My friend said he wouldn’t believe that the sheep knew him when he called them by name. “But I am not here to sell Bibles; take it, if you want it.” “Who are you calling a hypocrite?” “Next day?” The very man he had been talking against was the very man God used to convert him. The idea of a number of men standing there singing, “Come! I said to my husband, ‘This is no place for me; this is horrible. “Yes,” replied the priest, “I could say that.” Do you understand all about algebra, geometry, Hebrew, Latin and Greek?” No use of your bothering about it.’ ” McCheyne, the Scotch preacher, once said to some friends, “Do you think Christ will come to-night?” “There is that miserable old hymn again,” he said; “what a fool I am for coming!” When the Spirit of God lays hold of a man, he does a good many things he did not intend to do. A colored man said he had seen a sign; he said it read, “G. She said, “No, not that I know of.” An old Welshwoman said Christ was Welsh, and an Englishman said: When the hunters see it coming, what do they do? The first body that came floating toward the shore was, to his great grief and surprise, the body of his own boy! “Up where?” said the old man. Just look right at me, and jump.” I was once preaching in Chicago, and a woman who was nearly out of her mind came to me. Well, when I wanted an orange, I did not go to an orange tree and pray the oranges to fall into my pocket; but I walked up to a tree, reached out my hand, and took the oranges. Pastor Kirk emphasized the sinfulness of man and mans inability to save himself. “Because he is only down on one knee, mother, and he will never get peace until he is down on both knees.” “If I am one of the elect, I will be saved, and if I ain’t, I won’t. When the neighbors found out that the Arnot children could not climb trees, they began to tell them about the wonderful things they could see from the tops of the trees. I heard of a woman once that thought there was no promise in the Bible for her; she thought the promises were for some one else, not for her. The first game of chance; the first betting transaction; the first false entry in the books; the first quarter-dollar taken from the cash-box or the till; the first night spent in evil company—either of these may prove the turning-point; either of these may represent a wrong start. He had resolved to be rich. Robertson said: “I would if I knew enough. “Well,” I said, “did you ever hear me say anything about theaters? The mother said, “Charlie, I am not going to talk to you any more. I said to the young man: All Rights Reserved. The day came for his graduation, and he walked down the broad aisle with that poor mother dressed very shabbily, and put her into one of the best seats in the house. Mans Need | The entrance had a door with a spring lock. I suppose that is the way the Lord knows you and me. No. The conversation about him was no more intelligible to him than to the man in the first instance, and he, too, besought the captain to stop and let him off the boat. Witness Lee, Main | “Is it there?” What made the difference? If his heart is in money, he will soon have you deep in talk about mines, speculation, stocks, bank rate, and so on. “Look here,” they said, “you didn’t die; you must have got some one to go for you; it must have been your substitute.” “Why,” she said, “do you ever go?” They seemed to know it was no place for a Christian to go. “Nothing, sir, but just to pull for the shore.” “Many conversions here?” You will find little dirty, barefooted children who will get a string of shavings, put it round their necks, and strut down the street as if they were wearing golden beads. When preaching in Chicago, Dr. Monro Gibson once asked in the inquiry meeting, “Now, how can we find out who is thirsty? When he was to graduate, he wrote his mother to come, but she sent back word that she could not because her best skirt had already been turned once. So his father just told him to go and get an armful, and bring them upstairs. He could not remember his death, he had no recollection of his funeral, but he recollected his father one winter night taking a little chip, and with his pocket-knife whittling out a little cross, and with the tears in his eyes he held up that cross, telling how God in His infinite love sent His Son down here to redeem us, and how He had died on the cross for us. But when the sun blazes upon the trees, they all wither and die. In 1871 I preached a series of sermons on the life of Christ in old Farwell hall, Chicago, for five nights. The Way “What do you mean?” We are as weak and foolish as sheep. He said that at a revival meeting a little lad who was used to Methodist ways, went home to his mother and said: One young lady was offered a promotion, but she went to see the secretary, General Butterworth, and said that there was a girl sitting next to her that had a family to support. Because they are out of communion with God, and have lost their witness. And I believe that when God touches the secret spring of memory, every one of our sins will come back, and if they have not been blotted out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will haunt us as eternal ages roll on. A man was taken into one of our insane asylums a few years ago from one of the Western cities. Do you spend your time at the saloon or the club, until you have become almost a stranger to them? This woman one day got a letter, and when she opened it she found it was not for her at all; it was meant for another woman that had the same name; and she had her eyes opened to the fact that if she should find some promise in the Bible directed to her name, she would not know whether it meant her or some one else that bore her name. It is a good deal better to keep just as far from the line as you can if you want power. Every