The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-12-09
MOODY AND SANKEY.
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 80, 1875
Nj. Editor:

press has given full reports, to the extent
of several columns daily, letter giving
some information i'll regard to the move
ment, may not be uninteresting to your
readers.
Your readers are already familiar with the
extensive preparatinns made preparatory to
their coming. During the first week numer-
Gus changes were rendered necessary, and
many improvements were made. 4 tele-
| graph was put in, connecting the chief
ushcr's stand at the platform with the plat
form Of the assistant usher in front of the
Hall. The wire also connects with a wire
leading to the Central Station.
100 police are on duty each evening, and
On Sunday and Thanksgiving day 1S0 police
We're on duty about the building. A corps
of ushers, some 20 in number, each even
ing have been very efficient, and there has
been on no occasion more confusion than
there is on an an ordinary occasion in a
large church congregation. A large choir,
several hundred in numbers, have excited
| the admiration of the audience by their
thoroughly trained and powerful chorus, as
well as by the sweetness Of their songs The
class of Christian workers, 800 in number,
are entering heartily into the work of the
inquiry rooms.
The opening morning was 4 cold, winter
morning, the rain pouring in torrents for
an hour before the opening of the service.
At s o'clock, when the doors were closed,
there were from eight to nine thousand
persons in the audience. In the afternoon,
at t clock, damp, disgreeable day, an
hour bef,re the time of beginning the SER
vice, the Hall was packed, there being fully
twelve thousand people in the audience,
and it is estimated twenty thousand persons
were turned away unable to obtain admit
tance. The morning prayer meeting, from
s to 9 o'clock, was opened in The Cham
bers Presbyterian Church, accommodating
some two thousand people, but after three
| days the number in attendance was SO great
| that it had to be moved to the Hall. The
! first morning in the Hall some six thous-
| and persons were present. On Thanks9iv-
! ing evening the service was announced for
u o'clock. At = O'Clock the people began
! to gather about the building, and by O.
! clock thousands were waiting to obtain ad-
mission. At O'Clock the house was crowd
ed, fully twelve thousand persons being pre-
| sent, and the doors were closed, shutting
| out most of the ministers, large part of
| the choir, and many representatives of the
press. On last Sunday the S o'clock ser
vice was for Christian workers, admitted
! by tickets, which were given free to those
applying for them. BY noon, Saturday,
all the tickets were given out, and many
were thus prevented from attending This
! sermon to Christians was the most impress
! sive Mr.. Moody had so far given. 1t was
on Love and Sympathy" and many times
during the sermon there was hardly per-
son in the vast audience who was not aifec-
| ted to tears. This service closed the special
sermons to Christians. For week he
preached, talked to, and exhorted Chris
tians to more cons ecration and earnestness,
and the result of the first weeks work will
be felt during the continuance Of the meet
ings.
Sunday afternoon the services for the
! impeuitent were begun At , o'clock, an
hour before the time of service, the doors
were closed, shutting in eleven or twelve
thousand women Ono men being admitted) !,
and shutting out large numbers who vain
| ly sought admttance. Such an assemblage
was never before in this country gathered
under one roof, and the sight of so vast an
audience Of women, as in rows they stretch
ed from side to side to the back end of the
Hall was a scene hard to picture. Mr..
Moody preached from John, Sd chapter,
9TH verse, "Ye must be born again" 1t
was his first sermon here to those out of
Christ, and it was an earnest and effective
sermon on regeneration, the necessity for j
new birth. He refutcd the various ex-
cuses, answered the false reasoning, and
then boldly stated he could not reason out
regeneration, that it was a revelation, and
one could onl Y understand it by accepting
the new birth as a God given gift, a new
creation. The sermon was full Of beauti-
full imagery, touching incidents, pathos, and
eloquence, and yet statement Of facts none
could question, put in terse, blunt way,
that would make a lasting impression. Mr..
Sankey never sang with more sweetness,
and as the soft notes Of the Ninety and
Nine passed from row to row, penetrating
in their fullness and sweetness every corner
Of the vast audience room, multltudes wept
scarcely knowing why. Mr.. Moody reques-
ted those not Christians wishing to be
prayed for to rise. Fully five hundred ac-
cepted the invitation. Those who arose were
requested to go to the inquiry rooms be.
fore the audience was dismissed, and wave
of people moved toward them from all parts
of the house. In the inquiry rooms Messrs
Moody and Sankey, assisted by ministers
and Christian workers, were engaged in
pointing inquirers to Christ and many who
went in weeping pcnetents went away re-
joicing in a sense of pardoned sins.
At u o'clock the service was for mer
only and at that hour an audience of tel
thousand men, mostly young men was as
sembled Mr.. Moody repeated the sermon
of the afternoon with increased earnestness
and power.