Two Player Bible Knowledge Contents

The Holy City:

I would have put this to be Jerusalem and I was surprised to see on the Wikipedia website
that many cities were listed. Under Middle East this was the list:

* Abydos (Ancient Egyptian religion)
* Jerusalem (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
* Hebron (Judaism, Islam)
* Bethlehem (Christianity, Judaism)
* Kairouan (Sufi Islam)
* Karbala (Shia Islam)
* Mashhad (Shia Islam)
* Mecca (Islam)
* Medina (Islam)
* Najaf (Shia Islam)
* Nippur (Ancient Mesopotamian religions)[1]
* Qom (Shia Islam)
* Safed (Judaism)
* Tiberias (Judaism)

The Arabs call it el-Kuds, the Holy.

Matthew chapter 27, verse 53
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared
unto many.

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

Apostle:

Meaning something along the lines of “one who is sent” or “one sent forth as a messenger”
and in the Christian faith this is the main Christian leaders in the beginning times.

Some good examples of Apostles are Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, James the Lesser,
John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas Iscariot. These
were the personal disciples of Jesus, they knew Jesus personally. These were the people who
Jesus was teaching the Truth that His Father in heaven had taught Him. The twelve Apostles
are sometimes known as only “The Twelve” and when used with Christianity we can easily
tell that we are speaking of the twelve Apostles.

It is said that the Twelve Apostles were 12 because Jesus was thinking of the Twelve Tribes
of Israel. The Apostles were Disciples of Jesus and this meant that this relationship was from
teacher to students. They were His disciples. Much time would have passed as Jesus taught
the Apostles and informed them of what they were to know, which they were to take to the
world and preach. It is not easy to change a persons beliefs, to change a persons Belief
System is often a slow process (unless some form of shock like a loved on passing away
causes one to rethink life and become a believer in a different faith) and Jesus would have
gently taught as He did with the multitudes, but only those with ears would hear. Some of the
multitudes were not yet ready to learn the Truth of God.
The impression we could get is that the Apostles were are not greatly educated in mans
educational systems, but were taught the great spiritual teaching by Jesus and this made
them highly educated in the world as it really is.

Life and people had taught them what they believed, this was their lives, their Belief System
up to the point of meeting Jesus, then Jesus enlightened them, taking their limited
knowledge from the darkness of the untruth to the glowing light of the true light of life. Of
course when each one of them went forth and taught others of what they had been taught
they were the educated teaching even the most knowledgeable by mankind’s standards.

They were a mixed lot. One became the traitor, three seemed to be learning faster than
the others because Jesus took them with Him on special occasions such as the raising
of the dead of Jairus daughter:
Mark chapter 5, verse 37
And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

According to Acts the position of Judas Iscariot was taken by Matthias:

Act chapter 1, verse 23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed
Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all
men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and
apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they
gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

And Paul:
Romans chapter 1, verse 1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,

Other people in latter times have been called the name Apostle, one such person would be
St Patrick, the “Apostle of Ireland”, Apostle to England St Augustine of Canterbury etc…

And according to the later traditions the twelve became martyrs, except John.

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Joseph of Arimathaea:

After the crucifixion of Jesus, Joseph requested from Pilate the body of Jesus.
Luke chapter 23, verse 50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and
he was a good man, and a just: (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of
them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped
it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

Matthew chapter 27, verse 57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea,
named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body
of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn
out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

A pious and rich man who, as is stated above in the Gospel of Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, and
below in the Gospel of John as a secret disciple. And clearly a follower who wanted to know
more about real life (reality).

John chapter 19, verse 38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus:
and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.

Here below we find that Nicodemus came along and helped out with the ‘mixture of myrrh and
aloes’

John chapter 19, verse 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus
by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took
they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews
is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new
sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews
preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

Not a lot is really known about Joseph of Arimathaea during the first century but after that other
‘histories’ were written. Whether they can be trustworthy is hard to tell as all history is difficult to
deal with due to the time that has past and those who were there are now gone.

According to the non-cannon Gospels there is much more written of Joseph of Arimathaea. He is
also wriiten about by other people in history like Philo, and other writings about Joseph of
Arimathaea to add to the romance of legend. And as has been mentioned previously it is hard to
find the truth in the written texts of old.

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

(St) Joseph:

The man that was betrothed to Mary the mother of Jesus. A pious Jew and in the family line
of David (of Davidic descent) and a humble man and of humble situation. He was not wealthy.

Matthew chapter 1, verse 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to
make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

Jesus grew up in the home of Joseph in Nazareth. Not much else is known of Joseph but
there are other text beyond the Cannon works which tell of other “histories” of Joseph. An
example is the Apocryphal ‘History of Joseph the Carpenter’ which in the Eastern church
was popular.

Joseph is not mention in the Gospel of Mark. Joseph is mentioned in the Gospel of John:
John chapterr 1, verse 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
—
John chapter 6, verse 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

Although Joseph is mentions in the Gospel of John it is indirectly and not much is actually
said of him or his life.

We must remember that back in the early days of the church the Apocryphal texts were
read in many churches with the Cannon texts (Gospels etc). In these modern times we
tend not to take the Apocryphal texts so seriously as they did back then. They must
have felt that even those these works were not in the accepted Cannon they were still
scripture and were accepted to be read in church.

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The heretic speaks heresy and can cause a schism in the church. It could be said that the
heretic speaks of other doctrine that is contrary to the doctrine of the “accepted church”.

Some would say that the heretic speaks a perverted doctrine.

A heretic could be a person who does not accept scripture, and does not accept the
accepted and current traditional doctrine of the church. Of course doctrine can be hard to
define when there are so many claiming that they have the true doctrine. The heretic could be
said to be somebody who does not accept the current “reading” of scripture, or what is the
current accepted scripture.

Many famous people have been called a heretic, probably the most famous would be Martin
Luther who caused such a ruckus with his challenge to the accepted church of his time.

A heretic will often put his life on the line for his belief. If he feels or knows that God is with him
and that the accepted church is wrong then he is willing to lose his life for the cause of true
justice.

As you can see from the likes of Martin Luther, the heretic can be the good guy or the bad guy,
but
it all depends on who you are and what you believe.

A HERETIC IS: “someone who sees a truth that contradicts the conventional wisdom of the
institution – and remains loyal to both entities.”
Art Kleiner – The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change.

In the book “The History of Christianity” Jonathan Hill wrote
When a doctrine is part of a official faith of a church or group, it is part of a orthodoxy;
if it is at variance with orthodoxy, it is heresy.

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

From all that can be learned of him (Patrick), there never was a
nobler Christian missionary…. He went to Ireland from love to
Christ, and love to the souls of men…. Strange that a people who
owed Rome nothing in connection with their conversion to Christ,
and who long struggled against her pretensions, should be now
ranked among her most devoted adherents.

Quoted from:
TRUTH TRIUMPHANT by Benjamin George Wilkinson
CHAPTER 7
PATRICK, ORGANIZER OF THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS IN IRELAND
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1870 The First Vatican Council declared the Assumption of Mary
and Papal Infallibility. They declared “The Pope is Christ in
office, Christ in jurisdiction and power.” General Baptist
formed a General Association. TIMOTHY RICHARD began
missionary work in China. The Colored Methodist Episcopal
Church was formed. German theologian ALBRECHT
RITSCHL developed a constructive theology called
“Ritschlianism”. L. R. SCARBOROUGH was born in
Louisiana. MEL TROTTER was born in Illinois. GEORGE
MUELLER had 2,100 orphans in 5 homes. The 15th
Amendment passed allowing the Negro vote. Texas and
Mississippi were readmitted to the Union. The Italian army took
Rome from France. FORSTER’S Education Bill established
public schools in England.

Quoted from:
A Chronology of Biblical Christianity by Dr. R.C. Wetzel
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Confessions of St. Augustine:
Confessions of St. Augustine, an account which that Father of the Church gives of the errors of
his youth and his subsequent conversion.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

Bull:

When a person is new to Christianity he or she will be amazed at the accepted words of each
church group. The Catholics have an amazing collection of words that seem to be designed
to confuse but actually have real meanings.

Bull, is an example of this. At one stage a pronouncement by the Pope, and later, after the
15th century Bull came to mean a document signed by the Pope and had his seal.
And you thought that it was an animal!

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

The Trinity.

By the Trinity is meant the unity of three persons in one Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Representing God as one, the Scriptures also ascribe divinity to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

COURSE OF THE ARGUMENT

a. God is one. Unity is ascribed to God.
b. The Father is divine: a distinct person.
c. The Son is divine: a distinct person.
d. The Holy Spirit is divine: a distinct person.
e. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are classed together, separately from all other beings.

Quoted from:
Torrey’s New Topical Textbook by R. A. Torrey
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The Bible:

The Bible is a collection of Holy Scriptures which are the religious texts of Judaism and Christianity.
These scriptures are held as the truth of life to Christians and are believed to be Holy and
from God. The Bible is said to be authoritative. The Bible has many lessons, songs,
stories, histories, corrections, letters and more. Considered “The Word of God”, “the
Holy Scriptures,” “the Inspired Word” etc.

2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works.

This book starts with Creation of all the universe, then goes on to the creations of all things
on Earth. The Bible is in two collections, the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament
(NT). Many churches state that they are New Testament churches but they still read from
or quote from the Old Testament during services or Bible Studies etc.

The New Testament could be called the Gospel. There are four Cannon (accepted)
Gospels which are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Matthew was the son of Alpheus and a
tax gatherer (publican).

Working out the Cannon of the Bible took some time and has a colourful history
on its own. The likes of Irenaeus and Origen were using collections of scriptures that closely
resembles what we call today as the Cannon. For many years there were disputes over some
of the books and whether they should be included in the Bible Cannon, the book of Revelation
was one of these. After a few centuries most were satisfied with the Canon selection of books
that today make up the New Testament.

It is important for Christians to know (and believe) that the Canon holds the true text that came
from the Apostles that Jesus taught. And for some time, with so many Epistles and Gospels
available it was hard to define what was acceptable to go into the Canon. Of course there
were those who wanted certain books to be accepted due to what it was that they believed in.

Today many books are called Bibles. Such as the Carpenters Bible, ot the Electricians
Bible. These are collections of information said to be what the person who is an electrician
“must have” in order to do his job efficiently and safely.

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

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Logos:

Logos has been taken to mean many things, one is the Word or Reason.

Jesus is the second person in the Holy Trinity who became “flesh” as the Son or the Logos,
meaning the Word.

Don’t feel bad if you find the above confusing, many people do. Go to your public or church
library and look up “Logos”. You can also ask the head people in your church to explain this
to you.

John chapter 1, verse 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Church:

Now when you want to learn about God or when somebody comes a knocking on your old
door to tell you about God probably the first bit of confusion you will find is that word “Church”.

For example they will probably tell you that church is a “congregation of people”, or maybe
a building where all the “members” go to congregate, to pray, worship and hear a sermon
about Christianity. You may also learn that people talk of the Christian church community, or
that a church can mean a community of believers of the same faith. An organised assembly
of worshippers who worship the Lord in a regular fashion and mostly on the Sabbath.

When you go to church people will talk about other churches. What they would mean by this
is other church denominations.

As you can see the word church now has many meanings. A church can be a building of
Devine worship, a Christian group of people who all believe the same – a religious body.
And some will talk of “the Church” being all churches together.

First people who believe in the teachings of Jesus congregated together and as time went
by it must have seemed sensible to have a church building to meet in and hear the “Holy Word”
of God with fellow believers of the same thought and “as a mind as one.” A place where we can
go “as one” to hear “the Word”, meet, help, listen, pray for others who need help, and learn
about God and what life is really all about.

Matthew chapter 16, verse 18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;

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Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

Denomination:

A word used to describe a religious organised group whose churches and congregations
are united in their adhesion to the beliefs and practices that they have faith in.

They could be called a Christian spiritual group that is organised. Denominations are separate
Christian groups that have names so that we, the public, can tell one from another. For example:

Independent Baptist Church.
Baptist Church.
Catholic Church.
And as you can imagine this is a large list.

Christian denominations tend to be independent of each other, with their own rules, beliefs,
practises and standards.

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Diocese:

Another of those confusing Christian words used by a denomination. Otherwise known as
“see”, a diocese is the area that is under control of a bishop. it could be known as the
“bishops see”.
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History…

The Ten Commandments: The Simple Way a Father Should Present Them to His Household

A. The First Commandment
You must not have other gods.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear, love, and trust God more than anything else.

B. The Second Commandment
You must not misuse your God’s name.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will not use His name to curse, swear, cast a spell,
lie or deceive, but will use it to call upon Him, pray to Him, praise Him and thank Him in all
times of trouble.

C. The Third Commandment
You must keep the Sabbath holy.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will not look down on preaching or God’s Word, but
consider it holy, listen to it willingly, and learn it.

D. The Fourth Commandment
You must honor your father and mother. [So that things will go well for you and you will live long on earth].
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will neither look down on our parents or superiors nor irritate
them, but will honor them, serve them, obey them, love them and value them.

E. The Fifth Commandment
You must not kill.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will neither harm nor hurt our neighbor’s body, but help him
and care for him when he is ill.

F. The Sixth Commandment
You must not commit adultery.
Q. What does this mean?

everyone will love and honor their spouses.
A. We must fear and love God, so that our words and actions will be clean and decent and so that
everyone will love and honor their spouses.

G. The Seventh Commandment
You must not steal.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will neither take our neighbor’s money or property, nor
acquire it by fraud or by selling him poorly made products, but will help him improve and protect
his property and career.

H. The Eighth Commandment
You must not tell lies about your neighbor.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will not deceive by lying, betraying, slandering or ruining
our neighbor’s reputation, but will defend him, say good things about him, and see the best side of
everything he does.

I. The Ninth Commandment
You must not desire your neighbor’s house.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will not attempt to trick our neighbor out of his inheritance
or house, take it by pretending to have a right to it, etc. but help him to keep & improve it.

J. The Tenth Commandment
You must not desire your neighbor’s wife, servant, maid, animals or anything that belongs to him.
Q. What does this mean?

A. We must fear and love God, so that we will not release his cattle, take his employees from him
or seduce his wife, but urge them to stay and do what they ought to do.

K. The Conclusion to the Commandments
Q. What does God say to us about all these commandments?
A. This is what He says:

“I am the Lord Your God. I am a jealous God. I plague the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of
those who hate me with their ancestor’s sin. But I make whole those who love me for a thousand
generations.”