adulterer would cut out everything about adultery; every liar would cut out everything about lying; every drunkard would be cutting out what he didn’t like. Your names must be sent on beforehand, and entered in its book, else you won’t get in; but get your names inscribed on its pages, and then you won’t be disappointed. Some people in the port saw their signal of distress, and sent word that they need not be afraid, that the war was over, and peace had been declared. The father died, and the boy went on from bad to worse until he was arrested for murder. Now, that is what we ought to be, constantly drawing in the rays of the Sun of Righteousness and then giving them out. I wish you would make me a few.” As soon as I finished preaching, I went to him and said: Ah! I told him to get out of the ministry. When he was on trial, it came out that he had murdered five other people, and from one end of the city to the other there was a universal cry going up against him. “I’se clean; mamma washed me!” he cried. He set fire to the hymn book, but he could not burn up the little word “Come!” No one saw the act; but God saw it, and this retribution followed it. If you are sick, and a doctor prescribes for you, don’t take the medicine—throw it out the door. Give me two sacks of that wheat; the rest shall be thine.” He opened it, went down, and found the miser lying dead on the ground, in the midst of his riches. “Tuesday.” One day he stood with his mother at the cottage door—it was a poor house, but she could not pay for their schooling and feed and clothe her children and hire a very good house too out of her earnings. Can you buy it? D.L. I went up to see her, and when I told her, the tears trickled down her cheeks, and she said: “Mr. Ten thousand times no! God’s best gifts, like valuable jewels, are kept under lock and key, and those who want them must, with fervent faith, importunately ask for them; for God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. If they have not always done so, it is probable that they have not yet matured. Years passed. “Next day?” Moody | or are you training them for God and righteousness? He said that the man was right, that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no claim against him. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. She said nothing to her family, until finally the burden became too heavy, and she told them. What we want is family piety, righteousness in our homes. He has found the broken part, and it hurts. Will you not decide now? My little boy clapped his hands. But this is not the Gospel order. A great many people seem to think that the Bible is out of date, that it is an old book, that it has passed its day. An obscure man preached one Sunday to a few persons in a Methodist chapel in the South of England. There is as much pride among the poor as among the rich; and that is one reason why more of them do not come to the Lord Jesus Christ: they do not like to be laughed at, scoffed at, sneered at, and ridiculed. Moody, (which you can read in its entirety online here), R.A. Torrey writes about “the definite enduement from on high” that empowered Moody’s preaching. “Oh, yes,” he said, “he does try to tempt me. It is related of a clever infidel that he sought an acquaintance with the truths of the Bible, and began to read at the books of Moses. He is now gentle and good and has left off opium.”. “No; I can’t tell. After he found out that he had made a mistake, he took the bird into the house, but it kept up that “Chirp, chirp, chirp.” He bought another bird, but the canary nearly ruined it. I have a match box with a phosphorescent front. One boy answered, “I would rather be the rich man while I live, and Lazarus when I die.” He has led your son the other way.” At first I used to stand off from the rod as far as I could. Mothers, if you don’t make your boy obey when he is young, he will break your heart. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” An old Scotchman says: “It is a good thing in a good place for a good purpose.” Many people have the Bible in their heads, or in their pockets; but we need to get it down into our hearts. As the coin of the realm has always been found to buy the amount of its face-value, so the prophecies and promises of Scripture have yielded their face value to those who have taken the pains to prove them. Suppose I were to say, I will give this Bible to “whosoever” will take it; what have you got to do? You do your work, and the Lord will do His. If you were to pay ever so little, it would not be a gift. Many people go to meetings, and it is as hard to make an impression on them as in pressing a seal on hard wax. In a few days she came back to me and said: “Mr. Just come as you are, and throw yourself upon His bosom, and He will not cast you out.” And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. “According to your faith it shall be unto you.” This man had expected nothing and he got just what he expected. She said: “You must. Said the young man, “So I am, but I am not ashamed of my Lord.” “Well, my friend,” I said, “I don’t think there is any chance for you to become a Christian until you make restitution.” He said, “If I attempt to do that, I will fall into the clutches of the law, and I will go to the penitentiary.” “Well,” I replied, “you had better do that than go to the judgment-seat of God with that sin upon your soul, and have eternal punishment. “I will tell you what I mean,” I said; “the man that comes into my house and runs a dagger into my heart for my money is a prince compared with a son that takes five years to kill me and the wife of my bosom. A man who lived on the bank of Lake Erie had water pipes laid to his house from the lake; and when he wanted water all he had to do was to turn the tap and the water flowed in. At first she was very skeptical; but one day she said to her servant: In the name of our great Commander let us march on to battle and to victory. “You are a fool,” the devil said. He gets so tired that he takes us out to the theater,” and she said, “I am far better acquainted with the theater and theater people than with the church and church people, and I don’t want to give up the theater.” He go to these meetings? And WHOSOEVER WILL, let him take the water of life freely.’ ”, Dr. Talmage tells the story that one day while he was bothering his theological professor with questions about the mysteries of the Bible, the latter turned on him and said: But she never could get done talking about that pendulum. My friend found that he knew every one of his sheep by their failings. “Then go higher; you haven’t got high enough.’ Good-bye, Lord Jesus Christ!” “Now, you must take good care, and not get yourself dirty again,” said mamma. You cannot touch me; I died in that man, and I go free. We won’t rise higher till we do so. One day she could not have bought five dollars’ worth of anything; the next day she could go and buy a thousand dollar’s worth of whatever she wanted. Go and live right at home, go and treat your wife and children right, pay your debts, and do some things of that kind. He made promises to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and the others, and did He not fulfill them? Next night I saw him in the audience with a terrible look in his face. Let us look at—. “Where is mother?” she cried. The idea that a father is to let his children run wild! There was a good deal of interest in our town a few years ago, and some of my neighbors were converted, but it didn’t strike me.” If he was going to be converted, he said, he was going to be converted by some ordained minister; he was not going to any meeting that was conducted by unordained Americans. I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then during business hours, he latter reported. No, she hadn’t. He brings joy when He comes, and we cannot have joy apart from Him. The white-haired mother got just as near her son as she could, and every witness that went into the court and said anything against him seemed to hurt her more than her son. “Oh,” was the reply, “we must go to market.”. When I was a boy I used, among other things, to hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe it so badly, in order to get over so much ground, that at night I had to put down a stick in the ground, so as to know next morning where I had left off. A true Christian is wretched where there is no fellowship, and an unregenerate man is not at ease where there are only Christians. Begin now to confess your sins, and pray the Lord to remember you. You know there are some people who mock at religious meetings, and say that religion drives people mad. Moody, can I go to the theater if I become a Christian?” Like two lawyers: one said in court that the other didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer. Did you ever hear such stuff? It was poor policy. The doctor spent the day with him, read to him out of the Bible, and tried to get him to lay hold of the promises. Moody’s View of the Bible D.L. “No, sir.” I know a man who used to be the terror of his neighborhood. His Sunday School teacher was a Mr. Kimball, and he had set his heart on winning the A man was always telling his servant that he was going to do a great thing for him. The boy came to a window, and was brought safely to the ground by two farm-hands, one standing on the shoulder of the other. The great objection I have to these things is that they get the mastery, and become a hindrance to spiritual growth. So it is when you have come into personal contact with Christ. It may not have taken him more than an hour to lay the obstruction on the railroad, but he was over thirty years reaping the result of that one act! There is a legend that the Apostle John was much distressed over the fall of a young convert. The young man said: “No; but my father and grandfather and myself were brought up infidels, and for the last two or three years this thought has been haunting me, ‘Where shall I spend eternity?’ And the thought of it follows me day and night.” The prophet takes hold of that very idea. “We saw him going into the theater.” I used to stumble over that. Then in April, Mount Vernon Church held a revival. When we talk to him he laughs at us. I wound the thread around him a few times, and he broke it with a single jerk. But let the wax be warmed up and an impression is made. The religion that has no fire is like painted fire. Where will you be, on the left or the right hand of God? “What are you thinking about, my son?” replied the agitated father. I want to say here to young men, that when a young man makes a wrong start, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is ruin to him. That made me think of Lot down in Sodom. So with salvation. To have the latter, he says, it is necessary that there must first be the hidden source of faith. He found out the reason why that father was so stern. do you believe it? “You cannot take me.” It looked as if the eye had been put out, but it wasn’t. The blood is on the mercy-seat, and the vilest sinner can be saved for time and eternity. D. L. Moody. I don’t know that the minister even noticed me, unless it was when I was asleep in the gallery, and he had some one wake me up. Eager eyes were watching and strong arms manned the life-boat. He took him to a splendid mansion, and said, “This is all mine.” He pointed to a little town, “That is mine; it is called by my name.” He pointed to a rolling prairie, “That is all mine; the sun never shone on a finer prairie than that, so fruitful and rich, and it’s all mine.” In another direction he showed him fertile farms