Moody did another tour of the United Kingdom in 1881-3. He changed his way of doing things a little in that he spent more time in each city and aligned himself more closely with the various churches. Moody felt that this new approach would produce more permanent results. Someone who was involved in Moody's previous mission commented that he was the same loving man he was before, his preaching was the same but with perhaps a little more power and he was altogether quieter; and more refined. Henry Drummond's admiration for Moody had grown substantially, he wrote, "I had no idea before, the moral size of the man."
My impression had always been that this second visit was a disappointment compared with that of 1873 and that is supported by one commentator, who wrote, "it was not so powerful as that of eight years before, but much good was done." and yet Moody himself thought differently.
On the close of the London mission Moody was interviewed by the representative of the Pall Mall Gazette. 'Compared to your last visit to England, how does this stand?' 'Better [was the reply], better in every respect. There has not been so much newspaper sensation. ... We have had more meetings, better meetings, and the work has been of a more satisfactory character in every way. For the last eight months, I have addressed on an average ten thousand people every day. We always rested on Saturdays but we had on an average twenty-five thousand at our Sunday services. . . .' The interviewer noted that during that time he must have addressed over two million, two hundred thousand people.
His biographer surmises that the commentator may have been referring to the huge meetings and the amazing interest Moody attracted, but evidently these were factors that Moody himself disliked. Moody realised that for fruit to be long lasting people needed to go from accepting Christ to serving him. With longer times in each place he could have the time to set the new Christians to work. Something that changed in his preaching was an emphasis on repentance. In his earlier mission Moody had relied more on swaying the emotions of his hearers through the strength of his personality, but he came to realise that if conversion was to be long-lasting, there needed to be repentance. However, one minister of a church in Birmingham noticed this change but commented that, whereas in 1873 he had 200 people added to his church, this time he had not had a dozen. Some of his friends said the same.This dichotomy is difficult to explain.
Moody and Sankey were in Newcastle, Oct/Nov 1881, then six weeks in Edinburgh and 5 months in Glasgow where Moody introduced a new feature of Saturday morning meetings for children. Andrew Bonar considered these meetings, "a great blessing." After Glasgow closed in June, Moody and Sankey made short visits to large towns around Scotland. Moody had a so many invitations to visit cities around Great Britain, that a committee of 70 was set up to sort out a schedule. To me, this is more evidence that, at least in Scotland the meetings were very successful. In September he had meetings in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Plymouth and Devonport. He then had a week in Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford and then three days in Torquay, Exeter, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Brighton. That took them to the end of the year. 1883 began with a month in Ireland; the month of February was divided between Birmingham, Leicester, and Nottingham; and two weeks' meetings were held each in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. During the summer of 1883, Moody went back to the USA, returning around September to do a mission for eight months in London and finally leaving the United Kingdom in August 1884.
Two of the highlights of their mission were Cambridge and Oxford. Having an opportunity to speak to thousands of undergraduates, some of whom would, in time become leaders of some of the nation's most important institutions; was something special indeed. Just imagine the impact these men would have if a good proportion of them gave their lives to Jesus! The meetings in Cambridge bore a particular fruit that became a blessing to China and other nations. It was through these meetings that the "Cambridge Seven" was formed. These seven men, several of whom came to the Lord through Moody's meetings, decided to become missionaries in China and they all left in 1885 to start their work, which for many of them lasted the rest of their lives. Their example inspired many to go to China, and in the next fifteen years, missionaries for the China Inland Mission grew from 163 to 800.
The meetings in Cambridge were very fruitful. At both universities there were students who caused trouble in the meetings, but Moody was an expert in dealing with them. A minister wrote that the Moody meetings had a huge influence on the first generation of the newly formed Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. "From his (Moody's) flaming torch their lamps were lighted and year by year, on going down (graduating) they have passed them on to their successors." Thirty years later, as a permanent officer of the Union, the minister wrote, "I am always conscious of the fact that the Union's aggressive and God-blessed evangelism in the University is an illustration of a man who, being dead, yet speaketh. And that man is D L Moody." A professor declared that it was from these meetings that the Student Christian movement was born! The Oxford meetings bore similar fruit.
The mission in London took as much organising as that of 1875. However, instead of having four large venues in different parts of London for people to get to, this time they made two large temporary buildings and then moved them to different parts of London where the people were. For instance, these two structures of corrugated iron and wood, holding 5,000 people, were first erected in Islington and Wandsworth. When the Islington meetings ended, the hall was taken down and re-erected in St Pancras, and on the Wandsworth meetings finishing it was moved to Clapham. The meetings lasted about three weeks in each place. The mission ended in June 1884. (I wish I could have found a source that reported on the fruit of this mission. I do not have enough evidence that this was a revival, but I suspect it was.)