(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

(II Corinthians 6:2)

In 1871, D. L. Moody began a series of messages on Bible characters at Farwell Hall in Chicago.  Large crowds were soon attending the meetings.  On the fifth Sunday night, he preached to the largest congregation he had ever addressed in that city.  He preached on the text: “What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?”  At the close of the service he did not call for an immediate decision.  He said, “I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”  He considered that to be one of the greatest mistakes of his life.  For between those two Sundays the great Chicago fire broke out.

Even as Mr. Moody went home from the service that Sunday night, he saw the glare of the flames and knew it meant ruin to Chicago.  About one o’clock Farewell Hall was destroyed and soon afterward his own church on Illinois Street went up in flames.  When he arrived home, the family retired but within an hour a loud call summoned everyone on their street to flee for their lives.  The fire had leaped across the river and was bearing down on them.  Only what could be carried in their hands could be saved.

On the twenty-second anniversary of the great fire, Moody was again addressing a large Chicago audience.  “I have never dared to give an audience a week to think of their salvation since,” he said, recalling the fateful previous occasion. “If they were lost, they might rise up in judgment against me.  I remember Mr. Sankey’s singing and how his voice rang when he came to that pleading verse:

Today the Savior calls,

For refuge fly!

The storm of judgment falls

And death is nigh!

“I have never seen that congregation since, I have hard work to keep back tears today.  I have looked over this audience, and not a single one is here that I preached to that night.  But, I want to tell you of one lesson I learned that night which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot.  I would rather have that right hand cut off than to give an audience now a week to decide what to do with Jesus.”

Taken from: “The Life of Dwight L. Moody” by William R. Moody