The Cecil Whig., 1875-08-21
AMERICAN EVANGELISTS.

MIR. MOODY AND MR.. sANKEY IN GREAT
/ BR1TAIN-A SKETCH OF THEIR LIVES
FIRST SERVICES IN ENGLAND-MEETINGs
| IN THE GREAT CITIEs-A SERMON BY
| MIR. MoODY-MR. SANKEY'S SONGS AND
! SINGING.
! Messrs. Moody and Sankey have ended
| their remarkable labors in Great Britain,
and have returned to this country. Imme-
diately upon their arrival, Mr.. and Mrs.
Moody went to Northfield, Mass, to spend
two months with Mr.. Moody's mother
They then expect to return to Chicago.
MIR. Sankey will go to his home in Penn
! sylvania. The evangelists have been in
vited to hold a series of meetings in New
York city, but, Judging from their plan of
operations in Great Britain, they will pro-
badly first begin their work in America in
the West, reservng their visitation to the
chief cities to the last. The ministers of
Washington have invited the evangelists
- hold 'rc"t'ngs in that city, and their
services will do~s g be in demand in all
parts of the country. IS Messrs. Moody
and Sankey are likely to rec., 70 -, - much
public attention here as in Great Britain,
the history of the men and of their work
in England and it's results may be of
interest.
MIR. MooDY's RELIGIOUS LIFE.
Dwight Lyman Moody was born in
Mortified, Mass, and is 80 years of age.
His father, a farmer, died in middle life,
and left wife and nine children, with
very small means for their support
Dwight received only little school educa-
ton, and showed more inclination to frolic
than to study. AT II years Of age he
entered the boot and shoe store of his
uncle, in Boston, where he became noted
for selfrelance and energy. He attended
DR.. Kinks Congregational Church, and
was converted through the efforts of his
Sabbath school teacher. He was admitted
to the Church the same year he began to
work for his uncle. The Committee by
whom his application for admission was
considered were doubtful at first about
receiving him owing to his defective knowl-
after waiting six months for him to acquaint
himself more thoroughly with these doc
trines he was received. He at once became
an energetic worker in the Sunday school,
and was noted for his plainness of speech
in the prayer meeting. He went in 1856
to Chicago, and gave much of his time to
religious work. He Joined Plymouth
Church Congregational, and leased four
from Sunday to Sunday whom he induced
to attend Divine service. He ignored de-
nominational lines, and worked in a Meth
odist Sunday school though Congrega-
tionalist. He secured the streets for ne
elected children, and enticed them to Sun
day school. He soon organized separate
school for the benefit of the lower classes
in one of the most forbidding parts of
Chicago. Mr.. J. V. Farwell became its
superintendent, and it soon increased so
that it had to be removed to larger quart
ers. In less than year the attendance
reached over GOO, and soon increased to
1000. This school became one of the most
famous of the West. Mr.. Moody was fire.
quently interfered with in his house-to-
house visitations by some of the rougher
people, and sometimes had to flee for his
life. On one occasion, it is stated, he was
cornered in a room by three men, who
threatened to put an end to him. Look
here,' said he, "give I fellow a chance to
say his prayers, won't you?" The request
was granted, and he prayed with such
earnestness for his prosecutors that they
quietly left the room, and he took to Sun
day school the children he came for Mr.
Moody finally gave up his business to
devote his time to the religious work he
had planned for himself. ''At first says
a biographer, "the Lord did not pay him
very large salary. For while he slept
at night on the benches in the Young
Mems Christian Association rooms, because
he had no money with which to pay for
lodgings elsewhere; slept there with money
in his pockets which friends that did not
know his circumstances had given him to
use in his work, but which he would not
touch for his personal expenses. In these
days, with so many friends who wsuld be
glad to give him, he declines to take any
money that he does not need for immediate
use. Moody and his pony were familiar
sight in Chicago streets in those days, and
would start out of a Sunday morning on
recruiting expedition, and return to his
school room with the pony loaded down
with young urchins, the last enlistments
hanging on to the tail as they marched
behind.''
During the war he was in the service of
the Christian Commission; after its close
he became city missionary of the Chicago
Young Mems Christian Association, and
finally it's President He still carried on
his school, in which conversions were nu-
merous. cat first he advised converts to
unite with those churches to which their
old preferences would lead them. But
many of them came out of the depths in
which every sort of church tie had been
lost hold of. They did not feel at home in
a church; they were at home with Moody.
So an Independent church grew out of the
school, and Moody became its unordained
pastor Never was there another church
like it. 1t was made up almost wholly of
men, women, and children converted in
the school. But it was hive of Bible |
readers, tract distributors, lay preachers,
and missionary visitors"
In the Chicago fire Mr.. Moody's church,
and his house and furniture which had |
been given him were all destroyed. A low
wooden building, capable of seating 1,5O0
persons, was put up in 80 days after the
fire for the accommodation of his congre-
cation. A new and costly church is now
almost completed, with sittings for $500.
The funds for this edifice have been con-
tributed by Sunday school scholars and
others in all parts of the country.
Mr.. Moody has been to Europe three
times. On the second visit he established