. How to Live Comfortably. How to Save in Cooking. How to Mend Many Things. 
 
 How to Decorate a Home. How to Live Cheap!,. How to Save in Clothes. How to Make Home Happy.
 
 The Home Guide is adapted to every range of income. The trite axiom, 
 "Economy is wealth," has a significance for all classes of people. Wealth is found, 
 not in having a large income, but in the possession of a surplus after paying judicious 
 expenditures in living. The man of limited means who has even a small balance in 
 his favor at the end of a year, after meeting the demands upon his purse, is richer 
 han another whose income is ten times greater, but who spends more money than 
 he receives. How to obtain economically the necessaries of the household, at the 
 same time to augment convenience and comfort and enhan^ce the enjoyments of life 
 are among the prominent subjects considered in this work; it indicates wherein true 
 economy consists and how by the minimum of expenditure the maximum of comfort 
 may be secured. 
 
 Particular prominence is given to hygiene. The laws which govern life and 
 health receive special attention ; the value of a knowledge of essential principles is 
 shown; the benefit of exercise is pointed out; the influence of pure air, wholesome 
 H)od, and cleanliness is demonstrated, while the departments devoted to domestic 
 medicine are exceedingly useful and valuable, especially in cases of sudden illness or 
 accident. The proper treatment of diseases incident to childhood is one of the 
 most important features of the work, and directions and suggestions are given to 
 enable parents and others to guard against the invasion of disease and death in their 
 homes. 
 
 In the choice of a home there is information pertaining to things that are very 
 often overlooked, and evils poifited out which ought specially to be avoided. Those 
 who contemplate building will find in this work suggestions as to the best way of 
 planning a house, taking into account the situatian and circumstances of tbe individ- 
 ual; the materials to be employed in the construction of houses are not overlooked, 
 nor the manner in which the necessary work should be done.
 
 The surroundings of a dwelling exert much influence upon the 
 pleasures and tastes of its inmates, and The Home Guide, recog- 
 nizing this important fact, gives the subject proper attention. So, 
 also, the furnishing and decoration of the home is given the consid- 
 eration it deserves. Under appropriate heads will be found infor- 
 mation relating to furnishing every part of the house, according to 
 the means at command, in the most economical, durable, and pleas- 
 ing manner, as to material, shape, texture and color The portions ^^^^S 
 relating to ornamentation include some of the simplest methods of rendering the 
 home attractive, a knowledge of which enables the inmates, however humble, to find 
 pleasure and gratification for their ingenuity and taste. 
 
 There are departments also relating to window garden- 
 ing and the care of house plants, as well as to other branches 
 of rural taste, w^ich contain facts and suggestions that every 
 one may read with profit. The subject of Home Recrea- 
 tion and its influence upon the family is considered from a 
 practical stand-point, and the utility of combining instruc- 
 tion with amusement, and enjoyment with health. 
 
 In the preparation of the Home Guide, the especial 
 object has been to produce a work such as is required by 
 the masses ; a compendium of useful knowledge of such value that its practical 
 economic, and hygienic features shall recommend it as a useful book in every 
 family; an Encyclopedia of Social and Domestic Economy, which shall be a ne- 
 cessity in every home. It places with- 
 in the reach of all, at small expense, 
 a fund of information which other- 
 wise must be obtained by long and 
 wearisome experience, or gleaned from 
 an expensive library. 
 
 This is a brief outline only of the 
 plan and purpose of The Home 
 Guide. To attempt even an epitome 
 of its contents in this connection is 
 impracticable within appropriate lim- 
 its. The work is comprehensive in 
 scope, and full in detail — a Guide in 
 fact, as in name, for every department 
 of the HOME.
 
 DESCRIPTION AND PRICES. 
 
