Religion Books

PREFACE. The letters collected in this volume appeared, with others, in the New York Sun, to the Editor of which the thanks of the writer for his courtesy are due. Appended is a paper on the same subjects commenting on one by the late Mr. Chamberlain, since published in the North American Review. To the Editor of the North American Review also the writer's acknowledgments are due. There appeared... more...

INTRODUCTION To kindle in all minds a common sentiment of regard for the spiritual idea emanating from the infinite, is a most needful work; but this must be done gradually, for Truth is as "the still, small voice," which comes to our recognition only as our natures are changed by its silent influence. Small streams are noisy and rush precipitately; and babbling brooks fill the rivers till they... more...

BRAWN AND MUSCLE. "And Samson went down to Timnath."— Judges xiv: 1. There are two sides to the character of Samson. The one phase of his life, if followed into the particulars, would administer to the grotesque and the mirthful; but there is a phase of his character fraught with lessons of solemn and eternal import. To these graver lessons we devote our morning sermon. This giant no doubt in... more...

CHAPTER I THE NEW ERA—SOME LEADING WITNESSES"The epoch ends, the world is still,The age has talked and worked its fill; The famous men of war have fought,The famous speculators thought. See on the cumbered plain,Clearing a stage,Scattering the past about,Comes the New Age.Bards make new poems;Thinkers, new schools;Statesmen, new systems;Critics, new rules." MATTHEW ARNOLD. India is a land of... more...

PREFACE. No class of works is received with more suspicion, I had almost said derision, than those which deal with Science and Religion. Science is tired of reconciliations between two things which never should have been contrasted; Religion is offended by the patronage of an ally which it professes not to need; and the critics have rightly discovered that, in most cases where Science is either pitted... more...

DISCOURSE. Psalm 33: 12.—Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord. We have met to-day, at the call of the Governor of this Commonwealth, to render thanks to the Supreme Governor of the world for his mercies granted us during the past year. Surely we have abundant cause for thanksgiving. In the present instance, our annual festival not only calls us to recognize the common bounties of God's... more...

1. The words, a nagual, nagualism, a nagualist, have been current in English prose for more than seventy years; they are found during that time in a variety of books published in England and the United States, yet are not to be discovered in any dictionary of the English language; nor has Nagualism a place in any of the numerous encyclopædias or “Conversation Lexicons,” in English, French, German... more...

“Lo! now is come our joyful'st feast,Let every man be jolly.Each room with ivy leaves is drest,And every post with holly.Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,And Christmas blocks are burning;Their ovens they with bak't meats choke,And all their spits are turning.” The celebration of Christmas, which was considered by the Puritans to be idolatrous, has for many centuries been so... more...

THE FIRST LESSON. THE COMING OF THE MASTER. Strange rumors reached the ears of the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding country. It was reported that a new prophet had appeared in the valley of the lower Jordan, and in the wilderness of Northern Judea, preaching startling doctrines. His teachings resembled those of the prophets of old, and his cry of "Repent! Repent ye! for the Kingdom of Heaven... more...

THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES Hebrews xii. 1. (FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE TERM) No one can look for the first time into the faces of a congregation like this without thinking, first of all, of the great multitude of other lives whose love and sacrifice are represented here. Almost every single life which enters our chapel is the focus of interest for a whole domestic circle, whose prayers and anxieties, whose hopes... more...