Evangelist;
[
254]
born in
Northfield, Mass., Feb. 5, 1837; was educated in the district schools of his neighborhood.
When seventeen years old he went to
Boston and became a clerk in a shoe-store.
While there he was converted and united with the Mount Vernon Congregational Church.
In 1856 he settled in
Chicago and became greatly interested in Sunday-school mission work, building up a school of more than 1,000 pupils.
He soon after entirely relinquished business, that he might devote all his time to Christian work.
During the
Civil War he was connected with the
United States Christian Commission, and after the war he became general missionary of the Young Men's Christian Association in
Chicago, and built a church for the use of his Sunday-school and the many converts of his ministry.
In 1871 this church was destroyed in the great fire, but subsequently was rebuilt, and under the name
of the
Chicago Tabernacle supervises the great Chicago Training School for foreign missionaries and lay Christian workers.
In 1873, with
Ira D. Sankey, his famous co-worker, who had joined him two years before, he visited
Great Britain and began Christian work in
York.
This mission produced many good results, and the fame of it spread widely.
Later he visited
Sunderland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and other places.
From
England he went to
Edinburgh, and soon afterwards the whole of
Scotland was aroused.
Great meetings were held in
Dundee,
Glasgow, and other important cities.
After visiting the chief cities of
Ireland, where he met with similar success, he returned to
England, and conducted great meetings in
Manchester,
Birmingham, and
Liverpool.
His greatest meetings of all were held in Agricultural Hall,
London, where audiences of from 10,000 to 20,000 gathered.
In November, 1875, enormous meetings were begun in
Philadelphia, continuing for three months. Then, in turn, New York,
Chicago, and
Boston had similar religious awakenings.
In the latter city a great tabernacle was built in 1877, at a cost of $40,000, and daily meetings were held for four months, with an average attendance of from 5,000 to 10,000.
Like success attended
Mr. Moody during his whole life, both in the
United States and
Great Britain, which he visited several times.
In 1879 he opened a school for poor girls at
Northfield, Mass., and in 1880 erected the first public building of the now famous
Northfield and
Mount Hermon institutions.
In 1900 the plant at
Northfield was valued at about $1,000,000. There were then more than fifty substantial stone and brick buildings and nearly 1,000 pupils.
It is estimated that
Mr. Moody, during his ministry, addressed more than 50,000,000 people.
His publications include
The second coming of Christ;
The way and the world;
Secret power, or the secret of success in Christian life and work, etc. He died in
Northfield, Mass., Dec. 22, 1899.
