Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-11-16

singing, of the efforts of an Ethiopian min
strel. "Altogether,' adds "Seryctus,
'NIr. Sankey impresses person of real re
ligious and devotional spirit disagreeably.
1t follows, of course, that none Of the thou
sands in Burlington and hundreds of thou
sands elsewhere, who have heard Mr.. Sankel
with pleasure, and whom he did not impress
dlsagreeably, can be persons of real religions
and devotional spirit
As to Mr.. Moody, this 'person OF real re-
lgious and devotional spirit" found hi:
voice "harsh and unpleasant his face
commonplace, and indicating "hard
worldly experience and practice, and his
countenance devoid of spirituality. More
over, he "docs not employ the ordinary
spiritual methods to impress the
unconyerted" Yet, little further on
in the letter, we read that ian ad-
dress by Mr. Moody contains many COM
mendable sentiments, and exactly what you
hear from the average clergyman, saving
that they are uttered by a person who has
little magnetism in his voice or manner, no
genuine eloquence, no attribute save s;ngu-
lar earnestness that lifts him above pulpit
mediocrity." This seems to be saying that
in his preaching Mr.. Moody does employ the
ordinary spiritual methods, only he docs not
employ them well. Or, is the inference to
he drawn that the average clergyman"
does not employ spiritual methods in his
preaching? Giving himself. with his ''rodl
religious and devotional spirit" to the task
of explaining the success of the evangelists,
''Servetus' finds such explanation in the as
sertion that they have learned of the Magic
Oil man and the manager of itinerant
shows 1.-THE very cheap trick of how to at
tract and entertain crowd
Our readers would not thank Us for quoting
further from letter which is simply an at
tempt at prolonged and deliberate insult to
the men, whose services here have so recent
" stirred our community as it has never
been moved before Great numbers in our
community owe to Mr.. Moody deep debt
of gratitude, for the unselfsh appeals and
strong and faithful settings forth OF Divine
truth which reused their consciences, awak-
ened them to a new sense of duty, and lifted
them y plane OF high and noble resolve.
To maay he has been the teacher and guide,
under God, to Il new life, as much better
than the old, as the service of God is better
than the service of satan. All such will
resent, as they would personal insult, this
coarse depreciation of their friend and hene-
factor, while they pity the man who could
hear Mr. Moody and catch so little of his
spirit and learn so little of the truth he
preached. of those Of his hearers even who
were too strongly welded to their own ways
to heed his appeals, the great mass acknowl-
edge him to be man Of wonderful and
genuine power, of absolute sincerity, and
utter unselfshness. II he has no magne-
tism," he has what answers all the purposes
of personal magnetism. II he is not elo-
quent, his words accomplish all that elo-
quence can accomplish. No man in or out
of the pulpit ever had less of the mounte-
hank or charlatan. To ascribe his success
to mere trickery and sensational arts, is to
insult the Judgment and convictions of the
thousands OF intelligent people who heard
him, day after day, and week after week,
with constantly increasing interest and deep
ening emotion.
When the intelligent, cultivated and ex-
cellent clergymen who have been seen from
day to day on the platform with Mr.. Moody, |
in Burlington when in Boston such men a.
DR.. Manning and Phillips Brooks and |
Joseph Cook, and dozen others, eminent |
for intellectual ability as well as Christian
faith and knowledge when in New York |
and in London and Glasgow, eminent divines |
and scholars, have been willing to recognize |
Mr.. Moody as Man Of God, and to own
that they can learn something from his |
methods, and draw inspiration fror: his ex-
ample, it matters little that the Messengers |
spondent-man "of real religious and |
devotional spirit" though he be-perhaps |
we should say the only man Of real religious
and devotional spirit in our community
does not approve Of Moody. We might say
more but since the above was written we
have received from a valued correspondent
a reply to "Seryetus,' which covers some
points We have not touched on, and to which
We gladly surrender our space.
Our correspondent, who 20 Justly set
forth the value Of Mr. Moody's work in Bur
lington, qualified her high praise by a single
exception. She could not excuse Mr. Moody
that, while here, he " never once dwelt on
the Importance Of the sacraments" That
Mr.. Moody did not dwell on the sacrament
OF baptism is true-he did not care to open
up the discussion on the quantity of water
needed for baptism, or the age at which it
should be applied, which, in the existing
condition of creeds, is almost inevitable when
that subject is introduced But many OF his
hearers can testify that more than once he
dwelt iorciblY and earnestly on the import
ance of the sacrament Of the Communion.
ii warned converts to beware how they
denied their Master by staying away from
His table, and enjoined its observance as
established by distinct command of Christ
Mr.. Moody is hardly open to the charge Of
utterly neglectlng sacramento teaching.
Nor is he open to the charge, which seems
10 be implied IN some portions Of DR.. Her
rick's paper on the great revival which we
nave copied, Of emitting dOetrinal preach
ng, and Of preaching a cheap salvation. If
Mr. Moody does not preach all the doctrines,
le breaches some of them-and those the
more essential Ones-with marvellous dis
inctness and power. While his especial
mission is to rouse men and while he does
reach that the recognition Of Gods claims,
he decision to serve Him, and the accept
nee oil pardon through Christ, may be the .
york of a moment and is the instant duty of :
very man, he is not chargoabe with hiding /,
r putting in the back ground the truth that {
uch decision involves Hs Of cOnsecra- !
ion to Gods service and that its genuine :
ess is to be demonstrated by "A growth in t
nd into all Christian virtues II he arouses
he emotions, he also arouses the conscience
o say, as DIR. llerrick seems to, that the T
lea OF salvation received from Mr.. Moody is :
lerely the selfish Consciousness of u com :
,rtable personal security, is, ~ it seems to Q
=, to grossly misrcprcscnt the character and ,
Hect of his preaching. That the adjust /
tent Of his relations To his Maker brings !
eace to the believer, he teaches, but he /
10 teaches that the Christian life il one Of Il