MOODY AND SANKEY.

Evening Star, Issue 3854, 1 July 1875, Page 2

MOODY AND SANKEY.

The following is a lady’s description of one of Sankey and Moody’s women’s meetings in London :— ** At one o’clock I found myself at the gate of the Agricultural Hall, in the midst of a crowd of women, poorly dressed, bat most of them, I imagine, respectable working-girls. There we remained f-r an hour aud a-half singtng hymns, when the gate was opened. There was a general rush to get places, but after a policemen had bawled out, ‘ These women are all Moody mad; don’t rush, ladies, there’s plenty of room,’ we quietly took our seats. A gentleman now appeared on the platform and requested us to inform our respective pastors that there would be tea the next night at St. Mary’s Hall, to which they were invited, when Mr Moody would discuss the ‘good work ’ with them. After a short pause, Mr Moody and Mr Sankey made their appearance. Mr Moody having requested tho ladhs who had coughs to put their handkerchiefs before their mouths, and not to scuffle our feet, Mr Saukoy took his place at the organ, and with the preliminary observation, ‘All rise and sing,’ hurst forth into a lively negro melody to the words of a hymn. This over, Mr Moody said ‘ Let us have a short prayer,’ ami an old gentleman read a pray er. Then 'Mr Moody prayed, and again Mr Sankey sang. Mr Moody’s discourse now commenced ; the an odotes with which it wan interspersed created much laughter; tho djxctrinal portion consisted of the stereotypedappeals to sinners to be converted which the, mpachers of his class. Then Mr Sankey, ‘by particular request, 1 sang a solo. Aj ain wo prayed, after which Mr Moody said that any one who wished to speak with him would find him in the inquiry room. The inquiry room, into which I penetrated, was a long sort of cxrridor, with benches and chairs. On one of these I sat down, when a woman came up to me and asked me If I ivas a ‘worker,’ or if I unshed to be spoken to. I replied that I wanted to speak to Mr Moody. Then an old man took a chair, aud sat beside me. He took my hand in his, and squeezed himself unpleasantly against me. After these preliminaries, he asked mo if I was a Christian. 1 replied that I was, and he then offered ‘to show me tl o way to heaven.* On my saying that I preferred seeing Mr Moody, he replied that he could show me tho way to h'aven as well as Mr Moody, as he knew the word of tho blessed Lord, which hail made him what he was, a good and true Christian. ‘ Will you,’ he continued squeezing my hand warmly, ‘ kneel down with me and offer up a short prayer?’ Again I answered that I wanted to see Mr Moody, when he left me, and was succeeded by an old lady, who a 1 so proffered her services to show me tho way to heaven, ‘ Dear sister,* she said, ‘I am forty.five, though perhaps you would not think it. I hnow what a blessing and a comfort the Saviour has been to me. Do, do kneel with me, and pray him to save your|'soul.’ Again I answered, * I want to see Mr Moody.' This gentleman now came into the room, and put on his greatcoat. He was instantly surrounded by a number of women, who formed a ring round him, which I joined. He talked in a pleasant, agreeable manner, told us some funny stories, and said that tho road to Heaven was so smooth that wo bad only just to walk along, and the gates will open without any trouble. ‘ You are confident that the ohair you are sitting ou will bear you ; why can’t you be as confident in Jesus?’ Then he asked each of us, ‘Have you got hold of Jesus?! Some said, ‘Yes.’ To these he replied, ‘KeepH m ; you are all right, ain’t you?’ To those who answered ‘No,’ he said, ‘ Well, and why ain’t you got Him Ain’t I been talking to you this half hour to show you how easy it is to got Him ?’ Then he told us to ‘spread ourselves out’ aud kneel down, on which he prayed for Us. Tnis concluded tho interview. There were about 300 women in the inquiry-room, and a few ushers The * workers,’ consisting of women and ushers, numbered about twenty. Most of the women were crying, and kneeling in groups about the room, with a worker iu the midst of each group. In the midst of a large group was Mr Sankey. Many women were hysterical, and uttered ejaculations. A woman next to me kept constantly repeating ‘ Bless tho Lord, amen 1’ ” Comment on this veracious account is unnecessary. The ‘ World ’ is rather rough ou the evangelists : —Wc ask in the name of common sense and of religious decency, whether an effort ought, not to bo made to prevent the confajhii of fanaticism from spreading, or whether we are, without a struggle to resign ourselves to the spiritual rule of men who would replace thc|a >ber, x’evei'ential religious services which have satisfied us uutil now by orgies which befit rather a lunatic asylum than a place of Christian worship, and who would have us believe iu them because, at somo future day, they will perhaps work miracles. The plague is raging throughoutthe . country. In Liverpool, . we are told “quite a number of the telegraph boys are inquiring the way to Zion.” Manchester is being “ visited from house to house.” In Edinburgh ami Glasgow, “ evangelitts nightly hold forth.” In Dublin a “weekly meeting is held.” In Olerkenwell “Ned Wright addresses large congregations Bendido, the ex-champion, “roams from town to town.” In Deptford “ a blacksmith who had been- turmd out of every public-house in tho place, a converted prizefighter, an old man, an old woman over eighty, a working woman, who bursts into tears as she requests prayer for her unsaved husband, and a young man, who confesses to having been the greatest drunkard and blackguaid in the east of London—tell how they have been brought to the Lord.” As usual, appeals for aid in the good work are numerous. Emily Judson Wall oaks for the prayers of the elect on behalf of the beggars of Rome, to whom she gives four tout each on condition that they listen to our expositions. George D. Dowfeoutt wants a fund to be entrusted to him iu order to minister to tho spiritual wants of xhe sailors starting in the Arctic Expedition. Agues B. Weston, who is engaged iu tho good work at Devonport. has always had her wants supplied without

being obliged to incur debt, and now requires I5(X). This practical lady says that she does' * “not believe in the c:version of a maru unless his pockets ore converted.” The Moody and Sankey Committee, which-already has received L 12,000, for L6,d1)0 more. Perhaps one of the most absurd incidents in the revival has been the notification on the part of the solicitors of the evangelists, that anyone venturing to publish a verbatim -report of their speeches would be prosecuted for an infringement of copyright. This gives the measure of the essentially commercial character of the movement. The idea of a clerk in a Boston boot store arriving in England to convert its inhabitants with a copyrighted assortment of prayers, a “sweettoned ” organ, and a “friend who can sing,” a exquisitely ludicrous.