Religion Books

What am I? In my flesh I am but equal to the beasts of the field. In my heart and mind I am corrupt Humanity. In my soul I know not what I am or may be, and therein lies my hope. O wonderful and mysterious soul, more fragile than gossamer and yet so strong that she may stand in the Presence of God and not perish! "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a... more...

THE FACT Something has happened to Christmas, or to our hearts; or to both. In order to be convinced of this it is only necessary to compare the present with the past. In the old days of not so long ago the festival began to excite us in November. For weeks the house rustled with charming and thrilling secrets, and with the furtive noises of paper parcels being wrapped and unwrapped; the house was a... more...

PREFACE Lord Gifford in founding his lectureship directed that the lectures should be public and popular, i.e. not restricted to members of a University. Accordingly in lecturing I endeavoured to make myself intelligible to a general audience by avoiding much technical discussion and controversial matter, and by keeping to the plan of describing in outline the development and decay of the religion of... more...

“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”—St. James iii. 5-6. In the development of Christian Truth a peculiar office was assigned to... 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...

EDITOR’S PREFACE. Having been requested by Messrs. Gould and Lincoln to examine the work entitled “A Narrative of some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller,” the Editor was convinced that its republication in this country would greatly promote the piety of American Christians. But to reproduce the work in its original form was attended with difficulty. The “Narrative,” in four parts,... more...

I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us." Eph. v. 1, 2. "Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." 1 Thess. v. 14, 15. "He that believeth shall not make haste." Isa.... more...

ZUÑI PHILOSOPHY. The Á-shi-wi, or Zuñis, suppose the sun, moon, and stars, the sky, earth, and sea, in all their phenomena and elements; and all inanimate objects, as well as plants, animals, and men, to belong to one great system of all-conscious and interrelated life, in which the degrees of relationship seem to be determined largely, if not wholly, by the degrees of resemblance. In this system of... more...

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FOURTH PART Twelve years have elapsed since the period at which the third part of the Narrative of the Lord's dealings with me closes. It has not been for want of matter, that this fourth part has not appeared sooner; but the increased and ever increasing variety of other occupations has kept me hitherto from arranging the materials for the press. Of late,... more...

PREFACE Plain speaking is necessary in any discussion of religion, for if the freethinker attacks the religious dogmas with hesitation, the orthodox believer assumes that it is with regret that the freethinker would remove the crutch that supports the orthodox. And all religious beliefs are "crutches" hindering the free locomotive efforts of an advancing humanity. There are no problems related... more...