Dangerous Delay

I remember when Mr. Sankey and myself were in Chicago preaching, we had been five Sunday nights on the life of Christ. We had taken Him from the cradle, and on the fifth night we had just got Him up to where we have Him today. He was in the hands of Pilate, and Pilate didn’t know what to do with Him. I remember it distinctly, for I made one of the greatest mistakes that night that I ever made. After I had nearly finished my sermon, I said, “I want you to take this home with you, and next Sunday night we will see what you will do with Him.” Well, after a while the meeting closed, and we had a second meeting. The people gathered in the room, and Mr. Sankey during the service sang a hymn, and as he got down to the verse, “The Savior calls, for refuge fly,” I saw I had made a mistake in telling the people that next week they could answer. I saw that it was wrong to put off answering the question. After the meeting, I started to go home. They were ringing the fire alarm at the time, and it proved to be the death knell of the city. I didn’t know what it meant, and so went home. That night the fire raged through the city, destroying everything in its path, and before the next morning the very hall where we had gathered was ashes. People rushed through the streets crazed with fear, and some of those who were at the meeting were burned to death. O what a mistake to put off the answer! May God forgive me! “Today the Savior calls; for refuge fly.”
—D. L. Moody