A. God threatens to punish everyone who breaks these commandments. We should be afraid of His
anger because of this and not violate such commandments. But He promises grace and all good things
to those who keep such commandments. Because of this, we, too, should love Him, trust Him, and willingly
do what His commandments require.

Quoted from:
The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther

Translated by:
F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau.
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Question 1:
What is the chief end of man?

Answer:
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, 1 Cor. 10:31
and to enjoy him for ever. Psalm 73:25-26

Quoted from:
A Puritan Catechism by C.H. Spurgeon.
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I have boldly asserted that whatever his peculiar character or circumstances might be, if the
prodigal would come home to his Heavenly Father, he would find enough and to spare in the
Father’s house to supply all his need both for this world and the next; and I have known thousands
nay, I can say tens of thousands, who have literally proved this to be true, having, with little or no
temporal assistance, come out of the darkest depths of destitution, vice and crime, to be happy
and honest citizens and true sons and servants of God.

Quoted from:
In Darkest England And The Way Out by General William Booth.
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Augustine stands as the last patristic and the first medieval father of Western Christianity. He
gathered together and conserved all the main motifs of Latin Christianity from Tertullian to
Ambrose; he appropriated the heritage of Nicene orthodoxy; he was a Chalcedonian before
Chalcedon–and he drew all this into an unsystematic synthesis which is still our best mirror of
the heart and mind of the Christian community in the Roman Empire. More than this, he freely
received and deliberately reconsecrated the religious philosophy of the Greco-Roman world
to a new apologetic use in maintaining the intelligibility of the Christian proclamation.

Quoted from:
The Confessions Of Saint Augustine
translated and edited by

Albert C. Outler, Ph.D., D.D.

Professor of Theology Perkins School of Theology
Southern Methodist Uiniversity.
Dallas Texas.
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That is: Thou shalt have [and worship] Me alone as thy God. What is the force of this, and how
is it to be understood? What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means
that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that
to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often
said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and
trust be right, then is your god also true.

Quoted from:
The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther

Translated by:
F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau.
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Beatitudes:

You would be excused for not knowing what this means because it is not in the KJV Bible. It is
the word that is associated with the Sermon on the Mount of Olives in the book of Matthew
chapter 5:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before you.

Beatitudes means Blessedness.
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Canon:

The Canon is a collection of Biblical books called the Bible. The body of authoritative writings
of Divine guidance and origin.

This is the Greek word used to describe the accepted Canon text in the Bible.
Means “reed”, “cane”, ‘a straight rod’, “bar”, “measuring stick”, ideally this word is used to mean
“the rule of Faith” for the teachings, doctrines and practices from the Apostles that have been
orally passed on and then collected and written as a guide for future generations.

With the Canon set, those who deviated from it were judged as heretical, often those who
were so judged were done so in a very non-Christian manner sometimes ending in death. The
canon was seen as the authoritative text and divinely inspired and this belief would
sadly lead to fear and even anger at those who didn’t follow the same beliefs. Not following
the example of our Lord Jesus by teaching and educating the people, these “Christians”
used terror and fear to force the public into being submissive to the church.

Some books in the Christian Bible were not immediately seen as worthy of being in the Canon
Bible but as years went by they were all finally accepted. Many famous historical names have
been in the debate over the accepted church Canon.
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The Epistle of James:

This is one of my two favorite books in the Bible, the other is Job. The Epistle of James is a good
book that was not accepted immediately by those who put together the Canon of the Bible. To
some degree this book seems to clash with some of the writings of Paul and that would be a
reason for it to be accepted by those putting together the Canon.
took a while before people saw the importance of such a book and its deep knowledge. There
are various views about the date of this epistle, some say around 45 AD could be right.

James chapter 1, verse 1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting.

Here the impression is that this epistle is written to the Jews because of the
mention of the Twelve Tribes and that these Jews are scattered abroad. So this was written to
Jews that had spread to a wider area and they would be early believers in the faith who wanted
to know the contents of this letter. But this very important epistle is for you and I. Most of us are
not Jews, but we are receivers of the teachings of Jesus. And this epistle was written to all the
Jews, and all the world as a letter of important Christian instruction.

You could imagine the persecution of the Jews who were Christians at this time in history in
Jerusalem and in other parts of the world. Remember that most Jews stuck to their old beliefs
and they held to those beliefs to the extent of being fanatical. Jews that chose to follow the
teachings of Christ would have been targets for ridicule and would have had a hard life at
least around the Jews that stood by the old religious ways.

To write to all those people and give Holy instruction is to show great love as James clearly
wanted this instruction and the wisdom of the instructions to go to all Jews at that time. James
like his brother wanted to spread the Good Word far and wide. You can imagine James following
up this epistle with preaching to give more information to the people who would listen. Here
James is seen as a great evangelist. A preacher and spreader of the True Word.

In the Greek language the word “servant” should be taken to mean to totally believe in
the teacher which is in this case Jesus. So James was a servant in belief and practising life of
what Jesus taught and of his belief in God. This makes James a “believing Christian” in total self.
As a servant he is at one with those of the past who were a “servant of God”.

Malachi chapter 4, verse 4
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel,
with the statutes and judgments.

Psalm chapter 105, verse 26
He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.
2 Samuel chapter 3, verse 18

Now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David…

Jude chapter 1, verse 1
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Being a servant of God was nothing to be ashamed of. It was a high, humble position, and those
who were servants of God would have been deep believers in all that they thought and did.

The Author it has been concluded is James the Less, the Lord’s brother. This view was also held
by Origen. All that was needed for the people who read this epistle was his name “James” to know
who he was, so obviously he was well known to the many of his time. And it is said to be written in
Jerusalem. Even though James was a prominent and influential leader in the early days the
beginning of this epistle gives us some knowledge of James’ character, it tells us that James
is humble in attitude to himself as he introduces himself as the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus.
Because the author introduces himself as James this gives an indication that he was our Lord’s brother.

Although this book does not contain the full doctrinal statements of the other Epistles there is mention
of our trials as followers of God and the temptations that we may face and how to feel when they come
and to be mentally strong in the midst of this.

James chapter 1, verse 2
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

It may seem hard at the start but by being happy that challenges are coming your way you can learn to
deal with them one by one until it is overcome. Often the life we have is tarnished with many struggles
and emotional pain, and often these come from addictions, bad habits and other temptations and
in our lives we need to learn to overcome them, one by one. James is telling us some good common
sense, to attract the problem with joy in our hearts as we deal with our troubles, and to be joyful when it
is overcome because this means freedom from that personal torment.

Take smoking for example. A person is hurting their body every time they smoke. Once this
person give up this addiction then he or she will not be hurting their personal body anymore.
So that is something to celebrate and be joyful about. One also feels that there has been
an accomplishment when one overcomes an addiction. So be joyful as you deal with those
grievous afflictions and be joyful when you have completely overcome them.

Clearly this is a book of reform, instruction, of correcting the readers who may be backsliding or
lost and James is attempting to help motivate them to avoid the sins and errors and to encourage
the people to go through the trials because the end benefit is theirs. James is telling us to stick to
the good Christian way, to be steadfast and solid in our faith and beliefs and live those beliefs to
the full being a good example. You can see that James is somebody who writes as he has
experienced, and he wants to share that with you in a positive way to help you deal with your trials.

You could almost see this book in the Old Testament with its firm rules on what is right and what
is wrong. The mention of Jesus firmly puts this book in the New Testament.

This is a set of instruction that if they are approached mentally with a willful mind wanting for
self correction much good will come into your life by following the book of James..

Who can receive you into their home or heart if you are not a good example of Christ, which is as
a Christian you are to be for the world to see. James is writing of the practical life of a Christian and
how it is to be lived.

You can see a connection between the text of the epistle of James and the speeches of Jesus in the
Synoptic texts where there are parallels. The Greek used by the author is of more than expected from
a mere religious person.

I have read that Martin Luther struggled with this book (epistle) of the Bible and for some time
would not accept it. Although in a dictionary of the Bible it is noted that Martin Luther said:
“I praise it and hold it as a good book, because it sets up no doctrine of men and lays great
stress upon God’s law” and that is where the strength of the Epistle of James is, in its firm
standing on God’s laws.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken
this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

Quoted from:
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
March 4th, 1861.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Quoted from:
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
March 4th, 1865.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620

[This was November 21, old style calendar]

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread
Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, King,
Defender of the Faith, c.

Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour
of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne Parts of Virginia; doe,
by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant
and combine ourselves together into a civill Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation,
and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such
just and equall Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meete and convenient for the Generall Good of the Colonie; unto which we promise
all due Submission and Obedience.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November,
in the Raigne of our Sovereigne Lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth,
and of Scotland, the fiftie-fourth, Anno. Domini, 1620.

Mr. John Carver Mr. Stephen Hopkins
Mr. William Bradford Digery Priest
Mr. Edward Winslow Thomas Williams
Mr. William Brewster Gilbert Winslow
Isaac Allerton Edmund Margesson
Miles Standish Peter Brown
John Alden Richard Bitteridge
John Turner George Soule
Francis Eaton Edward Tilly
James Chilton John Tilly
John Craxton Francis Cooke
John Billington Thomas Rogers
Joses Fletcher Thomas Tinker
John Goodman John Ridgate
Mr. Samuel Fuller Edward Fuller
Mr. Christopher Martin Richard Clark
Mr. William Mullins Richard Gardiner
Mr. William White Mr. John Allerton
Mr. Richard Warren Thomas English
John Howland Edward Doten
Edward Liester

You can find it here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7

The Book of Job:

The name “Job” could mean “object of enmity” or “he who turns”, maybe “he who turns to God”
but these are guesses. While nobody knows who Job was some Biblical commentaries have
claimed that he could have been other people mentioned in the Bible such as ” Moses,
Solomon, Isaiah, Hezekiah, Jeremiah…”. This is mere guesswork and as people like to identify
with who they read about people will keep guessing. Many feel that this is the earliest book of the Bible.

Job is a human and that is something that we can relate to us being of the same species, and
I see no rabbits reading this text so I guess we are safe with that statement. When reading the
Bible we must think “people” and not “stories”. If we try to relate one-to-one with the person that
we are reading about we can gain so much from the written text. If we think “story” then we
distance ourself from the written text and may not grasp the meaning of the text with any true
life feeling. As we read through the book of Job we can put ourselves in his position to get
a better idea of what he was going through, and we can also put ourself in the place of his
friends and understand why it is that they reacted so.

His name does appear elsewhere in the Bible:
Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 14
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own
souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

Job chapter 1, verse 1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright,
and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

This Hebrew poem of wisdom is an interesting book of the Old Testament. The author is not
known and the date the book was written has never been fixed. Besides that this book is very
interesting and worth more than one reading. The impression we get is that the author is well
educated and we know that the Book of Job is written in a style of the educated of his time.
We don’t know where Uz (eastern part of Arabia) is.

When you read the book of Job you will find that it is a book that requires some thought.
As you read the book of Job, think about:
the dialog between God and Satan,
the loss to Job,
the reaction of Job’s wife and what she wants Job to do,
Job’s reaction to his wife’s demands,
the suffering that Job goes through,
the reaction of Job because of his suffering,
Job’s friends and what they have to say about Job, God and Job’s suffering,
Job’s reaction to his friends comments,

And pay attention to the end where God comes into the story.

A theme of this book is “Why do the righteous suffer?” And Job wants to know why God allows
this to happen.

In the beginning Job suffers mentally for the sins of his children. Something that many good people
today feel when their children grow up and misbehave and won’t listen to reason.

Job chapter 1, verse 4-5
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called
for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them,
and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all:
for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job
continually.

There came a day when God and Satan have a conversation about Job:
Job chapter 1, verse 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the LORD…

By chapter 1, verse 20 much misery had come upon poor Job. The shock and horror at his sudden
misfortune must have amazed him and he would have been dazed and not thinking straight at the
horror of it all.

Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground,
and worshipped,

Job chapter 1, verse 22
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job has lost his wealth, his family and now his health was suffering. Clearly by the end of this book
we have a changed Job. He has learnt much and through his debates with his friends and finally
with God he becomes a new man.

Being such a good person Job struggles with his suffering. He abides by the laws, he is moral and
upright and yet all this calamity falls upon him, his family, his wealth – is this justified?

Satan was saying that Job is only a good man of God because of his blessing and material wealth.

Job chapter 1:, verse 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about
all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is
increased in the land.

In Job chapter 2, verse 1 Satan once again comes in contact with the Lord:
“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and
Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. “

Job chapter 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without
cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to
thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Here poor surprised Job is handled more suffering and Satan “smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat
down among the ashes. “One can almost feel Job’s startled amazement, anguish, and wonder as
to why he has this new affliction which has attacked his flesh.

At chapter 2, verse 11 Job’s friends come to visit him. They are religious and they must also wonder
at sudden change of life. Before they came to see Job they may have debated for a while about what
had happened and why. You and I can sympathise with Job and his friends. We are also friends to
people and we know what it is like to look from the outside and try to help, try not to judge, but after
sometime come across our own conclusions about our friends situations. And we have friends who
come to see us and offer us advice and we find that we are the one to be spoken to about our life.

Job chapter 19, verse 23
Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an
iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my
reins be consumed within me.

From here on there is much debate which is worth reading. God challenges Job in chapter 38, verse 1.
And Job speaks in chapter 40, verse 3.

