D.L.Moody

Many of you might have heard of this man. He is known as DL Moody, but his name was Dwight Lyman Moody. He was born in Massachusetts in 1837, in the country - he lived in Northfield, a small town. He had a tough childhood - his father died when he was four years old, and he was the sixth of eight children. His mother had just given birth to twins, and so she was left with her eight children, with the last two being newborns. In those days she had no work, and she wasn't able to work. On top of that, when his father died, he left the family with a lot of debt, and so, after the funeral, debt collectors came and took everything. They were just left with an empty house and a roof over their head. So Dwight grew up in a very poor household. They didn't have enough wood for a fire in winter, and they depended on neighbors for food. Dwight’s education suffered a lot because of that - he didn’t finish fifth grade. He could hardly read - he could read, but not very fluently. His mother needed him to work, and so he was out working at a very young age. 

But none of this ever stopped Moody. People said of him, “No one can strap a saddle on that boy”, because he had a lot of energy and a lot of drive. He worked very hard and so, although he did stay out of trouble, he was known to be very headstrong, and he always had dreams. He believed that he could be bigger and better. Northfield, his little country town, was too small for him. He wanted to go to the city. 

Now he did have an uncle in the city - the nearest city was Boston - and in all his childhood years he'd only been in this country town of Northfield, but his uncle had a shoe shop in Boston. Dwight was desperate to get out of his country life and he wanted to start in the city. And so he begged his uncle, who visited him one day, for a job in his shoe shop. But his uncle looked at the 16 year old DL Moody and said, “No way. You don't know what you're doing. You've got no experience. You're so headstrong. I don't want responsibility for you.” Dwight was a little bit discouraged by this. However, he wouldn't take “No” for an answer. And so, against his mother's wishes, he decided he would take the train and go to Boston himself, and he didn't need a job from his uncle, he would find something else. This is what he did. His older brother, who was very worried about him, gave him $5 and said, “Just stay safe, please.” They were worried about what he would end up doing. 

So he went to Boston, and he stayed with another relative who was quite surprised to see that he'd come. And he thought that it would be easy with that $5. He'd be able to last a few days, and he'd find himself a job and everything would be good. But he couldn't find a job. No one wanted to take him. He was a country boy and he had hardly any education. People felt that he wouldn't know what he was talking about. And so he ended up having to go to his uncle's shoe shop. He turned up, very apologetic, and almost had to beg his uncle for a job. While his uncle was really angry, and said, “I'm not taking responsibility for you”, he couldn't say no - here he was - Dwight was already in Boston and had nothing. He needed to do something, even if it was just for the sake of his sister. So Uncle Samuel took on Dwight Moody, but not before grabbing him by the collar and saying, “You are not allowed to go out on the streets at night. You're going to stay in the boarding house that I pick. And I'm going to know all of your friends and every Sunday, on your day off, you are going to church and then Sunday school.” Well, the 16 year old Dwight Moody wasn't thrilled by that, but because his uncle had given him this job he had to oblige. He was actually quite a good boy and he kept to his word. 

He felt that this was the beginning of a great career, even though he was just in this little shoe shop selling leather shoes. He thought that this was the beginning of his fortune, and he would slowly earn money, save every penny, and then he would be a millionaire. 

Now, Dwight Moody was an excellent salesman. He was very good. In fact, his uncle caught him one day trying to sell shoes that were too small to a lady because they didn't have her size. He kept saying to her, “But Ma'am, why would you? Just for the sake of your big feet, why would you let this go? You should just buy these shoes. It doesn't matter about your big feet.” Well, his uncle was not impressed by his method, but he was selling more shoes than any of the other people in the shop. 

