tially bowed, and with the exception of those who had risen at Mr. Moody's invitation, not a face was to be seen.

While at Sheffield, Mr. Moody wrote in the Christian an earnest appeal, "What is to be done for the unsaved masses?" which we quote at length in another page.

On Saturday, the 16th of January, Messrs. Moody and Sankey left for Birmingham, attended by the prayers and good wishes of hundreds in Sheffield whose hearts have been made glad, and whose lives have been illumined through their instrumentality during the fortnight of their visit. Upwards of eighty-clergymen of all the evangelical denominations in the town, and the other members of the committee-met Messrs. Moody and Sankey at breakfast in the Imperial Hotel to bid them farewell. The unanimous expression of the company was one of gratitude to the evangelists for their untiring and successful labours in Sheffield, and for the spirit of cordial co-operation among the various divisions of the Church that their visit had so blessedly generated. Practical as he always is, Mr Moody used the occasion to urge upon the committee the necessity of rearing a central and suitable building in the town, where all those interested in the continued success of the work could meet on neutral ground, and carry on the meetings. An influential committee of laymen was appointed to take immediate steps for carrying out the suggestion, so that the good work may go on.

At Birmingham, the work began on Sunday the 17th by a large meeting in the Town Hall at eight a.m., when some 3000 or more were present; 5000 tickets were issued. The afternoon service was crowded long before the hour appointed, and quite 2000 went to Christ Church, close by, where Rev. R. D. Monro preached. There were thousands unable to get into Bingley Hall at night, although 9000 chairs and all the aisles and galleries were occupied. But it was on Monday that the actual work began. The Scotch Church was used for the after-meeting on Monday. A correspondent wrote: —“Every day this week hundreds have been turned away from the noon-day meetings held in the Town Hall. Meetings are now being held in Carr's-lane Chapel every afternoon at three o'clock, and here again it is necessary to be there some time before the service commences. In fact, yesterday I was there at two o'clock, and the body of the chapel was then filled. It is estimated that 3000 people are packed in this building every afternoon. To convey to the mind of

the reader the sight which presents itself on entering Bingley Hall (the place of evening meeting) is impossible. Sloping down from the galleries which run round the building, other galleries have been erected, and the whole building, from the speaker's platform, looks like one vast amphitheatre. The crimson cloth which drapes the galleries adds to the general effect, and makes the hall (said to be one of the dreariest-looking buildings in the Midland counties) look very comfortable. The immense sea of faces is singularly impressive, especially when from 12,000 to 15,000 people are listening eagerly to catch the words that fall from the speaker's lips."

A writer in the Birmingham Morning News says :—

"Never before in the history of Birmingham, I believe, have two men drawn such large numbers of people together as Messrs. Moody and Sankey have done, time after time, during the whole of last week and yesterday. The Town Hall, Carr's-lane Chapel, and Bingley Hall, have been entirely filled at most of their meetings, uncomfortably crowded at some, and all but full at one or two others. Since commencing their labours here they have held twenty-two services, namely, four in Carr's-lane Chapel, six in the Town Hall, and twelve in Bingley Hall. No doubt in many cases the same persons presented themselves at the meetings again and again; but it is probable the audiences were, for the most part, different on each occasion. At the four meetings in Carr's-lane Chapel some 12,000, at the six in the Town Hall about 24,000, and at the twelve in Bingley Hall, at least 120,000 persons must have been present, making a total of 156,000 men, women, and children, to whom, during the last eight days, they have preached and sung the gospel. Nor does the interest in the men and their work as yet know any abatement, it being likely that the services to be held this week will be as numerously attended as those of last week."

Previous to visiting Liverpool Messrs. Moody and Sankey visited London to take part in a conference at the Freemasons' Hall, touching the forthcoming four months' services in the metropolis. The gallery was filled to overflowing, and every inch of standingroom was occupied. The general tone and spirit of the meeting were most hopeful and encouraging. There were, of course, various expressions of divergent opinion, some of the topics referred to being very irrelevant, and others untimely; but there prevailed a

very general feeling of agreement as to the necessity of the efforts to be made. The disagreement was confined to matters of detail, and any difficulty that may be felt on these points will, no doubt, vanish in practice, as they have done in other places. Mr. Moody's business tact, Christian courtesy, and common sense, were put to the test in answering the many and varied questions put to him, and it must be admitted that these qualities were very happily utilized. The proceedings were chiefly of a business character, relating to the arrangements for the services in London, and Mr. Moody was closely questioned on various points, some of his answers deserving special quotation.

Several inquiries were addressed to him with respect to the kind of Gospel he preached, one gentleman suggesting that he should put it in print, so that all might know. Mr. Moody promptly replied, amidst the strongly-expressed approbation of the bulk of the meeting, that it was already in print in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.

