Bush Aglow: The Life Story of Dwight Lyman Moody Commoner of Northfield

by Richard Ellsworth Day

The life story of Dwight Lyman Moody, commoner of Northfield and a man "mightily used of God," as the introduction says. The author, Richard Ellsworth Day, led churches in California and Arizona and went on to be a general evangelist and widely-read author of the column, "Beside the Golden Gate," in The Baptist. He is also the author of The Shadow of Broad Brim, a biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, acclaimed as one of the greatest preachers of all time.

Genres: Biography

333 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Richard Ellsworth Day was born in the United States in 1884. In his early life he was an apprentice at the Terre Haute Gazette in Indiana serving as an associate reporter. His first book was a biography on the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon entitled The Shadow of the Broad Brim, which he published with Judson Press in 1934. The book was an immediate success which led to subsequent biographies on Charles Grandison Finney (1942), D.L. Moody (1944), and Henry Parsons Crowell (1946). Richard Day and his wife Deborah would begin each project with extensive research and study and then retreat to their little cottage in Sunnyvale, California to write. In his day he was a noted Christian biographer, and between projects, traveled around speaking in churches and schools until his death in 1965.

Reviews

[Paige Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent biography about a truly extraordinary man. Mr Day masterfully examines how God used an ordinary man - fully surrendered to His will - to accomplish extraordinary things for the kingdom of God. This is a bio that is well worth the time for anyone looking for an inspiring story that will strengthen your walk and encourage you to surrender everything you have to your Lord’s service. Highly recommend!

Favorite Quote: “Thirty years ago, people did not question the gospel. They believed that the Lord Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross, had done something for them… And my work was to bring them to a decisions to do what they already knew they ought to do. But all is different now. The question mark is raised everywhere. There is need for teachers who shall begin at the beginning and show the people what the gospel is. What we need today is men who believe in the Bible from the crown of their heads to the soles of their feet: who believe in the whole of it, the things they understand, and the things they do not understand!”

[G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Without taking a thing away from the inspiring life of D. L. Moody, this biography does not do him justice. Written in 1937, the book shows its age. The author assumes a high level of familiarity with Moody's life and so chooses to summarize or skip sizable interesting parts of his life. Far too much time is spent on his colleagues or details about what happened after his death. The chapters that deal with his life in detail are great, but few and far between.

[Beka Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with the rating for this book, but this is an incredibly slow read. Very hard to stay focused, but if you can keep at it then you will find some gold in its pages! "I want to my human best, filled with the Holy Spirit"

[Joel Curtiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly appreciate this book and recommend it to others. I find it inspiring.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad gave me this book, and it was one of the most inspiring books I've ever read.