Religion Books

CHAPTER I ITS ORIGIN AND MEANING Much has been written about Christianity and Islam, so I hasten to inform my readers that this is not a religious treatise, nor do I class them with the globe-trotter who searched Benares brass-bazar diligently for "a really nice image of Allah" and pronounced the dread name of Hindustan's avenging goddess like an effervescing drink. I presuppose that... more...

A Ribband Of Blue. We would draw the attention of beloved friends to the instructive passage with which the fifteenth chapter of Numbers closes; and may G, through our meditation on His precious Word, make it yet more precious and practical to each one of us, for C our R sake! The whole chapter is full of important teaching. It commences with instruction concerning the burnt-offering, the sacrifice in... more...

I An unconscionable time a-dying—there is the picture ("I am afraid, gentlemen,") of your life and of mine. The sands run out, and the hours are "numbered and imputed," and the days go by; and when the last of these finds us, we have been a long time dying, and what else? The very length is something, if we reach that hour of separation undishonoured; and to have lived at all is... more...

INTRODUCTORY Bootstrap-lifting Bootstrap-lifting? says the reader. It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow red in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their... more...

Jacob Behmen Jacob Behmen, the greatest of the mystics, and the father of German philosophy, was all his life nothing better than a working shoemaker.  He was born at Old Seidenberg, a village near Goerlitz in Silesia, in the year 1575, and he died at Goerlitz in the year 1624.  Jacob Behmen has no biography.  Jacob Behmen’s books are his best biography.  While working with his hands, Jacob... more...

Chapter I. Who I Am, What I Am, and Why I Am What I Am. My parents were Catholics, and for this reason I suppose, is why I became a Catholic Priest. I was born in Germany, in 1847, thus you see I am now almost what the world would call an old man—56 years old. A few years ago, I was of the opinion that my life had been well spent, but to-day I firmly believe that the major part of my life has been... more...

INTRODUCTORY. I was staying with a party of friends in a country house during my visit to England in 1884. On Sunday evening as we sat around the fire, they asked me to read and expound some portion of Scripture. Being tired after the services of the day, I told them to ask Henry Drummond, who was one of the party. After some urging he drew a small Testament from his hip pocket, opened it at the 13th... more...

CHAPTER I. PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA—SPIRITUAL REVIVAL THROUGHOUT CHRISTENDOM, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE CHURCH OF SPAIN. The heroic discovery of America, at the close of the fifteenth century after Christ, has compelled the generous and just admiration of the world; but the grandeur of human enterprise and achievement in the discovery of the western hemisphere has a less... more...

THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE. HERE are some words with which we have been familiar from our infancy up, and probably there are few words in the English language that are so often used as this word “GRACE.” Many of you at your table “say grace” three times a day. You seldom go into a church without hearing the word mentioned. You seldom read any part of the New Testament, especially the Epistles,... more...

I PROLOGUE [Controverted Questions, 1892] Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre à la science est d'y faire place nette avant d'y rien construire.—CUVIER. Most of the Essays comprised in the present volume have been written during the last six or seven years, without premeditated purpose or intentional connection, in reply to attacks upon doctrines which I hold to be well founded;... more...