One day, he was out the back of the shop, he noticed there was a man walking up and down the street. He kept stopping, looking in, and then taking a few steps back and then walking a bit again and looking in. He was about to open the door, and then he couldn't and then he was walking towards it again, and Dwight was thinking, “What's he doing? What's wrong with him? Why doesn't he just come in?” He watched for a bit and then he looked a little closer, “Oh no, that's my Sunday School teacher!” And he looked again, and he thought, “Oh, what am I done?” He tried to think about last Sunday, which was just a few days back, he thought, “What did I do? What did I say?” The thing is, Dwight Moody just went - he did promise to go to Sunday School, but his uncle had never said how he needed to behave in Sunday School. So he felt that it was his holiday and you could do what you liked in Sunday School. He didn't need to pay attention or anything like that. So he did have quite a guilty conscience when he saw his Sunday School teacher hovering outside. But finally, Ed Kimball, the Sunday School teacher, did get up the courage to come into the shoe store. He asked the clerk at the front, “Is Dwight Moody here?” Dwight was in the back room, in the counting room, where they had all their shoes stored. He was hoping that the clerk might say no, but the clerk said, “Oh, yes, he's in the back room.” So Ed Kimball went into the back room. Dwight was feeling quite awkward and said, “Ah, Mr. Kimball, maybe I could sell you some boots.” And Ed said, “No, no, I've not come here for shoes.” And he laid his hand awkwardly on his right shoulder and said, “Well, I know you haven't thought much of my Sunday School class. And to be very honest, I haven't thought much of having you in my Sunday School class. But I just need to know. Do you believe in Jesus? And do you believe that Jesus died for you and for your sins?” Now, this was very awkward. Dwight had never thought of God outside of Sunday, and here was his Sunday School teacher at his workplace, talking to him about the Lord Jesus, and death and resurrection. He even had his Bible open and was reading a passage. Dwight felt very strange - it was the first time that he realized that these things, the things of God, were real. They were not just for Sundays and a tradition. They were real. And in that few moments of conversation, when Ed was a bit shaky and trembling and nervous, Dwight realized that he needed to believe and he said to Kimball, “You know what? I do believe! And I'm going to live like I believe it.” Ed Kimball was feeling a bit weird about the whole thing, but he had really felt that he needed to see Dwight that day. He left feeling a bit red faced and embarrassed, but when Dwight left that day, he was a changed man. In that short conversation, he had come to know the Lord personally. 

Well, Moody's life completely changed. And it was very evident to everybody. He was so keen to share his new life with anyone and everyone who would listen to him. He was attending a very traditional church, where it was the people who were educated that spoke about the Bible, not 18-year-old kids from the country who had no education whatever. When he hopped up in prayer meetings to share things, or to encourage people, they didn't like it, and they looked at him strangely. There was one prayer meeting and he really wanted to share something - he'd realized something, and he hopped up and said, “Everyone, I've just realized salvation, God's salvation, is like shoes!” Well, all the old ladies were horrified. This was outrageous. “What is he talking about? Is he mad? Why doesn't someone make him sit down and silence him?” But he just kept going. He said, “Yes, salvation is like shoes. You see, if the shoes are too tight, then your foot won't get in, will it? Well, if your foot's too big, or if your pride is too big, then God's salvation won't fit it.” People didn't like his methods. They thought, “Why is he relating things of God to common things like shoes? That's outrageous!” An older Christian there said to Dwight, “Boy, you will serve God best by keeping still and keeping that mouth shut.” Anyway, Moody was not too discouraged by this, but the problem was that people from the local church were also a lot of the customers at the shoe store. Soon Uncle Samuel started losing customers as all the old ladies said, “I'm not buying shoes when you've got your nephew saying strange things on Sundays and in prayer meetings. I'm not going to that shop at all. I don't want to see him.” So suddenly, Uncle Samuel was losing customers, because of Dwight's outspokenness in those prayer meetings. Uncle Samuel was furious, and although Dwight was his top salesman, they decided to part ways. 

So, in 1856, when Dwight was 19 years old, he decided that Boston was too small for him anyway, and he would take the next step up, and go to Chicago. He wrote to his mum, “Dear Mother, don't worry, 1000 Miles ain't so far from Northfield. Well, if you don't think about it.” So Dwight Moody found himself in Chicago, and now he did have experience, he did sell shoes, that was his job. He walked into another bigger shoe store, and soon he was showing his great talent for selling shoes. His boss took him aside after a while and said, “You know, with your skill, and with your sense of business, you will make $100,000 before long.” Now, $100,000 in those days was like being a millionaire today - it was a lot of money back then. And this boss said, “You work hard, have good friends, don't go to too many parties, save every penny, and I reckon you'll be a millionaire very, very soon.” Dwight took this to heart. He thought, “I can do it. I dreamed of this. I could make my fortune, and I'll be a millionaire, maybe within 5 or 10 years.” So he continued to work very hard. But on Sundays, he still went to church. 

On one Sunday, he was walking through the poor area of Chicago, down Northwell Street. And there was a sign outside a doorway, and this old sign with dirt all over it said, “Mission.” He was quite excited about this. He thought, “I've never seen this place.” He knocked on the door, and a man opened it and looked rather grey, and down. Dwight said, “What is this place? I thought it's a mission.” And the man said, “Yeah, it's a Sunday School.” And Dwight said, “Sunday School! Fabulous! Well, you know what? I'm going to offer my services. I would love to come and help you and volunteer to be a Sunday School teacher.” He was expecting this man to light up and say, “Thank the Lord that you're here, Dwight Moody”. But the man said, “No, thanks.” And Dwight said, “What? Don't you need teachers? Well, I love Sunday School because I was converted by my Sunday School teacher. He cared for me enough. And he brought me to the Lord.” And this man said, “No, we don't need Sunday School teachers. We've got 16. We just don't have any kids.” And Dwight said, “What's wrong with you? This whole place is teeming with kids, I can see kids in doorways here, there's kids running along the street.” And the man said, “They won't come. They just won't come. We've got teachers, we don't need you to be a teacher. We need kids.” Dwight was really confused about this. But the man said, “You know what, since you're here, if you can come next week, and bring your own class, I might consider you teaching.” And Dwight said, “It a deal! I will bring my own class, and then you will have a new Sunday School teacher.” 

