A lady came to me once and said, "Mr. Moody, I wish you would tell me
how I can become a Christian." The tears were rolling down her cheeks,
and she was in a very favorable mood. "But," she said, "I don't want
to be one of your kind."
"Well," I asked, "have I got any peculiar kind? What is the matter
with my Christianity?"
"Well," she said, "my father was a doctor, and had a large practice,
and he used to get so tired that he used to take us to the theater.
There was a large family of girls, and we had tickets for the theaters
three or four times a week. I suppose we were there a good deal
oftener than we were in church. I am married to a lawyer, and he has a
large practice. He gets so tired that he takes us out to the theater,"
and she said, "I am far better acquainted with the theater and theater
people than with the church and church people, and I don't want to
give up the theater."
"Well," I said, "did you ever hear me say anything about theaters?
There have been reporters here every day for all the different papers,
and they are giving my sermons verbatim in one paper. Have you ever
seen anything in the sermons against the theaters?"