SOME STORIES OF MR. MOODY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10407, 3 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOME STORIES OF MR. MOODY.

In an nrticto on " Mr, Moody as I Know Him," in theTemplu Magazine for Janunry, Mr. P. B. Moyer Bays that at the NorthGold Convention last summer " we wero much troubled with a good man, wlio professed to hare reachod the highest pinnaolo of perfection, and shouted 'Hailolujuii' with disagreeable emphasis when tho speakers touched on any of his favourite tenets, his silence being ominous and foarful. With considerable glee Mr. Moody told me, one morning, that he had gone off by the early train. ' How did you manago it?' said I. ' Well, ho came to my house this morning, and had a lot to say about himeelf; but I told him that I shouldn't believe a word of it unions I could ask his wife.' One end of Northfiold may be called Mr. Moody'e; at tho other ond of the long town iea inixturoof Protectants, Roman Catholics, and Unitarians. No one (cootinuos Mr, Meyer) ever says an unkind thing of their neighbour, and all cherish a prido in his world-wide fame, which has attracted so much attention to that little Now England village. The Roman Catholics aro specially friendly. Strict as Mr, Moody'* allegianco ie to evangelical truth, there is no trace of intolerance; but, an the contrary, his sympathies as a man are broad and kindly to all his fellows, whatever their creed. Some years ago, the Roman Catholics in Northfield determined to build a church, and went round the town collecting subscriptions. At first they cherished a natural hesitation as to tho reception Mr, Moody would give them; but, to their surprise, he handed them one of tho handsomest Hubaertotions, and when the chapel was finished presented them with an organ. In answer to an objection raised againsj him on this account, ho said: 'If they are Roman Catholics, it is better they should be good Roman Catholics than bad. It ie surely better to have a Catholic Church than none; and as for the organ, if they are to have music in their church, id is better to have goad music. Besides,' ho added, 'these are my own townspeople. If ever lam to be the least use to them, surely I must help them. . The end of the story is that when it was rumoured that lie was about to build a church, one day he found the site covered with great piles ot stones which the Roman Catholics had brought down from tho mountain to serve as the foundations. Mr. Moody himself told me that on the day of his mother's funeral a Roman Catholic would insist on helping to drag the sledge that carried the coffin over the frozen snow." Mr. Meyer says that Mr, Moody'e process of sermon-manufacture is very original. There ia something automatic about it. The baaie of each sermon in a big envelope, labelled " Repentance," " Faith, ,, "Peter," "Zaccheue," "The Elder Son." Into this envelope he puts cuttings from papers, extracts from books, illustrations and incidents, scrape of all kinds which are more or lets connected with the subject. When this process has continued forsomo time, he goes through the mass of accumulation, rejecting some, laying hold of more, and weaving it into a connected whole. Of this ho takes it few jottings in a large hand to pulpit or platform. The process of looking through the envelope is constantly repeated, so that points which had been overlooked are brought to his mind, fresh illustrations introduced, and tho entire •subject presented anew in all its lights. This secures freshness in the delivery, and preserves him from the monotony of perpetual repetition.