If you have not read Job then I suggest you do as it is a worthwhile book to read, I won’t tell you the
end of the book of Job and you can find it out yourself.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

IT is my invariable rule, Sir, to refer to you in all matters where I feel doubtful; for who is more
capable of removing my scruples, or informing my ignorance? Having never been present at
any trials concerning those who profess Christianity, I am unacquainted not only with the nature
of their crimes, or the measure of their punishment, but how far it is proper to enter into an
examination concerning them. Whether, therefore, any difference is usually made with respect
to ages, or no distinction is to be observed between the young and the adult; whether repentance
entitles them to a pardon; or if a man has been once a Christian, it avails nothing to desist from
his error; whether the very profession of Christianity, unattended with any criminal act, or only
the crimes themselves inherent in the profession are punishable; on all these points I am in
great doubt. In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have been
brought before me as Christians is this: I asked them whether they were Christians; if they
admitted it, I repeated the question twice, and threatened them with punishment; if they persisted,
I ordered them to be at once punished: for I was persuaded, whatever the nature of their opinions
might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly deserved correction. There were
others also brought before me possessed with the same infatuation, but being Roman citizens,
67 I directed them to be sent to Rome. But this crime spreading (as is usually the case) while it
was actually under prosecution, several instances of the same nature occurred. An anonymous
information was laid before me containing a charge against several persons, who upon
examination denied they were Christians, or had ever been so. They repeated after me an
invocation to the gods, and offered religious rites with wine and incense before your statue (which
for that purpose I had ordered to be brought, together with those of the gods), and even reviled
the name of Christ: whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really Christians into any
of these compliances: I thought it proper, therefore, to discharge them. Some among those who
were accused by a witness in person at first confessed themselves Christians, but immediately
after denied it; the rest owned indeed that they had been of that number formerly, but had now
(some above three, others more, and a few above twenty years ago) renounced that error.
They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, uttering imprecations at the same
time against the name of Christ. They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they
met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity,
binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, but never to
commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should
be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble,
to eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they desisted after the publication
of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I forbade the meeting of any assemblies.
After receiving this account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavor to extort the real
truth, by putting two female slaves to the torture, who were said to officiate’ in their religious rites:
but all I could discover was evidence of an absurd and extravagant superstition. I deemed it
expedient, therefore, to adjourn all further proceedings, in order to consult you. For it appears
to be a matter highly deserving your consideration, more especially as great numbers must be
involved in the danger of these prosecutions, which have already extended, and are still likely
to extend, to persons of all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious
superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighbouring
villages and country. Nevertheless, it still seems possible to restrain its progress. The temples,
at least, which were once almost deserted, begin now to be frequented; and the sacred rites,
after a long intermission, are again revived; while there is a general demand for the victims,
which till lately found very few purchasers. From all this it is easy to conjecture what numbers
might be reclaimed if a general pardon were granted to those who shall repent of their error.
XCVIII

TRAJAN TO PLINY

You have adopted the right course, my dearest Secundtis, in investigating the charges against the
Christians who were brought before you. It is not possible to lay down any general rule for all such
cases. Do not go out of your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought before you, and
the crime is proved, they must be punished;69 with the restriction, however, that where the party denies
he is a Christian, and shall make it evident that he is not, by invoking our gods, let him (notwithstanding
any former suspicion) be pardoned upon his repentance. Anonymous informations ought not to he
received in any sort of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and is quite foreign
to the spirit of our age.

This piece of history can be read here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2811/pg2811.html.utf8

JUSTIN MARTYR/The First Apology/Chapter III.

Chapter III. Claim of judicial investigation.

But lest any one think that this is an unreasonable and reckless utterance, we demand that the
charges against the Christians be investigated, and that, if these be substantiated, they be
punished as they deserve; [or rather, indeed, we ourselves will punish them.][1] But if no one
can convict us of anything, true reason forbids you, for the sake of a wicked rumour, to wrong
blameless men, and indeed rather yourselves, who think fit to direct affairs, not by judgment,
but by passion. And every sober-minded person will declare this to be the only fair and
equitable adjustment, namely, that the subjects render an unexceptional account of their own
life and doctrine; and that, on the other hand, the rulers should give their decision in obedience,
not to violence and tyranny, but to piety and philosophy. For thus would both rulers and ruled
reap benefit. For even one of the ancients somewhere said, “Unless both rulers and ruled
philosophize, it is impossible to make states blessed.”[2] It is our task, therefore, to afford to all
an opportunity of inspecting our life and teachings, lest, on account of those who are accustomed
to be ignorant of our affairs, we should incur the penalty due to them for mental blindness;[3] and
it is your business, when you hear us, to be found, as reason demands, good judges. For if, when
ye have learned the truth, you do not what is just, you will be before God without excuse.

You can read it here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_I/JUSTIN_MARTYR/The_First_Apology/Chapter_III.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume III/Anti-Marcion/The Prescription Against Heretics/Chapter VII

Chapter VII. Pagan Philosophy the Parent of Heresies. The Connection Between Deflections
from Christian Faith and the Old Systems of Pagan Philosophy.

These are ” doctrines” of men and “of demons”[1] produced for itching ears of the spirit of this
world’s wisdom: this the Lord called “foolishness,”[2] and “chose the foolish things of the world”
to confound even philosophy itself. For (philosophy) it is which is the material of the world’s
wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and the dispensation of God. Indeed[3] heresies
are themselves instigated[4] by philosophy. From this source came the Æons, and I known
not what infinite forms,[5] and the trinity of man[6] in the system of Valentinus, who was of Plato’s
school. From the same source came Marcion’s better god, with all his tranquillity; he came of the
Stoics. Then, again, the opinion that the soul dies is held by the Epicureans; while the denial of the
restoration of the body is taken from the aggregate school of all the philosophers; also, when
matter is made equal to God, then you have the teaching of Zeno; and when any doctrine is
alleged touching a god of fire, then Heraclitus comes in. The same subject-matter is discussed
over and over again[7] by the heretics and the philosophers; the same arguments[8] are involved.
Whence comes evil? Why is it permitted? What is the origin of man? and in what way does he
come? Besides the question which Valentinus has very lately proposed”Whence comes God?
Which he settles with the answer: From enthymesis and ectroma.[9] Unhappy Aristotle! who
invented for these men dialectics, the art of building up and pulling down; an art so evasive in
its propositions,[10] so far-fetched in its conjectures, so harsh, in its arguments, so productive
of contentions”embarrassing[11] even to itself, retracting everything, and really treating of[12]
nothing! Whence spring those “fables and endless genealogies,”[13] and “unprofitable
questions,”[14] and “words which spread like a cancer?”[15] From all these, when the apostle
would restrain us, he expressly names philosophy as that which he would have us be on our
guard against. Writing to the Colossians, he says, “See that no one beguile you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and contrary to the wisdom of the Holy Ghost.”[16]
He had been at Athens, and had in his interviews (with its philosophers) become acquainted
with that human wisdom which pretends to know the truth, whilst it only corrupts it, and is itself
divided into its own manifold heresies, by the variety of its mutually repugnant sects. What
indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and
the Church? what between heretics and Christians? Our instruction comes from “the porch of
Solomon,”[17] who had himself taught that “the Lord should be sought in simplicity of heart.”[18]
Away with[19] all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic
composition! We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition
after enjoying the gospel! With our faith, we desire no further belief. For this is our palmary
faith, that there is nothing which we ought to believe besides.

Translated by Peter Holmes and can be found here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Anti-Marcion/The_Prescription_Against_Heretics/Chapter_VII
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. II, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book I by Clement of Alexandria ,
translated by Philip Schaff et al. Chapter I.

Accordingly, Solomon says, “My son, if thou receive the saying of my commandment, and
hide it with thee, thine ear shall hear wisdom.”[2] He points out that the word that is sown is
hidden in the soul of the learner, as in the earth, and this is spiritual planting. Wherefore also
he adds, “And thou shalt apply thine heart to understanding, and apply it for the admonition of
thy son.” For soul, methinks, joined with soul, and spirit with spirit, in the sowing of the word,
will make that which is sown grow and germinate. And every one who is instructed, is in respect
of subjection the son of his instructor. “Son,” says he, “forget not my laws.”[3]

This famous test can be viewed here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_II/CLEMENT_OF_ALEXANDRIA/The_Stromata,_or_Miscellanies/Book_I/Chapter_I.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Almsgiving:
(charity – righteousness – kindness- justice -philanthropy)

To give alms – a compassionate thing to do.

You may hear this in a movie or read it in a book, “Give alms to the poor.” This is to “give”
for the poor, probably the poor in your area. Almsgiving was once popular and this was
probably due to some believing that if they had wealth then it would be seen well in God’s
mind if they gave a piece of that wealth to the poor and destitute.

Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 11
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt
open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Some may say that giving to the poor is “works” and that Salvation does not come from works
but the issue here is that it has always been seen “as Christian to give to the poor and needy.”
Regardless of race, nation or denomination, giving has always been seen as the thing you do
if you are a Christian, especially by non-Christians. Non-Christians are often shocked when
Christians refuse to help the poor and needy and only look after their own.

No matter what it is called giving to the poor is something that has always been expected of
Christians especially by the example given to us by Christ.

Of course the True-Giving is the giving of Salvation as God intended, but the giving of the
heart and soul to those less fortunate is a blessing to the receivers. But to give like this
should be from the heart, and nobody needs to know who the donator is, except God. That
is true giving.

Matthew chapter 6, verse 1
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no
reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret:
and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

It is charitable to give to the needy.

Every good act is charity. A man’s true wealth is the good he does in this world to his fellows
– Mahomet.

Muslims give a small percentage (surplus wealth) of their annual savings as alms or charity,
called zakat. Zakat could be compared to tithing and alms but is based on serving the poor
and deprived Muslims.

There is a Zatak organisation at: http://zakat.org/

This is their About Us statement on their web site:
“Zakat Foundation of America is an international charity organization that helps generous and
caring people reach out to those in need. Our goal is to address immediate needs and ensure
the self-reliance of the poorest people around the world with Zakat and Sadaqa dollars of
privileged Muslims and the support of other generous donors.”

I know that where the monks were concerned at times in history large amounts of wealth
was given to them, this included land and money. Some early Christians believed that all
personal ownership of property was wrong and that the ‘goods in a Christian society must
be common.’

It can be a hard thing for a person to go to the poor and suffering and try to give them spiritual
Salvation when the poor and suffering are in desperate need. It is far better to help them deal with
that need as Jesus did when He healed people. He dealt with their immediate suffering, and you
would be wise to do the same. As an example alone, helping non-Christians deal with their
immediate sufferings and problems will set you alight in their eyes as a person to know and love.
Then once the non-Christian has been helped and is more comfortable then he or she can be told
of the great Salvation of Our Lord. You will find a more ready ear from somebody you have kindly
helped with your generous soul led by God.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Apostasy:

Latin = apostasia.

The leaving of ones old (religious) principles. One could say “deserting ones religion.”
Deserting ones beliefs, or principles, or a cause. Abandoning something that you were once
loyal to. This person would be called an apostate, and called one who apostatizes.

Another thought could be that it means backsliding. A falling back to the sinful state that a
person was once living. Turning from ones positive Christian beliefs. Going back to
Worldliness and its sinful ways. Returning to sin.

An example could be Lots wife looking back to what she had just left.

A person would be called an apostate if one fell from the church especially if this person was
wrong in their beliefs, or new beliefs. And the members of the church could possibly (as it
has been sadly known to happen) will shun the person. In the early church it was seen as very
bad if a person abandoned Christianity and was considered to be unpardonable, if it was
committed by a baptized person. It was pardonable only if the person did public penance.

A monk or nun who has taken perpetual vows and deserted.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

E-mail me at TwoPlayerKnowledge@xtra.co.nz for any suggestion and questions.
To donate “FREE” Christian material to this software, see the “About” menu item.
to help you become a more knowledgeable Christian, to help you believe in God & Love.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Essays (Francis Bacon)/Of Atheism:

I HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that
this universal frame is without a mind. And therefore God never wrought miracle to convince
atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s
mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. For while the
mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go
no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs
fly to Providence and Deity. Nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism doth most
demonstrate religion; that is, the school of Leucippus and Democritus and Epicurus. For it is a
thousand times more credible, that four mutable elements, and one immutable fifth essence, duly
and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army of infinite small portions or seeds unplaced,
should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal. The Scripture saith, The fool
hath said in his heart, there is no God; it is not said, The fool hath thought in his heart; so as he
rather saith it by rote to himself, as that he would have, than that he can thoroughly believe it,
or be persuaded of it. For none deny there is a God, but those for whom it maketh that there
were no God. It appeareth in nothing more, that atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of
man, than by this; that atheists will ever be talking of that their opinion, as if they fainted in it within
themselves, and would be glad to be strengthened by the consent of others. Nay more, you
shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as it fareth with other sects. And, which is most of all,
you shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not recant; whereas if they did truly think
that there were no such thing as God, why should they trouble themselves? Epicurus is charged
that he did but dissemble for his credit’s sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures, but
such as enjoyed themselves without having respect to the government of the world. Wherein they
say he did temporize; though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is
traduced; for his words are noble and divine: Non deos vulgi negare profanum; sed vulgi
opiniones diis applicare profanum [There is no profanity in refusing to believe in the gods
of the people: the profanity is in believing of the gods what the people believe of them].
Plato could have said no more. And although he had the confidence to deny the administration,
he had not the power to deny the nature. The Indians of the West have names for their particular
gods, though they have no name for God: as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter,
Apollo, Mars, etc. but not the word Deus; which shows that even those barbarous people have
the notion, though they have not the latitude and extent of it. So that against atheists the very
savages take part with the very subtlest philosophers. The contemplative atheist is rare: a
Diagoras, a Bion, a Lucian perhaps, and some others; and yet they seem to be more than
they are; for that all that impugn a received religion or superstition are by the adverse part
branded with the name of atheists. But the great atheists indeed are hypocrites; which are
ever handling holy things, but without feeling; so as they must needs be cauterized in the end.

The rest can be read here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays_%28Francis_Bacon%29/Of_Atheism
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Five Million Dollars.”

One thing I know–I cannot speak for others, but can speak for myself; I cannot read other minds
and other hearts; I cannot read the Bible and lay hold for others; but I can read for myself, and
take God at his word. The great trouble is that people take everything in general, and do not take
it to themselves. Suppose a man should say to me, “Moody, there was a man in Europe who died
last week, and left five million dollars to a certain individual.” “Well,” I say, “I don’t doubt that; it’s
rather a common thing to happen,” and I don’t think anything more about it. But suppose he says,
“But he left the money to you.” Then I pay attention; I say, “To me?” “Yes, he left it to you.” I become
suddenly interested. I want to know all about it. So we are apt to think Christ died for sinners; He
died for everybody, and for nobody in particular. But when the truth comes to me that eternal life is
mine, and all the glories of Heaven are mine, I begin to be interested. I say, “Where is the chapter
and verse where it says I can be saved?” If I put myself among sinners, I take the place of the sinner,
then it is that salvation is mine and I am sure of it for time and eternity.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Very Orthodox.”

A person came to me some time ago and said: “Mr. Moody, I wish you would give me a book
that preaches assurance, and that tells the children of God it is their privilege to know they are
accepted.” I said, “Here is a book; it is very orthodox. It was written by John, the most intimate
friend of Jesus while He was on earth. The man who laid his head upon His bosom.” Turn to
John and see what he says in the 5th chapter, “For in them ye think ye have eternal life.”