And so, the next Sunday, he got up early and he walked through the streets. It was a slum area, there were families packed into tiny terraced houses, kids were running around on the street everywhere, and nobody, it seemed, went to church. In those days, Sunday School was quite different to now. Sunday school was literally a school. And it was often for very poor kids who would never get a chance at school. It was a way of bringing them in, giving them a bit of education, but also teaching them the Bible. Most of these poor families never even went to church. I mean, the adults didn't go to church either. Sunday School was a way of trying to witness to these disadvantaged areas. 

So Dwight went through the street, and he talked to a couple of kids. They were throwing balls at each other, and he grabbed the ball in mid-air, and he held it. Then the kids came, “Give us the ball!” But then he told them, “I'll give you the best Sunday of your lives if you can just follow me. You'll have the best time you've ever had, never mind this silly ball. You won't need that again on Sunday. That's not a Sunday ball anyway.” Soon he had 18, sweaty, smelly, loud, noisy boys running after him. He knocked on the door of the mission. The old, tired man opened the door and looked out as Dwight stood there with 18 noisy boys behind him all thinking that they were about to have the Sunday of their lives. And so began Dwight's work in Sunday School. 

Now he broke his bargain that day. He said, “You've got 16 teachers in there. How about you split these 18 amongst yourselves, and I'm going out for more kids.” And so that's what he did. He gathered more and more children. And he had such an incredible gift with children that they really did flock to see him. 

That was Sunday, but from Monday to Saturday, things were a little different. He was focused on his work. He had not forgotten his fortune. That $100,000 - he still had that in his mind. His top priority Monday to Saturday was selling shoes and sell he did. He was soon so good that he was headhunted by a big shoe company called Hendersons. And Mr. Henderson himself met with Dwight Moody, and said, “You're good. You're so good, I'm going to promote you. You're not just going to be at one shop now. You're going to travel around America, around the states around here, and you're going to sell our newest shoes. You're going to be our top salesman, and I'm going to give you a salary and commission.” And soon Dwight was doing the adding up. He thought, “This $100,000 is coming soon! Never mind 10 years, I'll be able to save. This is going to be a reality very soon.” 

Henderson promised him all of this, but then he said, “Of course, you'll only be coming back to Chicago once a month.” And Dwight said, “Oh, but, what about once a week?” And he said, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, not possible. I'm not sending you back once a week. You're coming once a month, and maybe once every two months, but not once a week! No way, no deal.” And Dwight said, “But I need to be back on Sunday.” And Hendeson said, “What for? Why do you need to be back on Sunday?” And he said, “I teach a Sunday School class.” By then there were 300 kids in this mission. And the thought of just abandoning that didn't sit well with him - he really loved these kids. The idea of just saying, “Bye, I won't see you until every so often”, just didn't sit well. Henderson couldn't understand. He said, “What are you doing? Are you throwing away this huge promotion? For the sake of a slum kid’s Sunday School class?” And Dwight did feel that it seemed a little bit silly. But he still didn't feel right about it. 

So he talked to a lot of people. He got advice from an officer on the railways. This friend happened to have one of those free rail passes that could get you onto any train, and would give you a free ticket from anywhere. His the friend said, “You know what Dwight, why are you stressing about this? Look, you can do both. You can do your selling all across the country on Monday to Saturday, and then use my rail pass, and you can come back from wherever you are. You can come and teach your class and then go back to your work on the other days.” Moody was so relieved. Finally, he had found the solution - he would do both. And that $100,000 was still very much on his mind.

Well, I don't think most people could have done both - probably only Moody would be able to do both. He lived life at 100 miles an hour. He made this routine, this crazy routine, work. Not only that, but his Sunday School was becoming huge. It was so big that Abraham Lincoln, the new US President, paid a visit because he'd heard that this mission had 1,000 children. Dwight Moody and other teachers were teaching this massive Sunday School, bigger than anything Chicago had ever seen, but how he did it, I don't know. 

But he still had time to find a girlfriend, the lovely Emma. He was crazily busy, working Monday to Saturday, and had a very, very full Sunday. But he loved it - he felt that he could do both. Not only that, but towards the end of the year, Henderson called him in and said, “Your sales records are so good, that next year, I'm going to promote you. Your salary's going up, and if you can keep this sales record going, I will give you a bonus of $5,000.” That was huge. And doing the sums, that $100,000 was only maybe a year away. It was so close and Dwight Moody was only 22 years old. He would be a young millionaire in no time. That's what he was thinking. 

