This part of our series would be incomplete without reference to the visits of Moody and Sankey to this country in the last decades of the 19th century. These men were household names in their day, and their fame has echoed down the years.
Early Days and Conversion
Dwight Lyman Moody was born of New England Puritan stock on 5th February 1837. His parents traced their ancestries to early 1630s settlers. His father, Edwin Moody, died when only 41, leaving his family with scant means of support. With indomitable courage, Mrs Moody cared for, and raised, her nine children. Dwight began working life in a neighbouring village when not yet ten years old. In the spring of 1854, he left home in East Northfield to find work in Boston. That was no easy task for a country boy, but two of his uncles were in the boot and shoe business, and with them he found employment on condition that he attended Church and Sunday School. Thus he became a salesman in Holton's shoe shop, and a member of a Bible Class at Mount Vernon Congregational Church, led by a fine Christian named Edward Kimball. Young Moody was self-reliant, headstrong and sometimes over-confident, yet Mr Kimball felt a burden for him. One day he determined to speak to the youth about Christ and salvation. He found him in the back shop and, after serious conversation, Moody gave himself, and his life, to Christ. It was the beginning of a remarkable Christian life. An engraved stone, set in the wall of a building, now marks the site of that Boston shoe shop where Moody was converted.
Life and Work in Chicago
Two years later Dwight Moody went west to Chicago, the growing prairie city on the shore of Lake Michigan, where he quickly found employment in a shoe store. Desiring to identify himself with God's people, he presented his Mount Vernon membership letter to Plymouth Church in Chicago, and was soon actively engaged in Christian service. He volunteered to teach in a struggling Mission Sunday School, and was welcomed by the superintendent, provided he could bring his own class. The next Sunday, Moody brought in 18 youngsters from the nearby sidewalks. He proved to be a real soul winner, pouring his energies into a rapidly growing Sunday School work, and willing to be anything from superintendent to janitor. Remembering the loneliness of his early days in Boston, he sought to contact the large numbers of young men coming to the city for work. This led to a lasting interest in the Young Men's Christian Association. He decided to work on a commission basis, to more easily accommodate his Christian work, until, in 1860, aged 23 years, he gave up his increasing secular prospects to devote himself to serve the Lord full-time. In 1862, he married Emma Revell. It was a union of heart and soul, and in his wife he found his greatest human support.
The outbreak of the American Civil War brought new opportunities for Gospel work among soldiers. This began in Camp Douglas, Chicago, through which passed large numbers of recruits to the Union Army. By Gospel services, prayer meetings, distribution of Bibles, tracts and books, Moody sought to win soldiers for Christ. He travelled to the front lines to minister to the dying and the wounded, and some were blessed and saved on the brink of eternity. Later in the war, Confederate Army prisoners were held in Camp Douglas, and many of them were saved.
After the war, Moody returned to his Sunday School and YMCA work. His zeal in Gospel preaching became well known in Illinois and in surrounding states, where his passion was to win souls for Christ. He did not wait for opportunities to arise, but rather made them himself. It is related how, on one occasion, he accosted a young man, apparently just arrived in the city, with his frequent inquiry, "Are you a Christian?" "It's none of your business" was the curt reply. "Yes it is" was the reassurance. "Then you must be D L Moody!" said the stranger.
Significant Experiences
It was characteristic of Moody to appreciate the gifts and qualities of others, and he grasped every opportunity to invite gifted Bible teachers and evangelists to speak at meetings in Farwell Hall, or in the Illinois Street Church. As a result, he became acquainted with visitors from other parts of America, and from Britain, and learned of Christian work elsewhere. There grew a strong desire to meet, and hear, men such as C H Spurgeon and George Müller and, in 1867, he embarked upon his first visit to England. There was mutual benefit for the visitor and his hosts. The latter were refreshed by Moody's direct American ways, and by the lively reports of his work. An amusing record remains of his response when introduced as "Our American cousin, the Reverend Mr Moody of Chicago". Moody responded "The chairman has made two mistakes. To begin with, I'm not the Reverend Mr Moody at all. I'm plain Dwight L Moody, a Sabbath School worker. And then, I'm not your American cousin. By the grace of God I'm your brother who is interested with you in our Father's work for His children". That must have made folk sit up! At Bristol, he visited Müller at the Ashley Down Orphan Houses, and, in Dublin, he met Henry Moorehouse, known as "The Boy Preacher". The unexpected sequel to that meeting deeply influenced Moody. He thought "That beardless boy looks little more than seventeen". In fact he was 27, and already a veteran revival preacher. Moorehouse told Moody he would like to accompany him on his return to America, and preach in Chicago, but received no encouragement. Undeterred, some months later, Moorehouse arrived. Moody was to be away for two nights and, after some debate, it was agreed to allow Moorehouse to speak. On his return, Moody was astonished to hear that the congregation had been enthralled by Moorehouse preaching on John 3.16. Mrs Moody informed her husband "He tells the worst sinners that God loves them" and "He backs up everything he says with the Bible". Moorehouse went on to preach from that same verse for seven nights. It made an indelible impression on Moody. Moorehouse's preaching taught him "to draw his sword full length, to fling the scabbard away, and enter battle with the naked blade".
Another significant meeting occurred during the 1870 Indianapolis YMCA Convention. Moody was to open an early morning prayer meeting. There was some difficulty in starting the singing, until a delegate urged his friend to take the lead. Mr Ira D Sankey began to sing "There is a fountain filled with blood". After the meeting, Sankey was introduced to Moody, who immediately recognised him as the person who had led the singing. Moody had been impressed, and he told Sankey "You are the man I have been looking for, and I want you to come to Chicago to help me in my work". That same evening, Sankey attended a street corner open air meeting and sang "Am I a soldier of the cross?" Moody then preached to the large crowd, and Sankey thought it was one of the most powerful addresses he had ever heard. Later, Sankey came to Chicago for a week. On their first day together they visited folk who were sick. Sankey sang a hymn and Moody read words of comfort from the Scriptures. Soon after this, Sankey resigned from business, and joined Moody in his work at Illinois Street Church and with the YMCA. It became a famous partnership!
The spring and summer of 1871 were hot and dry in Chicago. Moody decided upon a series of meetings on the subject of Bible characters, concluding with six evenings on a study of Christ. On his fifth evening he preached to the largest congregation that he had ever addressed in the city, on the text "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" He asked his hearers to take this text home and think about it, and "next Sunday we will come to Calvary and the cross and we will decide what we will do with Jesus of Nazareth". That night the great fire broke out and Chicago was laid in ashes. "What a mistake", he later recounted, "I have never since dared to give an audience a week to think of their salvation".
Such contacts and experiences moulded Mr Moody, and fitted him to be the vessel used by God in the salvation of thousands during his later visits to Britain and Ireland. The revival of those days will be the subject of the next article.¹ (To be continued …)
¹ Much information has been gleaned from The Life of Dwight L Moody by his son, William R Moody.
