A Reader’s Guide to Dwight L. Moody

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

Moody is one of the easiest Christian writers to read and one of the hardest to read well. Almost everything published under his name began as spoken addresses, taken down by reporters or edited by friends, and it keeps the rhythm of a man talking to a crowd: short sentences, questions, stories, appeals. That makes him wonderfully accessible. It also means that his books repeat one another, that his illustrations are often second-hand, and that he is at his best in small doses. Read him for warmth and clarity, not for system.

Begin here

The Way to God, in the Ochorus library. The best single introduction, and the source of most of chapters three to eleven of this volume. Its chapters on the love of God, the new birth, repentance and restitution, and assurance are Moody at his clearest. Read Love That Passeth Knowledge first.

Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It?, in the Ochorus library. The source of chapters twelve to fifteen. A practical book on the nine elements of prayer, full of quotations from Puritans and Scottish divines and stories from the enquiry room. Read the chapter on forgiveness slowly.

His sermons

Eleven of Moody’s sermons are in the Ochorus library, among them The New Birth, Christ All in All, One Word — Gospel, Come Thou and All Thy House into the Ark, The Dying Thief and Eight I Wills of Christ. They are the best way to hear his actual voice: vivid, repetitive, tender and urgent. Many more were gathered in his lifetime into collections such as Twelve Select Sermons, Sovereign Grace and The Overcoming Life, which are widely available.

On particular themes

Secret Power, on the Holy Spirit and power for service, the source of chapter sixteen. Heaven, on where heaven is, who is there and how to get there, drawn on in chapter eighteen. Weighed and Wanting, addresses on the Ten Commandments, useful for seeing how Moody used the law to convict. Pleasure and Profit in Bible Study, short and practical, on reading the Bible for oneself. To the Work! To the Work!, addresses urging ordinary Christians into personal work.

Thoughts for the Quiet Hour, in the Ochorus library, is a book of daily readings that Moody gathered, not wrote. Most of its entries are from other writers, some named and some not. It is a window into what fed him, and a good devotional companion, but it should not be quoted as Moody’s own words.

About him

The Life of Dwight L. Moody by his son William R. Moody (1900) is the official life, full of letters and first-hand detail, and naturally admiring. Henry Drummond’s short tribute, published after Moody’s death, is a warm portrait by a close friend of very different temperament. R. A. Torrey’s little book Why God Used D. L. Moody (1923) is the testimony of the man he chose to lead his Chicago institute. Among modern lives, John Pollock’s Moody Without Sankey (1963) is lively and readable; James F. Findlay’s Dwight L. Moody: American Evangelist, 1837–1899 (1969) is the standard scholarly study, fair and thorough; and Lyle W. Dorsett’s A Passion for Souls (1997) is a sympathetic and careful Christian biography. Read at least one of the older lives and one of the modern ones. The first show what he meant to those who loved him; the second set him in his world.

Approach with care

Moody’s addresses on the second coming, found in several collections, show the source of his urgency, but also the pessimism about the world that chapter eighteen weighs. His many stories should be read as illustrations; a number came to him second-hand and cannot now be checked. And his books, being edited talks, sometimes overstate for effect; a sentence that works from a platform can press too hard on the page.

Three counsels for reading him

Read him with the Bible open. Moody’s whole method was to send people to the text, and he would want you to check every verse he quotes.

Read the stories for their point, not their details. They are there to open a door, not to be history lessons.

And read him with a decision in view. Moody never spoke without asking his hearers to do something before they left. One chapter acted on today will honour him more than the whole shelf admired.

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. JOHN 20:31