Well, he loved his life. It was all going brilliantly. But three weeks later, Henderson dropped dead. He just died, and his whole business was dissolved overnight. All those promises of promotion, the $5000, gone. Not only that, but Moody found himself unemployed. He now had nothing. This was a huge blow. He had made plans, he had calculated everything, and now it was all in ruins. Well, it took a lot to get Moody down, but this really did get him down. He found another job, but it was just an ordinary job in a shoe store, and it was as if he was starting back at the bottom of the ladder again, and he had a long way to climb. But he still held on to this idea that maybe, if he worked hard again, maybe in a few more years, he would make his fortune.

One day he was in the shoe store, and an old man by the name of Mr. Hibbert came to call. He was a Sunday School teacher that Dwight had worked with in the mission. He came in and Dwight looked at him and said, “Oh, Mr. Hibbert, you're not well. What can I do for you?” Mr Hibbert said, “I don't want shoes.” He was coughing, and when he coughed, you could see there was blood on the handkerchief. He knew that Eddie Hibbert was really sick. And Hibbert said, “I've just come from the doctor's. They've told me I don't have long to live. I'm going to go and travel back to my family. They live in the countryside. I'm going to go there, and I know that I will die there. I know I won't be ever coming back. But there's one thing that's troubling me - my Sunday school class, all those teenage girls. They've been coming for years, but not one of them is truly saved. Not one of them really knows the Lord. I want to visit each girl individually and beg them to come to the Lord and believe in Him.” Dwight was listening to this, and then Mr. Hibbert said, “I want you to come with me. You need to come and help me.” This was not really the Moody style, the idea of visiting these people personally. He felt very awkward. “I wouldn't know what to say to them, and going into their houses...” It was one thing to teach big classes, but to actually visit each child felt very awkward. But he agreed. 

And so, he and Mr. Hibbert, after work, would travel to each individual girl's home. This was hugely confronting for Dwight. When they walked into some of those houses, sometimes they were assaulted by a very drunk father, sometimes they weren't allowed to come in. But Mr. Hibbert was so focused and very clear when he got into every single house. He sat down with those girls, and he spoke to them so directly and plainly and clearly. Moody found it very hard to concentrate because he was looking at the terribly poor and shabby surrounds that these girls lived in. He was really shocked by the condition of these families. But Hibbert asked Moody to pray for each of these girls. Moody felt very nervous doing that, but he did. And when he started to pray, he felt that the Lord was there, and was closer than he'd ever felt before. Almost all those girls in Hibbert’s Sunday School class were saved. They often ended in tears. All of them gathered on the train platform to see Mr. Hibbert off, and they knew it was the last time they would see him. One girl, Peggy, prayed for the first time. She said, “God, thank you for Mr. Hibbert. He told us about Jesus. And we won't forget what he said to us.” 

The Lord was working in those young girls, but more than that, the Lord was working in Dwight Moody. For the first time, Moody saw up close what it is for God to transform lives. He saw God at work in people's lives - people were completely changed, these girls were completely changed. And in those shabby homes that were drenched with beer and the smell of stinking garbage, those girls received the Lord despite their circumstances. He saw God so vividly, that after those few days of visiting, all his ambition, the dream of the $100,000 just faded away. Dwight Moody suddenly looked on that dream for what it was. It was a giant trap.

Moody realized that he had been trying to serve God and money, and these two things do not go together. He decided to leave his job as a shoe salesman. It was far too tempting for him - the money still had that hold. He left that job and took a tiny room at the back of an old church. It was a small room, hardly a bedroom, but it was a room that was rented. And he said to the Lord, “Lord, I'm not educated, I can hardly read fluently, and I didn't even finish fifth grade. But I can sell shoes. That's one thing I can do. So I'm going to give that gift to you, and use me in some way, please.” So he settled into this tiny room, and he started to be involved in the YMCA. 

Now, the YMCA was originally a Christian organization, the Young Men's Christian Association, and it was like a youth group. He started to be involved in this and he was all out again, full speed, running prayer meetings and having groups and speaking, and he was running a Sunday School. He was getting teachers and he was training teachers - he was full time working like this. He was living in that tiny room and when Emma first came to visit him in this tiny room - they were now engaged - she stepped in and Moody was so happy. He was fully out for the Lord while living in this tiny room. But when Emma came and visited him and she stepped into the room, her first reaction was to burst into tears. It was just so awful. She said, “How can you even live like this?” But Moody could because he knew, finally, that what he was doing was right and that the Lord was in it. 