extending for thirty miles, “These are all mine.” He took him into his grand house, showed him his beautiful pictures, his costly gold plate, his jewels, and still he said, “These are all mine. Half that apple-tree was over in the street, and it got more old brooms and brickbats and handles than any other tree in town. He has gone down, down, down, and now he is just a miserable wreck. “Easily enough,” I replied; “I just telegraphed on before that I was coming, to have a room ready for me.” And so it is with us. During his time as a preacher, evangelist, and Christian educator, Massachusetts native Dwight L. Moody had a gift for powerfully communicating the love of God. A rule I have had for years is to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. Men are anxious for a revival in business. “Captain, I understand you want a pilot to take you out of this difficulty?” Ashamed of his mother that loved him and toiled for him, and bore so much hardship for him! Since then I never have dared give an audience a week to think of their salvation. “Suppose He did! come!” He said to himself, “What a fool I am for allowing myself to be troubled in this way!” He went to a third saloon, had another glass, and finally got home. But there was one employé that wouldn’t come. The doctor, who was himself a Christian man, said: “It is not too late. He was amazed to find a person on duty in Washington that was willing to give up her position and take a lower one, and let some one else have it that she might be able to help her family. The next day he went down into the pit, and the coal fell in upon him. It was upon that memorable night in October, and the court-house bell was sounding an alarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. I am sure the saloon-keepers are glad if they can have a revival in their business; they do not object to sell more whisky and beer. “No, that ain’t it; it is ‘Go pick cotton.’ ” If his heart is in lands, it won’t be long before he’s talking about real estate, improvements, houses, and so on. For Parents Whenever I speak to parents, two fathers come before me. He tells you there is no hell, no future—there is no retribution. He was in trouble till about two in the morning. When He enlists a man in His service, He shows him the dark side; He lets him know that he must live a life of self-denial. If they were lost, they might rise up in judgment against me. We went through to Glasgow, and had not been there six weeks when news came that that young man had been stricken down, and had died. There is also an interesting dialogue between D. L. Moody and Rev. Thank God for such a man! “Why, I’se clean, papa; mamma washed me.” And death is nigh!”. Until conviction of sin brings us down on both knees, until we are completely humbled, until we have no hope in ourselves left, we cannot find the Savior. Many people are working and working, as Rowland Hill said, like children on a rocking-horse—it is a beautiful motion, but there is no progress. I had not been gone long when my little boy said, “Mamma, I wish you would get me ready.” Won’t you meet me in heaven, father?” “What makes you so full of joy?” Then he inquired who was the preacher, and he found out it was the very man that he said he would not hear—the man he disliked. She looked up through her tears, and said, “No; I can’t help it; that is spontaneous.” Into darkness he went again. Let us not give heed to gloomy and discouraging remarks. A good many live on negations. Still the door would not open. “What nonsense!” he said to himself; “the idea of a rational man being disturbed by that hymn.” When he awoke he looked toward the shore and saw a vessel had been wrecked. The churches are full of them; they never speak for Christ. A lady came to me once and said, “Mr. “Willie, can you read? “When once off the old wreck and safe in the life-boat what remained for you to do?” “No, sah; we don’t read in dis country. Young man, just ask yourself the question, “Where shall I be?” Some of you who are getting on in years may be in eternity ten years hence. Why, it is a downright insult! They had Egyptians who could be as eloquent as Moses. When the Spirit of God comes into your heart and mine, it will be easy to love and serve God. But it is seed—that is all I want to know, and I am sowing it.” Moody’s Stories Once when I was traveling to a city there was a lady in the car with me. After the meeting was over I went to her and asked her what the trouble was. When I was a boy my mother used to send me out doors to get a birch stick to whip me with, when I had to be punished. A Christian man was once urged by his employer to work on Sunday. She declared that she knew He was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him. He was one of the millionaires of Ohio. The old slave, with all his ignorance, had even then experienced a liberty in his own soul that these young men, with all their boasted education, at that time knew nothing of. He looked all around, but he could not see him. Although God forgave the sins of Jacob and David, and the other Old Testament saints, yet there were certain consequences of their sins which those saints had to suffer after they were forgiven. We boys used to watch to see when an apple was getting red. “Well,” he replied: “Some people it strikes, and some it doesn’t. Douglas B. Whitley Jr as D. L. Moody sharing his testimony. Dr. Arnot, one of the greatest Scotch divines, was in this country before he died. So he said to the shepherd: I heard once of a man who went to England from the Continent, and brought letters with him to eminent physicians from the Emperor. But, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward what I had read, I could not tell him; I had forgotten it nearly all. They had a law in that town that fruit on a