FROM Monday to Friday last week Mr Moody paid his first visit to this town, where the ground had been well prepared by prayer and the united efforts of the clergy and ministers of various denominations the secretaries being Rev S. C. Adam (Church of England), Rev R. W. Hopewell (Wesleyan), and Rev W. Johnston (Presbyterian). The meetings were held in the Drill Hall, which was seated for over three thousand persons. An excellent choir was in attendance, and in few if any provincial towns in which the evangelist has laboured have such well-known hymns as "All people that on earth do dwell," "Rock of Ages, "There is Life for a Look," &c., been so effectively rendered. This was a welcome feature of the opening meeting, imparting as it did a heartiness which greatly cheered and helped the preacher.
Each day the interest visibly deepened, and although political matters were absorbing much attention, there were, nevertheless, multitudes who manifested anxiety concerning their relation to the kingdom of heaven. Day after day the Word was with power, declared with that fearlessness of utterance which has ever characterised Mr Moody's work. "Are you willing to break with sin? if not, abandon all hope of entering the Kingdom." This was the burden of his message to the unsaved; "No compromise" was his war cry, and again and again its effects on those who heard found voice in the old-time question often wrung from the heart in its agony, "What must I do to be saved ?"
At a meeting of ministers, one present alluded to certain prejudices which had existed regarding Mr Moody's preaching. "Sentimental," "sensational," it had been called. But, said the speaker, these and similar objections had one by one been dispelled during this Mission Certainly nothing less sentimental or more practical could characterise any preaching than such palpable truths as these:- "People do not believe facts, and imagine therefore, that facts are not true. "You have been deceived by your friends, by your neighbours, by your children, perhaps; but by your own heart most of all. If you doubt this, count the resolutions you have made and broken which the deceitfulness of your heart made you think you would keep."" Why are there so many dishonest clerks and servants to be found? Because employers teach them to deceive others in the ways of business, and at last find that they themselves reap what they have sown." The insidiousness of sin, the certainty of retribution, the necessity of restitution, the efficacy of the atoning work of Christ, the inability of education to save from sin, the certain hope of our Lord's final victory: these were nails driven hard into many a sure place, as was attested by the large numbers of inquirers who sought to know the way of God more perfectly.
One very gratifying feature of the work was the considerable proportion of men attending the meetings. Needless to say, this fact did not escape the preacher's notice, and his well-directed statements, backed up by sound argument and common sense, paved the way for the direct and personal appeals which, in their turn, followed them. "You can't get over this," said a working man to his companion, as they thoughtfully walked out of the hall, what he says is
TRUE, WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT."
It is impossible, if, indeed, desirable, to specify full of one meeting as having been more than another, full of power, for who can gauge the work of the Spirit? Suffice to say that great solemnity pervaded more than one gathering, as the vast audience was brought really face to face with the issues hanging upon immediate decision as which of the two ways each would choose. Not until the last evening did Mr Moody seek to elicit any token on the part of those present as to their acceptance of Christ; he then invited any who were willing to yield themselves to God to express the fact in the words "I will," and from every part of the hall were voiced the desires of scores of men and women in their anxiety to be loosed from the burden of their sins.
To meet the lack of inquiry-room accommodation the hall had on each occasion been divided into sections, under the superintendence of a minister with a band of workers at his side. In this way personal conversation was secured with those who remained to the after-meetings, and a register which reached considerable dimensions, was made of the names and addresses of those spoken with. Thus the first step was taken for "following up," and it is not likely that the results will ever all be known to any save the God who hears and answers prayer.
But it was not the unsaved alone who profited by the Mission, which proved fruitful in many ways to the Lord's people themselves. There was, of course, the enthusiasm kindled by these "wondrous gatherings day by day, which will no doubt prove a stimulus to future service. But there was also the instruction in the things of God, which proved helpful to many. The importance of prayer, its essentials, its hindrances; the office and work of the Holy Spirit; Assurance of salvation; the need of confessing Christ; the promises of God—all these were expounded with a freshness born of keen insight into Scripture truth, and lessons were enforced by which the teaching should be applied to everyday life. Not a less important privilege was it for the Christian workers to listen to the manner in which Mr Moody presented the Gospel to the unconverted; how he insisted on the degeneration of all men from God's standard of right, the impossibility of forgiving a man who does not want to be for-given, and the necessity of actual decision.
