Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837-December 22, 1899) was an American evangelist. He held crusades in the United States and Great Britain, with the hymn writer Ira D. Sankey.
He founded the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, 1899, and several other schools.
D.L. Moody began his ministry in 1858 as a traveling shoe salesman who started a Sunday School mission for underprivileged children in Chicago. Classes were taught in an abandoned saloon.
D.L. Moody stated:
<It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith if He had known that it was not capable of understanding His words?>
By 1860, the class had grown to over 1,000 attendees, with even President-elect Abraham Lincoln visiting November 25, 1860, on his way to Washington, DC. During the Civil War, D.L. Moody ministered to soldiers on the battle-lines, and served as Y.M.C.A. president from 1865-1870. He built the Illinois Street Church in Chicago, but it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. D.L. Moody said:
<We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God.>
He rebuilt the church and renamed it the Chicago Avenue Church. It grew to an attendance of over 10,000, with 6,000 waiting outside. D.L. Moody stated:
<Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody; 40 years learning he was nobody; and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody.>
D.L. Moody preached to tens of thousands in England, meeting preacher Charles Spurgeon and missionary Hudson Taylor. He supported the Israeli settlement of their homeland. D.L. Moody preached to hundreds of thousands across America, holding evangelistic meetings from Boston to New York, to San Francisco and Vancouver. Even President U.S. Grant and his cabinet attended one of his meetings on January 19, 1876. D.L. Moody commented:
<There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.> 1837DM003
<God doesn't seek for golden vessels...but He must have clean ones.> 1837DM004
<The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.> 1837DM005
As the circus not open on Sundays, Barnum let his New York Great Roman Hippodrome be used by Dwight Lyman Moody for evangelistic campaigns. When Barnum's show began traveling, D.L. Moody, with help from
J.P. Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt, transformed the Hippodrome into a revival tabernacle. Services began February 7, 1876, with 7,000 people in the main hall, 4,000 in overflow, thousands outside, 500 ushers and 1,200 singers directed by Ira Sankey. Sunday attendance hit 25,000. It was perhaps Moody's most important campaign, for impacting New York impacted the nation.
D.L. Moody started the Chicago Bible Institute, renamed the Moody Bible Institute after his death, with R.A. Torrey succeeding him as president. Dwight L. Moody remarked:
<Treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. His is not a creed, a mere doctrine, but it is He Himself we have.> 1837DM006
<I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me.> 1837DM007
<Faith makes all things possible...love makes all things easy.> 1837DM008
<Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.> 1837DM009
<Death may be the King of terrors...but Jesus is the King of kings!> 1837DM010
On June 1, 1899, in the last call he issued, Dwight L. Moody stated:
<Dear Friends and Fellow-workers:
The seventeenth General Conference of Christian Workers will be held at Northfield, August 1st to 20th, and all of God's people who are interested in the study of His Word, in the development of their own Christian lives, in a revival of the spiritual life of the Church, in the conversion of sinners, and in the evangelization of the world, are cordially invited to be present.
I am glad to send out this invitation to my fellow-workers because I believe that such a gathering was never more needed that this year. Many thoughtful men have come to feel strongly that the hope of the Church to-day is in a deep and wide-spread revival. We are confronted with difficulties that can be met in no other way. The enemy has come in like a flood-it is time for those who believe in a supernatural religion to look to God to lift up a standard against him. Oh, for a revival of such power that the tide of unbelief and worldliness that is sweeping in upon us shall be beaten back; that every Christian shall be lifted to a higher level of life and power, and multitudes of perishing souls be converted to God! Why not? God's arm is not shortened, nor His ear heavy. I believe the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees may already be heard.
The history of revivals proves that such a work must begin at the house of God. Who can doubt that if somehow the Church could be thoroughly aroused-not a mere scratching of the surface of emotions, but a deep heart-work that shall make us right with God and clothe us with power in prayer and service-the last months of this century would witness the mightiest movements of the Holy Spirit since Pentecost? The whole aim of this conference is to help bring this about.
Why need any pastor or church fail to share in the blessing? How sad the experience of that worker who sees others greatly used in such a movement and himself passed by-other fields rejoicing with the joy of harvest while his still lies barren and unfruitful! It need not be so. Let us break up our fallow ground, seek a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit, and them move forward, expecting great things of God.
We are to have with us some of the most widely known teachers of this country and England-men on whose labors God has already set His seal. There will be the great help that comes from close contact with hundreds of earnest men and women, almost all of them engaged in some form of Christian work.
The accommodations for boarding are ample and pleasant, and the expense moderate. I shall be glad to hear from all who are planning to come. May I not ask Christian people to begin now to pray for a special outpouring of the Spirit upon every meeting of the Conference?
Yours in the Master's Service, D.L. Moody.> 1837DM001 Dwight L. Moody stated:
<Some day 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 unto His glorious body. I was born in 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.> 1837DM002
The Chicago Avenue Church was renamed The Moody Church in 1906 and continues making an international impact with Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer as its pastor.
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1837DM001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody, June 1, 1899, in the last call he issued. William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, by his son (East Northfield, Massachusetts: William R. Moody, April 10, 1900; reprinted Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers), pp. 373-374.
1837DM002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, by his son (East Northfield, Massachusetts: William R. Moody, April 10, 1900; reprinted Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers), p. iii.
1837DM003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1873DM004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1837DM005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1837DM006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1837DM008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1837DM009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html 1837DM010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight Lyman Moody. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_l_moody.html