Preface

I

"the Gospel Awakening,"

COMPRISING tHE

SERMONS And ADDRESSES,

PRAYER-MEETING TALKS AND BIBLE READINGS

OF tHE

GREAT REVIVAL MEETINGS

('O.VDl'CTEn RV

Moody And Sankey,

In the Cities of Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston and Great Britain, with

the proceedings of Christian Conventions Of Ministers And Laymen.

From verbatim Reports by our own Phonographer, and those

of the New York Tribune, Chicago hiter-Orean,
Boston 'journal and Boston G'obr

ALSO tME LIVES OF

D. L. MQ0DY*. I. D. SANKEY, P. P. BUSS, JOSEPH COOK,

D. W. WHITTLE, REV. G. F. PENTECOST,

AND FRANCES E. WILLARD,

AND SBKMOXS AND ATH'H ESSES MY

REV. G. F. PENTECOST, JOSEPH COOK, I>. W. WHITTLE,
AND FRANCES E. WILLARD.

EDItED BY

[TWENTIETH EDITION.]

Containing- verbatim reports of the proceedings of the Christian Convention, Chicago

Si-ptemrier t8-2l, iSS.l, carefully revised and edited from the daily reports of

The Inter-Ocran. Together with a full report of the two sermons

preached in Chicago by Mr. M.mhk the pri redinjc Sunday.

PREFACE

TO THE

TWENTIETH EDITION.

Among all those, from Paul to the devout of our own day, who can truthfully say: "I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," few have succeeded so well in singleness of purpose and strength of faith as Mr. Moody. Through no self-assertion he has come to occupy a prominence which would gratify the most high vaulting ambition; but no man could be freer than he from ambition, as a motive power. His whole heart is in the work of saving souls. In the vineyard of the Lord there are other labors to be performed, apart from the direct work of personal evangelization, but it must be conceded that he has "chosen the better part," and is engaged in the noblest work on earth.

However large his audiences and frequent his discourses, Mr. Moody can reach only a very few people, comparatively, and out of his zeal for the conversion of sinners has flown a stream <f influence upon all evangelical churches in which the English language is spoken. The importance of this stream God alonecan measure. Tlianks to the printing press, he may address millions. And it is to the credit of the Christian ministry, and of the lay piety of all our churches, that there is a very general anxiety to feel the inspintfiun of his magnetic zeal, and to emu

late his spirit and methods, so far as practicable and possible. The Pharasaical spirit which sneeringly asks: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" is not manifested. On the contrary, the most learned of our ministry delight to sit at his feet, and the most eloquent gladly take lessons from him in that oratory which wins souls to Christ. The phenomenal favor with which Mr. Moody and his work have been received on both sides of the Atlantic will stand in the history of Christianity as monumental evidence of the humble piety and high devotion of the period. The fact that this book has now reached the twentieth edition, with an accelerated demand, is only one of the many evidences of this most encouraging state of the church.

The Christian Convention, which met in Chicago, September 18, 18S3, remaining in session three days, was the immediate occasion of this latest, but not last, edition of Moody's Sermons. The material furnished by those proceedings will be found to be of the very deepest interest and most vital importance, including not only Mr. Moody's sermons, and less formal, but not less valuable remarks, but also the addresses, brief and pithy, often sublimely eloquent and always appropriate, of other Christians of eminence in the work of saving souls. The varied experiences of many workers in independent vineyards, under widely diverse circumstances, brought out a flood of light such as few occasions and books could possibly focalize. Jt was by no means a one-man convention. Mr. Moody was surrounded and assisted by pastors and lay preachers upon whose labors the Master has impressed the signet of his approval by the ingathering of souls and the upbuilding of His church.

The publishers are indebted for the report of these meetings, to the journalistic enterprise of ''The Inter-Ocean" It was found unnecessary to nave a corps of our own reporters present for that work, as it was being done to meet the immediate demands of the newspaper public. The benefit of this economy, in the cost of the twentieth edition, is given entirely to the public, as the edition is sold for the same price as the old and smaller one.

It is well known that newspapers aim to publish what their readers want, and the fact that a great daily journal in the eminently busy city of Chicago, should devote two pages a day to the proceedings of the Christian Convention, is a deeply significant attestation of the general interest taken in the proceedings. Not only the religious element of the city took a profound interest in them, but thousands of ministers and laymen from without, came to Chicago for the sole purpose of attending the meetings. Could they have been held in the Tabernacle, made sacred by the great revival meetings of a few years ago, the reports of which are given in this volume, it would have been crowded to overflow. But that temporary structure long since disappeared, and Farwell Hall, with its hallowed associations, afforded the best attainable accommodations.

Those who did not enjoy the holy luxury of attending the meetings and those who did, will alike find the report of those proceedings most suggestive reading, rich in seeds of thought and incentives to religious endeavor, at once intensely spiritual and thoroughly practical.