In answer to a query, whether the services on Sundays would be held in the great halls during the hours of ordinary divine service, Mr. Moody said they had studiously avoided holding meetings at the same time as the regular services until they went to Sheffield. The Vicar there suggested that they should have a service at eleven o'clock in the Albert Hall, solely for those who attended no place of worship. He (Mr. Moody) said that nobody would come; but as he was fond of making experiments, they would try it. To their great surprise, the hall was packed. How did they know the people did not attend any place of worship? they gave out a good old hymn, and it was as flat as could be; they could not sing it. At Birmingham they tried it again, and from 8000 to 10,000 attended of the class they desired to see, and God put his seal on the effort. It might be thought well to do it in London too, in order to reach the people, but the ministers would understand that it was done out of a pure motive, and not to draw the people away from them. Their object had been to strengthen the different churches, and not to pull them down.

A question about the comparative value of total abstinence and the preaching of the Gospel, led Mr. Moody to say that there were many men in London with a crotchet of some kind or other, which they rode to death. But they wanted a harp with a thousand strings, not one string. He himself was a teetotaler out-and-out.

At Liverpool great preparations had been made. A large building, to be named Victoria Hall, was especially erected, in Victoria Street. It was throughout a wooden structure of enormous strength; the internal dimensions of the building were 174 feet long by 124 feet wide, divided by two rows of upright columns, which formed the front supports of the galleries, leaving an open central space 72 feet in width, and on either side a gallery 26 feet in depth. At the bottom end of the hall the gallery was 40 feet in depth, while the platform-40 feet square and 4 feet high-was at the other end. The total height of the building, from the floor to the ridge, was 52 feet, and to the eaves 25 feet. The hall would seat 8000 persons, but the passages were wide, and, with the standing room, nearly, if not quite, 11,000 persons might be able to hear easily what was going on. For the purposes of daylight over 80 windows were provided. For evening services the building was lighted by twelve pendent circular gas coronæ, six on each side, each fitted with 150 jets. Underneath the galleries there were 14 smaller coronæ, each of these latter having 15 jets. The arrangements for lighting, warming, and ventilating the building were excellent. There were 20 doors, all epening outwards, from 4 to 8 feet in width each. There was a large "inquirers'-room" adjoining the platform end of the building, 116 feet long by 34 feet broad. Arrangements were made by which this room might be divided if necessary by means of a curtain, thus giving two good-sized rooms, each nearly 60 feet long by 34 feet broad. This inquiry-room was lighted by skylights and gas-burners, and was entered by three large doors, one on either side of the platform, and one from the street. Near to each of the entrance doors small wooden huts were erected for colporteurs, who disposed of hymn-books, Bibles, religious publications, and books.

The acoustic properties of the hall were very good. This large building was constructed within forty days, and cost £3500.

The first meeting was held on Sunday, the 7th of February; the last on Sunday, the 7th of March. A Liverpool correspondent thus describes the services held in the town:

"At the evening meetings the hall is always crowded with something like 10,000 people, and if it were not that the committee keep a great part of the passages clear to allow of access to the inquiry.

room, every inch of standing ground would be occupied. The attendance at the noon prayer-meetings averages 4000 to 5000, the audience, of course, not being so mixed as those in the evening. One gratifying circumstance, however, in connection with the noon meetings should be noted, and that is, the presence of so many of the Liverpool merchants and business men. I have heard it stated that between twelve and one, when the noon-prayer meeting is held, 'Change is half deserted, and it has been remarked that no other source of attraction has ever drawn so many of these busy men away from their money-making for an hour in the middle of the day. May they carry away some truth that will cling to them when they are tempted to forget God in their haste to get rich! The requests for special prayer have been very numerous and so varied that it would be impossible to characterize them. The notices of the secular press, while not expressing any hearty sympathy with the movement, have been very fair and honest, as a rule, considered as simple reports of the proceedings. A very happy feature of the work here, as elsewhere, is the sympathetic co-operation of many clergymen and ministers of various denominations. They appear on the platform and take part in the services, as well as in the personal dealing with the anxious. This is matter for thanksgiving, though some correspondents of the Liverpool papers assert that the very presence of the evangelists here, and the admitted need there is for their labour, is a slur upon their own zeal and fitness for the work of evangelizing the destitute and depraved masses of the town."

THE LONDON SERVICES.

THE services announced to be held in the metropolis by Messrs. Moody and Sankey were looked forward to with great interest by the religious public, and by a large number of persons who, without professing decided convictions, were desirous of hearing a preacher who had made so great an impression in other districts, and of forming their own opinion as to his powers. The press could not avoid noticing, if only, as a matter of news, the interest which the evangelists had excited throughout the country, and, as might have been expected, some of the publications which

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