Then, too, there was the spirit of unity engendered by persons of various denominational views cooperating in the effort to bring salvation before those who had hitherto rejected it, and very" pleasant" was this "dwelling together in unity," not to end, we trust, with a particular series of meetings, but to be yet further used as a channel of blessing to many a weary heart.
One fact may be mentioned as bearing upon the question,
"DO THESE CONVERTS LAST?"
One of the ministers stated that he had been one of a class of twenty-four students in a theological college, of no whom less than sixteen owed their conversion to the meetings held by Mr Moody and Mr Sankey in years gone by. Much depends upon the "following up," and it was particularly gratifying to find the Wolverhampton ministers keenly alive to this necessity, and anxious to do all in their power to feed the newly gathered flock in their respective churches. One practical outcome of the Mission is likely to be the formation of a Y.M.C.A., the need of which has been felt greatly. Indeed, it is astonishing that a town of such importance should have been so long without one. The matter is being warmly espoused, and we hope ere long, to learn that it has been established on a firm and worthy basis.
A minister also writes:—Perhaps the first thing that struck the mere onlooker at these meetings was the union of Christians of all denominations in the work. On the platform, supporting Mr Moody and taking part in the services, were representative ministers from the Episcopal, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches of the town. In the after-meetings there were seen as workers, not only ministers, but Churchwardens, Baptist and Congregational deacons, Presbyterian elders, and members of the Salvation Army. Such an exhibition of Christian union has been unprecedented in the history of the town.
To Christians of all denominations, the mission has been an unspeakable blessing. Among many who were earnest Christians there prevailed a strong distrust of evangelistic methods, which they were accustomed to look upon as superficial. But these meetings have taught them that Mr Moody's preaching does not merely play on the feelings, that the aim is not to frighten sinners into the kingdom of God. From first to last his message took a strong grip on the intelligence of the people. He enlisted the conscience on his side, and having won the consent of mind conscience, he went for the heart.
Perhaps the most touching scene that hundreds present ever witnessed was at the close of the farewell meeting. The preacher had been dealing with the excuses of sinners for not closing with Christ. Then he put it to the audience to signify their willingness to be Christs. It miight seem a small thing to do, but in many cases it was a severe test of earnestness. Brothers, sisters, and friends were all around as witnesses. And yet in spite of the desire of an anxious soul to hide its anxiety from friends, some three hundred, one after another, indicated their desire to begin to lead a Christian life. It is impossible just yet to tabulate the number of conversions. Perhaps it is never wise, even though possible, to state in figures what has been the result of any mission like this. But one thing is certain - a large number have professed decision for Christ; many wavering; Christians have been led to take a stand; many careless, useless ones have reconsecrated themselves; and others were Christ's at heart, and others who were Christ's at heart, but who were living a double life, causing men to doubt them, and, worse still, to doubt God and Christ, and the reality of all religion, openly and publicly committed themselves to the Lord's side.
The Drill Hall was well filled every night, sometimes every seat was occupied, and hundreds were standing. We have had no such proof before of the drawing power of the Gospel here.
There were present lawyers and doctors, magistrates and ministers, town councilors and aldermen, but it was also evident that "the common people heard him gladly." It was not an emasculated Gospel that drew them. Mr Moody does not relegate future punishment to the region of myths. He finds his Master was not silent about it, nor is he. But he speaks of it, not with clenched fists, but with deep emotion as he beseeches men to flee from the wrath to come. He is an apostle of the love of God in Christ, and of free grace. And now that he is gone from us to other work elsewhere we follow him, thousands of us, with grateful hearts and earnest prayers that God may bless his work in other fields as He did here.
From, "The Christian," June 23rd, 1892.