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chapter one D. L. Moody Arrives in a Changing Boston “There Is a Magnetism in His Voice” No single event better represents the evangelical crossroads in Boston in the late nineteenth century than the 1877 Moody revival. Like a magnifying glass focusing the sun’s energy into one spot, the Moody campaign illustrates how a wide variety of evangelicals came together for a single event. In the pages that follow, more attention is given to the preparations for the Moody campaign than the dramatic campaign itself in order to portray the nuances of the evangelical crossroads. The Moody revival sought to save the city, but in order to do so a diverse array of people, ideas, and power arrangements had to be negotiated. When Dwight L. Moody arrived in Boston on the afternoon of Friday, January 26, 1877, he must have been beside himself with anticipation for the evangelistic campaign to come. The train he took from his hometown of Northfield , Massachusetts, had just retraced the journey he had taken twenty-two years earlier as a western Massachusetts farm boy looking for employment and adventure. It was in Boston, in a downtown shoe store, where Moody was converted from a rather indifferent Unitarianism to a heartfelt Christianity on May 16, 1855.1 A small plaque commemorating the site of Moody’s conversion remains across the street from a municipal office building on Court Street—the only monument in Boston today outside a churchyard that specifically recognizes a late-nineteenth-century evangelical leader. After dropping off his bags and getting his family settled at the Back Bay residence of his prominent host at 30 Marlboro Street, Moody immediately walked the snowy streets of Boston alone to investigate the newly constructed tabernacle where he would preach for the next three months.2 Finding it locked, Moody started hurling snowballs with youthful exuberance at the building in order to attract the attention of someone inside. That would be the last time during the winter of 1877 that Moody would have to go the extra mile to attract attention in Boston.3 Boston was the final city of a two-year evangelistic tour for Moody. Religious leaders across the nation had proclaimed his previous revivals in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, New York City, and Chicago astounding successes. The city’s newspapers headlined Moody’s first address with anticipation of many great things to come—and many newspapers to be sold. 16 · Evangelicals at a Crossroads The singing was not done when Mr. Moody rose to deliver his sermon. The congregation was ready for it. He began in short, crisp sentences with a somewhat rapid utterance. At first his manner is quiet, but as he goes on he indulges in expressive gestures. There is a magnetism in his voice that holds and his face and eyes foretell somewhat the nature of the thought that is shaping itself. He talks over Scripture history as though he is living right among it. Joshua and Caleb are made to live today, the walls of Jericho stare us in the face, the sons of Anak look down upon us. Then we are brought back to the present day, back to ourselves and to our needs as spiritual beings. At one moment the preacher’s voice is terrible with earnestness ; then it grows playful with the quaintness of a comparison; and again it is full of rebuke or of entreaty. The sermon was a wonderful effort; not ornate, not always choice in its language, not showing any depth of thought, but taking hold of the mind and declaring “There is a God who was, who is, and who always must be feared, loved and obeyed.”4 Moody required that a new tabernacle be constructed specifically for the evangelistic services in each city that he visited. The tabernacle in Boston covered a full acre of ground and was only slightly smaller than those in other cities. The brick structure, with pine timbers and buttresses to support the massive roof, was built with an eye toward crowd control. The interior auditorium measured 140 by 204 feet with aisles gradually widening the closer they got to the doorways to facilitate exiting the building. It was said that the whole building could “be cleared of 6,000 people in five minutes”—an important consideration in 1870s urban America, which had seen fires devastate both Chicago and Boston.5 The hall was often reported to contain a standing-room-only crowd of 7,000. The Metropolitan Railroad...

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