There were a few lines in that letter to Martha that were startling in their simplicity and meaning:

Kindly tell the friends I am leaving Washington very soon. I have seen the new President, and I am expecting mighty things to be done for humankind under his leadership. I must visit as many other places as possible before the Congress in New York.

Within the next week the news flashed all over the country that Jesus had left Washington and would visit a large number of cities during the summer months. A list of probable places was given. It was said the number of requests beseeching his presence and his message was overwhelming.

He could not possibly meet all the people. Day and night he was besieged to heal and speak and counsel with churches. He had already in his brief earthly stay given such an impetus to the churches, inspiring the ministers so deeply with his practical plans for federation, that a new era had already begun for religion. People’s hearts thrilled over the reforms and upheavals already under way in the cities where the multitudes swarmed. The influence and power of Jesus were seriously reckoned with by legislatures, city commissions, and by the National Congress. The liquor interests were making their last stand in the bars of the big cities and the wealthy homes of aristocratic society leaders.

But they were desperate as they tried to stem the rising tide of feeling which Jesus had begun. Newspaper proprietors and editors were beginning to note the trend of public sentiment in the business world and beginning, many of them for the first time, to break the silence of years and speak out for national prohibition. The spirit of Jesus was everywhere. Everywhere could be heard the cry, spoken in hope and exultation and in prophecy of greater righteousness, “Jesus is here!”

And so the days fled by and the time for that great World Congress of all the Christians of the world drew near.

October had come. The new Liberty Hall on the site of the old Madison Square Garden Building had never before witnessed such a scene as now was presented there. From the ends of the earth they had come, the disciples of Jesus, at the call of a common longing on the part of all the churches of America to counsel together over the mighty matters of Christianity, and to help one another bring about the Federation of the world.

And over every other thought rose constantly the one feeling: Jesus is here! It dominated the heart of every eager, passionate soul from India and China and Japan and Turkey, to the dusky-faced delegates from missionary churches in Micronesia and Ceylon and Korea and Burma and the Philippines.

Streams of people poured into The Hall from the great entrances. Over all hung the immense oval dome, the structure which, unlike the cliff dwellings that predominated in New York, made the new hall entirely unique.