Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-10-18
MIR. MOODY'S GREAT WORK.
Revamping the Christian World =
Pencil Pictures of a Christian
Worker
Whose Only Rivals Are Said 10 Be the
Pope and Spurgeon-HiS Remark
able Abilities Analysed.


one of Il coltoquy, in a comic paper, be-
tween very fat old Frenchman and his
four-year-old niece. Come. Heloise and
sit on my lap. says the old gentleman.
Il can /, replied Heloise, with some en-
harraSSment; you are holding your stom-
ach on it. In like manner it may be con-
hdently affirmed that when Mr. Moody is
IN a sitting posture there Is no room on his
lap for anybody but himself Sometimes,
IN preaching, he makes a particularly em-
phatlc gesture by ducking his head. bring
ing his inst down In front of him. and
partially Squattlng, and an instantaneous
photograph of him in that act would be
almost globular. The back of his neck
also is very fat, red and corrugated. and
his lips very thick and raddy. ANY one
can see that he is becoming very promiS-
ing subject for apoplexy.
What makes Mr.. Moody so fat? 1t is
well known that all men and women. after
they pass the meridian of life, tend either
to leaneSS or obesity. But those who run to
excessive obesity are not bound to submit to
it altogether. Rev. DR.. Williamson, who
spoke the other day in the Christian con-
ference, Is an illustration. He was once as
heavy rs Mr.. Moody, but he wouldn't have
1t. He deted and exercised himself until
his corpulency entirely disappeared. But
those who have seen Mr.. Moody at the table
say that he is very self-indulgent. He has
the reputatlono fleeing great eater, but rs
everybody knows. Il great eater is not a long
liver.
1t Is Il singular thing that almost every hui
man being Is the slave of some bodily APP
petite. Even when man is laboring to
save Others from the dominion of appetite
he himself, though uncOnsCiOuSiy, is sue
cumbng to the flesh in some other direction
The late Tony Delight was wonderfully
cured of some vices, and labored for the rest
OF his life to emancipate other men from
them. But he himself could never shake
off the fascination of tobacco. and died at
last the victim of his cigar. To some peo-
pie 1t looks as if Mr.. Moody was as much
handicapped with the love of food as Tony
was with his fragrant Havana.
MIR. Moody is very plain dresser. He
wears suit of very dark blue with cuta-
way coat. His vest. having a great deal
of hill and dale to cover. is buttened with
| about sixty very small buttons, 50 as to
make 1t keep its shape. 1t is cut very
high. and the little angel at the top is en-
tlrely covered with a black scarf. His
trousers, which on side view resemble
the letter V, are three good inches too
| short. His shoes are broad-headed, in good
condition, and well BACKED Everything
about him Is scrupulously neat, but there
Is not thing on him for show. He wears
no earrings, fngerrings, gold sleeve-but-
| tons, gold watch-chain, nor any other sort
of jewelry whatever. If he has watch he
never looks at it.
| MIR; Moody manner in public is mirac-
ulously proper and admirable He occa-
| slOnally gives utteranCe to his feelings by
ejaculating Amen and BLESS the Lord. -
but he never does it for effect nor runs it
into the ground He never does nor SAYS
anything to direct attention to himself.
When he has to speak, to direct the meet
ing, he always does it in the fewest words
| and with as little ceremony as possible
He combines simplicity and naturaness
with modesty. prOpriety and perfect good
taste. Formality, conventionalism and
ceremony he apparently detests, but not
| any more than he detests can't. clap-trap
and buffoonery. He never tries to avoid
a laugh, but no one ever saw HIM seek a
laugh, much less sacrifice propriety and
devotion to a laugh When Francis Muir
ply gets maudlin and silly. as he some
times does, Mr.. Moody looks as if he were
about to burst into tears. At the same
time, he will stop in the midst of des-
y,
There are three good seats here to the
left" or, Mr.. johnson. will YOU please
come. upon the platform?"
MIR. Moody is one of the greatest serm-
onizers the world has ever seen. His dis
| courses present an assemblage of good
points which one Will search for in vain in
sermons of any other living preacher
| They are these: An abrupt commence
| ment a good analysis of his subject in his
own mind, without obtruding his divisions
| and heads on the nearer; a constant pro-
gress of thought; unity of thought and inn
preston; climax and a good ending: pro-
fuse and Apostle illustrations the illustra-
ton and Interpretation of scripture 10y
scrlptural tiuency; earnestness, and tender
ness. He lacks only one important ele-
ment of a great preacher, and that is inn
| aginatiOn. No flowers rainbOws, sunsets.
rlvulets and symphonies in his; he is all
logic and power. He is not like a cascade.
leaping and laughing down the mountain
side, but like a landslide of gravel and
powders. No living preachers so full of
the Bible, nor has such a power of focus
ing all scripture on every point that he
handles
Mr.. Moody is probably the most in
Huential religious man in the world. The
only two people with whom he can be COM
pared are the pope and Mr.. Sturgeon. The
pope is out of the line of comparison. be-
cause his personal influence is complicated
with his official position. Mr.. Sturgeon
exerts a great influence though his pub
lished works, but he is not reformer in
any sense, and is almost laid aside with
the rheumatic govt. Mr. Moody is really
| re-constructing the protestant Christian
| of no Mt Is
any one could undertake would be the al
teration of the songs of the nations. But
Mr.. Moody, together with Mr.. Sankey,
has, as a mere incident of his labers, com
completely upheaved the spalmody of the
church. His mission is the humiliation
of ecclesiasticism. conventionality, formal
| ity. red-tape. can't, sham and humbug In
religion. He has a large contract on hand,
but he has already changed the face of the
whole Christian world in this respect.
! To all appearances Mr.. Moody's head
| has been less turned and swelled by his
wonderful success than one can well be-
| lieve. Most men who have enjoyed sudden
greatness have taken a great dislike for the
| places and persons who are associated with
| the days of their adversely and obscurity.
Not so with Mr.. Moody. He was laughed
at in Chicago six weeks before he had the
/ DrlJlSn Isles at MS rect. but ne seems
still to have a great affection for Chicago
and its people. He not only does great
| deal of work and spends a great deal of
money there, but makes frequently kindly
illusions from the pulpit to his early labors
in that city. and is exceedingly friendly
with his old associates. Sometimes he
steals down from the platform and goes
away out into the congregation to shake
| hands with one of them The reporters
| follow him with their eyes and when they
see him hobnobbing with some man who
looks like trucI1man they ask each other,
WHO the devil is that?''
A prominent minister in attendance at
the Christian conference, who is also some
| thing of a student of human nature, was
| asked to sketch Moody's character, and
| said:
He has a good digestion and sound
I ,,or-cy1y rrra,7iya+io,, .pd Il therefore