MORE ABOUT PERSONAL WORK. Mr. Moody on Individual Cases — Peculiar Difficulties — The Divinity of Christ — About Holding On and Holding Out — The Weak Ones — Are Feelings Safe Guides? — Confessing and Forgiving — Questions and Answers.

I WANT to take up some other classes. Here in New England we meet a great many who are troubled about the divinity of Jesus Christ. Very often they want to discuss the question, but don’t discuss it with them. I have never known any good to come that way; generally you are farther apart at the end than at the beginning. I would just give them the Bible. If that and the Holy Spirit won’t help them, I don’t know what will. There are several passages specially adapted for this purpose. Take 1 Corinthians 15:47: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” That is Paul’s testimony. Then 1 John 5:20: “We know that the Son of God is come,” etc. Sometimes they ask, “Where did Christ ever say He was God?” Give them John 17:3: “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” Then see His testimony before the high priest, in Mark 14:61,62: “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am,” etc. It was this testimony which cost Jesus Christ His life, for the council cast a verdict of guilty of blasphemy, and by Jewish law the penalty of that crime is death. He made out that He was more than man. If He was not what He claimed to be — if He was a mere man — then it is idolatry to worship Him. It is breaking the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” I ask these people, “Where shall we put Him? You say He was a good man, but how can that be, if He tried to deceive us? If He was not what He claimed to be, He must have been an impostor. How could He be a good man and let us make Him an idol?

Moses and Elijah never did that, and was He less good than they? If He was a bad man, then it is very strange that He should have forfeited all for a malefactor’s cross and a pauper’s grave.” He declared that He was equal with God, in John 5:21,22, and John 16:15. How could a good man, a mere man, say that? He declared that He was omnipresent in Matthew 18:20 and 28:20. Moses and Elijah couldn’t have said that. Look at John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by Me.” No mere man ever said that. Here is another verse Matthew 28:18: “Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” What man ever said that? Then in Mark 2:7, after He had forgiven the man sick of the palsy, the question was raised, “Why doth this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” No man ever claimed such power till Christ came. Then, again, He allowed men to worship Him. No good man, no angel, ever allowed himself to be worshipped. If any man had done so, he could not have been a good man. In John 9:38, the blind man who had received his sight, said: “Lord, I believe,” and worshipped the Savior. Christ didn’t rebuke him. See Revelation 22:8: “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had seen and heard, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant.” In Acts 14, when Paul and Barnabas healed the cripple at Lystra, the people came bringing sacrifices, and wanted to worship them as gods, but they wouldn’t allow it. Yet Christ allowed men to worship Him. In Matthew 14:33 we read: “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying of a truth Thou art the Son of God.” He didn’t rebuke them. In Matthew 8:2; “Behold there came a leper and worshipped Him saying, Lord if Thou wilt, Thou cants make me clean.” Again in the 15th chapter, in the story of the woman of Canaan ( 5:25): “Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord help me!” There are many other passages, but I give you these to show that Christ was worshipped, and that he never rebuked it.

He claimed to be a God-man. He claimed that he was before the morning stars sang together. “Before Abraham was, I am.” “He is the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father.” And how men can read this book and not see this, is a mystery to me. I don’t know anything that will do these people more good than just to give them the Word of God. If you have anyone troubled about the divinity of Christ, don’t complain and scold and condemn him, and then leave him. There are some people who, if they saw one of this class in our inquiry rooms, would say: “Why! this man doesn’t believe Jesus Christ is divine. He is a heathen. We won’t talk to him at all.” Now, that isn’t the way. Christ was constantly dealing with men that had the same views. How tenderly and gently He dealt with them. And how are we going to deal with them but by showing Christ as the God-man? Sometimes the part of His nature we see is human, sometimes not. When He commanded the waters to be still, and the winds to cease He spoke as God. When He cried, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He spoke as man. But I must pass on. “HOLDING OUT.”

