The Simplicity Of His Habits And Tastes
THE SIMPLICITY OF HIS HABITS AND TASTES
The Rev. George F. Pentecost his said: "Had he lived in the early days of Israel's trials, he should have judged Israel, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies. He was like Gideon, and his latent powers were known only to God. He was the most reticent man I ever knew. One of his marked characteristics was his strong, practical common sense and fine knowledge of men. Once in the Boston Tabernacle, just before going on the platform, some one came to see him. 'There is a man outside wishes to see you. 'Well,' said the evangelist, 'I have no time to see him.' 'But,' replied the usher, 'He says he must see you.' 'What kind of a man is he?' 'He is tall and thin, with long hair.'
'That settles it," said Mr. Moody, 'I don't want to see any long-haired men nor short-haired women.' It was a rare thing for him to make a mistake in any of the men gathered about him.
"He had the simplest habits and tastes. He spent money lavishly on other people - almost none on himself. I consider him the world's greatest evangelist, and he has influenced more people for God than any other man in modern times."
The Rev. G. Campbell Morgan has said of him: "My personal acquaintance with Dwight Lyman Moody was not of long duration according to the measure of the calendar. If, however, 'we could count time by heart throbs,' then I might claim to have known him; for it has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to have come very near him in the ripest years of his life.
I first saw him in 1883 during his second visit to Birmingham. Bingley Hall was being crowded by day with eager crowds who had come by train from the whole surrounding district. The city was moved to its very center. The impression of those days, therefore, is that of the man in the midst of the rush of work. He was keen, alert, forceful. No detail of arrangement escaped his notice. A vacant seat, the opening and closing of doors, a tendency to drag the singing, all these he noted and uttered directions about. Yet he was by no means a man who cared for detail's sake. The greater was ever the reason for the less, and the less was important only as part of the greater. The supreme passion of his life was the winning of men for Christ, and no detail that would hinder or help was too small for consideration.