 *The Home Guide" is published in one large octavo volume 
 of 526 pages, printed from clear, new type, on fine, tinted, heavy 
 paper, made expressly for this book, and illustrated with 68 engrav- 
 ings. It is bound in the most substantial and elegant manner, bev- 
 eled board, side stamps in black and gold; of beautiful designs, and ^ 
 is furnished to subscribers at the following prices: 
 
 In English Cloth, Back and Side in Black and Gold. $2.00' 
 " . " Gilt Edges, " " " 2.50 
 In Arabesque Morocco, Library Style, -. - - ■ 2.75 
 
 Agents Wanted! 
 
 The book will be sold exclusively through canvassing agents. In 
 no case will it be sold in book stores. Active, energetic agents of good 
 character and address, who will canvass closely, will be given specially 
 liberal rates and absolute control of territory, for which commission 
 will be sent on application for outfit. Address, for terms, 
 
 FAIRBANKS, PALMER & CO.. lublishers, 
 
 133 WkfekA Svenue, Cliidk^o, 111.
 
 SONG PILGRIMAGE 
 
 Around and Throughout the World. 
 
 By PHILIP PHILLIPS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION BY Rev. J. H. VINCENT, D. D 
 
 Biographical Sketch by 
 REV. ALEXANDER CLARK, D. D. 
 
 One Elegant Illustrated 12 lllO Yolume. 
 Nearly Forty full page Engravings. 
 
 Books of travel have increased of late years almost in the direct ratio to 
 the increased facilities for journeying, and it may be said that the quality has 
 also proportionately improved. The vv^ork we now offer the public covers a 
 field and subject contained in no other volume published. Sontg Pilgrimage 
 embraces a life of song experiences, impressions, anecdotes, incidents, persons, 
 manners, customs, sketches and illustrations throughout twenty different coun- 
 tries visited by the singing pilgrim, Philip Phillips, in his "tour of the world." 
 
 In September, 1874, Mr. Phillips left his home m New York, with his 
 family, for the purpose of fulfilling an engagement to sing one hundred nights 
 in Australia, and with a view of proceeding from thence round the world. 
 He was able to carry out his intentions, and without an accident of any kind, 
 traveled over forty thousand miles and held nearly six hvndred song services, 
 fulfilling every engagement as advertised. This tour occupied three years' 
 time. The interest in this book is further enhanced by a fine steel plate 
 portrait of Philip Phillips >^nd a large number of others, illustrative of 
 the scenes through which he passed. The world has known the author as on«
 
 of the most popular solo singers of sacred songs in the world. In this inter- 
 esting book we find him excelling in a new character, as a careful observer, a 
 thoughtful and patient traveler, and a diligent student ot the history, associa- 
 tions, social customs, governmental methods and policies of the countries 
 through which he passed, told in a style both fresh, sparkling and critical* 
 The description^ are graphic and pictorial. The subjects will be found of 
 permanent interest to all who have a taste for narratives of travel, or would 
 like to follow the author in his unprecedented and enthusiastic tour. We feel 
 confident that the book will prove a valuable acquisition to every private or 
 public library. 
 
 The Author needs no introduction from us. The millions of hearts that 
 have been quickened by the sacred songs from the lips of Philip Phillips, will 
 give all hail to this volume of the sweetest of all themes of earth or heaven, — 
 the song service of the Lord's redeemed. In the preface to the book the 
 author says: 
 
 " The reader will find, in pursuing this record of an itinerant evangelist 
 song, a strangely guided career. That the simple songs of salvation, 
 through the blood of the Lamb, should be heralded along the highways, 
 through the populous cities, across the distant seas, into the remote islands, along 
 the shores of heathen continents, throughout the centers of population in Hin- 
 dostan, Egypt, the desolations of the Holy Land, and on the continent of 
 Europe, ever and everywhere speaking the same sweet story 
 
 ♦Of Jesus and His Love,* 
 
 with crowds attent in every land, tears responding from the faces of aliens and 
 barbarians, strangers and foreigners, with humanity at large, of all tongues and 
 kindreds and tribes, at once glad hearted at the sound of gospel salvation, is, 
 indeed, a wonder of sovereign grace. The health of the singer was marvel- 
 ously protected all the long journey ; his voice never failing, his spirits never 
 desponding, his hopes never flagging and his faith never wavering from the 
 hour of his departure from home until the hour of his return. In this vast 
 schedule of engagements all were fulfilled as advertised; never was the singer 
 late, never disappointed in having an audience. It was a wonderful manifes- 
 tation, from beginning to end, of the goodness and mercy of God. At every 
 step and in every nation was clearly indicated the divine favor resting upon the 
 effort to .reach the world's remotest ear by the voice of singing and the song of 
 redeeming love." 
 