A great many are afraid they won’t hold out. It is a good thing to press upon these people that they haven’t got to hold on to Christ; it is Christ holding on to them. See John 10:28: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Then you can use Hebrews 6:18; Isaiah 41:10-13; Corinthians 1:10; the <19C101> 121st Psalm — “He that keepeth thee will not slumber;” 2 Timothy 1:12 — “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day;” 2 Timothy 4:18 — “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom.” What is it that protects the crown of Victoria? It is the army. The army keeps the crown perfectly safe. I remember in London holding meetings in the East End, and as we were going along the streets one night, we met some soldiers marching. I said: “Where are those soldiers going?” “They are going to the Bank of England.” It was the law of the land that just as soon as the sun went down, a certain number of soldiers went to the Bank of England and stayed there till daybreak. That made the bank perfectly safe.

There was no chance for thieves to get in there. So, if our life is hid in Christ, how are the powers of darkness going to get at it? Oh, the security of the believer in Christ, if we only trust Him — that is all we want. What we want is to believe He is able to keep. What we want is just to trust Him. In 2 Corinthians 1:10, we find three “delivers” — “Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust, that He will yet deliver us.” A great many people are troubled about the future. God will take care of the future. What they want is to trust Him today.

THOSE WHO FEEL WEAK Another class of people say they haven’t got strength. Well; it is a good thing they haven’t. The weaker we are the better. What is faith? “Our weakness leaning on God’s strength.” It is a good thing for one to wake up to his own weakness. “I am as weak as water,” says someone. Then God can hold you. That is the way God’s grace is magnified. I remember when we were in New York — in the Hippodrome — there was a poor miserable man in the inquiry meetings; and a good Christian lady was toiling and working with that poor fellow. After she had explained to him the way, the man went out into the great city. In those days we had scrip for small currency, and as this man put his hand into his pocket he found ten cents. He hadn’t been able to carry so much money in his pocket for many years. He couldn’t pass a saloon if he had any money — some insane power would seize him and he would spend every cent for whiskey. As he took out this bit of paper he just prayed that the Lord would enable him to hold on to that ten cents for twenty-four hours; then he would have no more doubt that God was able to keep him. And he did hold on to the money. Next day he came into the meeting, told the story, and held up the scrip as a token that God was keeping him. Every time I go to New York, I ask, “How is the ten-cent man getting on?” and Mr.

McBurney always tells me he is getting on first rate. If you feel you haven’t any strength, remember the weaker you are the better. What is it that holds that little vine all the way up, seventy or a hundred feet above the ground? It can’t stand alone. It is the great oak it is clinging to that holds it up. If we just lay hold of the Cross it will hold us. Any man that belongs to a strong government can stand, can’t he? Our ambassadors can stand in foreign courts with a great government back of them. I have a great admiration for the Irishman who said it didn’t matter how weak he was as long as he had a rock to stand on. If you make the Cross your foundation you are going to stand.

FEELINGS.

Then there is another class that are in great trouble about their feelings.

They are afraid they don’t feel right, or don’t feel enough. So they get into doubt, and the devil will keep them on that plank for a few weeks, and then let them down into the pit again. I want to say there isn’t a word about feeling in the Scriptures in reference to salvation. It doesn’t say, “He that feeleth.” It is “he that believeth.” Not one word about feeling. I do a great many things that I don’t feel like doing. Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing; feeling is another. What was it that made the slaves free? Was it their feelings? Suppose they had tried it — just imagined they were free and acted on that feeling. They would very soon have heard the crack of the slave-driver’s whip. No; it was Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation. Now, the proclamation of the Gospel is: “He that believeth.... hath everlasting life.” I remember some years ago — oh, how I used to pray for feeling! I thought faith was feeling, and that some strange kind of feeling would come stealing over me. But it wasn’t that at all. Then I found in Romans 10:17, this text — and how it came upon me like a flash of light — “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Sometimes we go right against our feelings. I remember once when I went to Cleveland — I had been eighteen years in Chicago, and when I got to Cleveland I found Lake Erie was on the west side of the city. I was completely turned around. The sun rose in the West and set in the East all the time I was there. If I had gone according to my feelings, I would have gone right into Lake Erie and been drowned for it. But I didn’t go according to my feelings; I went according to knowledge. Knowledge is better than feelings. One time I went across the corner of this county, and I was driving along some roads where I had never been before. When I had got, as I thought, within about five miles of Conway, I began to think: “Now, you are going according to your feelings. Hadn’t you better have a little knowledge about this thing?” So I reined up to the first house and called: “Hello, there!” The man came out; and when I asked him about the road I found that instead of going to Conway, I was going right away from it.

