PART III.

OUTLINES OF DOCTRINE.

MR. MOODY'S THEOLOGY-INTRODUCTION. URING the progress of the great revivals in London under the labors of the American evangelists, Rev. Dr. Cumming, the famous millenarian prophet, preached a sermon on "Mr. Moody's Place in Prophecy;" a theme somewhat difficult of treatment

Mr. Moody's place in theology is a topic of more general interest, and one which admits of a more definite treatment.

The question is often asked, How comes it that this man, with none of the traditional preparation for the work of the Christian ministry, so far surpasses all the men of his time in those very lines of work for which they have had a life-long training and experience? Why do leading clergymen of all evangelical orders accept him as a spiritual autocrat, and, for the time being, make it a point of duty to do what he directs, and to believe what he teaches? Why do people by hundreds and thousands go to inquire of him, and of those whom he designates, concerning those things which are plainly written down in books, and which are supposed to be constantly preached in all orthodox pulpits? What and why are those wonderful results called conversions? and how is it that Mr. Moody is so much more successful in reaching those results than others who are his equals in purity of life, and his superiors in knowledge and culture?

The fact which, more than any other, accounts for the wonderful going out of the community to this Chicago John the

Baptist is, that he professes to deal with supernatural things. For human power and wisdom in spiritual things he has but little respect. What doth it profit a minister to read the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers, if he does not know how to bring sinners to Christ? What difference does it make with a lost sinner whether he was well up in classical literature, or was a man of elegance and taste? He has read in the Bible that the things which are seen are temporal, or temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal, and he believes it and acts upon it. The harmonies of law amount to nothing with him. He only inquires of a man whether he is in harmony with God. With him development means growth in grace. No matter what else he does or does not believe, if a sinner does not believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Redeemer and Saviour he is lost the moment he comes to believe he is saved.

If any one asks him how he knows this, he has only one answer-" God says so:" and that, with him, is the end of all questions.

His familiarity with the supernatural world appears in his habits of life. He asks for divine direction at every step of his plans and of their execution; the concurrent voices of good men and women are only useful as indications of what is the will of God in any given case. He has absolute faith in every thing he finds promised in the Bible. He trusts the supply of all his wants, as well as those of his family, on a text in Matthew, or especially in John, as readily as he would on a written contract signed by Messrs. Farwell, Dodge. and Stewart; nay, more readily. These men might break or die, but God can never do either. It used to be one of Mr. Moody's favorite sayings, in reference to his temporal needs, "God is rich, and I am working for him."

This question once settled, money becomes his servant, while to most men it is the master. A man in London offered him a thousand pounds sterling just to sit for his photograph, which he indignantly refused: the thing did not seem right, and money was of no possible consequence.

When once a man becomes superior to money he has be come superior to the mass of mankind.

Mr. Moody believes in inspiration, that is, in his own inspiration. He knows that God spoke unto the fathers by the apostles and prophets, and he thinks he is speaking unto their children by the evangelists, of whom he is one. When he speaks what he feels that God has told him, not Pius himself could be more dogmatic. It is refreshing and reassuring, in these days of religious liberalism, to find a man believing in God and the Bible with all his might. Such a believer readily finds a calling, and a follower as a teacher. He is confessed by eminent biblical scholars to have prayed his way further into the divine mysteries of the word than they have even been able to dig with lexicon and grammar. He has learned to laugh at the idea of trying to understand spiritual things by natural means. If a text troubles him he asks some other text to explain it, and if that will not do he takes it straight to God and asks him about it. The result of all this is a kind and extent of biblical learning which is both a surprise and a revelation to the Church and the ministry.

People sit at his feet and learn of him because they feel sure that he has been learning of God. This accounts for his vast congregations; for the multitudes are believers, and really want to know the truth of the Gospel. They have been discouraged and disgusted, it may be, with the inferential and degenerate theology of the sects, and so do not go to church; but here is a man who cares no more for sects and creeds than for the trade-mark on a spoon. A doctrine that feeds him suits him; and what is good for him he presumes to be good for his congregations.

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He is all the time aiming at supernatural results. repairs of the old nature for him; nothing short of regen. eration is worth thinking of, for nothing short of that will save a soul. He proposes to bring sinners into immediate contact with almighty power and infinite grace; hence any con ceivable difference in their degree of sinfulness makes no

difference at all. He has not studied mathematical infinities to find out that "if any appreciable quantity be added to or subtracted from infinity the result is infinity," but he practices by that rule all the time. A drunkard, or a harlot, or an infidel, or a vagabond, or a gambler, or a liquor-seller, can be saved if he will believe, just as easily as a good boy or a nice young lady of religious proclivities. Grace is infinite, and any human amount of sin, more or less, makes no difference with Christ's ability and willingness to save. In a word, Mr. Moody offers a divine and infinite remedy for sin and all its penalties, no wonder, then, that a class of persons who have felt the curse of sin upon them should come in crowds to this man, with whom is the secret of the Lord. Perhaps it never entered into Mr. Moody's mind to arrange his theology into a system, but its exceeding simplicity renders the task an easy one.

He is accustomed to say, 66 There are three R's in the Bible: Ruin by sin, Redemption by Christ, and Regeneration by the Holy Ghost. According to this triad of topics, he lays out all his campaigns. Outside of them, in the region. of speculative, historic, or inferential theology, he does not go; not even into the realm of the Church, its institution. orders, and sacraments.

His system of theology is bounded by his work as an evangelist.

"I have in all about seven hundred sermons," said he; "but there are only about three hundred of them that are fit to convert sinners with."

By this rule of fitness he tests all the ideas which present themselves to his mind. If there be salvation in them he adopts and uses them; if not, he casts them aside.

But the chief feature of his theology is its rigid following of the written words of the Holy Scriptures. With him there is no other authority.

He insists that sinners shall come into the kingdom of God intelligently, along the path marked out, and through the Door" held open in the Gospel. He will not have the

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