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“I Know!”

The man of God who has fixed his feet on the rock of salvation can say with certainty, “I know.” If you
have not got assurance and want it, just believe God’s Word. If you go down South and ask those three
million colored people how they think they are free, they won’t talk about their feelings; they just believe
that Abraham Lincoln made them free. They believe the proclamation, and so we must believe the
proclamation God has made in the Bible. “One thing thou teachest,” that is salvation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You may spurn God’s remedy and perish; but I tell you God don’t want you to perish. He says, “As I live I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” “Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?”

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:

A Child at its Mother’s Grave.

I remember seeing a story some time ago in print. It has been in the papers, but it will not hurt us to
hear it again. A family in a Southern city were stricken down with yellow fever. It was raging there,
and there were very stringent sanitary rules. The moment anybody died, a cart went around and
took the coffin away. The father was taken sick and died and was buried, and the mother was at
last stricken down. The neighbors were afraid of the plague, and none dared go into the house.
The mother had a little son and was anxious about her boy, and afraid he would be neglected
when she was called away, so she called the little fellow to her bedside, and said, “My boy, I am
going to leave you, but Jesus will come to you when I am gone.” The mother died, the cart came
along and she was laid in the grave. The neighbors would have liked to take the boy, but were
afraid of the pestilence. He wandered about and finally started up to the place where they had
laid his mother and sat down on the grave, and wept himself to sleep. Next morning he awoke
and realized his position–alone and hungry. A stranger came along and seeing the little fellow
sitting on the ground, asked him what he was waiting for. The boy remembered what his mother
had told him, and answered, “I am waiting for Jesus,” and told him the whole story. The man’s
heart was touched, tears trickled down his cheeks and he said, “Jesus has sent me,” to which the
boy replied, “You have been a good while coming, sir.” He was provided for. So it is with us. To
wait for results, we must have courage and patience and God will help us.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

Rational Belief.

Once there were a couple of men arranging a balloon ascension. They thought they had two
ropes fastened to the car, but one of them only was fastened, and they unfastened that one rope,
and the balloon started to go up. One of the men seized hold of the car, and the other seized hold
of the rope. Up went the balloon, and the man who seized hold of the car went up with it, and was
lost. The man who laid hold of the rope was just as sincere as the man who laid hold of the car.
There was just as much reason to say that the man who laid hold of that would be saved because
he was sincere as the man who believed in a lie because he is sincere in his belief. I like a man to
be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. Once I asked a man what he believed, and he
said he believed what his church believed. I asked him what his church believed, and he said he
supposed his church believed what he did; and that was all I could get out of him. And so men
believe what other people believe and what their church believes, without really knowing what
their church and other people do believe.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

Moody and the Infidel.

An infidel had come the other day, to one of our meetings, and when I talked with him, he replied
that he didn’t believe one-twelfth part of the Bible, but I kept on quoting Scripture, feeling that if the
man didn’t believe, God could do what He chose with His word, and make it quick and powerful,
and sharper than a two-edged sword. The man kept saying that he did not believe what the Bible
said, and I kept on quoting passage after passage of Scripture, and the man, who, two hours
before, had entered the hall an infidel, went out of it a converted man, and a short time after his
conversion he left the City for Boston, a Christian, to join his family in Europe. Before this
gentleman went away, I asked him if he believed the Bible, and his reply was: “From back to
back, every word of it.”

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

Get the Key to Job.

An Englishman asked me some time ago, “Do you know much about Job?” “Well, I know a little,” I
replied. “If you’ve got the key of Job, you’ve got the key to the whole Bible.” “What?” I replied, “I
thought it was a poetical book.” “Well,” said he, “I will just divide Job into seven heads. The first is
the perfect man–untried; and that is Adam and Eve before they fell. The second head is tried by
adversity–Adam after the fall. The third is the wisdom of the world–the three friends who came to
try to help Job out of his difficulties. They had no power to help him at all.” He could stand his
scolding wife, but he could not stand them. The fourth head takes the form of the Mediator, and in
the fifth head God speaks at last. He heard him before by the ear, but he hears Him now by the
soul, and he fell down flat upon his face. A good many men in Chicago are like Job. They think
they are mighty good men, but the moment they hear the voice of God they know they are sinners,
they are in the dust. There isn’t much talk about their goodness then. Here he was with his face
down. Job learned his lesson. That was the sixth head, and in these heads were the burdens of
Adam’s sin. The seventh head was when God showed him His face. Well, I learned the key to the
Bible. I cannot tell how this helped me. I told it to another man, and he asked me if I ever thought
how he got his property back and his sheep back. He gave Job double what he had and gave
him ten children besides, so that he should have ten in heaven besides his ten on earth.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830

The “I Ams,” “I Wills,” Etc.

A favorite way to study the Bible with me, is first to take up one expression, and run through the
different places where they are found. Take the “I ams” of John; “I am the bread of life;” “I am
the water of life;” “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” “I am the resurrection;” “I am all, and in
all.” God gives to His children a blank; and on it they can write whatever they most want and
He will fill the bill. And then the promises. A Scotchman found out thirty one thousand distinct
promises in the Word of God. There is not a despondent soul but God has a promise just to
suit him.
– D L Moody.

One Word.

I remember I took up the word “love,” and turned to the Scriptures and studied it, and got so
that I felt I loved everybody, I got full of it. When I went on the street, I felt as if I loved
everybody I saw. It ran out of my fingers. Suppose you take up the subject of love and study it
up. You will get so full of it that all you have got to do is to open your lips and a flood of the
love of God flows upon the meeting. If you go into a court you will find a lawyer pleading a
case. He gets everything bearing upon one point, heaped up so as to carry his argument with
all the force he can, in order to convince the jury. Now it seems to me a man should do the
same in talking to an audience; just think that he has a jury before him, and he wants to convict
a sinner. If it is love, get all you can upon the subject and talk love, love.

GOLD:

One thing I have noticed in studying the Word of God, and that is, when a man is filled with the
Spirit he deals largely with the Word of God, whereas the man who is filled with his own ideas
refers rarely to the Word of God. He gets along without it, and you seldom see it mentioned in
his discourses.

The best truths are got by digging deep for them.

When we know our Bible, then it is that God can use us.

When we find a man meditating on the words of God, my friends, that man is full of boldness
and is successful.
– D L Moody.

A Blind Man Preaches to 3,000,000 People.

I was at a meeting in London, when I was there, and I heard a man speaking with wonderful
power and earnestness. “Who is that man?” I asked, my curiosity being excited. “Why, that is
Dr. —-. He is blind.” I felt some interest in this man and at the close of the meeting, I sought an
interview, and he told me that he had been stricken blind when very young. His mother took
him to a doctor, and asked him about his sight. “You must give up all hope,” the doctor said.
“Your boy is blind, and will be forever.” “What, do you think my boy will never see?” asked his
mother. “Never again.” The mother took her boy to her bosom and cried, “Oh, my boy, ‘Who
will take care of you when I am gone? Who will look to you?”–forgetting the faithfulness of that
God she had taught him to love. He became a servant of the Lord and was permitted to print
the Bible in twelve different languages, printed in the raised letters, so that all the blind people
could read the Scriptures themselves. He had a congregation, my friends, of three millions of
people, and I think that blind man was one of the happiest beings in all London. He was
naturally blind, but he had eyes to his soul, and could see a bright eternity in the future. He
had built his foundation upon the living God. We pity those who have not their natural sight; but
how you should pity yourself if you are spiritually blind.

A Man Drinks up a Farm.

A few years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday morning, when a young man drove
up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him. “Who is that young man?” I asked. “Do you
see that beautiful meadow?” said my friend, “and that land there with the house upon it?”
“Yes” “His father drank that all up,” said he. Then he went on to tell me all about him. His
father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left his wife in the
poor-house. “And that young man,” he said, “is one of the finest young men I ever knew. He
has toiled hard and earned money, and bought back the land; he has taken his mother out of
the poor-house, and now he is taking her to church.” I thought, that is an illustration for me. The
first Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the second Adam, came and bought
us back again.
– D L Moody.

The Fettered Bird Freed.

A friend in Ireland once met a little Irish boy who had caught a sparrow. The poor little bird
was trembling in his hand, and seemed very anxious to escape. The gentleman begged the
boy to let it go, as the bird could not do him any good; but the boy said he would not; for he
had chased it three hours before he could catch it. He tried to reason it out with the boy, but in
vain. At last he offered to buy the bird; the boy agreed to the price, and it was paid. Then the
gentleman took the poor little thing and held it out on his hand. The boy had been holding it
very fast, for the boy was stronger than the bird, just as Satan is stronger than we, and there it
sat for a time, scarcely able to realize the fact that it had got liberty; but in a little while it flew
away, chirping, as if to say to the gentleman, “Thank you! thank you! you have redeemed
me.” That is what redemption is–buying back and setting free. So Christ came back to break
the fetters of sin, to open the prison doors and set the sinner free.
– D L Moody.

“Little Moody.”

I remember when I was a boy I went several miles from home with an older brother. That
seemed to me the longest visit of my life. It seemed that I was then further away from home
than I had ever been before, or have ever been since. While we were walking down the street
we saw an old man coming toward us, and my brother said, “There is a man that will give you
a cent. He gives every new boy that comes into this town a cent.” That was my first visit to the
town, and when the old man got opposite to us he looked around, and my brother not wishing
me to lose the cent, and to remind the old man that I had not received it, told him that I was a
new boy in the town. The old man, taking off my hat, placed his trembling hand on my head,
and told me I had a Father in heaven. It was a kind, simple act, but I feel the pressure of the
old man’s hand upon my head to-day. You don’t know how much you may do by just
speaking kindly.
– D L Moody.

“Won by a Smile.”

In London, in 1872, one Sunday morning a minister said to me, “I want you to notice that family
there in one of the front seats, and when we go home I want to tell you their story.” When we
got home I asked him for the story, and he said, “All that family were won by a smile.” “Why,”
said I, “how’s that?” “Well,” said he, “as I was walking down a street one day I saw a child at a
window; it smiled, and I smiled, and we bowed. So it was the second time; I bowed, she
bowed. It was not long before there was another child, and I had got in a habit of looking and
bowing, and pretty soon the group grew, and at last, as I went by, a lady was with them. I didn’t
know what to do. I didn’t want to bow to her, but I knew the children expected it, and so I bowed
to them all. And the mother saw I was a minister, because I carried a Bible every Sunday
morning. So the children followed me the next Sunday and found I was a minister. And they
thought I was the greatest preacher, and their parents must hear me. A minister who is kind to
a child and gives him a pat on the head, why the children will think he is the greatest preacher
in the world. Kindness goes a great way. And to make a long story short, the father and
mother and five children were converted, and they are going to join our church next Sunday.”

Won to Christ by a smile! We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, and we must have
smiling faces.
– D L Moody.

Love.

In our city a few years ago there was a little boy who went to one of the mission Sunday-schools.
His father moved to another part of the city about five miles away, and every Sunday that boy
came past thirty or forty Sunday-schools to the one he attended. And one Sunday a lady who
was out collecting scholars for a Sunday-school met him and asked why he went so far, past so
many schools. “There are plenty of others,” said she, “just as good.” He said, “They may be as
good but they are not so good for me.” “Why not?” she asked “Because they love a fellow over
there,” he answered. Ah! love won him. “Because they love a fellow over there!” How easy it is
to reach people through love! Sunday-school teachers should win the affections of their
scholars if they wish to lead them to Christ.
– D L Moody.

“Emma, this is Papa’s Friend.”

A gentleman one day came to my office for the purpose of getting me interested in a young man
who had just got out of the penitentiary. “He says,” said the gentleman, “he don’t want to go to
the office, but I want your permission to bring him in and introduce him.” I said, “Bring him in.” The
gentleman brought him in and introduced him, and I took him by the hand and told him I was
glad to see him. I invited him up to my house, and when I took him into my family I introduced him
as a friend. When my little daughter came into the room, I said, “Emma, this is papa’s friend.”
And she went up and kissed him, and the man sobbed aloud. After the child left the room, I said,
“What is the matter?” “O sir,” he said, “I have not had a kiss for years. The last kiss I had was
from my mother, and she was dying. I thought I would never have another one again.” His heart
was broken.
– D L Moody.

Moody’s Little Emma.

I remember one time my little girl was teasing her mother to get her a muff, and so one day her
mother brought a muff home, and, although it was storming, she very naturally wanted to go out
in order to try her new muff. So she tried to get me to go out with her. I went out with her, and I
said, “Emma, better let me take your hand.” She wanted to keep her hands in her muff, and so
she refused to take my hand. Well, by and by she came to an icy place, her little feet slipped,
and down she went. When I helped her up she said, “Papa, you may give me your little finger.”
“No, my daughter, just take my hand.” “No, no, papa, give me your little finger.” Well, I gave my
finger to her, and for a little way she got along nicely, but pretty soon we came to another icy
place, and again she fell. This time she hurt herself a little, and she said, “Papa, give me your
hand,” and I gave her my hand, and closed my fingers about her wrist, and held her up so that
she could not fall. Just so God is our keeper. He is wiser than we.
– D L Moody.

A Man who would not Speak to his Wife.

I remember while in Philadelphia, a man with his wife came to our meetings. When he went out
he wouldn’t speak to his wife. She thought it was very queer, but said nothing, and went to bed
thinking that in the morning he would be all right. At breakfast, however, he would not speak a
word. Well, she thought this strange, but she was sure he would have got all over whatever was
wrong with him by dinner. The dinner hour arrived, and it passed away without his saying a
word. At supper not a word escaped him, and he would not go with her to the meeting. Every
day for a whole week the same thing went on. But at the end of the week he could not stand it
any longer, and he said to his wife: “Why did you go and write to Mr. Moody and tell him all
about me?” “I never wrote to Mr. Moody in my life,” said the wife. “You did,” he answered.
“You’re mistaken; why do you think that?” “Well, then, I wronged you; but when I saw Mr. Moody
picking me out among all those people, and telling all about me, I was sure you must have
written to him.” It was the Son of Man seeking for him, my friends…
– D L Moody.

The Son of God has come into the world to bless us. Look at that Sermon on the Mount. It is
filled with the word blessed, blessed, blessed. I think it occurs nine times. His heart was full of
blessings for the people. He had to get it out before He gave His sermon.
– D L Moody.

There is no man living that can do the work that God has got for me to do. No one can do it but
myself. And if the work ain’t done we will have to answer for it when we stand before God’s bar. —
What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out
anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold? Because they are all the time receiving, never
giving out an anything.