 This is Mr. Phillips' first and only book, other than sacred song books — 
 the aggregate of the latter having reached the unprecedented sale of nearlj- 
 Six Million Copies, and have been translated into nearly every language on the 
 face of the globe. 
 
 Mr. Phillips stands forth as the pioneer solo singer of sacred song; others 
 have taken to his style of singing, and their names have become household 
 words throughout the English speaking world. The words of no other com- 
 poser and singer of sacred, song were ever before carried by so many types, 
 or carried so far. No other singer addresses so many constantly. He has the 
 Civilized World for a congregation
 
 The Illustrations in this book are a decided feature^ and include inside 
 views of some of the most prominent halls and churches in foreign countries, 
 notably the native churches of India, etc. They are full page wood-cuts, 
 splendid designs, elegantly engraved, and printed on super-calendered, tinted 
 paper, designed and drawn by our best artists, and all illustrative of the 
 subjects. 
 
 DESCRIPTION AND PRICES. 
 
 "Song Pilgrimage" is published in one large octavo volume, of nearly 
 500 pages, printed from clear, new type, on fine, tinted, heavy paper, made 
 expressly for this book, and illustrated with a fine, life-like portrait of Philip 
 Phillips, and thirty-two full-page illustrations. It is bound in the most sub- 
 stantial and elegant manner, side stamps, in black and gold, of beautiful 
 designs, and is furnished to subscribers at the following prices: 
 
 In English Cloth, Back and Side in Black and Gold, $2,00 
 In English Cloth, GUt Edges, ** ** ** << 2.50 
 
 In Turkey Morocco, Gilt Edges, Presentation Edition, 3.50 
 
 The Publishers guarantee the book to correspond in every respect with 
 the Prospectus, and unless it does, those who order the work will be under no 
 obligations to take it. 
 
 Mailed post paid on receipt of price, 
 
 FAIRBANKS, PALMER & CO, 
 
 133 WABASH AVENUE, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL.
 
 It Is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a 
 
 luxury, but one of the necessities of 
 
 life.— II. W. Beecher. 
 
 ASQUE TORN OFF 
 
 By T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D., 
 
 Author of -Crumbs Swept Up," "Around the Tea Table," 
 "Abominations of Modern Society/' " Sports that Kill." etc, etc 
 
 ONE LARGE OCTAVO VOLUME, 
 
 OF NEARLY FIYE HUNDRED PAGES, ELEGANTLY ILLUS- 
 TRATED WITH ABOUT FIFTEEN FULL PAG.F. 
 ENG^RAYiNGS. 
 
 THE MASQUE TORN OFF contains the disconrses— as lately deliv- 
 ered in the Brooklyn Tabernacle — giving Dr. Tahnage's experience and 
 observations, as lately seen by him — in company with two elders of his 
 church and three high police officials — during their midnight exjiiorations 
 in the haunts of vice of New York City. They have been revised hy hijn 
 for this work, and are written in his strongest descriptive powers — spark 
 ling with graceful images and illustrative anecdotes, terrible in their ear- 
 nestness — uncompromising in his denunciation of sin and wickedness 
 wherever found, sparing neither friend nor foe, rir.h nor poor. Every page 
 of intense interest. No one can read this work without taking new inter 
 est in the subjects treated }
 
