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When I
reached the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. McGranahan I found that my helper
in the meeting was to be that grand old hero of many a battle-field and
devoted soldier of the cross, General O.O. Howard. Sitting together with the
friends who had come in from the surrounding country to attend the meeting,
the name of Mr. Moody was mentioned, and General Howard said, "I was
with him on the steamship Spree, when, Mr. Moody says, 'God heard our prayer
and saved the ship.' A good many people have criticised this statement,"
said General Howard, "and there was much controversy in the newspapers;
but Moody always believed it. Over 700 people were with us on the ship. One
morning, about daybreak, I was awakened by a sound like an explosion, and I
heard the people rushing along the halls, and then some one said the main
shaft had been snapped asunder, and falling down had made a break in the
ship. The passengers were terror stricken. The bulkheads were quickly closed,
and the bailing and the pumping began, but when they reached the third
compartment of the ship, they found it almost impossible to clear it, and the
aft part of the ship was sunk to the gunwale. Mr. Moody, with his son, I
found on deck. He was lying back in a chair looking very ill, but after a
moment he said, 'General Howard, won't you come with me?' And followed by his
son we made our way to the stateroom, and there he fell upon his knees and
prayed as only he knew how to pray. He told the Lord that He was the God of
the sea, and asked Him that, like as He had stilled the |
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A SERVICE
OF PRAISE ON THE STEAMER |
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"After
that he was always surrounded by a company of people, giving help wherever
help could be given. When Sunday morning came he gathered the people in the
dining saloon, and conducted the service in his own inimitable style, and
after forty-eight hours of drifting, a ship came hurrying over to us to take
us safe home. Mr. Moody led a service of thanksgiving and praise, and
preached as I never had heard him preach before. That is the story of his
sending the cable 'Prayer saved the ship.'" |
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There was
a hush on the little assembly, and I know of one at least who offered up a
prayer of thanksgiving that D. L. Moody had not only helped save the people
on board the Spree, but had been used of God to save thousands of others just
as truly drifting, and whose case was just as apparently hopeless. |
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From: THE
LIFE AND WORK OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY (1837-1899) |
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BY THE
REV. J. WILBUR CHAPMAN, D.D. |
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For many
years a close colleague of Mr. Moody |
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Originally
published in 1900 as a 555-page book. |
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