The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-16
MOoDYS CLOSING SERVICES.
THE EVANGELIST To CONCLUDE HIS
MEETINGS TONIGHT.


His Afternoon sermon 20 women
and His Night sermon 10 men.
Evangelist Moody will close his meeting
al the Independent Presbyterian church
tonight This afternoon he viii speak on
The Bible" and tonight on The Prophet
Daniel - Tomorrow night ne will speak 10
the colored people at the Second African
Baptist church.
Last night Mr.. Moody spoke TO men.
The auditorium Of the Independent church
was packed. Comparatively few ladies'
were in the congregation.
The evangelist read from Mark Z. 81:
Thou art not far from the kingdom OF
God"
Two attacks, he said. had been made up
on the Savior, on the day on which
these words were spoken. One was by the
Saducees. the other by the Pharisees. To
these Christ did not speak y scribe had
heard the questions put 10
Christ by the two sects and
had heard his answers. He thereupon
asked him, What is the greatest COM
mandment2" Christ knew Immediately
that the question was not cavil. but an
honest desire for information, and he re-
piled: Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and all thy soul
and all thy mind, and with all thy
strength" The scribe replied: Wen.
Master. thou hast said the TRUTH" and
Jesus said: Thou art not far from the
kingdom or Cod"
There are many this night. the evange-
list said not far from the kingdom of
God in this assembly, in Savannah in the
world. There are thousands in this city
who do not expect to die in sin They say
to NaHaHw lac NaaW
come over TO and confess Christ,
but they put il OF. believe the
spirit of God is in our midst tonight This
great church would not be filled every
meeting unless the spirit of God were
moving in this city. Those who are 50
near 10 Christ had better not be so near
that they miss him. There is a class like
the scribe. To them l want to speak.
There is one sad thing in closing a meet
ing. Many are almost persuaded-near
the kingdom-but they turn their backs.
We read of many of the disciples following
Christ long time, then falling away from
him."
The speaker took up the story of Herod
You hear people say that blood-thtrsty
Herod was not near the kingdom Of COD.
but he was. That was proof of the power
come down into him after hearing
John. 1t was John, the forerunner of
Christ, who preached in the valley of Jor-
dan and brought Herod. then very near
Gods kingdom. John was not a man
taught In the school of the prophets.
lie was one OF the greatest ana kfdnu-
est ministers the world ever knew. he
had no newspapers and the facilities we
have now of working up interest he
came like a hermit from out the wilder
ness of Judea. He burst upon the world
like a comet. We know nothing of his
previous life.
John could only tell few shepherds
at first of the coming of the Messiah.
They told their fellow workers and thus
the fame of the preacher spread. II was
not long. before the Roman ruler. Herod,
heard of him and his mission, and saw
the multitudes who fOCked to hear him
preach, and he grew suspicious lest the
strange man should stir up a sediton.
Herod finally went down into the valley
of the Jordan 10 hear his teachings, such
as he had never heard before, and SUCH
as met his sanction, for the principle was
right. He became interested and went
frequently. At first he went for Rome;
then he went for himself
John preached with all the eloquence
he could command and swayed the null
titudes like the breath that sweeps over
the trees. lie was heayen-sent-a holy
man. Herod was changed by Johns doc
trine. He left or many of his old habits,
which the people remarked upon. so MOTTO
ABLY was the change. John spared none
IN his teachings against sin.
Sometime Herod and John met, and
John told Herod it was not lawful for him
wife; that he could not inherit Gods
kingdom. Some would say that was too
personal Herod didn't like it, He was
near the Kingdom of God but missed it.
This was one sin Herod could not give
up. As a result Herodius hated John and
his death was brought about by her
what a glorious death for the Master.
Herod's fatal mistake was to think he
could enter heaven by a COMPROMISE
There are many Herods here tonight. Let
me tell you no blasphemer adulterer, liar.
thief or the like can ever enter the king
dom of heaven. Make you lives pure. The
most Internal thing in the world is the
way a man treats woman whom he
has ruined. He goes on with his head
up; she to hell Such a man can't inherit,
and lives pure life.
Every time you hear the word and reject
It your heart is hardened and you are
harder to reach, you refuse, you neglect
and finally despise it, Herod was lost; SO
will he be who rejects Gods word
The evangelist spoke of Herod regret
ting his course in life and told two in
tensely interesting stories Of how two men
were lost by rejecting God, and plead with
his hearers not TO miss Gods kingdom,
Whatever they do. 1t requires moral cour-
age, he said. An inquiry meeting was held
afterward at the Second Baptist church.
and hundreds attended
In the afternoon service Mr. Moody
spoke TO the ladies. The attendance was
very large. He prefaced his remarks
with reference to the invalid in the city
who had heard his sermons through the
telephone connecting the pulpit with her
couch He paralleled this case with an
other that came under his observation
some years ago in Scotland. The com
parlson of these two Christian lives was
as beautiful as il was convincing of the
III w. y
Offering was then taken up TO defray the
expense of putting in the phone
The evangelist read a portion of John
xiv chapter in which Christ comforted
his disciples with promises of the future.
He said he had been asked to speak on
how to rear children and also against
dancing and like amusements He
thought Cody mother could advise bet
ter on the bringing-up of a child than he
could. Ministers know the theory, he
said. but not the practice.
Men don't know much about it; the
mothers Office fits her for that work bet
ter. AS to dancing and the like, he said
the heart that is filled with the love of
God viii regulate those things He told
of a woman who had the entire to the So
cial world and amused and occupied her
self with theaters and dances and the
like. She came to him and said she
wanted to be a Christian but did not
like TO give up the theater. In replying
to her query, he said he had never been
TO a theater in his life. and didn't care
to, because he had no taste in that di-
rection, and his work for God was bet
ter. She reiterated her objection TO Civ
ing up the theater, and asked if she could
not be Chri 3tian without forego-
ing that pleasure He told her if she could
glorify God in that way conscientiouslv