First I thought the man was wrong. Then I thought: “This man has lived here for years. He knows the way better than I do.” So I turned around and drove my horse right against my feelings. Don’t mind your feelings.

Let feelings take care of themselves. What you want is to obey. When people begin talking about their feelings, bring them right to Scripture.

Q. Have we not feeling in these two passages: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness;” and Philip to the eunuch — “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.”

A. That isn’t feeling, is it? You may believe with all the heart without feeling. Suppose I send my boy for a pail of water. He may not feel like it, but he goes whether he feels like it or not. He obeys.

Q. Has the heart anything to do with feeling?

A. A man may have feeling or may not. What God wants is strict obedience. I can’t always feel just as I want to. If I could I wouldn’t have the toothache, wouldn’t have a headache, wouldn’t have a pain in my body. I can’t control my feelings. The devil can play upon them as on a harp with a thousand strings. But there is one thing I can do. By the grace of God I can obey. A great many men are waiting for feeling, but feeling never saves, and the most unsatisfactory Christians are those who are governed altogether by their sentiments.

Q. Doesn’t it say, we are to believe with the whole heart?

A. I think the whole heart means the whole man — hands, feet, mind and everything. We are not to wait for feeling. I heard of a man who was lying under a tree on a very cold day, and someone asked him what he was doing there. Says he: “I am waiting till I feel warm enough to get up, and then I will cut down this tree.” If he had got right up and gone on cutting, he would soon have been warm enough. In every case where Christ healed the infirm, it was act first and get feeling afterward. He said to the man with the withered arm, “Stretch forth thine hand.” The man didn’t stop to find out whether he was believing with all his heart or half his heart. He just stretched out his arm, and the Lord healed him right there. He said to Zaccheus, “Come down.” Zaccheus didn’t say “I don’t feel right, Lord.”

The Lord had said, “Come down.” That brought him. What God wants is obedience. What men are to do is to surrender their will — do what God tells them, and let feelings take care of themselves.

Q. Where does repentance come in?

A. What is repentance? Turning around. A great many people are all the time analyzing their feelings. It is a great deal better just to look at the Master, and obey Him. Feeling comes — repentance comes — after we have received Christ. A soldier once said that according to his idea repentance was: “Halt! Attention! Right about face! March!” That is about the best definition of repentance. “Attention!” — listen to God. “Turn!” — “why will ye die?” If I am not going toward God, but going the opposite way, the quicker I turn about the better. Conviction is not repentance. A man may go right straight on and know he is wrong.

Q. Which is the best to rest upon for your salvation, feelings or the Word of God?

A. The Word of God. Because the devil can move my feelings at his will.

He can make me feel different twenty times a day.

Q. In repentance isn’t sorrow involved?

A. A man may be very sorry and not repent. There are a great many men in Auburn Prison who are sorry enough that what they have done has brought them there; but if they got out they would do the same thing right over again.

