“At night it was the same thing:  house full, people outwardly respectful, but no interest, no response.  And I was having a hard time again.  When about half-way through my talk there came a change.  It seemed as though the windows of heaven had opened and a bit of breath blew down.  The atmosphere of the building seemed to change.  The people’s faces changed.  It impressed me so that when I finished speaking I gave the invitation for those who wanted to be Christians to rise.  I thought there might be a few.  And to my immense surprise the people got up in groups, pew-fulls.  I turned to the minister and said, ‘What does this mean?’ He said, ’I don’t know, I’m sure.’  Well,” Mr. Moody said, “they misunderstood me.  I’ll explain what I meant.”  So he announced an after-meeting in the room below, explaining who were invited:  only those who wanted to be Christians; and putting pretty clearly what he understood that to mean, and dismissed the service.

They went to the lower room.  And the people came crowding, jamming in below, filling all available space, seats, aisles and standing room.  Mr. Moody talked again a few minutes, and then asked those who would be Christians to rise.  This time he knew he had made his meaning clear.  They got up in clumps, in groups, by fifties!  Mr. Moody said, “I turned and said to the minister, ‘What does this mean?’ He said, ’I’m sure I don’t know.’” Then the minister said to Mr. Moody, “What’ll I do with these people?  I don’t know what to do with them; this is something new.”  And he said, “Well.  I’d announce a meeting for to-morrow night, and Tuesday night, and see what comes of it; I’m going across the channel to Dublin.”  And he went, but he had barely stepped off the boat when a cablegram was handed him from the minister saying, “Come back at once.  Church packed.”  So he went back, and stayed ten days.  And the result of that ten days, as I recall Mr. Moody’s words, was that four hundred were added to that church, and that every church near by felt the impulse of those ten days.  Then Mr. Moody dropped his head, as though thinking back, and said:  “I had no plans beyond this church.  I supposed my life work was here.  But the result with me was that I was given a roving commission and have been working under it ever since.”

Now what was the explanation of that marvellous Sunday and days following?  It was not Mr. Moody’s doing, though he was a leader whom God could and did mightily use.  It was not the minister’s doing; for he was as greatly surprised as the leader.  There was some secret hidden beneath the surface of those ten days.  With his usual keenness Mr. Moody set himself to ferret it out.

By and by this incident came to him.  A member of the church, a woman, had been taken sick some time before.  Then she grew worse.  Then the physician told her that she would not recover.  That is, she would not die at once, so far as he could judge, but she would be shut in her home for years.  And she lay there trying to think what that meant:  to be shut in for years.  And she thought of her life, and said, “How little I’ve done for God:  practically nothing:  and now what can I do shut in here on my back.”  And she said, “I can pray.”