Life Words from Gospel Addresses

THE wonderful results which have followed the evangelistic labours in this country of the two devoted American brethren whose names are now familiar to us as household words, has once again brought home to the Church of God the great truth that the Gospel of Christ, when faithfully proclaimed, is the power of God unto salvation, and that its sufficiency is not of man, but of God. Not with enticing words of man’s wisdom; not with lofty claims to a superior spiritual discernment, or to a polished and captivating oratory; but with all simplicity, with all plainness of speech, yet with an intense conviction of its truth, and a heartfelt earnestness, has that proclamation of the Gospel been made which thousands of late have flocked to hear from the lips of Mr. Moody.
Yet the very homeliness and simplicity which characterize Mr. Moody’s utterances, accompanied as they are by a most graphic descriptive power, springing from his own vivid conceptions of truth, have been the means of bringing home to the popular mind the great truths which he has set forth in a far more forcible manner than could have been accomplished by the aid of a more rhetorical art. And if with these there be taken into account the deep spiritual experience and the full Scriptural knowledge which always distinguish Mr. Moody’s teachings, we shall in some degree understand the success which, through the blessing of God, has hitherto attended his labours.
One of the most common experiences, perhaps, of those who have had the privilege of listening to Mr. Moody is that his words carry with them a recurrent power, continually cropping up afterwards with somewhat of their original force; a sure token of vigorous and effective speech, albeit, occasionally it may be, crude and homely in form. But this often is as—
—— “flowers on furze,
The better the uncouther:
Do roses stick like burrs?”
It was the above fact that suggested the idea of the present little volume, with the belief that the compilation in a book form of some of the more striking passages of his discourses would be gladly welcomed by many, as a lasting memento of Mr. Moody’s visit to England.
The following pages consist of a selection of such passages, taken from short-hand notes of the addresses delivered by Mr. Moody in Glasgow, Manchester, and London; and they are now sent forth in the hope that they may in some small degree supplement his own work, and be found useful in arousing the thoughtless, in giving light and strength to the anxious and the earnest, and in magnifying the love and grace of God.