St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-15
THE MOODY MEETINGS.
The Opera House Completely Packed
By Those Desiring to Hear the
Great Reyivalist.
Two Very Powerful Gospel DiseOurses-Great
Religious Interest Manifested-His
Farewell Sermon Tonight

Before 2:30 O'CLOCK yesterday aIternOOu
there was neither sitting nor standing room
left in the Grand Opera house, and all who
came after that hour, and their number was
hundreds, could not gain entrance.
1t is safe to say that never before were so
many people assembled in this spacious edi-
fee, and as we looked from the stage,
filed as it was to its full
singers and the clergy, upon the sea Of faces
rising from the foot lights TO the roof, the
sight was really grand one to behold.
The exercises were opened with singing
and BY prayer By the Rev. DR.. Dana, in
which he appealed to God that he would bap-
tie this city with the Holy Spirit and give
the refreshing shower of grace for which We
wait
After Gospel hymn by the choir and au-
dienee, Rev. DR.. Breed, in the
second prayer, asked the mercy of God
on the men and women Of this city absorbed
in earthly occupations, vanities aud follies,
and that they be turned to know Christ.
Mr.. Moody then took the subject of his
discourse from the third chapter of John,
eighth verse, "God is Love" Satan for
5000 years had been trying in vain to break
down this great fact. II was Gods nature to
love, and when men would fully wake up to it
they would flock to him. His love was I'M
changeable, and though man sold Him to
His enemies, as in the case of
Judas, or denied him as did Peter,
He loved His own to the end.
His love was beyond all worldly love, even
that Of its purest and most enduring love
that of good mother for her offspring. The
story Of the love Of a Vermont mother for an
erring son, who committed several murders,
against whom all the world turned, aud JUS
tiee hanged, who plead with a governor to let
her be buried beside him in the prison yard,
was cited, and yet Gods love was deeper and
broader than this love, and it never forgot
erring and sinful man. In the story Of the
prodigal son, descriptive Of Gods love,
though he had squandered his pstrimony and
was in rags, in fact had lost
everything, he had not lost his Fathers love.
Though his elder brother, the church, had
not good word TO say for him, his Father
was longing, and watching and waiting for
him to return, not to put him in the kitchen
among the servants, but to place a new ring
on his finger, new robes on his limbs, to kill
the fatted calf, and turn the house upside
down in the gladness of his Joy because that
which was lost was found. In this parable
is the only instance in the scriptures in
which God is mentioned as running, and here
he is likened, as He saw His son approaching
afar of, to an old man, renewing his youth,
and flying to meet him.
II man is ever lost, 1t win be because he
spurns Gods love, who is ready and waiting
on his asking TO remove his sins from sight
as far as the east is from the west, to blot
them out as a thick cloud and cast them into
the depths of the sea. His love has been
proven 10 man by his doing ali that he could
do to convince him of the reality of His love
He has sent man the prophets, a son to be
cruciied for their sake, raised him
back from the sepuichre to the
throne to prove mans Immortality and
sent to man the Holy Spirit. On Calvary He
tasted death to redeem man from the calam
ity Of Adams fall, because He so loved the
world.
The reason why God is angry with the sin
ner every day is simply because He loves
him and is grieved at his sins. He knows
that these sins will embitter his life and He
wants him to be happy. It's false idea that
TO be a Christian man has got to wear a
long face. The man who is closest to God
| has the most pleasure in this life, and
the man who is furtherest from
Him is the most miserable. Does
he not say, "My yoke is easy and my burden
is light" and ''that the way of the trans
gressor is hard" For instance to compare
| this, take the life of a drunkard and that
peace and joy of man who is in harmony
with God.
Like the father who don't want to have his
son climb tree for fear he will fall and
injure his body, so God knows our danger
from sin, and though his commands seem
stern, they are TO avert it. You can blot the
sun out of the heavens as soon as you can
controvert the fact that God loves mankind,
| one and all, whatever be the social status or
the color of his skin, and this
very hour He asks all to step right out into
the light Of His love and grace.
Some people think they must get rid OF
their sins by their own efforts before they
can receive grace. If that were possible and
could be done there would be no need of
Him. He comes to heal the sick and the
lost aud ali He requires is confession on
your part on the instant, Of your unwOrthi-
ness, TO work you in His own blood. He
hates the sin but loves the sinner-He hates
the act and not the person.
Do you suppose if Charley Ross mother
was In this audience and she should see her
poor, lost boy in rags in this meeting, (whom
she is still confident she shall some day see)
that she would want to 90 to the hotel and
wash him up before she fell upon his neck in
| JOY, aud kissed and welcomed him to her
heart! OF course she would not wait an in
slant. Yet Gods love to welcome you is
| just like this. He is extending to you all a
/ longing invitation to. both saints and sin
uers to come to his bosom and find rest-the
rest Of His perfect love.
An opportunity was here given for those
in the audience who desired to retire before a
season OF prayer, or second service, but there
was no perceptible falling of in the audi
ence- After several invocations by several
| parties, Mr.. Moody chose for the basis of his
remarks the first chapter Of John, eleventh
and twelfth verses, in an examination of the
/ question, ''What TO do to be saved!" Thi:
| question he answered as follows: Receive
Him, believe Him, trust Him, take Him, con
| fess Him.
1t vas impossible to love God until He wa.
received in the heart, when power would b.
| given to the receivers over the world. Then
must follow the beliefthat he has passed from
/ life unto death, for it is written, ''Verily
(Which means truly, verify, say unto you,
that he that receiveth my WORD and believett
| on Him that sent me shall have everlasting
| life" You may not feel, but you can believe
and as unbelief is the browning sin, all else
] bitches to it. The Bible commands not to
believe in self or have confidence in the flesh
but TO unreservedy place your belief in God,
1t is not necessary to go to a college or theo
logical seminary to believe, for God ha;
given Us testimony in st. John the Baptist
the work of Jesus, the Father, and the Scrip
! tures wherein TO found our belief The way