Q. What about the text, “Godly sorrow leadeth to repentance?”

A. That is for Christians. How can a man have godly sorrow before there is anything godly in him? With me — grief on account of sin didn’t come till I knew Christ. Then I had sorrow for sin. When you tell a man that he has got to feel sorry for sin, you are putting something between that man and God. The cry is, “Turn ye, turn ye!” I have seen men in the inquiry room crying because they were not anxious enough. Did you ever hear of such a thing! The devil tells them they must be sorry before they can come to God. My commission is to command all men everywhere to repent. If a man is willing to let Christ reign in his heart, that is all God wants. Let that man know Jesus Christ, and the sorrow will come. Get men to Christ, and repentance will take care of itself. In Scotland they used to ask such questions as these when persons applied to join the Church: “Have you repented enough? Have you felt your sins enough? Do you feel as worthless as that toad? If you don’t you can’t come.” That was put into a book and used in Scotland, where they hedged the Lord’s table around and thought people couldn’t join the Church till they were about so old. I believe Heaven is the natural right of every soul in this community. They may have Christ this very hour if they will. We want to hold Jesus Christ up, and nothing else.

BELIEVERS’ SINS Now, there is another class who are afraid that they will sin again. But who doesn’t sin again? It isn’t a sign that a man isn’t converted if he falls into sin. On the contrary, he is more likely to realize his sinful nature after conversion than before. I am ashamed to tell it, but before I was converted, I got so I could swear and it didn’t trouble my conscience. But after I knew Jesus Christ, when one time I got an oath out of my mouth, it cost me more sorrow and agony than I can describe. For months I never got over it. I have never done it since. Before, when I swore, I never thought about it. Now, how could I utter such words? My Savior has done so much for me that I don’t want to grieve His heart. Some young converts say, “I am afraid I have sinned again, and I can never be a Christian.” Let such as these turn to the 1st Epistle of John, <430201> 2nd chapter: “My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” I don’t want to make light of sin, but it is to me a comforting thought that my Master has made provision for my sin. This was written in John’s old age, when he knew well enough by his own experience whether the Christian sins or not. So he tells us that Christ is gone up on high as a priest. He was here as a prophet, now He is a priest. His office is to intercede for our sins. When I go wrong it is useless to try to justify myself; but I can go into my closet and tell it all out, and it is all settled — all put away. See 1 John 1:10: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar.”

We have all sinned. When you tell an unconverted person who wants to become a Christian that he is to live without sin, you discourage him. Of course that is his aim — that is his object. But if he does fall into sin afterward, he is likely to say, “Oh, I am not converted at all.” How the devil tormented me, and told me I was not converted because I did things I loathed and hated. I didn’t understand that I had a battle on hand — that I had the old Adam still in my nature. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.” I thought when I became a Christian I had nothing to do but just to lay my oars in the bottom of the boat and float along. But I soon found that I would have to go against the current. And then it was such a sweet thought that I had got One to represent me, so that when I sinned I could go to Him as my Advocate; and, thank God, He never lost a case yet. Just commit the whole case to Him. He will take good care of it.

CONFESSING AND FORGIVING.

There is another point: Very often a young convert will go off with a light heart, full of ecstasy and joy and then inside of twenty-four hours you will find him in great darkness. He thinks he hasn’t been converted. If you don’t know how to use the Bible, and know the workings of that man’s heart, he will remain in darkness. Now I have found that there are two reasons — it is always one of two reasons that has brought him into bondage. One is that he is ashamed to go home and confess Christ, and the other is that there is someone he cannot forgive. I have never seen it to fail in my life. You can use Romans 10:9-11: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Now, if a man is ashamed, don’t you see darkness comes; and he will never get into the light till he is ready to confess Jesus Christ.

Then, in the Sermon on the Mount our Savior teaches the great doctrine of forgiveness. If the Holy Spirit reveals someone who has got aught against me, or I have got aught against him, and I am not ready to forgive, of course darkness will fall. It will help these young converts a great deal to show them the <401801> 18th chapter of Matthew on the question of forgiveness; and the <451001> 10th of Romans on being willing to confess Christ.

UNBELIEF.

I want to say a word right here about unbelief. Some people tell me that it is a hard thing when I say that unbelief is the greatest sin — greater than blasphemy, drunkenness, and the like. But just turn to 1 John 5:9,10: “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God, which He hath testified of His Son.... He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.... He that hath the Son hath life, and He that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” You can’t offer a man a greater insult than to accuse him of telling a willful lie. Many a man has been knocked down because he called another man a liar. That is the sin of unbelief; giving God the lie — calling Him a liar. “I CAN’T BELIEVE.”