He also started doing a lot of fundraising. The Sunday School was getting too big. They needed a huge space for it - imagine 1,000 children - what are you going to do? You need something huge. So he started to raise funds and work with people. He contacted businesses, and this is where his salesmanship came in handy. He managed to build huge buildings. Now some of those teenagers were adults - they were around 18 years old - and they didn't want to leave Sunday School. So he also built a massive church which became known as Illinois Street Church. It was so big - a massive auditorium that could seat 3,000 people, and besides that, there was a huge Sunday School hall. 

These buildings were packed, and Moody was speaking and preaching and running groups and prayer meetings and visiting people nonstop. In those days, they said of Moody that he was young, enthusiastic, impulsive, energetic, and he made a lot of mistakes. But there was one thing about Moody - he rarely made the same mistake twice - and that was because he was very teachable. 

Now in all this busyness, he hadn't realized that his now wife, Emma, was quite sick. She had been diagnosed with asthma, which in those days was quite a dangerous thing. The doctor said to Moody, “You need to get out of the middle of Chicago. You need to take a sea voyage somewhere and give her lots of sea air. Hopefully she can recover a little bit.” And so Moody was forced to stop what he was doing and go on a voyage. The first place he thought to go was England. He'd heard some things about England, and there were some people there that he had heard a little bit about. One man was German - he wasn't English - but from nothing, he had built huge orphanages, massive places, without having any money of his own at all. He really wanted to see this person to ask, “What was your secret? How did you fundraise?” And then he'd heard that there was a good preacher who was making a big impact in England, and again he wanted to hear him as well. 

So they travelled, Emma and he, to England, where he first met the German by the name of George Mueller. They were at Ashley Downs, looking at the huge orphanages that housed 1,000 orphans in England, and he said, “Mr. Mueller, what's your secret? How did you do this? How did you build all of this?” And the quiet, precise German that was George Mueller, waved him aside and said, “Oh, never mind about these buildings, Dwight Moody. It's not about what Dwight Moody can do for God. It's far more than that. It's what God can do for Dwight Moody.”

With that ringing in his ears, Moody then went to an evening meeting where a man by the name of Charles Spurgeon was preaching. And again, in that series of meetings, Moody was so changed by what Spurgeon said. But more than that, he went to a little prayer meeting where a man who's not as well-known as the other two, Henry Varley, was speaking. Well, he wasn't even speaking, he was just sharing, and there was one sentence that Varley said that was burned into Dwight Moody's heart. It was this, “I tell you, the world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly and fully committed to Him.” Moody remembered that, and he said, “The man didn't say one educated man or one highly accomplished man, or one very, very talented man or one Biblical scholar. He just said, “One man that's fully committed to God.” And so Moody said to the Lord, “I want to be that one man. Work in me, change me. I want to be committed to you so you can work through me.”

When Moody returned to America, many months later, he had a very changed attitude. But now it was very, very busy. He was speaking not only in the Illinois Street Church with its 1,000's upon 1,000's of people, and in the huge Sunday School, but he was also asked to speak elsewhere in other states of America, and he was often traveling. Emma found this very hard. They now had two small children and she was often home alone while he was traveling on the road. Traveling was difficult in those days - it was horse and cart, or he was often on a donkey, or by ship. Traveling was very difficult and dangerous in those days. 

Moody, on one of these trips, met a man - well actually didn't meet him first, he heard him first. This man was Ira Sankey. He was a very good singer. He heard him singing in the congregation - he could pick out his voice - and as they were sitting in this service, Moody was thinking. The cogs were turning, and he thought, “I need to speak to that man. This would be a wonderful opportunity. I would preach, and then he could sing the hymn, and together we would be able to have evangelical outreaches and reach more and more people.” And so Moody rushed up to Ira Sankey at the end of the meeting and said, “I heard your voice - you're really good singer. How about you leave your home, come and live in Chicago with me, and together we will travel the country. You will sing, I will preach, and we can reach so many people.” And Ira answered, “Hello, my name is Ira. What's your name?” It was just Moody's rude way - he was very energetic and impulsive. But Ira and his wife did pray, to their credit, about this. And Ira felt that this really was from the Lord. So they left their home state and moved to Chicago. And so began an incredible partnership between these two families. 

Now, Moody was a dynamo, and we are here skipping ahead a few years. With the ceaseless energy that he'd had from childhood, he was doing so much. He was preaching with great gusto - in fact, people often said he didn't preach at the pulpit, he pranced around the pulpit he was so full of energy. And the other thing about Moody was that his speaking was very different. In those days, people who preached were educated, and Moody wasn't educated. He spoke commonly, and he often used funny stories. People really enjoyed his speaking. But he also spoke with a lot of power, and people were very moved by what he was saying. 

