The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-01
Moody and Sankey in Scotland

From the first, Mr.. Moody had the
sympathy and cooperation of some of the
best minds in the East of Scotland Not
only such well-known religious workers
and thinkers as Principal Cairns and
Rainy, or professors from the university,
as Professor Calderwood, but members OF
the aristocracy, military men, physicians,
lawyers, and professional men generally,
combined to further the work both by
word and pen. AS a rule, the ministers
of the city and suburbs took hearty per-
sonal interest in the daily meetings, and
willingly afforded the evangelists the as
sistance they needed.
Several meetings were held daily the
monday prayer meetings were we'll sus-
tanned, and that, in accordance with Mr..
Moody's desire, principally by religious
workers. Other meetings were devoted
to special classes meetings for men, for
women, for university students, for work
lngmen, etc., were held from time to time,
and all were well attended. On SUNDAYS
the pressure at some of the services was
so great that the door keepers found it
impossible to discriminate between those
who possessed tickets and those who did
not, and overflow meetings had to be ar
ranged for. And, as the weeks went on,
the popular interest in the work of the
evangelists became wider and greater,
and Mr.. Moody's hold upon the non
church-going masses became more and
more evident.
Although no attempt has been made to
estimate the number of those who have
professed conversion through these meet
lngs, it is known that that number is
large. Night by night vast audiences
have crowded the Corn Exchange,-au-
dlences which were composed mainly of
the lower classes of the city, with but a
sprinkhng of church goers. Not a few
of those who crowded nightly to Mr..
Moody's meetings bore with them the
evidences of lives of drunkenness and sin;
and here and there might be seen the
closely cropped head of the man who had
but recently left Jail. A band of earnest
workers day by day visited the dens and
| slums of the city with words of invitation
tor all and as consequence the reli-
glous public of Edinburgh stood aston
lshed at the mighty stirring up which re-
suited in the nightly filing of the Corn
Exchange with those to whom church
going was but a memory of their child
hood, and those whose childhood had left
them no such memory. Over and over
again, In the private inquiry meetings
was the tale told of temptation and sin,
of gradual drifting into drunkenness and
dissipation, and of lives that were worse
than death. And over and over again
the story of the cross was told to weep
ing penitents. Night after night those
who had been leading hopeless and wick
ed lives entered for the first time upon
the new life of faith.
! 1t was in view Of facts such as these
that the call for day of united prayer
for Scotland was issued at Christmas. 1t
was felt that crisis had come-that the
time was favorable for more extended eff
forts in behalf of the lapsed masses. The
day of prayer was pretty generally OBJ
served over Scotland and the Glasgow
committee have already decided TO follow
this up by making preparations for more
extended and more thorough aggressive
work than has ever before been attempt
ed among Che lapsed masses of that CITY.
But the work of Mr. Moody and Mr.
| Sankey has not been among adults only.
Every Saturday the evangelists have held
meetings for children, and these have
been among the most enjoyable Of the
meetings to all concerned. The method
Of conducting them was simple some
suitable theme was chosen, and questions
were proposed by Mr.. Moody or one Of
his co-workers, and answered by the chill
dren; or questions were put by the chill