There is another class. Some persons say, “I can’t believe.” I like to press them on this point. I was once talking with a man, and he said, “I can’t believe.” Said I, “Who?” “But I can’t believe.” “Who?” “You don’t understand my case. I can’t believe.” “Who?” The man began to color and squirm around, and he said, “Mine is a peculiar case. I can’t believe.” “Who?” The man became more and more embarrassed, and said he: “You don’t understand my case at all. I have a great many intellectual difficulties. There are a great many things I can’t believe.” I kept on asking “Who,” and finally the man broke down, and said — “I can’t believe myself.” “Thank God for that!” When a man says he can’t believe, the question is whether he can believe the Lord, and I just press him on that one point. I challenge any infidel to put his finger on any promise which God has not kept. For 6,000 years the devil has been trying to find that God has broken His word. What a jubilee there would be in hell today if they found God had broken His word! Didn’t He keep His word with Adam, and Abraham, and Moses? Isn’t every Jew a monument of God’s word? “Come, my friend,” you can say; “did you ever know Him to break His word?” Press the unbeliever on that point. It is so easy. A man said to me once: “I think the doctrine you preach is the most unreasonable I ever heard.” “What part?” “Why, you teach that pernicious doctrine, that a man is saved by simply believing.” “Yes,” says I; “thank God I do. It is Scripture, and I try to preach Scripture.” “But,” says the man, “it is against reason.” “I can’t help that. God is above reason.” Says the man: “I don’t see how any rational man can stand up before an audience and say they are saved by simply believing, when a man’s life is not affected by what he believes.” “Is that your difficulty?” I said. “I can show you in three minutes that you are affected by what you believe. If someone came and shouted that this building was on fire, and you and I believed it, we would get up and get out pretty quick, wouldn’t we?” “Yes.” “Then I suppose you can’t deny that you are affected by what you believe?” If a man believes this Book, it will change his life quicker than anything else. “CAN’T BE SAVED ALL AT ONCE.”

Sometimes a person will say: “You can’t make me believe a man can be saved all at once.” Well; as I read the Bible, I don’t see how a man can be saved in any other way. If you take a gift, there must be a minute when you haven’t taken the gift and another minute when you have. There must be a minute when you take it. In passing from one territory to another, there must be a minute when you cross the line. Take the cases of the men converted under Christ; weren’t they instantaneous? “Ah,” you say, “but that is when Christ was on earth.” Then come to the days of the Apostles.

When Peter preached at Pentecost there were 3,000 converted in one day.

Then, again, at Caesarea, when Peter preached to the Centurion and his family and friends, they were all baptized that very day. First came in the Jews, then the Gentiles; and as soon as the door was opened to the Gentiles they came in with a rush. You just want to take Scripture, and when one doesn’t believe that sinners can be converted all at once, the best thing is to go right to these instances of immediate conversion recorded in the Bible. You will find plenty of them.

Q. Wasn’t Zaccheus converted instantly?

A. Yes. As soon as he heard the word of Jesus he came down from the tree. I don’t know just the moment of his conversion. I suppose it must have been somewhere between the branches and the ground. It was very quick, I know.

There isn’t any subject I am more interested in than this personal dealing with individuals. Just preach Christ, and the Spirit of God will bear witness. When you are talking with an inquirer, it is a good thing to get him on his knees. But don’t get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is about ready, you can say, “Shan’t we ask God to give us light on this point?” Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two hours in talk. But there is great danger in trying to get a man on his knees before he is that far on. When the Spirit of God has led him so far that he is willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom.

