The Life Of Dwight L Moody

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Dwight Lyman Moody was the greatest evangelist of the 19th century. In the pre-television era, he traveled more than one million miles to preach the gospel to more than 100 million people. Although equipped with just four years of formal schooling, Moody launched ministries in education and publishing that remain vital and fruitful today. Moody had a passion for souls. Yet with all of his accomplishments for God, D. L. Moody remained a humble man. His greatest riches were found in the love of his Lord and the souls that had been changed for the glory of God. In these pages, today's believers will find a model of biblical passion, vision, and commitment. Lyle Dorsett reveals the heart of this great evangelist, recounting his life and realistically probing his strengths, weaknesses, virtues, faults, triumphs, struggles and motivations to find a man after God's own heart. The Deluxe Leather Collector's Edition is perfect for people any age.

In the church today, we have everything buttoned up perfectly. The music is flawless, the sermon well-prepared and smoothly delivered, and the grounds meticulously kept. People come on time and go home on time. But a fundamental element is missing. The business of church has undermined the individual’s need to truly live for Christ, so much so, that only a limited few are seeing their life impact the world. Dwight L. Moody takes us deep into Scripture and paints a clear picture of what ought to be an individual’s life for Christ. The call for each Christian is to become an active member in the body of Christ. The motive is love for the Lord and our neighbor. The result will be the salvation of men, women, and children everywhere.

No one can claim to understand the American social and religious mind of the last half of the nineteenth century who does not understand sympathetically what evangelist Dwight L. Moody and his career represented. Moody was an entrepreneur, a self-made man, a living expression of much that was hearty and some of what was crass about religion in his day. This is the first biography to place him fully within the context of the broad social, theological, and cultural developments of his time. Most of the existing biographical literature about Moody is either simplistically eulogistic or sarcastically hostile. These polar views reflect the split that occurred within the Protestant church between fundamentalists and modernists during and after Moody's career. It is with an objective overview of these divergencies that the author has prepared his biography. Mr. Findlay demonstrates how Moody's outlook evolved from the small-town framework of early nineteenth-century New England and developed into the mainstream of American evangelicalism. In the rising cities of Boston and Chicago, he concentrated his efforts to urbanize revivalism as part of a general struggle to adapt a traditional faith to a rapidly changing external environment. After his triumphant revival crusades of the 1870s, the impact of his style and message faded before the progressive liberal approach to religion that was to shape twentieth-century Protestantism. The present biography of this great evangelist is far superior to any other, both for its scholarly approach in determining the place of evangelicalism in American social and religious history and for its portrayal of the overpowering impact of Moody's personality. It will be particularly fascinating to those interested in American social history and the history of evangelism, the man and the movement.

Prevailing Prayer by Dwight Lyman Moody, first published in 1884, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Dwight L. Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899) was one of America’s greatest heroes. He rose from the poorest of conditions to become one of the most notable spokesman and religious leaders of the 19th century. Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large family. His father was Edwin J. Moody (1800-1841), who died at the age of 41 leaving the family in difficult circumstances. At the time of his father's death, Dwight was only four years old. At the age of 17 Moody found Christ, but being raised in such a poor family he could not find a church willing to receive him as a member until May 4, 1856, when he was 19 years old. Even then his teacher, Mr. Edward Kimball, said of him, "I can truly say, and in saying it I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday School class; and I think that the committee of the Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for membership more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness." As Moody moved into the ministry, he found it an even more difficult task than finding a church. Kimball later declared, "The first meeting I ever saw him at was in a little old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. Mr. Moody had got the place to hold the meetings in at night. I went there a little late; and the first thing I saw was a man standing up with a few tallow candles around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of the Prodigal Son and a great many words he could not read out, and had to skip. I thought, 'If the Lord can ever use such an instrument as that for His honor and glory, it will astonish me. As a result of his tireless labor, within a year the average attendance at his school was 650, while 60 volunteers from various churches served as teachers. It became so well known that the just-elected President Lincoln visited and spoke at a Sunday school meeting on November 25, 1860." (see: The Life of Dwight L. Moody” by His Son, William R. Moody.) Moody’s ministry grew to such a point that he became world renowned and was known to bring entire cities to a standstill with his meetings. He is said to have led millions to salvation, and countless millions looked to him as the greatest leader of their time. Moody once said, “Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now, I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal — a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die, that which is born of the Spirit will live forever.” The biography “The Life of Dwight L. Moody” by his son, William R. Moody, is the most paramount and thorough on Moody’s life, ministry, and influence, and it set the benchmark for all future works about him. The 1900 version is the final edition and includes all of the revisions by the author. The Methodist Review wrote “There cannot be a moment’s hesitation in pronouncing this life of the departed evangelist, written by his son, William R. Moody, to be beyond question the desirable volume for the purchaser.”

“The preparation of my Father’s biography has been undertaken as a sacred trust. Early in the spring of 1894 he was asked by an old friend for permission to issue a biography with his approval. This my Father declined to do, and, on that occasion, expressed the wish that I should assume the task when his life-work was ended. In reply to my objection that such an undertaking demanded a literary experience that I did not possess, he said: ‘I don’t care anything about that. What I want is that you should correct inaccuracies and misstatements that it would be difficult to straighten out during my life. You are the one to do this. All my friends will unite on you and give you their assistance. There are many who think they know me better than any one else, and would feel themselves best able to interpret my life. IF you do not do this work there will be many inaccurate and conflicting ‘Lives.’” —From the Introduction