Fourscore and Five.

When we went to London there was an old woman eighty-five years old, who came to the
meetings and said she wanted a hand in that work. She was appointed to a district, and called
on all classes of people. She went to places where we would probably have been put out, and
told the people of Christ. There were none that could resist her. When the old woman, eighty-five
years old, came to them and offered to pray for them, they all received her kindly–Catholics,
Jews, Gentiles–all. That is enthusiasm. That is what we want.
– D L Moody.

Two Young Men.

I heard a story about two young men who came to New York City from the country on a visit.
They went to the same boarding-house to stay and took a room together. Well, when they came
to go to bed each felt ashamed to go down on his knees before his companion first. So they sat
watching each other. In fact, to express the situation in one word, they were both cowards–yes,
cowards! But at last one of them mustered up a little courage, and with burning blushes, as if he
was about to do something wrong and wicked, he sunk down on his knees to say his prayers.
As soon as the second saw that, he also knelt. And then, after they had said their prayers, each
waited for the other to get up. When they did manage to get up one said to the other: “I really am
glad to see that you knelt; I was afraid of you.” “Well,” said the other, “and I was afraid of you.”
So it turned out that both were Christians, and yet they were afraid of each other. You smile at
that, but how many times have you done the same thing–perhaps not in that way, but the same
thing in effect. Henceforth, then, be not ashamed, but let everyone know you are His.
– D L Moody.

Safe in the Ark.

When the voice came down from heaven to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for
thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation,” now; there was a minute when Noah
was outside the ark, and another when he was inside, and by being inside he was saved. As
long as he was outside of the ark he was exposed to the wrath of God just like the rest of those
antediluvians. If he stayed out, and remained with those antediluvians, he would have been
swept away, as they were. It was not his righteousness; it was not his faith nor his works that
saved him; it was the ark. And, my friends, we have not, like Noah, to be one hundred and
twenty years making an ark for our safety. God has provided an ark for us, and the question is:
Are you inside or outside this ark? If you are inside you are safe; if you are outside you are not
safe.
– D L Moody.

Moody Puts a Man in his “Prophet’s Room.”

A few years ago as I stood at the door of a church giving out invitations to a meeting to take
place that evening, a young man to whom I offered one said, “I want something more than that. I
want something to do!” I urged him to come into the meeting, and after some remonstrance he
consented. After the meeting I took him home, and after dinner I told him there was a room which
I called the “Prophet’s Room,” and up stairs was another which I called the “Unbeliever’s
Room,” and I would give him till night to decide which he would take. He was able by night to
take the first, and the next day was at work urging young men to attend the noonday
prayer-meeting. When I was burned out in the great fire and was left perfectly destitute, I
received a letter with some money from this young man in Boston, who said:

“You helped me and took me in your home, keeping me six weeks and refused to take anything
for it, and I have never forgotten your kindness.” I had lost sight of him, but he had remembered
that as a turning-point in his existence.
– D L Moody.

Spurgeon’s Parable.

Mr. Spurgeon, a number of years ago, made a parable. He thought he had a right to make one,
and he did it. He said: “There was once a tyrant who ordered one of his subjects into his
presence, and ordered him to make a chain. The poor blacksmith–that was his
occupation–had to go to work and forge the chain. When it was done he brought it into the
presence of the tyrant, and he was ordered to take it away and make it twice the length. He
brought it again to the tyrant, and again he was ordered to double it. Back he came when he
had obeyed the order, and the tyrant looked at it, and then commanded the servants to bind the
man hand and foot with the chain he had made and cast him into prison. “And,” Mr. Spurgeon
said, “that is what the devil does with man.” He makes them forge their own chain, and then
binds them hand and foot with it, and casts them into outer darkness.” My friends, that is just what
these drunkards, these gamblers, these blasphemers–that is just what every sinner is doing.
But, thank God, we can tell you of a deliverer. The Son of God has power to break everyone of
these fetters if you will only come to Him.
– D L Moody.

Dr. Arnott’s Dog “Rover.”

I remember when Dr. Arnott, who has gone to God, was delivering a sermon, he used this
illustration. The sermon and text have all gone, but that illustration is fresh upon my mind to-night
and brings home the truth. He said: “You have been sometimes out at dinner with a friend, and
you have seen the faithful household dog standing watching every mouthful his master takes.
All the crumbs that fall on the floor he picks up, and seems eager for them, but when his master
takes a plate of beef and puts it on the floor and says, ‘Rover, here’s something for you,’ he
comes up and smells of it, looks at his master, and goes away to a corner of the room. He was
willing to eat the crumbs, but he wouldn’t touch the roast beef–thought it was too good for him.”
That is the way with a good many Christians. They are willing to eat the crumbs, but not willing to
take all God wants. Come boldly to the throne of grace and get the help we need; there is an
abundance for every man, woman and child in the assemblage.
– D L Moody.

A Heavy Draw on Alexander the Great.

There is a story told of Alexander the Great. A general in his army was a great favorite with him,
and he told him to draw anything from his treasury that he wanted. Well, he presented a bill to
the treasurer, and the treasurer wouldn’t honor it. It was for such an enormous amount that the
treasurer was astonished. The General went rushing to the Emperor and told him, and he called
the treasurer and said, “Didn’t I tell you to honor the draft of the General.” “But,” replied the
treasurer, “do you understand its amount?” “Never mind what it is,” replied the Emperor, “he
honors me and my kingdom by making a great draft.” And so we honor God by asking for grace
in abundance. I tell you, my friends, it is a pity there are so many half-starved, mean Christians
around when God says, “Come and get all you want.”
– D L Moody.

“Liberty Now and Forever.”

When Miss Smiley went down South to teach, she went to a hotel and found everything covered
with dirt. The tables were dirty, dishes dirty, beds were dirty. So she called an old colored
woman who was in the house, and said, “Now you know that the Northern people set you at
liberty. I came from the North and I don’t like dirt, so I want you to clean the house.” The old
colored woman set to work, and it seemed as if she did more work in that half day than she had
done in a month before. When the lady got back the colored woman came to her and said,
“Now, is I free or ben’t I not? When I go to my old massa he says I ain’t free, and when I go to my
own people they say I is, and I don’t know whether I’m free or not. Some people told me
Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but massa says he didn’t; he hadn’t any right to.” So
Christian people go along, not knowing whether they are free or not. Why, when they have the
Spirit they are as free as air. Christ came for that. He didn’t come to set us free and then leave
us in servitude. He came to give us liberty now and forever.
– D L Moody.

LITTLE FOLKS.

The Little Child and the Big Book.

I like to think of Christ as a burden bearer. A minister was one day moving his library up stairs.
As the minister was going up stairs with his load of books his little boy came in and was very
anxious to help his father. So his father just told him to go and get an armful and take them up
stairs. When the father came back he met the little fellow about half way up the stairs tugging
away with the biggest in the library. He couldn’t manage to carry it up. The book was too big. So
he sat down and cried. His father found him, and just took him in his arms, book and all, and
carried him up stairs. So Christ will carry you and all your burdens.
– D L Moody.

Johnny, Cling Close to the Rock

Little Johnny and his sister were one day going through a long, narrow railroad tunnel. The
railroad company had built small clefts here and there through the tunnel, so that if any one got
caught in the tunnel when the train was passing, they could save themselves. After this little boy
and girl had gone some distance in the tunnel they heard a train coming. They were frightened
at first, but the sister just put her little brother in one cleft and she hurried and hid in another. The
train came thundering along, and as it passed, the sister cried out: “Johnny, cling close to the
rock! Johnny, cling close to the rock!” and they were safe. The “Rock of Ages” may be beaten
by the storms and waves of adversity, but “cling close to the rock, Christians, and all will be
well.” The waves don’t touch the Christian; he is sheltered by the Rock “that is higher than I,” by
the One who is the strong arm, and the Saviour who is mighty and willing to save.
– D L Moody.

Jumping into Father’s Arms.

I remember, while in Mobile attending meetings, a little incident occurred which I will relate. It
was a beautiful evening, and just before the meeting some neighbors and myself were sitting on
the front piazza enjoying the evening. One of the neighbors put one of his children upon a ledge
eight feet high, and put out his hands and told him to jump. Without the slightest hesitation he
sprang into his father’s arms. Another child was lifted up, and he, too, readily sprang into the
arms of his father. He picked up another boy, larger than the others, and held out his arms, but
he wouldn’t jump. He cried and screamed to be taken down. The man begged the boy to jump,
but it was of no use; he couldn’t be induced to jump. The incident made me curious, and I
stepped up to him and asked, “How was it that those two little fellows jumped so readily into
your arms and the other boy wouldn’t?” “Why,” said the man, “those two boys are my children
and the other boy isn’t, he don’t know me.”
– D L Moody.

The Stolen Boy–A Mother’s Love.

There was a boy a great many years ago, stolen in London, the same as Charley Ross was
stolen here. Long months and years passed away, and the mother had prayed and prayed, as
the mother of Charley Ross prayed, I suppose, and all her efforts had failed and they had given
up all hope; but the mother did not quite give up her hope. One day a little boy was sent up to
the neighboring house to sweep the chimney, and by some mistake he got down again through
the wrong chimney. When he came down, he came in by the sitting-room chimney. His memory
began at once to travel back through the years that had passed. He thought that things looked
strangely familiar. The scenes of the early days of youth were dawning upon him; and as he
stood there surveying the place, his mother came into the room. He stood there covered with
rags and soot. Did she wait until she sent him to be washed before she rushed and took him in
her arms? No, indeed; it was her own boy. She took him to her arms all black and smoke, and
hugged him to her bosom, and shed tears of joy upon his head.
– D L Moody.

The Repentant Father.

Not long ago a young man went home late. He had been in the habit of going home late, and
the father began to mistrust that he had gone astray. He told his wife to go to bed, and
dismissed the servants, and said he would sit up till his son came home. The boy came home
drunk, and the father in his anger gave him a push into the street and told him never to enter his
house again, and shut the door. He went into the parlor and sat down, and began to think: “Well,
I may be to blame for that boy’s conduct, after all. I have never prayed with him. I have never
warned him of the dangers of the world.” And the result of his reflections was that he put on his
overcoat and hat, and started out to find his boy. The first policeman he met he asked eagerly,
“Have you seen my boy?” “No.” On he went till he met another. “Have you seen anything of my
son?” He ran from one to another all that night, but not until the morning did he find him. He took
him by the arm and led him home, and kept him till he was sober. Then he said: “My dear boy, I
want you to forgive me; I’ve never prayed for you; I’ve never lifted up my heart to God for you;
I’ve been the means of leading you astray, and I want your forgiveness.” The boy was touched,
and what was the result? Within twenty-four hours that son became a convert, and gave up that
cup. It may be that some father here has a wayward son. Go to God, and on your knees confess
it. Let the voice of Jesus sink down in your heart; “Bring him unto Me.”
– D L Moody.

Prayer Answered.

Only a few years ago in the City of Philadelphia there was a mother that had two sons. They
were just going as fast as they could to ruin. They were breaking her heart, and she went into a
little prayer-meeting and got up and presented them for prayer. They had been on a drunken
spree or had just got started in that way, and she knew that their end would be a drunkard’s
grave, and she went among these Christians and said, “Won’t you just cry to God for my two
boys?” The next morning those two boys had made an appointment to meet each other on the
corner of Market and Thirteenth streets–though not that they knew anything about our
meeting–and while one of them was there at the corner, waiting for his brother to come, he
followed the people who were flooding into the depot building, and the spirit of the Lord met him,
and he was wounded and found his way to Christ. After his brother came he found the place too
crowded to enter, so he too went curiously into another meeting and found Christ, and went
home happy; and when he got home he told his mother what the Lord had done for him, and the
second son came with the same tidings. I heard one of them get up afterwards to tell his
experience in the young converts’ meeting, and he had no sooner told the story than the other
got up and said: “I am that brother, and there is not a happier home in Philadelphia than we
have got.”
– D L Moody.

The Praying Cripple.

I once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death-bed. She had given herself to God, and was
distressed only because she could not labor for Him actively among the lost. Her clergyman
visited her, and hearing her complaint, told her that there from her sick-bed she could offer
prayers for those whom she wished to see turning to God. He advised her to write the names
down, and then to pray earnestly; and then he went away and thought of the subject no more.
Soon a feeling of great religious interest sprang up in the village, and the churches were
crowded nightly. The little cripple heard of the progress of the revival, and inquired anxiously for
the names of the saved. A few weeks later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found
under her little pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every one of whom had in
the revival been converted. By each name was a little cross, by which the poor crippled saint
had checked off the names of the converts as they had been reported to her.
– D L Moody.

The Orphan’s Prayer.

A little child whose father and mother had died, was taken into another family. The first night she
asked if she could pray, as she used to do. They said “Oh yes.” So she knelt down, and prayed
as her mother taught her; and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: “Oh
God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were.” Then she paused and
looked up, as if expecting the answer, and added: “Of course He will.” How sweetly simple was
that little one’s faith; she expected God to “do,” and, of course, she got her request.
– D L Moody.

The impression that a praying mother leaves upon her children is life-long. Perhaps when you
are dead and gone your prayer will be answered.
– D L Moody.

By the Wayside.

I went down past the corner of Clark and Lake streets one day, and, fulfilling my vow, on seeing
a man leaning up against a lamp-post, I went up to him and said: “Are you a Christian?” He
damned me and cursed me, and told me to mind my own business. He knew me, but I didn’t
know him. He said to a friend of his that afternoon that he had never been so insulted in his life,
and told him to say to me that I was damning the cause I pretended to represent. Well, the friend
came and delivered his message. “May be I am doing more hurt than good,” I said; “may be
I’m mistaken, and God hasn’t shown me the right way.” That was the time I was sleeping and
living in the Young Men’s Christian Association rooms, where I was then President, Secretary,
janitor, and everything else. Well one night, after midnight I heard a knock at the door. And there
on the step leading into the street stood this stranger I had made so mad at the lamp-post, and
said he wanted to talk to me about his soul’s salvation. He said: “Do you remember the man
you met about three months ago at the lamp-post, and how he cursed you? I have had no
peace since that night; I couldn’t sleep. Oh, tell me what to do to be saved.” And we just fell
down on our knees, and prayed, and that day he went to the noon prayer meeting and openly
confessed the Saviour, and soon after went to the war a Christian man. I do not know but he died
on some Southern battle-field or in a hospital, but I expect to see him in the kingdom of God.
– D L Moody.