Q. Would you ask a man to pray for himself?

A. I think it is a good thing in dealing with inquirers to get their lips open on their knees. If they don’t want to pray, make a prayer and get them to repeat it. Make an easy prayer, or take one of the short prayers of the Bible; for example, “Lord, help me!” Tell the man: “If the Lord helped that poor heathen woman, He will help you if you make the same prayer. He will change your heart if you make it from the heart.” I don’t send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, but I would rather get his lips open in the inquiry room. It is a good thing for a man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”

Q. In your experience what has been the most frequent turning point of the soul? Isn’t it when the man is on his knees?

A. It is when the man says, “I will.” It is the surrender of the will. The battle is fought on the will. Very often the act of getting on his knees has an effect on the man’s will; but generally the will is given up before he gets there. There should be more preaching on the will! Men don’t act up to the light they have got. Tens of thousands know the way to the kingdom, but they don’t want to give up the will.

Q. Do you believe in preaching to the heart?

A. If I have had any success it has been in going right to the heart — not at the head. Others may thunder away at the head all they want to: I would rather get a man’s heart right than his head. The shortest way to a man’s heart is the best way of preaching.

Q. What would you say to a professed convert who can’t forgive somebody?

A. I wouldn’t give a snap of my finger for his hope. It is utterly impossible for a man to be a disciple of Christ if he doesn’t cultivate the spirit of forgiveness.

Q. Wouldn’t you empty a church if you preached that?

A. Yes; and fill it up with other people.

Q. How do you explain that word “believe”? Isn’t the belief spoken of partly intellectual?

A. It is submission of the will. I might say: “Will you take this horse? It is worth $1,000.” You might believe my offer; but it wouldn’t do you any good if you didn’t take the horse. I might believe the proclamation of salvation, but that alone would do me no good. I have got to appropriate it.

Q. For the inquiry work how do you get trained workers?

A. Go right to work to get them and train them.

Q. When would you train them?

A. Whenever you can. At the prayer meeting is a good time. Turn the prayer meeting for a while right into a training class. By-and-by this man and that woman will catch the spirit, and you will have a band of workers.

It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending the Church of God. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and sewing circles, and all that kind of work; but when you ask them to sit down and show that man or woman the way into God’s kingdom, they say: “Oh, I am not able to do that. Let the deacons do it, or someone else.” It is all wrong. The Church ought to be educated on this very point.

Q. When would you have the inquiry meeting?

A. I think there ought to be three kinds of services in all the churches. One service is just to worship — to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer. Another service is for teaching. The great lack of this country is teaching. At this kind of service there needn’t be a word to the unconverted, but let it be for the church people. We want to get the church up on a higher plane. Let there be teaching out of the Scriptures, and the church will grow. Sunday morning is the best time for teaching. Sunday afternoon is the best time in cities for Sunday Schools. But Sunday night is the best night in the whole week to preach the simple Gospel of the Son of God. When you have preached that, and felt the power of the unseen world, and there are souls trembling in the balance, don’t say, as I have heard good ministers say: “If there are any in this place concerned — at all concerned — about their souls, I will be in the pastor’s study on Friday night, and will be glad to see them.” By that time the chances are the impression will be all wiped out. The devil will snatch away the seed.

How is it at most of our evening services? The minister preaches the Gospel with great effect, then he pronounces the benediction; the music strikes up, and the golden opportunity is lost. I tell you, we want a revolution in this thing! We are not making any inroads upon the unconverted. A great many churches in this country hardly expect to gain in numbers. If they hold their own they think they are doing pretty well.

A gentleman said not long ago: “We have had the most successful year we ever had. We have paid all the bills, and have several hundred dollars in the church treasury.” “How many conversions?” “I don’t know. You mustn’t ask me about that. But we have paid our pastor’s salary, and are out of debt. We have had a very good year.” That is what is called prosperity.

Some people have an idea that inquiry meetings are — oh, well, a sort of meetings evangelists have, a sort of new-fangled notion, and all that. I don’t believe a man can preach the simple Gospel faithfully anywhere in this country and not have inquirers inside of thirty days, and there will be those added to the Church daily of such as shall be saved.

But then if you are going to hold an inquiry meeting there is one way to kill it. I remember when we went to Edinburgh, I wanted to start an inquiry meeting. One of my friends said: “Well, you know, Mr. Moody, the Scotch people don’t like inquiry meetings. It is an American idea. It doesn’t take with the Scotch people. We tried it, and utterly failed.” I said: “I needn’t tell you how you tried. You said: ‘If there is anyone that would like to engage in religious conversation, will you go into the pastor’s study.’ You called that out before the whole congregation, and made people uneasy. That is the way not to get any one. You couldn’t have done anything better calculated to kill the meeting.” Take this way: Put the “if” in the right place. You remember the case of the father who wanted Christ to cast the dumb spirit out of his son. He said, “If thou canst do anything,” but the Lord answered him, “If thou canst believe.” Christ got the “if” straightened out. There was a prominent minister in New York City — a good man too — and one of his elders said to him: “Why can’t we have an inquiry meeting? It seems to me we might have a great many converts just now.” The minister said: “Well; just to please you I will try one, but I don’t believe anyone will come to it.” So the next night he announced that if there were any persons concerned about their souls, the session would be in the session room, and meet them. Why! he might as well have asked them to go before a justice of the peace. Asking an awakened soul to go before the whole session! If you want to get these people to talk with you, put yourself in their way, and make it easy for them to come and see you.

When you give the invitation, be careful how you do it. After you have preached twenty or thirty minutes — and here let me say it is a good thing to stop before people think it is time to close; then they are willing to stay longer, they are not worn out — after a short sermon I would say: “If anyone has got to go, will you please rise and go, while we sing this familiar hymn.” Put the “if” in the right place. A few will drop out. You have got nearly the whole audience there. Then I would give the notice a second time — “If there is any one that has got to go, will you go while we are singing this hymn, so as not to disturb us in the after-meeting.

There are two classes we want to remain. We want the Christians that are willing to talk to some of these unsaved ones. And then if there is anyone that has got the least desire to become a Christian, we want you to remain.” Sing a little. Have one or two prayers — special prayers for those people then and there. Pass among the people, and if it is your own congregation, say: “Brother Brown, won’t you speak to this man;” and “Brother Jones, won’t you speak to that man.” That’ll wake up your church more than anything else; and you can keep it going fifty-two times a year. I know a church in Chicago, where they have this kind of work right along. They have inquirers every Sunday night, because they look for them. I do think it is a great mistake to give up the Sunday night service for anything that comes along. I would hold that night just sacred to preaching the Gospel.

Q. Suppose you have a large church; would you have inquiry meetings in the same building where you have the preaching?

A. It makes very little difference. I wouldn’t have any cast-iron rules. I wouldn’t have them always rise for prayer or always come forward. I would say sometimes: “Anyone in this audience that would like to become a Christian, will you kneel right where you are.” I remember once in a meeting there was a father who didn’t know his son was at all concerned; but when I made this request the young man dropped right down by his side. We don’t want any cast-iron rules. That’s one reason I don’t like Popery — when you go in anywhere you know just where you are coming out. Sometimes Mr. Sankey wants to know what hymn I am going to give out next; and if I tell him, very likely I will give out something altogether different. If you ask the Spirit of God to lead you, you can’t have any cast-iron rules.

Q. Do you ask for an expression of anxiety?

A. Expression is a good thing. It involves the surrender of the will. If you can get a man to walk across a church before all the people and go into an inquiry room, it means a great deal. No human power can get a man to do that. Only the Spirit of God can do it. Nine-tenths of the men surrender their will before they get there. That is the advantage of the Methodist altar. People surrender their will before they get that far.

Q. Is it a good thing to sing in the after-meeting?

A. Yes; before the personal, individual work begins, especially while people are going out and you are trying to get anxious ones into the inquiry room. It is a good thing then to sing, because it makes the work easy. Sing sometimes softly, sometimes loudly. When people are going out it is a good deal better to drown the noise. Other times it is best to sing very, very softly, so that the words will go to the heart.

Q. Would you go among the people?

A. I generally go around and get the workers assigned, but you have to be very quiet.

Q. Would you always have an inquiry meeting?