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Much that is here written is his own words concerning her (his
mother).
I have an old mother away down in the Connecticut Mountains, Mr.
Moody used to say, and I have been in the habit of going to see
her every year for twenty years. Suppose I go there and say,
Mother, you were very kind to me when I was young - you were
very good to me; when father died you worked hard for us all to
keep us together, and so I have come to see you, because it is
my duty, you need not come again. And that is the way with a
great many servants of God. They work for Him, because it is
their duty - not for love. Let us abolish this work duty, and
feel that it is only a privilege to work for God, and let us try
to remember that what is done merely from a sense of duty is not
acceptable to God. Page 61 ( His Mother)
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...When waited upon by a journalist, who asked him for a sketch
of his life, Mr. Moody said: I was born in the flesh in 1837; I
was born in the Spirit in 1856. What is born of the flesh may
die; that which is born of the Spirit will live forever. Page 84
(His Conversion)
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What shall I do with Jesus? And I said to the audience, Now I
want you to take the question with you and think over it, and
next Sunday I want you to come back and tell me what you are
going to do with it.
D.L. Moody never saw that audience again. The fire was beginning
to rage some probably died that night and strangely enough the
song they sung as the meeting ended was:
To day the Saviour calls:
For refuge fly.
The storm of justice falls,
And death is nigh!
Page 106
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A Little Girls Testimony
She was lying in one of the poor little huts, all the property
of the family having been destroyed by the fire. I ascertained
that she was beyond all hopes of recovery, and that they were
waiting for the little one to pass away. How is it with you
to-day? I asked. With a beautiful smile on her face, she said,
It is all well with me to-day.; I wish you would speak to my
father and mother. But, said I, are you a Christian? Yes. When
did you become one? Do you remember last Thursday in the
Tabernacle when we had that little singing meeting, and you
sang, Jesus Loves Even Me? Yes. It was lat Thursday I believed
on the Lord Jesus, and now I am going to be with Him to-day.
that testimony from that little girl in that neglected quarter
of Chicago has done more to stimulate me and to bring me to this
country than all that the papers or any persons might say. I
remember the joy I felt when I looked upon that beautiful
child's face. She went up to Heaven, and no doubt said that she
learned upon earth that Jesus loved her, from that little hymn.
If you want to enjoy a blessing, go to the couches of the
bedridden and dying ones, and sing to them of Jesus, for they
cannot enjoy theses meetings as you do, and you will get a great
blessing to your own soul.
Told by Mr. Sankey pg. 133 (Moody and Sanky)
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He Sang the Gospel
It was not alone the novelty of his method that aroused interest
in Mr. Sankey's songs to such a high degree. He possessed a
voice of unusual purity and strength, and even when facing a
great congregation of seventeen or eighteen thousand people,
could make every word which he uttered so distinct that it was
heard on the very outskirts of the throng. His vocal method has
been criticized, undoubtedly with justice, but it can be said
that, whether his method was correct or incorrect artistically,
it was at least effective. Patti at her best could not move
hearers with her singing in the way that Mr. Sankey won the
hearts of his audiences. He literally, as he himself proclaimed,
sang the Gospel.
This phrase, novel as it was, was criticized by many staid
conservatives in the matter of religion, but its truth cannot be
questioned. If it were not true how could it have been that so
many should have been led to Christ through the influence of
that marvelous singing. An English journal has told of a little
girl only ten years old who had listened with delight to Mr.
Sankey's singing. O! she said, how I love those dear hymns! When
I am gone, mother, will you ask the girls of the school to sing
the hymn.
Ring the bells of Heaven!
There is joy to-day,
For a soul returning from the wild;
See the Father meets him out upon the way,
Welcoming his weary, wandering child.
The night before her death, she said, dear father and mother, I
hope I shall meet you in Heaven, You cannot think how bright and
happy I feel, and half an hour before her departure she
exclaimed, O! mother, listen to the bells of Heaven, they are
ringing so beautiful. She closed her eyes awhile but presently
she cried again, hearken to the harps, they are most splendid;
O! I wish you could hear them, and then, O ! Mother, I see the
Lord Jesus and the angels. O, if you could see them too! He is
sending one to fetch me! About five minutes before her last
breath she said, Lift me up from the pillow; high, high up! O! I
wish you could lift me right up into Heaven! Then doubtless
conscious that the parting moment was at hand, Put me down again
, quick, and calmly, joyously, brightly, with her eyes upward,
as if gazing upon some vision of surpassing beauty, she
peacefully breathed forth her spirit into the arms of the
ministering angels whom Jesus had sent for her. How can we
measure what the voice of the singer (Mr. Sankey) had done for
that little girl. pg. 131 (Moody and Sanky) |