 CONTEXTS, — The work contains nearly fobty ohaptbbs — on a* 
 many sabjects — and are Dr. Talmage's best efforts in his earnest, aggres- 
 sive warfare upon the foes of society, and the exposure of the traps and 
 pitfalls that beset tlie youth of our land in every city. He sounds a note 
 of warning^ and points out the onlt way to escape these pits of darkness 
 and social and moral ruin. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.— Rkv. T. DiWin Talmaok was born on the 7th 
 of January, 1832, in the village of Bound Brook, New Jersey The story 
 of his life is very simple. A Christian in his teens, a graduate of New 
 York University (1853); a graduate of New Brunswick Seminary; three 
 years a pastor at Belleville, N. J. ; three more at Syracuse, N. Y. ; seven 
 more at Philadelphia, and now about ten years in Brooklyn, — this is the 
 simple outline of his life. Age has not told on him, though he is not a 
 handsome man. He is not characteristically a graceful man. He is long- 
 limbed and loosely put together. But he is a man of wonderful magnetism 
 — whatever that may be. He draws, not merely as an orator, but as a 
 maL.. He is a man of intense vitality, and intense convictions. This 
 vitality is so superabundant that he easily supplies others with life. His 
 imagination is sensuous and vivid. He sees the external reality of things, 
 and paints them with wonderful pictorial power. That he is a man of un- 
 wonted devotion and earnestness, this single illustration must suffice: 
 
 Mr. Talmage was pastor of a wealthy and prosperous church in Phila- 
 delphia. He was called simultaneously to three churches, one in San 
 Francisco, one in Chicago, one in Brooklyn. That in Brooklyn was poor; 
 it was on the eve of dissolution; it possessed but nineteen male members; 
 its need was greatest, its power was least. Need drew more strongly than 
 strength, and to Brooklyn Mr. Talmage went. For fifteen montlis he 
 preached to crowded houses. Then the time came to build anew. Mr. 
 Talmage believed in free pews. He emphasized his belief by his action; 
 he relinquished his salary, released his trustees from all pecuniary obli<,t^ 
 tions, trusted himself to a free gospel for his support, and has lived by it 
 ever since, 
 
 Mr. Talmage has written several popular books, and his sermons have 
 beeL f»uhiier)e<.-l in book form in ail j)art8 of the English speaking world, 
 and have reached a sale of great magnitude — 75.000 cx>Diesof his ''Crumbs
 
 Swept ,Up" being sold in this country alone. Twenty-three papers in 
 Christendom statedly publish his entire sermons and Friday-night dis- 
 courses, exclusive of the dailies of the United States: that the papere 
 girdle the globe, being published in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glas- 
 gow, Belfast, Toronto, Montreal, St John's, Sidney, Melbourne, San Fran- 
 cisco, Chicago, Boston, Raleigh, Newr York and many others. 
 
 The multiplicity, large results and striking progress of the labors of 
 Dr. Talmage have made the foregoing more of a brief narrative of the 
 epochs of his career than an account of tlie career itself. Lack of space in 
 a circular requires it. This remains to be said: No other preacher addresses 
 so many constantly. The words of no other proacher were ever before 
 carried by so many types or carried so far. Types give him threfe conti- 
 nents for a church, and the English-speaking world for a congregation. The 
 judgment of his generation will of course t-e divided upon him just as that 
 of the next will not. That he is a topic in every newspaper is much more 
 significant than the fact of what treatment it gives him. Only men of 
 genius are universally commented upon. 
 
 IliLlJSTRATIONS.— The illustrations in this book are a decided 
 feature, and are full page, splendid designs, elegantly engraved, and printed 
 on super-calendered, tinted paper, and designed by Frank Beard, and other 
 artists, illustrative of its subjects. 
 