But at one of the meetings, he was surprised. He noticed that two old ladies sat in the front row every night, and they were evidently praying for him during the whole meeting. And at the end of the meeting they would often come up to him and say, “We prayed for you.” And he would say, “Thank you.” But every night the same thing, they would be sitting and praying the whole time. And then they'd say, “We prayed for you.” And so, at the end of a few days, Moody went up to these two old ladies and said, “Why are you praying for me? Why don't you pray for the 1,000's of people here that they might hear the gospel and believe?” And one of the old ladies said, “Because it's you that needs the power. You need special anointing by the Holy Spirit.” Moody's first thought was to be a bit put out by that. He thought, “Excuse me, I do have power. I've got quite a lot of experience. I know what I'm doing up here. And I am quite a good speaker.” But before all of that came out of his mouth, he stopped himself. He realized that he didn't have the power, and he got on his knees, and he said to these two ladies, “Can you please pray for me now?” And they prayed for him, and they asked the Lord to fill him and give him wisdom and the Holy Spirit.”

When Moody got up from his knees, he was really changed. He realized that he had been depending on his own skills and holding on to his own abilities. He couldn't do that anymore. It was the Lord's work, not Moody's. After this experience, Moody's sermons were no different. He spoke in exactly the same way. But the man who delivered the sermons was very, very different. Many more people were converted, because the Lord was starting to work. 

One Sunday in 1871, Moody was doing his usual thing. His morning routine was to speak to 1,000's of people in the Illinois Street Church, then he ran off to Sunday School. He ran the Sunday School and he met with the teachers there, and then he had a quick supper, and he was ready to speak again to another huge congregation in the evening at the Illinois Street Church. But when he was speaking that evening, he was quite distracted. He noticed that the congregation was also very distracted. People were looking around, people were looking at each other, people were not focused. He found it hard, and he could hear in the background sirens going off. He ended abruptly as he had forgotten what he was going to say. He normally ended by calling people who wanted to be saved to come out the front, and he completely forgot to do that, which was very unusual for him. He ended up thinking, “What's wrong with me? What? Why am I like this?” And then he said to Ira Sankey, “Well, there's always next Sunday, I won't worry too much.” But when they stepped out of the building that night the sky had a strange red glow. It certainly looked like fire. But there was a river in Chicago, so they knew that it must be very far away. But at midnight, there was a banging on the door because the fire that was in the distance had spread with great speed and was now so close that they were evacuating the whole city of Chicago. 

So Moody woke all the kids and Emma, and they tried to grab a few things as they ran out. In those days, remember, there were no cars, so they were dependant on horse and cart to get away from the city. And soon, when they ran out to the street, there was smoke everywhere, they couldn't see, everyone was running. And not only that, but that wall of flame they could see coming visibly closer. People were running in all directions and there was a smell of burning flesh. Moody just got into a cart, and they just got out of there with only the clothes on their back. 

After a few days the fire had been put out and they were allowed back into the city. Moody walked through the streets, and he came to his house - well, where his house was - it was now just a pile of rubble. There was nothing left at all. Then he went around the corner, and he saw the Illinois Street Church, that huge auditorium that could seat 3,000 people, and it was a pile of rubble. That Sunday School hall - there was just a bit of plumbing sticking up. Nothing was left at all. The whole of Chicago was in ruins from that fire. Sankey and his wife had lost everything as well. They were devastated. They took a train back to Pennsylvania to stay with family. Moody and Emma had nothing as well, and it took a lot to get Moody down, but this was a huge blow. Everything that he had done for the Lord was a pile of rubble now. It was as if all the Lord's work had been burnt to the ground.

He got on his knees and tried to pray. It was very hard for him to pray, but he did. And as he prayed, he realized, “What am I thinking? What do you mean, ‘the Lord's work has burnt to the ground’? The building wasn't the Lord's work! The people are the Lord's work.” And he hopped up off his knees and he said, “Well, I'm alive!. I'm alive, our children are alive, all these people are alive. They just lost the building. But that wasn't God's work. That was never God's work.” And with that, and with this renewed vigour, he jumped up, got tables together, organized blankets and clothing and food, and he started meeting the physical needs of all the people in the neighbourhood. And not only that, but he realized that this fire had swept through the whole of Chicago and so many people had lost everything, and it meant that people had faced death, faced their own mortality for the first time. And so many more people wanted to hear the gospel. Moody was very much used by the Lord during this time. 

There was one time when he was invited by people in England who had heard of him because he was quite prominent in America. He was invited by three Englishmen, they were friends, probably businessmen, and they were going to send money over for the fare.  They planned to organize big evangelical meetings, gospel meetings, in London - huge meetings. So Moody was waiting for this and all the plans that had been arranged, but then he never heard from these three friends, and the money never arrived. And Sankey said, “Well, obviously they don't want us to come. I mean, that's pretty plain”, but Moody thought “No, no, I think we need to go to England and Wales.” Sankey said, “That's ridiculous. We hardly have enough money. We might be able to scrape together enough money to get over to England, but what are we going to do when we get there?   It's not really feasible.” But Moody really felt that they needed to go to England, even though they hadn't heard from these three friends. So they managed to scrape the money together after a few months, and wrote a letter to these three men and said, “This is the date we're coming, we're on this ship. And we're going to be sailing to this place, and we'll probably stay in this town.”  

Travel in those days was very difficult. But they managed to get on the ship and get there. They booked into a cheap hotel, and there, at the cheap hotel, was a letter waiting for them. Moody opened the letter with great excitement thinking, “It's all going to be arranged”, and his face fell. The letter - it was actually a telegram - said that his first friend had died nine months ago, the second friend had died six months ago, and the last friend had died four months ago! All three friends had died, and nothing had been arranged. No one even knew they were coming. No one knew they were there. There were no meetings in London. No wonder they hadn't sent money! 

So Moody and Sankey just sat in their room in this hotel thinking, “What are we doing here? What have we done? All those weeks and months of traveling, and here we are. And we can't even stay in this hotel for a week.” And when Emma was straightening out his jacket, putting it in the cupboard, she pulled out a crumpled letter and handed it to Moody and said, “What's this?” Moody opened it and said, “Oh, yes, I got this just before and had forgotten all about it.” He opened it and it was a little letter from a man by the name of George Bennett - he was part of the YMCA in York at the top of England. And this Mr. Bennett said, “If you're passing through - we know you're coming to England - please could you pay a visit to our YMCA in York?”

So Moody said, “We are meant to be here! This is where we're going. We need to go to York.” So he sent a telegram to Mr. Bennett and said, “We're coming tomorrow, we're going to be there.” Well, Mr. Bennett in York was a chemist. He was a tired, weak, timid, old man. And when he got this telegram he freaked out. He thought, “What? No! I'm not ready”. But he replied, “Thank you for coming.” 

Mr. Bennett was so embarrassed when they arrived. He had heard in the meantime, that Moody and Sankey you would preach to 1,000's of people in a huge auditorium. He was so embarrassed when he showed them his tiny little room on top of his chemist shop, which was their YMCA, and when he arranged the first meeting and only eight people turned up! He wished he could just disappear. But Moody and Sankey were not deterred by the fact that only eight people were sitting in front of them. In fact, Sankey sang like there were 3,000 and Moody preached to each individual. The next day, there were 12 people that came, and they preached with the same gusto, knowing that this was where the Lord wanted them to be. 

But then after a few weeks, people started to hear about these two crazy Americans. They probably heard Sankey singing. And so soon that room was way too small. They started to have huge meetings and in York, hundreds and hundreds of people were saved at that time. 

But it was tough in England, and there were many obstacles. You see, they didn't like Moody at all. Firstly, he was uneducated. Secondly, he was American, and he had a terrible American accent. Thirdly, he had very bad grammar. And not only that, but somebody found out that he used to be a shoe salesman! The newspapers had a field day. They wrote nasty articles, mocking this big American and this singer, and they wrote about his bad grammar and his silly talk and that the way he put things was so un-British. 

Moody was quite discouraged by this, but not discouraged enough when somebody came up to him - it might have been porter or somebody like that - and said, “How can you speak for the Lord with such bad grammar? Moody's reply was pretty simple. He said, “Yes, sir. I know I make mistakes. But look here, friend, you've got grammar enough. What are you doing to serve the Master with it?” And that was Moody through and through. 

Despite all these ups and downs, the Lord continued to use him. The line from Henry Varley - “The world has yet to see what God can do with one man who is wholly and fully committed to Him” - he held on to because he knew that he was just one ordinary man, but God was at work. 

The Lord honored Moody's commitment. In that time in England, starting with eight people in York, he ended up traveling to Scotland, he spoke to 30,000 people in Glasgow. In Edinburgh they had huge tents to try and house people. He then spoke in Liverpool and again in York. He went down to London and 1,000's upon 1,000's of people heard him speak. In fact, in history, they say that England has never been so stirred for the Lord since that time - probably the previous time would be with John Wesley. Many, many people came to know the Lord through Moody during that time. He even held special meetings just for kids. On one occasion, in Liverpool, 14,000 children came to one of his Sunday School meetings and his special meetings for kids.

Well, back in America, he still really loved children. He wasn't happy just with Sunday School - he decided that he would build schools, and he built four schools dedicated to poor children who couldn't afford go to college. These schools also taught the Bible, and they still exist today. There's a college in Northfield, one for boys and one for girls - this was part of Moody's work as well. By the time he was an elderly man, 5,000 kids had been through these schools. People laughed at him, of course, because he himself hadn't been to school, but yet, here he was building schools! 