Angry at First, Saved at Last.

In Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the inquiry-room, when I noticed a gentlemen walking up
and down before the door. I went forward, and said: “Are you a Christian?” He was very angry,
and turned on his heel and left me. The following Sunday night I was preaching about
“receiving.” and I put the question: “Who’ll receive Him now?” That young man was present,
and the question sank into his heart. The next day he called upon me–he was a merchant in that
city–and said: “Do you remember me?” “No, I don’t.” “Do you remember the young man who
answered you so roughly the other night?” “Yes, I do.” “Well, I’ve come to tell you that I am
saved.” “How did it happen?” “Why, I was listening to your sermon last night, and when you
asked, ‘Who’ll receive Him now?’ God put it into my heart to say: ‘I will;’ and He has opened my
eyes to see His Son now.”
– D L Moody.

Removing the Difficulties.

I was speaking to a young lady in the inquiry-room some time ago, and she was in great
distress of mind. She seemed really anxious to be saved, and I could not find out what was the
trouble between God and her. I saw there was something that was keeping her back. I quoted
promise after promise, but she didn’t seem to take hold on any of them. Then we got down on
our knees, but still there was no light. Finally I said: “Is there anyone against whom you have
bitter feelings?” “Yes; there’s a young lady on the other side of the room, talking to your wife,
whom I can’t forgive.” “Ah I’ve got it now; that’s why the blessing won’t come to you.” “Do you
mean to tell me,” said the young lady, looking up in my face, “that I can’t be saved until I forgive
her?” “No you can’t! and, if there are any others whom you hate, you must forgive them also.”
She paused a moment, and then she said: “I will go.” It seems that my wife and the other young
lady had been going over the same ground, and just at that time the other young lady had
resolved to come to ask this one’s forgiveness. So they met in the middle of the room, both
saying at once: “Will you forgive me?” Oh, what a meeting it was! They knelt together, and joy
beamed on their souls, and their difficulties vanished. In a little while they went out of the room
with their arms around each other, and their faces lit up with a heavenly glow.
– D L Moody.

The Skeptical Lady.

When Mr. Sankey and I were in the north of England, I was preaching one evening, and before
me sat a lady who was a skeptic. When I had finished, I asked all who were anxious, to remain.
Nearly all remained, herself among the number. I asked her if she was a Christian, and she said
she was not, nor did she care to be. I prayed for her there. On inquiry, I learned that she was a
lady of good social position, but very worldly. She continued to attend the meetings, and in a
week after I saw her in tears. After the sermon, I went to her and asked if she was of the same
mind as before. She replied that Christ had come to her and she was happy. Last Autumn I had
a note from her husband saying she was dead, that her love for the Master had continually
increased. When I read that note, I felt paid for crossing the Atlantic. She worked sweetly after
her conversion, and was the means of winning many of her fashionable friends to Christ. O, may
you seek the Lord while He may be found, and may you call upon Him while He is near.
– D L Moody.

Mrs. Moody Teaching her Child.

There was a time when our little boy did not like to go to church, and would get up in the morning
and say to his mother, “What day is to-morrow?” “Tuesday.” “Next day?” “Wednesday.” “Next
day?” “Thursday;” and so on, till he came to the answer, “Sunday.” “Dear me,” he said. I said to
the mother, “We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday in this way; that will never do. That
is the way I used to feel when I was a boy. I used to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of
dread. Very few kind words were associated with the day. I don’t know that the minister ever put
his hand on my head. I don’t know that the minister even noticed me, unless it was when I was
asleep in the gallery, and he woke me up. This kind of thing won’t do; we must make the Sunday
the most attractive day of the week; not a day to be dreaded; but a day of pleasure.” Well the
mother took the work up with this boy. Bless those mothers in their work with the children.
Sometimes I feel as if I would rather be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox
than have all the glories in the world. Those mothers who are faithful with the children God has
given them will not go unrewarded. My wife went to work and took those Bible stories and put
those blessed truths in a light that the child could comprehend, and soon the feeling of dread for
the Sabbath with the boy was the other way, “What day’s to-morrow?” he would ask, “Sunday.”
“I am glad.” And if we make those Bible truths interesting–break them up in some shape so that
these children can get at them, then they will begin to enjoy them.
– D L Moody.

I remember a gentleman of Boston, a man high in life, a Congressman, who was accustomed to
carry with him little cards and distribute them wherever he went, and on some of these cards
were words like these: “I expect to pass through this world but once, and therefore if there be
any kindness I can show, if there is anything I can do to make men happy, I shall do it, for I may
not pass this way again.”

– D L Moody.

The Prodigal Son.

The boy got his money, and away he went. He feels very independent; he can take care of
himself; he can work his own way. I don’t know where he went to. Perhaps he went away down to
Memphis, and perhaps he went to Egypt–got as far away from home as he could. When he
went away he soon commenced to go down to ruin. When he gets down to that part of the
country he suddenly becomes very popular with a certain class of men… …The poor fellow was
in a blaze of glory while his money lasted, but when it had gone he woke up to find himself
without friends. A man in New England said while his money lasted he had friends, but when he
was ruined and in prison he found out who his real friends were. Not one of his old friends came
near him, but the Christian people came and spoke to him words of kindness and comfort, and it
was then he made the discovery who his true friends were. So this young prodigal didn’t get his
eyes open till his money was all gone. No one in that foreign country loved him then, no one in
that land cared for him; but away off over those green hills there was one who loved him still. It
was his father, and that father received him back.
– D L Moody.

The Church under the inspiration of this new feeling for humanity is turning with fresh interest
to the contemplation of the character of Jesus Christ, and is rising to a more lofty idea of its
responsibilities towards the world. More than ever in the past, it is now felt that Christianity
must vindicate itself as a practical religion; and that in view of the great problems–scientific,
social and industrial, which the new conditions of an advancing civilisation have created, the
Church, if it is to fulfil its function as the interpreter and guide of thought, must come down from
its heights of calm seclusion and grapple with the actual difficulties of men, not indeed by
assuming a political rôle or acting as a divider and judge amid conflicting secular aims, but
by revealing the mind of Christ and bringing the principles of the gospel to bear upon the
complex life of society.

Quoted from:
Christianity and Ethics, by Archibald B. C. Alexander.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22105

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Yet is not this the case with many of us? Do we not consider it a great point gained, if we can
be brought to think seriously, to pray in earnest, to read the Bible, to begin to look to our own
ways and lives? We feel it for ourselves, and others also feel it for us: it is natural, it is
unavoidable, that we feel great joy, that we think a great deal is done, if we see any of you,
after leading a life of manifest carelessness, and therefore of manifest sin, beginning to take
more pains with himself, and so becoming what is called somewhat more steady and more
serious. I know that the impression is apt to be too strong upon us: we are but too apt to
boast for him who putteth on his armour as for him who putteth it off; because he who putteth
on his armour at least shows that he is preparing for the battle, which so many never do at
all.

Quoted from:
The Christian Life, by Thomas Arnold
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13151

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Now this is the advice I give you:

a. Be sure that blame is just before you cast it.

b. Be merciful in attributing blame even when it is deserved.

First:-Be sure that you have real cause to cast blame, be sure that you are not committing a
great injustice, and doing another a grievous injury which is unmerited.

“Do to others as you would they should do to you.” Consider how miserable you would feel
were you the subject of unmerited blame.

Secondly:-Be merciful in attributing blame even when it is deserved. Remember that you
yourself are not guiltless. There are things that you have done which deserve censure quite
as much as those things you blame in others. One day a woman, taken in adultery, was
brought before Christ, and the Jews desired to stone her to death because of her sin. Then
our Lord said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And when
they heard it, being convicted by their own consciences, they went out, one by one,
beginning at the eldest even unto the last.

I say to you: when you are inclined to cast blame, even when just, think, “Am I without sin, that
I should judge and condemn another?”

Quoted from:
The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent, by S. Baring-Gould
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21987

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Men that believe in Jesus Christ to the effectual receiving of Jesus Christ, they are born to it.
He does not say they SHALL be born to it, but they ARE born to it; born of God, unto God,
and the things of God, before they receive God to eternal salvation. “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Now unless he be born of God, he cannot see it.

Quoted from:
Miscellaneous Pieces, by John Bunyan #6 in our series by John Bunyan
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3613

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

C. M. Watts. The Perfections of God.

How shall I praise th’ eternal God,
That infinite Unknown?
Who can ascend his high abode,
Or venture near his throne?

Those watchful eyes that never sleep,
Survey the world around:
His wisdom is a boundless deep,
Where all our thoughts are drowned.

Speak we of strength, his arm is strong,
To save or to destroy:
To him eternal years belong,
And never-ending joy.

He knows no shadow of a change,
Nor alters his decrees;
Firm as a rock his truth remains,
To guard his promises.

Quoted from:
EBook of Hymns for Christian Devotion, by J.G. Adams and E.H. Chapin
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20476

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The Bible is a literary record. It is not so much a book as a library, containing a great variety
of literary forms-legends, laws, maxims, hymns, sermons, visions, biographies, letters, etc.
Judged solely as literature its writings have never been equalled in their kind, much less
surpassed. Goethe declared, “Let the world progress as much as it likes, let all branches of
human research develop to their utmost, nothing will take the place of the Bible-that
foundation of all culture and all education.” Happily for the English-speaking world the
translation into our tongue, standardized in the King James’ Bible, is a universally
acknowledged classic; and scarcely a man of letters has failed to bear witness to its charm
and power. While most translations lose something of the beauty and meaning of the
original, there are some parts of the English Bible which, as literature and as religion, excel
the Hebrew or Greek they attempt to render.

Quoted from:
Some Christian Convictions, by Henry Sloane Coffin
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16424

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The Bible is a record of religious experience. It has but one central figure from Genesis to
Revelation-God. But God is primarily in the experience, only secondarily in the record. All
thought succeeds in grasping but a fraction of consciousness; thought is well symbolized in
Rodin’s statue, where out of a huge block of rough stone a small finely chiselled head
emerges. With all their skill we cannot credit the men of faith who are behind the Bible pages
with making clear to themselves but a small part of God’s Self-disclosure to them. And when
they came to wreak thought upon expression, so clear and well-trained a mind as Paul’s
cannot adequately utter what he feels and thinks. His sentences strain and sometimes
break; he ends with such expressions as “the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,” and
God’s “unspeakable gift.”

Quoted from:
Some Christian Convictions, by Henry Sloane Coffin
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16424

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And this is all that the Fathers, or Christian apologists, generally, would claim for the theistic
argument. It is a practical, not a theoretical proof, and it is in this way that the early Christian
writers seem to regard it. They resort to it most frequently to show that the Christian doctrine
of God is not contrary to reason nor inconsistent with the nature of things, and to demonstrate
that such a conception is demanded by man’s very nature. In a word, their use of the
argument is confirmatory and explanatory rather than by way of absolute proof and
demonstration.

This attitude towards and use of the theistic argument, so radically different from that of the
Greek philosophers, perpetuated itself in the post-Nicene literature of the Christian Church,
and, in its main features, remained unaltered, until the time when men who had abandoned
the faith in the Word which had been the main stay of the ante-Nicene writers, and who yet
were unwilling to abandon the great theistic idea for which the world was indebted to
Christianity alone, sought to justify this idea on the basis of reason.

Quoted from:
THE BASIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM BY
LAWRENCE THOMAS COLE, A. M., S. T. B.,
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24328

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Suddenly the public interest was stirred, and the earlier excitement recalled by the publication
of a new life of Jesus. The author was a Frenchman, Ernest Renan, at one time a candidate
for the priesthood in the Roman Church. He was a man of learning and literary skill, who
made his Vie de Jésus, which appeared in 1863, the starting-point for a series of historical
works under the general title, Les Origines de Christianisme. In the next year appeared
Strauss’ popular work, Leben Jesu für das deutsche Volk. In 1864 was published also
Weizsäcker’s contribution to the life of Christ, his Untersuchungen über die evangelische
Geschichte. To the same year belonged Schenkel’s Charakterbild Jesu. In the years from
1867-1872 appeared Keim’s Geschichte Jesu von Nazara. There is something very striking
in this recurrence to the top.

Quoted from:
AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT SINCE KANT
BY EDWARD CALDWELL MOORE
PARKMAN PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15780

This is not you normal Christian book and has chapters like:
DEISM.
RATIONALISM.
PIETISM.
ÆSTHETIC IDEALISM.
This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHRISTIAN DEVOTEDNESS, ETC.

The writer of the following pages has been deeply affected, by the consideration of the
strange and melancholy fact–that Christianity has made little or no progress for fifteen
successive centuries: and having, as he trusts, perceived, in an attentive perusal of the
Gospel History, that primitive Christianity owed much of its irresistible energy to the open
and public manifestation by the early disciples, of their love to their Redeemer and King,
and to one another, by the evidence which they gave of it in their conduct, and being
moreover convinced that the exhibition of this love tends directly and most powerfully to
augment the prosperity of the Church of Christ within its own bosom, and to extend its
influence throughout the world in all ages; he ventures to lay the result of his reflections open
to the candid consideration of the sincere disciples of that Saviour, “who, though he was
rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich”

Quoted from:
Christian Devotedness, by Anthony Norris Groves
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24293

The Book of Religions Comprising The Views, Creeds, Sentiments, or Opinions,
Of All The Principal Religious Sects In The World Particularly Of All Christian
Denominations In Europe and America To Which Are Added Church and Missionary
Statistics Together With Biographical Sketches By John Hayward
Author of New England Gazetteer, Boston.

Quoted from:
The Book of Religions by John Hayward.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30323

I quote from these texts that I have found to let you know that these writings exist.
I make no attempt to choose one doctrine over another. I will not use my personal
beliefs to try to convince you of them, but I hope that we can all gain from the many
writings available to us all regardless of where they came from.

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

John Wickliffe.