 DESCRIPTION AND PRICES 
 
 "The Masque Torn Off" is published in one large octavo volume, oJ 
 nearly 500 pages, printed from clear, new type, on fine, tinted, heavy paper, 
 made expressly for this book, and illustrated with a fine, life-like portrait of 
 Dr. Talmage, and fourteen full-page illustrations. It is bound in the most 
 substantial and elegant manner, side stamps, in black, red and gold, of 
 beautiful designs, and is furnished to subscribers at the following prices : 
 
 la EiM Clfllli, m It m \i Blacl M aM m, ■ ■ $2.1 
 
 mu&i' " " " : - 2.50 
 
 Mailed post paid on receipt of price. Address the publishers 
 of this book.
 
 A BOOK FOR EYERY HOME. 
 
 BRIGHT AND HAPPrHOMES. 
 
 A HOUSEHOLD GUIDE AND COMPANION. 
 
 Containing the choicest treaanrea of Wisdom, Instruction, Amusement and Devotion, 
 original and selected, embracing Marriage, The Home, Husband and Wife, Father and 
 Mother, The Children, The Government of the Home, The Etiquette of the Home, The 
 jBsthetics of the Home, Education in the Home, The Home and the School, The Home and 
 the College, Amusements in the Home, Technical Instructions in the Home, Keligion in the 
 Home, Sickness In the Home, Death in the Home, Home and Heaven. Also, a Manual of 
 Amusing and Interesting Experiments in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, Fascinating 
 Arithmetical Questions and Puzzles, Entertaining Games, and Sleight-of-Hand Performan- 
 ce for the Play-Room and the Parlor, Instruction for Yoimg People in the Use of Wood- 
 working Tools, with Specific Directions for making articles of Beauty and Utility. 
 
 By PETER PARLEY, Jr. 
 
 WITH AN INTEODUCTION BY 
 
 THE RT. REV. SAMUEL FALLO\YS, D.D. 
 
 One Elegantly Illustrated Quarto Volume.— One Thousand Engravings. 
 
 The author of this volume Has gleaned from many inviting fields a large portion of the 
 material for a work which, in many particulars, has never been attempted before. The 
 topics under which the accumulated riches of thought and expression have been arranged, 
 are fruitful in suggestiveness. They have been sufficiently amplified to make the work a 
 
 TwtSAUBUS op HODSKHOU) WiSDOM. 
 
 Bishop Fallows well says: " No human names thrill and stir ns like the lyric names of 
 Child, Mother, and Hokb. None contain such a wealth of afEectlon, or such elements of 
 tender remembrance. None bind na so closely to the law of duty, and to the law of love 
 None bring Heaven so near, and maJu it so real. No work, therefore, can be more impor- 
 tant than an earnest and well-directed effort to make the homes of oar coontry bbiobt ano 
 
 ■ATFT." 
 
 DESCRIPTION AND PRICES. 
 
 "Bbioht akd Hjlppt Horns" is published in one large royal qnarto Tolume, printed 
 from clear, new type, on fine, tinted, heavy, extra super-calendered paper, made expressly 
 for this book, finely illustrated and bound in the most substantial and elegant manner, aide 
 stamps in black and gold, of beautiful designs, and furnished to subscribers at the follow- 
 ing pricea: 
 
 lu English Silk Cloth Back and Side, In Black and Oold, 
 
 Sprinkled Edsea $4 50 
 
 IB English Cloth Back and Side, in Black and Gold, Gilt Edees, 5 25 
 In Fnll RuKsta, Presentation Edition, Gilt Edges 7 60 
 
 Mailed poat paid on raeeipt of prie«. 
 
 FAIRBANKS, PALBfER & CO., 
 
 133 Wabash Ave.,
 
 I. ,1111' 
 
 '':i N iiC'V l>f*i 
 
 : I' .,.1 ' I,. ' I .....I' .Jllliii... .::.il ''I I.!!! "'' III.. lllliinM i 
 
 05>' ! 'ii ii;; ..il" 
 
 'II'" \' h>'11 ''I C '•"! 
 
 \ !,iii I t;"''k.... >i"'ii iiiiiii,,, 
 
 # '^^^^^^ 
 
 .'■::■,:;:: KhrS'^^: