A FLAMING EVANGELIST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FLAMING EVANGELIST.

CENTENARY OF DWIGXT L. MOODY'S BIRTH.

(By n. rr. driver.)

Henry Drummond, the auqthor of "Natural Law in the Spiritual World." "The Ascent of Mars," and other works, declared that Dwight L. Moody was (he greatest human h 0 had ever met. Ho met him as a. young man of 22 when the. famous American evangelist paid his first visit to England in 1572 He aided him in the various missions lie held in tho British Isles. Their friendship became very close and sacred. Drummond's estimate of Moody's greatness is confirmed by multitudes who were intimately associated with him in his evangelistic efforts in America and in England. February sis the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and all over the Christian world his remarkable career will be recounted, and his amazing success recalled. Born in a poor home, fatherless at the age of four, with scanty of the most famous preachers of all time. When he died on October 22. lSflf), at the age of li 2, it was estimated that he had reached, by voice and pen, 100,000.000 people. The figures arc astounding. His missions were conducted on a colossal scale. His popularity never varied. In an age of great preachers he held a foremost place His influence extended far. He founded famous institutions which still perpetuate his name and prolong his usefulness. He lived intense!*-. He bore an unsullied reputation. He carved his name deeply in the religious history of his time. Many torches were kindled by his fiery spirit, and the effect of his fervent zeal i 3 felt in many places in our own day. Ilis life and work are well worth recalling.

Millions Attracted. It is hard for us in these days of religious apathy to realise the tremendous enthusiasm which marked the missions held by Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey at the end of last century. Wherever they went in their own country or in Great Britain vast audiences assembled. The. largest buildings in the. chief cities were found to be all too small for the crowds that flocked to hear them. The Agricultural Hall and the Opera House in London, the Free Church Assembly Hall in Edinburgh. Bingley Hall in Birmingham, Exhibition Hall in Diiblin, and the most capacious churches in every city and town they visited were packed by eager throngs. For their second visit to the metropolis a movable structure, capable of seating SOOO people, was erected in 11 centres of the great citv, and everywhere was easily filled.

During their first visit to London in 1575 it is recorded that in all 255 meetings were attended by 2,030,000 people. The figures are bewildering. They seem almost incredible to us who are used to sparsely-attended churches, and to a widespread indifference to religious services. This first London campaign, too, cost £28,391!, nearly all of which was raised before the mission closed. They revisited England in 1884, when the attractiveness of their meetings was unabated. The total attendance was reckoned at two millions. The Secret of His Power. Moody 's meetings were never characterised by fanaticism, eccentricity or sensationalism. They were singularly free from excitement. Moody promptly suppressed any tendency to erratic and effervescent types of piety. To him religion was essentially a reasonable thing. His. appeal was invariably to common sense. Ho never bewildered his hearers by intricate and involved arguments and never paraded any learning. Kor had he any oratorical tricks. His voice, had not the fascinating sweetness and charm of Spurgeon's or John Bright's. He could not weave a spell of enchantment over his audiences such as George Whitefield could in an earlier day. His gifts lay in otlicr directions. Ho was endowed with a massivu and vigorous frame, capable of great endurance. His strong, clear voice could reach the remotest hearer in the biggest hall, or a crowd of 20,000 in the open air. His. capacity for organisation was unrivalled and his attention to the least detail that made for the comfort of his hearers was unremitting. He believed he had & message of supreme value to deliver and he uttered it with snch intense earnestness as arrested and retained the attention of his great audiences. He was gifted with a fine imagination and could portray ancient characters and scenes in vivid Tealistic terms. He had much mother wit and homely humour and could light up familiar ( themes with fresh gleams of apt pathos and knew how to touch the deep springs of feeling and. while there was nothing mawkish in his addresses, there was ever an intensity of sympathy and a warmth of tenderness which brought him very near to his fellow men in all their varied experiences. Above all there was in this eminent American evangelist a strength of conviction and an accent of certainty which mightily influenced the multitudes he addressed. He was vilified, as all public men are apt to be. His motives were misrepresented, his methods were criticised and censured. But he came scathless through all hostility and bore a stoinless name to the last. There was nothing mercenarv in him. Lest he and his companion should be suspected of enriching themselves by royalties on the Hymnal which was sold in enormous numbers at their meetings and lias since gained world-wide use as "Songs and Solos." they arranged that all the profits should' be placed in the hands of selected trustees and expended in the interests' of religious, organisations. Ten thousand pounds was devoted to the completion of the Moody MemoriaJ Church in Chicago. The chairman of this trust, in America states that although the royalty on each copy was small, yet by September. 1885. the trustees had received about £72.000. and all had heen carefully distributed institutions.

Great Organising Ability. Moody'* activities were by no nieaiiK limited to the public platform. While he Avas the most prominent and popular evangolwt of his day and one ot the most influential of all the Christian centuries, ho. was most practical in setfm" on foot oraanisations which should pc£ petuate the cause in which, all his energies had been spent, lie was closelv identified with the Young Men's Cliristian Associations in America and l"n"land. and was the means of amplifying their activities. Moody set himself to raise £10.(100 for the purchase of a new cite and building for the Carrubbors Close Mission in Edinburgh. Ho succeeded and had the ioy of openiii" the large hall in ISS-t. He regarded a"~ his life work the establishment of the

Moody ISible Institute in Chicago. He appoii'lcd in ISSi; f,, r ;i fund of £.10,000 fur the erection and maintenance of a suitable building. The l.uilding cost £20.000. The liivt superintendent' of the institute was Dr. I!. A. Xorrey, who toured Australia and New Zealand with (.'. M. AloxnndtT in 1(101. Jn 10:11 tlic institute lipid property to the value of over a million pounds. It had 2SO ollicials on its stuff. It had an enrol- ! men! of 17.200 students in its day, evening and correspondence schools' The Bible I'rainiiijr Institute became (he model of similar institutions in many parts of the world, one of which was formed in our own city by the late Rev. Joseph Kemp. Xo city in Scotland was more richly benefited" by the visit of these -American revival'ists than the city of Glasgow. The handsome pile of buildings in Bothwcll Street, comprising the Christian Jnstiiufe. the Bible Training Tnstitiite, the V.M.C.A. and also the Y.YV.C.A. buildings in Bath Street and in Mu>lin Street. Rridgeton, were the outcome of the IS7-1 mission. His Last Great Campaign. The most daring of Moody's ventures was the cnmpagn he organised in lSfKj in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition. Timorous friends predicted failure. But Moody invited 300 workers from many hinds'to assist him. All the larger theatres and churches of i Chicago were commandeered for the i campaign. On one Sunday more than I fi-l.non people attended 70 "services. On I another 72.00(1 attended 100 services. At one service lield in a huge circus tent Moody addressed 20.00(1 people. One paper said: "Mr. Moody's si* months' lons success." Another declared: "The Moody campaign will undoubtedly go into history as one of the most sagamentfi of the century." The vast undertaking cost £20.000' and was a signal proof of the evangelist's capacity for

Dr. John Watson declared to be the most capable, honest and unselfish evangelist of his day deserves to he celebrated in n time when religions enthusiasm is all too rare.