A celebrated doctor, professor of divinity at Oxford, and deservedly considered as the
forerunner of Luther in the reformation. He was born at Wickliffe, in Yorkshire, about 1324,
and educated at Queen’s College, and afterwards at Merton, and in 1361 raised to the
mastership of Baliol College. In 1365, he was made, by the scholars, head of Canterbury
Hall, just founded at Oxford by Archbishop Islip; but his elevation was opposed by the
monks, and Langham, the next primate; and the pope, to whom the dispute was referred,
displaced him and his secular associates. Thus disgraced by violence, he retired to his
living at Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, meditating revenge against the authors of his unjust
privation. In the works of Marsilius of Padua, and other bold writers, he found ample room to
indulge his opposition; and, well aware of the popularity of attacking a foreign power, which
overawed the throne, and submitted the industry and the revenues of the kingdom to its own
avaricious views, he loudly inveighed against the errors and the encroachments of the
Romish church. His writings alarmed the clergy, and a council was assembled at Lambeth,
by Archbishop Sudbury, 1377, and Wickliffe summoned to give an account of his doctrines.
He appeared before it, accompanied by the duke of Lancaster, then in power; and he made
so able a defence, that he was dismissed without condemnation. His acquittal, however,
displeased the pope, Gregory XI., who directed his emissaries to seize the offending
heretic, or, if he were protected by the great and powerful of the kingdom, to cite him to
Rome, to answer in person before the sovereign pontiff. In consequence of this, a second
council assembled at Lambeth, and the nineteen propositions, which the pope had
declared heretical, were so ably vindicated by the eloquence of the undaunted reformer,
that his judges, afraid of offending the nobles, or of exciting a commotion among the people,
who loudly supported the cause of their champion, permitted him to depart in safety, and
enjoined on him silence in matters of religion and of controversy. Undismayed by the power
of his enemies, Wickliffe continued to preach his doctrines, which were now more
universally spread; and a third council, therefore, assembled, under Courtnay, the primate,
1382, and twenty-four propositions of the reformer were condemned as heretical, and
fourteen as erroneous. The severity of the church was, at the suggestion of the pope, and
the concurrence of the weak Richard II., directed with effect against the supporters of the
new heresy; but, while some of his followers suffered punishment for their adherence to his
principles, Wickliffe unhappily died at Lutterworth, 1384, at a time when nothing was wanting
to emancipate the English nation from the tyranny of Rome, but the boldness,
perseverance, and eloquence, of a popular leader. Of the several works which he wrote, his
Trialogus is almost the only one which has been printed. The noble struggle which Wickliffe
had made against the gigantic power of Rome was almost forgotten after his death, till
Martin Luther arose to follow his steps, and to establish his doctrines on a foundation which
will last till Christianity is no more. The memory of Wickliffe was branded with ignominy by
the impotent Papists, and by the order of the council of Constance, whose cruelties towards
John Huss and Jerome of Prague are so well known, the illustrious reformer was declared
to have died an obstinate heretic…

The Book of Religions by John Hayward.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30323

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interesting to you, the reader.

Thus it seems probable that one part of the teaching of Jesus was the announcement that
this age is coming to its end and that the Age to Come is rapidly approaching, when the
Kingdom of God will be universally realised. Those who wish to pass on into the life of the
New Age must prepare themselves by accepting already the sovereignty of God at
whatever cost it may be. Nothing physical or social must be allowed to stand in the way;
relations, property, eyesight, hands or feet must all be sacrificed if they stand between man
and his perfect acceptance of God’s sovereignty; few men have lived up to this standard,
and to reach it they must repent.

Quoted from:
EBook of Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity, by Kirsopp Lake
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30194

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interesting to you, the reader.

This handbook is intended to give such an outline of the Architecture of the Ancient World,
and of that of Christendom down to the period of the Crusades, as, without attempting to
supply the minute information required by the professional student, may give a general idea
of the works of the great building nations of Antiquity and the Early Christian times. Its chief
object has been to place information on the subject within the reach of those persons of
literary or artistic education who desire to become in some degree acquainted with
Architecture. All technicalities which could be dispensed with have been accordingly
excluded; and when it has been unavoidable that a technical word or phrase should occur,
an explanation has been added either in the text or in the glossary; but as this volume and
the companion one on Gothic and Renaissance Architecture are, in effect, two divisions of
the same work, it has not been thought necessary to repeat in the glossary given with this
part the words explained in that prefixed to the other.

Quoted from:
Architecture, by Thomas Roger Smith and John Slater
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29759

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interesting to you, the reader.

How Shall We Think of God?–”Upon the conception that is entertained of God will depend
the nature and quality of the religion of any soul or race; and in accordance with the view that
is held of God, His nature, His character and His relation to other beings, the spirit and the
substance of theology will be determined.” When one man says, “I believe in God” he may
have in mind an entirely different conception of God from another man who uses the same
expression. There is a Christian idea of God and there are many non-Christian ideas about
God; it is the latter which keep men from heartily engaging in the service of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

Quoted from:
EBook of Studies in the Life of the Christian by Henry T. Sell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7338

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interesting to you, the reader.

“My home! the spirit of its love is breathing
In every wind that plays across my track,
From its white walls the very tendrils wreathing
Seem with soft links to draw the wanderer back.
There am I loved–there prayed for!–there my mother
Sits by the hearth with meekly thoughtful eye,
There my young sisters watch to greet their brother;
Soon their glad footsteps down the path will fly!
And what is home? and where, but with the loving?”

Quoted from:
The Christian Home, by Samuel Philips
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14237

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interesting to you, the reader.

Our nature demands home. It is the first essential element of our social being. The whole
social system rests upon it: body, mind and spirit are concerned in it. These cannot be
complete out of the home-relations; there would be no proper equilibrium of life and
character without the home feeling and influence. The heart, when bereaved and
disappointed, naturally turns for refuge to home-life and sympathy. No spot is so attractive
to the weary one; it is the heart’s moral oasis; there is a mother’s watchful love, and a father’s
sustaining influence; there is a husband’s protection, and a wife’s tender sympathy; there is
the circle of loving brothers and sisters, happy in each other’s love. Oh, what is life without
these? A desolation! a painful, glooming pilgrimage through “desert heaths and barren
sands.” But home gives to life its fertilizing dews, its budding hopes, and its blossoming
joys. When far away in distant lands or upon the ocean’s heaving breast, we pine away and
become “home-sick;” no voice there like a mother’s; no sympathy there like a wife’s; no
loved one there like a child; no resting place there like home; and we cry out, “Home! sweet,
sweet home!”

Thus our nature instinctively longs for the deep love and the true hearts of home. It has for
our life more satisfaction than all the honors, and the riches and the luxuries of the world. We
soon grow sick of these, and become sick for home, however humble it may be. Its
endearments are ever fresh, as if in the bursting joys of their first experience. They remain
unforgotten in our memories and imperishable in our hearts. When friends become cold,
society heartless, and adversity frowns darkly and heavily upon us, oh, it is then that we turn
with fond assurance to home, where loved ones will weep as well as rejoice with us.

Quoted from:
The Christian Home, by Samuel Philips
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14237

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interesting to you, the reader.

There is truth in this, but there is also falsehood. Christians, real Christians, will always be
distinct from the world, and the distinction will be very clearly defined. But Christians should
not make it their object to be distinct from the world. They should aim to be Christians, and
let the distinction follow in its natural order and degree. Singularity, in itself, is no virtue. It is
just as likely to be a vice. A man is not necessarily better because he is unlike the rest of the
world. Difference from the world, therefore, is not an end of Christian discipline, but a result
and concomitant of it. This distinction is of the utmost importance. If distinctiveness is
regarded as an object of Christian effort, its value is sacrificed. Its tendency is to formality; to
the substitution of a variety of outward standards of duty for a single inward regulative
principle. To pride and self-righteousness on the ground of singularity. Such have been its
developments, for instance, in certain religious sects who insisted on plainness of dress as
a duty. Undoubtedly the spirit which originally prompted the requisition was good, Christlike.
It was the desire to take from the useless adornment of the person [pg 055] and bestow
upon objects of Christian effort and charity. It was the desire to remove temptations to vanity
and idle display. But in too many cases these things were forgotten. Christians received the
precept in the letter and not in the spirit. They came to insist on plainness of dress as a mark
of a true Christian, and forgot that materials of plain or sad colors might be as costly and rich
as gayer ones. They came to pride themselves on their plainness as a distinction from the
rest of the world. They said bitter and unchristian things against the man who should carry a
gold watch or the woman who should wear a feather or a ribbon. They perverted scripture to
uphold this ridiculous whim, and brought scorn upon themselves and reproach upon the
cause of Christ, because they turned their eyes from the inward, regulative power of the
gospel to one of its natural developments, and looked at that until it grew out of all
proportion.

Quoted from:
A Force in Christian Training by Rev. Marvin R. Vincent.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25018

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interesting to you, the reader.

Examine first with attention the natural powers and faculties of man! invention, reason,
judgment, memory; a mind of large discourse, looking before and after, reviewing the past,
and thence determining for the present, and anticipating [Pg 17] the future; discerning,
collecting, combining, comparing; capable not merely of apprehending but of admiring the
beauty of moral excellence: with fear and hope to warn and animate; with joy and sorrow to
solace and soften; with love to attach, with sympathy to harmonize, with courage to attempt,
with patience to endure, and with the power of conscience, that faithful monitor within the
breast, to enforce the conclusions of reason, and direct and regulate the passions of the
soul. Truly we must pronounce him majestic though in ruin. Happy, happy world, would be
the exclamation of the inhabitant of some other planet, on being told of a globe like ours,
peopled with such creatures as these, and abounding with situations and occasions to call
forth the multiplied excellencies of their nature. Happy, happy world, with what delight must
your great Creator and Governor witness your conduct, and what large and merited rewards
await you when your term of probation shall have expired.
I, bone, quo virtus tua te vocat, i pede fausto, Grandia laturus meritorum præmia.

But we have indulged too long in these delightful speculations; a sad reverse presents itself
on our survey of the actual state of man, when, from viewing his natural powers, we follow
him into practice, and see the uses to which he applies them. Take in the whole of the
prospect, view him in every age, and climate, and nation, in every condition and period of
society. Where now do you discover the characters of his exalted nature? How is the gold
become dim, and the fine gold changed? How is his reason clouded, his affections
perverted; his conscience stupified! How do anger, and envy, and hatred, and revenge,
spring up in his wretched bosom! How is he a slave to the meanest of his appetites! What
fatal propensities does he discover to evil! What inaptitude to good!

Quoted from:
A Practical View Of The Prevailing Religious System Of Professed Christians, In The Higher
And Middle Classes In This Country, Contrasted With real; Christianity.
By WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, Esq;
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE COUNTY OF YORK.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25709

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Much also has been already observed concerning the love of our fellow-creatures, and it
has been distinctly stated to be the indispensable, and indeed the characteristic duty of
Christians. It remains, however to be here farther remarked, that this grace can no where be
cultivated with more advantage than at the foot of the cross. No where can our Saviour’s
dying injunction to the exercise of this virtue be recollected with more effect; “This is my
commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.” No where can the
admonition of the Apostle more powerfully affect us; “Be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.”

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Yes! this is indeed a romance of faith–faith overcoming the world. This child or youth starts
out with all things against him. He is likely to grow up into an Ishmaelite if he grows up at all.
He starts with an ill-starred name-a name that spells misfortune. He starts without his
mothers blessing and without a glimmer of hope to cheer him; no father to give him a
helping hand by the way-without endowment, fortune, family, or friends. What chance can
there be in the race for one so heavily handicapped? Failure is written on his brow by the
hand that nursed him. Failure is written on all his circumstances. It will be a desperate
struggle all through. There will be none of the prizes of life for him. If he gets a bare living
wage, it is as much as he may expect.

Quoted from:
Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Characters, by George Milligan, J. G. Greenhough,
Alfred Rowland, Walter F. Adeney, J. Morgan Gibbon, H. Elvet Lewis, D. Rowlands, and W.
J. Townsend
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13860

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interesting to you, the reader.

This is included for its historical use:

The Books Presented Below Use These Titles

The First Book of Esdras
The Second Book of Esdras Esdras [sometimes Fourth Book of Ezra]
The Book of Tobit
The Book of Judith
The Rest of the Chapters of the Book of Esther
The Wisdom of Solomon
The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus
The Book of Baruch
The Epistle of Jeremy [sometimes Chapter Six of Baruch]
The Song of the Three Holy Children
The Prayer of Azariah [missing in one table of contents]
The History of Susanna [in Daniel]
The History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon
The Prayer of Manasses King of Judah
The First Book of the Maccabees
The Second Book of the Maccabees

Here is the table of contents in the order presented below:

The First Book of Esdras
The Second Book of Esdras Esdras [sometimes Fourth Book of Ezra]
The Greek Additions to Esther
The First Book of the Maccabees
The Second Book of the Maccabees
The Book of Tobit
The Book of Judith
The Wisdom of Solomon
The Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
The Book of Baruch
The Epistle (or letter) of Jeremiah
The Book of Susanna (in Daniel)
The Prayer of Azariah
The Prayer of Manasseh
Bel and the Dragon (in Daniel)

And then you can read the contents of these books!

Quoted from:
Project Gutenberg’s Deuteronomical Books of the Bible, by Anonymous
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/124

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interesting to you, the reader.

JOB:

Section I. Introduction
From personal knowledge and reading, from perusal of articles in Bible helps and
dictionaries, write out in your own language a two-hundred-word description of the book as
a whole, its purpose, its nature, etc.

Section II. Narratives (To be memorized and told, with care in regard to all details.)
1. Description of Job and His Household. Chapter 1.
2. First Interview between Jehovah and Satan. 1.
3. First Test and Result. 1.
4. Second Interview between Jehovah and Satan. 2.
5. Second Test and Result. 2.
6. The Three Friends. 2.

Section III. Geography
Locate by chapter and verse, naming the thought, or fact, or person connected therewith, the
following geographical terms: Uz, Sabeans, Chaldeans, Temanite, Shuhite, Naamathite,
Buzite, Tema, Sheba, Ophir, Rahab, Ethiopia. (Locate chapter and verse by reference to
concordance.) (Make record in blank book on same page as map.)

Draw full-page map, locating each place as far as known.

Section IV. Nature of Job’s Disease
Write out the descriptions as narrated in the following verses: 7:5; 13:28; 19:20; 30:17, 18, 30.
Describe in your own words the characteristics of the disease as noted in these verses.
Give name of disease, as agreed upon by interpreters.

Section V. Speakers and Speeches
In order to secure a skeleton idea of the book write out the names of the speakers in
consecutive order and the chapters containing the speeches. Space in each line could be
reserved to fill in at a later study the general thought of each speech. At the close make any
observations regarding the number and order of speeches. The following is a sample of the
first four speeches:

Historical Introduction. Chapters I and 2
1. Job. Chapter 3.
2. Eliphaz. Chapters 4 and 5.
3. Job. Chapters 6 and 7.
4. Bildad. Chapter 8.

