The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-23
MIR. MOODY'S CAREER.
Work of the Greatest Evangelist the
Country Has Produced.

Work Of the Greatest Evangelist the
Country Has Produced.
Dwight L. Moody was born at Mortified.
Mass, Feb. 5, 1887. His father owned
poor farm of few acres, mostly stone He
could not dig living from it. He was
forced to help this small income by work
ing with a trowel when building was brisk.
1t took all his time and energy to make
both ends meet. One day he died without
means-died so suddenly that he had only.
time to sink upon his knees and breathe his
last before the prayer for the widow and
the nine children could be completed. There
was a mortgage on the house. The gloomy
outlook was increased in month by the
arrival of twins. The mothec was advised
to bind out some of her children, and would
have been compelled to do so but for the
assistance Of the village pastor and the
relatives in Boston. Dwight was loaned to
a man to do errands for his board and go
to school as much OF the time as he could
be spared from the chores. The ragged,
| tattered, rollicking, pestering boy could see
no use in education. It was all a joke to
| him. He was driven through the district
school, and he drove out the teachers He
| became versed in little reading, writing
and ciphering and the art of speaking
pieces. He excelled in ingenious mischief
| He showed no other marked piety beyond
| a magnificent love for his mother He could
| fight with his fists. Old men scratched
their heads over the oiscouraging prospect
| for him. They only hoped that his wit
| would pass for wisdom. A few lived to see
| the realization of their hopes.
| Mr. Moody frittesed away his time In the
country until he was seventeen. He be-
came an insurgent at this time. He left
home. headed for the West. fortune and
| fame. He had not been converted. He had
no particular care for the church. His
brother was a shoe salesman in a little
store. He aspired to similar place in an
uncle's shop in Boston. The uncle object
ed. He liked young Dwight, but he told
the mother that it was dangerous to let a
farm boy come into town. 1t had been his
| experience that ninety-nine out of each one
| hundred who made this change went
| wrong. The boy was determined and he
| pushed out into the world, dressed in
| seedy clothes, wearing an old straw hat
and hampered in personal appearance by
| a persistent and prosperous boil on the
back of his neck. The uncle took him in,
compelling the nephew to sign a contract
to be governed by his advice and to attend
| the Sunday school and services at Mount
Vernon Congregational Church He had
| attended Unitarian Church up TO this
time. He stood our a big, lank, awkward
/ member of the fashionable congregation.
The magnificent eloquence of the Boston
pastor went over his head. Dwight liked
hand-to-hand religion, and the man who
| taught his Sunday school won his heart
This man made a report to the pastor on
| his pupils prospects in religion. HE is
very unlikely to become a Christian of
clear and decided views of gospel truth,
still less to fill any extended sphere Of
| public usefulness
TWELVE MONTHS OF PROBATION.
He applied for membership in the church
The conservative board would not accept
him. He was held out for lack of doc
| trine. The board told him to go on alone
to heaven for a year on probation 1t took
him twelve months to add enough creed to
his faith, and his name went upon the roll.
He still had no money in his pocket There
seemed no success for him in Boston. He
started for New York He walked the en-
tire distance. He did not do we'll there.
He seemed a Gagged bird and concluded
that there was no room for him in the
East. The finished condition of everything
was a constant restraint. He began to
dream OF the great wilderness in
the West. He had plenty of courage.
He placed his plan before his relatives. and
| an uncle agreed to commend his ability as
| a shoe clerk to Wiswall, in Lake street,
Chicago. The new clerk proved a wonder.
He sold more than any two men on the
floor. He organized a debating society
among the statesmen, and night after night
the young men pulled their hair out over
foreordination versus free will and the sla-
| very problem.
Moody soon showed the spirit of his an
| cestry. He became a Puritan. He hated
| the theater, billiards, cards and dancing
| as the enticement of the devil.
Plymouth Congregational Church took the
young man by letter. He started trouble at
once. 1t was an aristocratic congregation.
He could not accept Talleyrands position
that speech is often useful for concealing
| ones thought. He would not be silenced.
He shocked the brethren with the pungency
OF his exhortation. He told the Lord things
about them which nearly cost him his men,
| bership. 1t was so unpleasant TO be told
that he should leave the praying to those
| who knew better how to do il that he
| sought refuge in a humber church-a lit
| tie Methodist one. Here he was allowed 10
| do all he wanted to. Still he was not salts
fled with the field. He did not think he was
| working with the people who needed him
most. He decided to found mission on the
North Side. He rented a deserted saloon
building. 1t stood in what is called Little
| Hell'' in Market street. He went into the
| streets and picked up class Of eighteen
CONTINUED ON FOURTH PAGE.)