One Reason for Moody’s Success
By Chas. T. Everson
One day while conversing with the once noted evangelist, Mr. B. Fay Mills, who is now a Unitarian pastor, the topic of Mr. Moody’s success and its reason came up. Mr. Mills said that many looked upon Mr. Moody as an ignorant man, and that it is not generally known that Mr. Moody was earning three thousand dollars a year as a shoe merchant when only twenty-three years old. He went on to say that Mr. Moody was a man calculated to succeed in whatever he undertook; for he allowed nothing to stand in the way of his attaining the end that he sought. Then, to illustrate this statement, he related an incident that happened the first time he met Mr. Moody. He said: “In a seaport town on the Atlantic coast there is a little church that because of its wealth generally succeeds in getting the leading ministers in the country to come and preach for them. I preached there one Sunday, and after the sermon I was asked if I had ever met Mr. Moody. To this I answered in the negative. Then they said I must remain till the following Sunday, for Mr. Moody would preach there, and I would be afforded the opportunity of meeting him. It was customary for the minister who preached for this church to speak on Saturday night for the fishermen, of whom there were many in that place. This service for the fishermen was held in a large flat building that had a sheet-iron roof. It was at this service that I met Mr. Moody, who was to address a large audience composed of rough and sturdy fishermen. But just at the beginning of the service it began to rain; it came down in torrents, sounding almost like thunder on that sheet-iron roof. Although only a very few in front could hear anything, yet Mr. Moody preached for about an hour at the top of his voice until his collar wilted, and he was covered with perspiration. And when he had finished speaking, he announced to the congregation, ‘After we sing a song Mr. Mills will speak.’ I spoke up and told him that it was of no value to speak with such a storm in progress. But he only reaffirmed that Mr. Mills would speak. Then while the congregation was singing, I said to Mr. Moody, ‘Tell the congregation that Mr. Mills will not speak, and then call those to the front who are especially interested, and deal with them directly.’ ‘No,’ said Mr. Moody, ‘Mr. Mills is going to speak.’ So I got up and ‘sawed’ the air for about three quarters of an hour. By the time I had finished speaking, the storm had ceased. Mr. Moody then got up and preached a regular sermon to the congregation, uninterrupted by the storm, and had a very successful meeting.” Mr. Mills concluded with the statement, “Now a man who will wear out a storm to gain his object is bound to succeed.” This ability to hold on until success is assured in whatever is undertaken is recognized in the Bible as one of the most necessary qualifications for success. It is not he that begins, but “he that endureth to the end” that shall be saved. The enduring quality is the one that is necessary to success also in prayer, as we note from the parables of Jesus on the importunate widow and the man who came at midnight to ask bread for a friend. Also in another place we read, “Ye let go of the arm of the Lord too soon.” The ability to endure in prayer as “seeing him who is invisible,” and to work perseveringly, will bring success to even the apparently untalented. Success comes not to the specially talented, but to the persevering, who, as Wesley, value time more than money, and are more careful how they spend the former than the latter.