tree overhanging the street belonged to the public, and any fruit on the other side of the fence belonged to the property-holders. “No, He was a Jew.” I really believe the little fellow had reasoned himself into the belief that he could not do it. But she said again, “Mr. Let every one of us, young and old, rich and poor, come to Christ at once, and He will put all our sins away. A boy of fifteen years of age was in the audience, driven into the chapel by a snowstorm. “I don’t believe in roots; they are of no account. “Moody, it has never struck me yet.” But you cannot put too much confidence in God. I always intended to become a Christian some day, but I thought I had plenty of time, and put it off.” If we are willing, every one of us may be sealed for the day of redemption. When I was a young man I was clerk in the establishment of a man in Chicago, whom I observed frequently occupied sorting and marking bills. I am not going to stay here, I am going home.’ He said, ‘Don’t make a fool of yourself. She confessed that she tried to starve the child; but it lingered on. I was a Union soldier, and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. Thank God that He has spoken to you, and praise Him for it, and whatever may come do not go in the opposite direction. So a church that hasn’t any of the dew of heaven, any of the rain that comes down in showers, will be as barren as the earth would be without the dew and rain. She was bound to have peace. “Yes; but I’d like to have you mention my name.” I said, “Please don’t mention them again. How many men fold their arms and say: A young man who comes home night after night drunk, and when his mother remonstrates, curses her gray hairs, and kills her by inches, is the blackest kind of a murderer.”. “Well, now,” said my friend, “why don’t you follow that road and get your liberty? During their talk the officer said: That is the way I used to feel when I was a boy. “Why don’t you preach in parables like your Master?” He besought the captain that he would stop his boat and let him off at the first landing, as the surroundings were so distasteful to him. In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher asked a little boy if there was anything that God could not do. Here were men who surrounded the apostles, full of prejudice, full of malice, full of bitterness, their hands, as it were, dripping with the blood of the Son of God, and yet an unlettered man, a man whom they detested, a man whom they hated, stands up and preaches the Gospel, and three thousand of them are immediately convicted and converted, and become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secretary Seward, who was Lincoln’s Secretary of State—a long-headed and shrewd politician—prophesied that the war would be over in ninety days; and young men in thousands and hundreds of thousands came forward and volunteered to go down to Dixie and whip the South. There was an architect in Chicago who was converted. The man was drinking of the water out of the well; and as he stopped drinking, he smacked his lips, and said: “Well, they call me one.” “If you don’t keep still,” the farmer replied, “I will give him every ham I have in the smoke-house.”, A gentleman in Ireland had a seal made for me. I inherited it from my father and mother, and it is uncontrollable; but my swearing comes only from the lips.” “Yes.” “Lead us not into temptation,” our Lord taught us to pray; and again He said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” We are weak and sinful by nature, and it is a good deal better for us to pray for deliverance rather than to run into temptation and then pray for strength to resist. “D.L.M.” is on one side, and on the other, “God is love.” If I want to stamp “God is love” I would not make much headway if the wax was hard and cold. “I know that,” he said; “he died in my stead. I said: And the young man proves to be weak-kneed; he cannot stand the scoffs and the sneers and the jeers of his companions; and so he becomes untrue to his principles, and gives them up. And thus people indorse God’s promises, by marking some as bad and others as doubtful; whereas we ought to take all of them as good, for He has never once broken His word, and all that He says He will do, will be done in the fullness of time. His friends gathered about him, saw his lips moving, and, bending down to catch his words, heard him say: “Well,” I asked, “have I got any peculiar kind? “Dear me,” he said. “Well, didn’t I say ‘whosoever’ will can have it?” It is sin that drives people mad. I said: “My friend, I don’t see how you can tear down with one hand what you are trying to build up with the other. The little fellow got all ready the third time to jump, but he looked on the floor, and said: The teacher readily put down “gold,” and they all comprehended it, for all had run to that country in hope of finding it. A man has no right to be in the pulpit unless he can get along with his family. “Doctor, I don’t want you to deceive me; I want to know the worst. And so the Arnot children were all the time teasing their father to let them climb the tree; but the old sire said: After one or two Sabbaths, back again to the house of God I went. At last the father fell asleep, and while he was sleeping the little child wandered away. The father said: One day the two sisters were together, and the other said, “Now what have you got at those meetings that you didn’t have in the first place?” “Well,” she said, “my father was a doctor, and had a large practice, and he used to get so tired that he used to take us to the theater. There was a shop-girl in Chicago, a few years ago. ... Testimony. But,” he said, “we have rented all our pews and are able to pay all our running expenses. “I think this hymn is the sweetest and the best in the English language.