By his 50's, Moody was quite unwell. The exertion of the travel and the constant preaching had taken a toll on his heart. The doctor said to him, “How many times do you preach in a week? Three, four?” Moody laughed at him and said, “Four? I preach an average of 15 times a week!” And the doctor said, “Well, you're silly. Look, you're going to die at the pulpit.” And Moody said, “Good. That's going to be how it is.” He didn't want to slow down at all. But his children, who were now adults, did want him to slow down, and Emma wanted him to slow down. But he did have an inkling, a thought, that maybe he should slow down, and he should stop his travel and the preaching that he was doing and the Sunday Schools and everything. 

Now on his way back from England on one occasion, he was with his 22-year-old son, William, and he was thinking about this very thing. He was seasick in his cabin, when William suddenly rushed in and, though he hadn't heard it, there had been a massive roar and crash. Moody didn't know what had happened because he was down in his cabin. William came rushing, “Get out, get out. We need to go up on the deck.” And when he went up on the deck with all the other passengers who were running out of their cabins, the captain said that there'd been an accident. A small explosion in the engine room had caused a leak and the ship was slowly sinking. They were trying to do something, but they really needed to be rescued. The passengers were frantic. They were all told to go into the dining room and wait. They were going to send off flares, and hopefully there would be a ship coming by and they would be rescued. They were hoping that because they only had perhaps 24 hours before the ship would go under. The passengers were all so scared. Moody was alright now because the ship had stopped moving, so his seasickness was better, and he had a captive audience. So, with the permission of the captain, he led all the passengers in songs and hymns, and he spoke to them about eternity and death. Well, I think most of those people were very happy to have Moody on board that day. The captain sent off the flares and another ship saw them and turned and was starting to come. But just as the ship was close enough to send the rescue boats, the sea went wild. It was so stormy and dark - it was night now - that they couldn't send the rescue boats. Moody did think about death, though not his own particularly. He was thinking about leaving his wife, his son, his daughter, and he didn't know what the Lord wanted. Was this going to be the end? He was booked to preach at the Chicago World Fair, the biggest event yet. Would it be Heaven, or would it be Chicago? He didn't know, but he had peace. He had peace in the words, “Your will be done”, and so he rested in that. 

The people were begging him, “What are we going to do, the rescue is right there, but they can't send the boats?” And so Moody said to the passengers, “Get on your knees, and we'll pray to the Lord and ask him to make the sea like glass.” And just as dawn came, they looked down and the sea just was like glass, you could see your reflection in it. The Lord had heard them, and the rescue boats were able to be sent. It was a good thing too, because by then the dining room floor was on a massive slant. So all the passengers and crew were rescued that day, and Moody knew from the Lord that his work was not yet finished, and there would be no slowing down for him.

Now in Chicago, after he had been on this ship, he preached at the World Fair. It was so big that he approached a famous traveling circus and said to the circus master “I want to rent your tent”. The man said, “My tent seats 20,000 people. What are you going to rent my tent for?” And Moody said, “For a gospel meeting”, and the man roared with laughter. He said, “You think you can fill my circus tent with some sort of Bible meeting?” And Moody said, “Yes, I do.” The man laughed, but he said, “All right, whatever, it's your loss.” And so Moody rented this massive circus tent. In the morning he would have the gospel meeting and in the evening, it was the circus. The circus master was shocked. Day after day, the tent was full to bursting - in fact, there were people standing in the aisles. He couldn't believe it. And then, in the evening, his great circus wasn't even half full. He couldn't work this out. He said to Moody, “You know what? I have a deal for you. How about you join my circus?” Moody politely declined, though he did feel quite flattered by the offer. 

Moody's last campaign was in Kansas. There he spoke to many 1,000's of people, but when he returned home, he was absolutely and utterly exhausted. His wife cared for him, but he never regained his energy. He knew by then that his time had come. He knew that his work had been done here on Earth. And as he lay on his bed, very ill and sick, he knew that it was his last few hours. He said to his family, “This is my triumph. This is my coronation day. I've been looking forward to it for years.” And with that, the uneducated shoe salesman who wholeheartedly committed his life and his gift to the Lord Jesus, stepped into eternity. 

Dwight Moody served his generation. They say 100 million people heard him throughout America and Europe. And among those, a vast number were children. Perhaps we can say that the world has at least caught a glimpse of what God can do with a man that is wholly and fully committed to Him. 

Often in these biographies, we hear stories of great people, and sometimes they can feel so removed from us. How likely are we to be standing in front of 20,000 or 30,000 people in London or some huge city like that? It seems very far removed from us. But I want to end with something that Dwight Moody himself said. 

“A good many are kept out of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of working for God, because they are trying to do some great thing. Let us be willing to do the little things. And let us remember that nothing is small, of which God is the source.”