Mr. Moody on Christian Activity — Getting People Stirred Up — The Two W’s: Word and Work — Beginning at Home —Nothing Small — Different Ways of Doing Good.

LET me read a few verses in the second chapter of Titus: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

I want to call attention to these words: “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” A great many people are stirred up by hearing what other people are doing. You remember the great revival of 1858, when half-a-million people were brought into the kingdom of God.

That was done by one town hearing what another town was doing — just merely hearing reports of what God was doing in other places. You know very well a great many people in our churches are sound asleep. They haven’t got any idea that they have any mission in the world — that they have any work to do for the Lord. If we can do anything to get these people stirred up that have been in the church a long while, and get them actively engaged in the Lord’s work, that is what we ought to do. It is very pleasant to sit and listen while Mr. Rainsford expounds the Word of God, but that won’t amount to anything unless we put two things together:

Word and Work — the two W’s. You will soon get spiritually gorged if it is all Word and no work. If you want to be healthy Christians, there must be both Word and work. If we can get people to work, how rapidly they will grow. My experience is that a man or woman who is engaged in the Lord’s work and feeding on the Bible is growing all the while. Whoever is not working is sure to become stunted. The Christian life means progress and growth. And I think there is no better place for people to begin Christian work than right at their own homes. There has been quite a missionary spirit kindled at Mount Hermon, but I have recommended those young men to begin at home first before they go out to foreign fields.

The best place to begin is in the home field — in your own parish. If a man hasn’t got a good enough record to have any effect at home, he won’t be of much account in the foreign field. You will notice this is Christ’s order. In Acts 1:8, He says: “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” I will venture to say, the hardest place for those disciples to begin to preach was in their own city — Jerusalem. Then Judea was the next hardest place. Then Samaria was the next hardest place. The hardest place to begin is at home, in your own church, your own family. But that is what we want. We want to say: “My lot is cast here, and here is the place I must go to work.” And if every Christian man and every Christian woman would sincerely pray, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” what a mighty work would be accomplished! If you have got a heart for the work, God will qualify you. There will be no trouble about your finding something to do. If each one of us is doing some little thing, it isn’t little in the Master’s sight. If we keep at it 365 days in the year, there will be a good deal of work done at the end of the year. The men that have been permitted to do higher things are the men that began with small things. If you are not willing to deal with one man about his soul, and labor with that one man, you are not fit to go into the pulpit and preach to others.

Some of Christ’s greatest discourses were given to one person or two persons. It was to Nicodemus He preached that great sermon on regeneration. He delivered that wonderful sermon at the well when the disciples were off to the city — delivered it to one poor fallen woman.

Don’t wait for something to turn up, but go and turn up something.

There are a great many different ways of doing good. A lady once visited an hospital, and noticed with what pleasure the patients would smell and look at the flowers sent to them. Said she, “If I had known that a bunch of flowers would do so much good I would have sent some from home.” As soon as she got home, she sent some flowers out of her garden. It was a little thing — a bouquet of flowers. It was a very insignificant work — very small. But if it is done in the right spirit God accepts it. A cup of water given in His name is accepted as given to Himself. Nothing that is done for God is small. When Elijah sent his servant to see if there was any sign of rain, and when the servant saw the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, perhaps he thought it was a very insignificant thing. But Elijah knew what it meant; and he told the man to go and warn Ahab that he had better make haste and get home or he would get a good drenching before he got there. Elijah knew God was in the cloud. Anything that God is in isn’t small. If we go to work right at home we will have success. There isn’t a child of God but can do something if he will. Go home on fire, and see if you can’t get people to go to church. If you can’t get grown people, get the children. If you can’t get people to church, go to their homes. Hold meetings in schoolhouses. Go up into these mountains, and visit the families. All along in New England, and all through this country — through Pennsylvania and the Middle States — look at the thousands and thousands of families in the outlying districts that are not in the habit of hearing preaching, and as things are now there is no way of reaching them.

I’d like to see laymen preaching to these people. I don’t believe they are ever going to be reached till the laity go to work. You haven’t got to wait till you are ordained. Christ’s commission is to everyone: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” If we are the branches we are to bring forth fruit. Make up your mind you are going to bring forth fruit. When I was in London, an old woman of eighty-five came and begged to be given something to do. I gave her a district, and how joyfully she took it and went to work. People who would have closed the door on a young man wouldn’t close the door on an old woman of eighty-five. If everyone would do as much as she did, what a difference there would be! I find a good many men as I travel over this country who never know what it is to be cold — never know what it is to be lukewarm.

Why? Because they are at work for the Lord all the while. I heard of a man in Pittsburgh who gave away $500 a day. I thought I would like to see that man. There was a line of beggars at his door every morning; and he would spend from nine to twelve o’clock with them every day. So I took my place in the line. I wanted something for Mount Hermon. As I talked with him, I said: “Do you never get discouraged at this kind of work? Don’t you find so much ingratitude that you get disheartened?” “Oh,” said he, “I haven’t time to look for that.” That man was just doing it for the Master; and he hadn’t time to get discouraged. Said I: “Haven’t you any doubts about the wisdom of this way of doing?” Said he: “I haven’t time to doubt.” If you are busy about the Master’s work, you won’t have time to grow lukewarm. Perhaps you say: “If I had $500 a day to give away, wouldn’t I be a happy Christian.” Well; you have got better than that.

Give yourself. Money is of very small account in the sight of God.

When Mr. Sankey and I were in London, there was a lady who attended our meetings, and was brought into the house in her carriage, being unable to walk. At first she was very skeptical; but one day she said to her servant, “Take me into the inquiry room.” After I had talked with her a good while about her soul, she said: “But you will go back to America, and it will be all over.” “Oh, no,” said I, “it is going to last forever.” Well; I couldn’t make her believe it. I don’t know how many times I talked with her. At last I used the fable of the pendulum in the clock. The pendulum figured up the thousands of times it would have to tick, and got discouraged, and was going to give up. Then it thought, “It is only a tick at a time,” and went on. So it is in the Christian life — only one step at a time. That helped this lady very much. She began to see that if she could trust in God for a supply of grace for only one day, she could go right on in the same way from day to day. As soon as she saw this, she came out quite decided. But she never could get done talking about that pendulum.

The servants called her Lady Pendulum. She got a pendulum stuck up in her room to remind her of the illustration; and when I went away from London she gave me a clock — I’ve got it in my house. That lady can’t go out visiting, and so she just makes needlework texts for framing, and sends them wherever they will do good. One I received was “This is Not Your Rest.” The one she sent me before that was, “Zealous of Good Works.”

Thank God, we have got all eternity to rest in. This is the place to work. I pity any child of God that wants to sleep all the time down here.

Brothers, sisters, wake up! We have got plenty of time to rest hereafter.

Well, now, that lady has made four hundred of these texts, and she sends them to the poor people of London. I suppose she thought I belonged to that crowd. So I do. There she is in her house working out these texts, and praying that God will bless them. When they go out they are covered with prayer. The question is not what Gabriel can do, or what we will do when we get to Heaven; the question is, What can you and I do before we get there?