While Mr. Moody was still in business, before he had taken up Christian work as his exclusive occupation, he often went out holding meetings. One time he was holding meetings in one of the smaller towns in Illinois. The wife of the district judge came to Mr. Moody and asked him to speak to her husband. He replied: "I cannot speak to your husband. Your husband is a book infidel, and I am nothing but an uneducated shoe clerk from Chicago.”
But the wife was so insistent, that Mr. Moody finally called upon the judge. As he passed through the outer office, the law clerks tittered to themselves as they thought how the learned judge would make mincemeat of the uneducated shoe clerk from Chicago.
Mr. Moody said to the judge in the inner office: "Judge, I cannot talk with you, you are an educated man; I am nothing but an uneducated shoe clerk, but I just want to ask you one thing. When you are converted, will you let me know?”
"Yes," the judge replied banteringly, "when I am converted I will let you know." And then he raised his voice louder and said, "Yes, young man, when I am converted I will let you know. Good morning.”
As Mr. Moody passed into the outer office, the judge raised his voice still louder, so that all the law clerks could hear: "Yes, young man, when I am converted 1 will let you know." And the law clerks tittered louder than ever. But the judge was converted within a year!
Mr. Moody revisited the town and called upon the judge. He said: "Judge, will you tell me how you were converted?”
"Yes," the judge replied. "One night my wife went to prayer meeting as usual, but I, as usual, stayed at home reading the evening paper.
"I began to get very uneasy and miserable, and before my wife returned from the prayer meeting, I was so miserable I was afraid to face her and retired for the night. On her return, finding me in bed she came to the door and asked if I were sick.
"I replied, 'I am not sick, only I was not feeling very well. Good night.'
"I had a miserable night and was so miserable in the morning that I dared not face my wife at the breakfast table, and I simply looked in the door, and said: 'Wife, I am not feeling very well this morning, I will not eat any breakfast.' I went to my office and told the clerks that they could take a holiday. I locked the outside door, and then went into my inner office, and locked the door to that. I sat down, getting more miserable all the time.
"At last, in my misery and in my overwhelming sense of sin, I knelt down and cried:
“‘O God, forgive my sins.' But there was no answer. Again I cried:
“‘O God, forgive my sins.' But still there was no answer. I would not say:
"O God, for Christ's sake forgive my sins,' because I was a Unitarian and did not believe in the Divinity of Christ. Again I cried:
“‘O God, forgive my sins,' but still there was no answer. At last, in desperation, I cried:
"'O God, for Jesus Christ's sake, forgive my sins,' and instantly I found peace.”
There is Divine Power in a faith that accepts Jesus Christ as the Son of God.