Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1887 — DWIGHT L. MOODY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DWIGHT L. MOODY.

His Four Months’ Incessant War Upon Sin in Wicked Chicago. A Brief but Interesting Sketch of the World-Famous Evangelist. [Chicago speciaL] After four months of incessant labor, Chicago’s honored evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, has brought his mission to a close in this city. None but those who have watched the evangelistic services closely can form any conception of the immense, amount of labor he has accomplished. Day after day, and week after week, he has sacrificed comfort, and even health itself, in the effort to accomplish one great and noble object—to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to the people, and seek to win souls to Christ. On Jan. 2he preached at the First Congregational Church for the first time in the campaign against sin and tbe devil, and in a few days his audiences grew so large that the church would not contain them. Equal to the emergency, he at once held services in the afternoon for the church-workers and those who could attend in the day, and in the evening for those whose business occupied their attention during the day. Still his congregations increased, and from all parts of the city there came to him the cry, “Come and help us.” He at once called to his assistance Evangelist Bliss, of Boston, and the churches at once threw open their doors for the work. Ministers of the various denominations united, the Chicago Evangelization Society was inaugurated, and a carefully considered, systematic warfare organized. After being here a month, Mr. Moody determined to call to his assistance Francis Murphy, the well-known apostle of temperance. Feb. 8 Mr. Murphy delivered his first address at Farwell Hall. From that time until the present gospel temperance has been in the ascendant. Thousands nightly flocked to hear Murphy, and hundreds daily signed the pledge and donned the blue ribbon, until the gospel temperance armv now numbers over 17,000. Dwight Lyman Moody. D. L. Moody was bom near Northfield, Mass., Feb. 3, 1837. When the boy was four years of age his father died, leaving the care and support of a large family to

young Moody’s mother, a most estimable lady of the Unitarian faith, to whose influence and superior traits many of the strong elements of Mr. Moody’s character and work are confessedly due. In 1854 he sought employment in a Boston shoe store, and in the following year came to Clficago, to enter a similar business situation. In both of these cities his earnest impulsiveness to do good became a marked feature of his daily life. The excellent ministrations of the churfches which he attended confirmed him in>his eonviction of his life mission, and he resolved to relinquish all business of a personal nature and devote himself to the work of evangelizing. He took an active interest in the Young Men’s Christian Association of Chicago, and established the North Market Mission Sunday-school, since become Amons for its success in the conversion of men to religion. In the summer of 1861, says a biographer, he devoted most of his to the volunteers of the Wafe',' the rebellion who were Chicago, and‘in November of Ihiif year, when the United States Christian Commission was established, proceeded under its auspices to the camps and battle fields of .the South, where he worked, alleviating the sufferings and supplying the *9fhitual necessities of both friexfa and foqg In AuguiSt, 1862 J he was Ynarried to Miss Emma C. Reveßj of Chicago, by reason of whose sympathy of temper and religious ardor the union has resulted in great good, not to them alone but to the world. Mr. Moody has been blessed with two children —a’ son and a daughter. The duties of the Christian Commission did not prevent him from attending to his Chicago school. A chapel—Farwell Hall —was built to supply its growing needs, and soon out of the organization arose an independent church, of which Mr. Moody becamfe the pastor. In 1865 he was elected President of the Young Men’s Chrisfian Association, and was incessant and indefatigable in his labors to further its work. Within two years thereafter, chiefly through his influence, a building, admirably adapted to its purposes, was erected at a cost of $200,000.

In October, 1871, the terrible fire, which devastated Chicago, destroyed Mr. Moody’s home, Farwell Hall, and his church; but within a month thereafter the latter was replaced by a wopden structure, called the North Side Tabernacle, and capable of holding 1,5 M persons. Here his labors, aided by the musical abilities of Sankey, continued through several yeats, until the summer of 1873, when he visited England, accompanied by Mr. Sankey. Since thattime Mr. Moody has been untiring in hi# good work. He is one of the most rsflMute and successful of evangelists.