Section VI. The Argument
Analyze the argument of Chapters 3 and 4. The following is a sample:
Job’s First Speech. Chapter 3
1. A curse upon the day of his birth. Verses 1-10.
2. He questions why he should not have died at birth. Verses 11-19.

Section VII. The Conclusion
Give narrative, with details, as recorded in Chapter 42:7-17.

Section VIII. Questions
1. Name three general lessons taught in the book about suffering.
2. What two things did Job do at the close of the speeches?
3. How did Job’s condition after the test compare with that previous to the test?
4. Name eight facts regarding Satan gleaned from Chapters 1 and 2.
5. Locate and commit Job’s two sublime statements of faith. (See Chapters 13 and 19.)
6. Name five kinds of people that Job helped. 29:12-16.
7. Name six classes of people who spurned him in his trouble. 19:13-19.
8. What two general statements about man does Job make? 14:1.
9. Select any six phrases that serve to indicate the life and customs of Job’s time.
10. What writers of the Bible refer to Job and what is their estimate?
11. Read Chapter 38 and write out your impressions of it in concise statements, using fifty
words.
12. Give three general reasons why the narrative of Job is to be received as an historical
fact.

Quoted from:
A Bird’s-Eye View of the Bible, by Frank Nelson Palmer
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16461

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And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And
when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that
they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty
works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren
James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?
Whence then hath this man all these things?

And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor,
save in his own country, and in his own house.

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.–Matthew xiii, 53-58

Quoted from:
Title: The Dore Gallery of Bible Illustrations, Complete. Author: Anonymous.
Illustrated by Gustave Dore
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8710

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interesting to you, the reader.

SCENES IN THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS.

The patriarchs might be called family kings–the divinely appointed
rulers of households. They were the earliest sovereigns under God of
which we have any account. Their authority was gradually extended by the
union of households, whose retinue of servants was often large, and
their wealth very great. The founder and leader of the patriarchal line
chosen by God from the wealthy nomades, or wandering farmers of the
fruitful valleys, was Abram. A worshipper of the Infinite One, he
married Sarai, a maiden of elevated piety and personal beauty.

Quoted from:
Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2, by Rev. P. C. Headley
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25363

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interesting to you, the reader.

It is a little singular that the words, God or Providence, are not
mentioned in the whole book of Esther. The writer seems studiously to
have avoided any reference to them, as if he did not wish to recognize
the interposition of Heaven in any of the events that transpired; while
his narrative is evidently designed to teach nothing else. The hand of
Providence is everywhere seen managing the whole scheme.

Quoted from:
Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2, by Rev. P. C. Headley
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25363

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interesting to you, the reader.

The Close of the Old Testament History. We now come to the close of Old Testament
history and prophecy. Ezra and Nehemiah were at Jerusalem, one the governor and the
other the priest of the people. Jerusalem and the temple had been restored and the worship
of Jehovah re-established. This was about 445 B. C. and Judea was still under Persian rule.
From this date to the opening of New Testament history, a period of about four hundred
years, there are no inspired records. Neither prophet nor inspired historian is found among
the Jews and there is no further development of revealed religion. It was, however, a period
of vast importance and the history of the chosen people may be traced from secular
sources. For convenience the history of the period may be divided into four sections: (1)
The Persian Period. (2) The Greek Period. (3) The Period of Independence. (4) The Roman
Period.

The Persian Period. The Persians continued their rule over Judea a little more than one
hundred years after the close of Old Testament history. But in 332 B. C. Alexander the Great
was enthroned over the monarchy, then under Darius, and inaugurated the era of Grecian
supremacy. During this period, however, little happened in Palestine that was of much
interest.

Under the Rule of the Greek Kings. Alexander the Great seemed to have formed a good
opinion of the Jews and granted them many special favors. He regarded them as good
citizens and gave them privileges as first class citizens of Alexandria and encouraged them
to settle throughout his empire. Upon his death his kingdom was broken up into four
kingdoms (Macedonia, Thrace. Syria and Egypt) and Judea was alternately under the rule
of Syria and Egypt. All Palestine was permeated with the influence of the Greek language
and philosophy. It was while Judea was under the rule of Ptolemy of Egypt that the
Septuagint version of the Old Testament was made. This made possible the reading of the
Hebrew Scriptures in the Greek language and was one of the greatest missionary works of
all times.

The Period of Independence. In 170 B.C. Antiochus Epiphiones began to oppress the Jews
in an attempt to force them into idolatry and about 167 B.C. Judas Maccabeus began to
lead a revolt which two years later was successful in throwing off the foreign yoke and
establishing the independence of the Jews. They were now governed by a succession of
rulers from the Maccabean family for a period of one hundred years. These rulers
performed the double function of both civil and ecclesiastical head of the people. They
were descendants of David and under their leadership Edom, Samaria and Galilee were
added to their territory and much of the splendor and wealth of the golden days of the
kingdom was restored.

The Roman Period. This period may be said to have begun in B.C. 63 and to have
extended to A.D. 70. In B.C. 63 Pompey overran Palestine, destroyed Jerusalem and
brought the Jews under Roman rule. By this conquest Jewish independence was forever
lost. In B.C. 37 Herod the Great was appointed by the Roman emperor to the position of ruler
of Palestine. In B.C. 20-18 he rebuilt the temple at Jerusalem, though it (all the buildings and
walls) was not finished until many years after his death. He also built the temple of Samaria
and continued to reign until Christ came and much longer.

The Entire Period. This entire period spans the time from the history of Nehemiah and the
prophecy of Malachi to the coming of the Messiah. It opens with the Persian empire
supreme and closes with Augustus Caesar as the head of Rome, the mistress of the world.
When Jesus came Herod the Great governed Palestine and all the world was at peace.

The End of the Period. There are many points of view from which to study the conditions
existing at the close of this period. But for our purpose it will probably suffice to consider (1)
some signs of decadence or defects; (2) some hopeful signs. The facts touching these
matters are to be gathered not only from secular history but from the life and work of Jesus
as they are seen at work either for or against the progress of his work. (1) Unpropitious
conditions. Among the signs of decadence or errors that needed correction should be
noted: (a) There was a defective view of God. They regarded God as too far away; (b) They
laid too much stress upon outward obedience and, thereby, left no place for motive in their
service; (c) This led them to rest salvation upon a system of works and to multiply rules of
obedience; (d) This led to too great demand for respect for the learned and of
subordination to them; (e) The Jews thought that they had a special place in the salvation of
God and as children of Abraham only felt the need of national deliverance. (2) Hopeful
signs. Several conditions that bespeak good should be noted: (a) The Jews did have the
truest conception of religion to be found anywhere in the world; (b) Their religion was a
matter of deep concern to them and they showed an undying devotion to their religious
institutions; (c) There was a keen sense of the worth of the individual; (d) There were many
synagogues which led to a zeal to proselyte foreigners and opened the way for Gentile
evangelism; (e) There was a widespread expectation of the Messiah whom the whole world
could receive as its spiritual king; (f) The home life of the Jews was strongly religious and
children were held in high esteem.

For Study and Discussion. (1) The career of Alexander the Great. (2) The reign of Ptolemy
Soter and Ptolemy Philadelphus in Egypt. (3) The acts of Antiochus Epiphanes. (4) The
story of Judas Maccabeus. (5) The story of the subjection of Judea to Rome. (6) The
persecution of the Jews under the several rulers of the different countries to which they were
subject during this period. (7) The religious parties of the period, especially the Pharisees
and Sadducees.

Literature. The information necessary to understand these topics may be found in any one
of the better Bible dictionaries, in Josephus and more or less in text books on Biblical
history such as Blakie.

Quoted from:
The Bible Period by Period, by Josiah Blake Tidwell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15771

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interesting to you, the reader.

Emerson writes:

“The most original book in the world is the Bible. This old collection of the ejaculations of
love and dread, of the supreme desires and contritions of men, proceeding out of the region
of the grand and eternal seems … the alphabet of the nations, and all posterior writings,
either the chronicles of facts under very inferior ideas, or when it rises to sentiment, the
combinations, analogies, or degradation of this. The elevation of this book may be
measured by observing how certainly all observation of thought clothes itself in the words
and forms of speech of that book…. Whatever is majestically thought in a great moral
element, instantly approaches this old Sanscrit…. Shakspeare, the first literary genius of the
world, the highest in whom the moral is not the predominating element, leans on the Bible;
his poetry presupposes it. If we examine this brilliant influence–Shakspeare–as it lies in our
minds, we shall find it reverent, not only of the letter of this book, but of the whole frame of
society which stood in Europe upon it, deeply indebted to the traditional morality, in short,
compared with the tone of the Prophets, secondary…. People imagine that the place which
the Bible holds in the world, it owes to miracles. It owes it simply to the fact that it came out of
a profounder depth of thought than any other book.” – The Dial: October, 1840.

Quoted from:
The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible, by R. Heber Newton
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12282

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Why We Believe The Bible.

There are two lines of proof of the reliability of the scriptures, the external and the internal.
These different kinds of evidences may be put down, without separation, somewhat as
follows:

1. The Formation and Unity of the Bible. There are sixty-six books written by nearly forty
men, who lived at various times, and yet these books agree in making a perfect whole.
These writers were of different classes and occupations. They possessed different
degrees of training and lived in widely different places and ages of the world. The perfect
agreement of their writings could not, therefore, be the result of any collusion between them.
The only conclusion that can explain such unity is that one great and infinite mind dictated
the scripture.

2. The Preservation of the Bible. That the Bible is a divine book is proven in that it has
survived the wreck of empires and kingdoms and the destruction of costly and carefully
gathered libraries and that, too, when there was no special human effort to save it. At times
all the constituted powers of earth were arrayed against it, but it has made its way against
the tide of fierce opposition and persecution.

3. Its Historical Accuracy. The names of towns, cities, battles, kings, empires and great
events, widely apart in time and place, are given without a blunder. The ruins of cities of
Assyria, Egypt and Babylon have been unearthed and tablets found that prove the
accuracy of the Bible narrative. These tablets corroborate the stories of the creation and fall
of man, of the flood, the tower of Babel, the bondage in Egypt, the captivity, and many other
things. This accuracy gives us confidence in the reality of the book.

Quoted from:
The Bible Book by Book, by Josiah Blake Tidwell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16290

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

James.

The Author. Three persons called James are mentioned in the New Testament. One of
these is James, the Lord’s brother (Matt. 13:55), who did not believe on Jesus until after the
resurrection, Jno. 7:2-9; Mar. 3:21, 31; Acts 1:13-14. This James occupies and important
place as pastor at Jerusalem, and made an important speech at the council of the Apostles,
Acts 15: 13-21. He is mentioned elsewhere, in Acts, 12:17; Gal. 1:19; 2:9-12. Josephus tells us
that he was stoned to death about 62 A. D. on a charge of departing from the Jewish law.
This James, the Lord’s brother, is supposed to be the author of this epistle.

To Whom Written. This letter was written to the Jews scattered everywhere, 1:1, and
evidently to Christian Jews, 2:1. Some of them were rich, some poor, 2:1-10. They were
lustful, greedy, and proud, 4:1-12, and were omitting to do the Lord’s work as they should.
1:22- 27.

The Epistle. The chief characteristic of style is abruptness. Change is made from one
subject to another with no effort to connect them. There is, therefore, no general subject, and
a lack of close connection between the points of analysis. “Faith without works is dead”
flashes in every section as a sort of bond of unity. It is eloquent, stern and sincere, and has a
distinct Jewish tone. It lacks the doctrinal emphasis found in Paul and states the Christian
faith in terms of moral excellence and instructs them in the subject of Christian morals. It is
notable for its omissions. It does not have the resurrection or ascension and only mentions
Christ’s name twice. Date and Place of Writing. It was no doubt written from Jerusalem where
he was pastor, but the date is much disputed. Some put it as early as A. D. 40. Others
among whom is Dr. Robertson say it was written not later than A. D. 50. Still others put it
about A. D. 61 or 62, just before the martyrdom of James. It is probably safe to say that it was
one of the very earliest of the New Testament books.

Quoted from:
The Bible Book by Book, by Josiah Blake Tidwell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16290

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

First Peter.

The Author. The author was the Apostle Peter, whose name before he became a disciple,
was Simon. He was born in Bethsaida and lived in Capernaum where he followed the
occupation of fishing. He was brought to Jesus by Andrew, his brother, and became one of
the leaders of the Apostles, both before and after Christ’s death. His career should be
studied as it is found in Acts. He was impetuous, brave and energetic, and after the
ascension performed many miracles.

First Peter.

Those Addressed. The sojourn of the dispersion (1:1) points to Jewish Christians. They
were strangers (sojourners) 1:1, 17; 2:11, who were persecuted, 3:17; 4:12-19, but whose
persecution came, not from the Jews, but from pagans, 4:3-4. They had certain faults and
wrong tendencies, 2:1, 11, 12, 16; 8:8-12; 4:9; 5:2-3.

Purpose. To console them in their suffering, and to exhort them to faithfulness and duty.

Date. Probably about 64-68 A. D. Certainly not after 70 A. D., as he was not doubt put to
death before then.

Quoted from:
The Bible Book by Book, by Josiah Blake Tidwell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16290

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Second Peter.

The Occasion. The occasion of the epistle is found in the harm being done to the church by
false teachers, who were of two classes, the libertines and the mockers about whom he
warns.

Purpose. Its purpose was to exhort them to Christian growth and to warn them against false
teachers.

Comparison with First Peter. It has no reference to Christ’s death, suffering, resurrection and
ascension. Glance through 1 Peter again to see how often these are mentioned. The spirit
manifested is one of anxiety, severity, and denunciation, white in 1 Peter it is one of
mildness, sweetness and fatherly dignity. It connects the second coming of Christ with the
punishment of the wicked, while 1 Peter connects it with the glorification of the saints. Its
key-note is knowledge, while that of 1 Peter is hope.

Some Teachings. (1) To be holy, not to secure an inheritance, but because we already
have it. (2) To love the brethren, not to purify our soul, but because it is pure. (3) That we
sacrifice, not as penance, but as an expression of praise.

Quoted from:
The Bible Book by Book, by Josiah Blake Tidwell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16290

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The Right Critical Use of the Bible.

“I am convinced that the Bible becomes even more beautiful the more one understands it;
that is, the more one gets insight to see that every word, which we take generally and make
special application of to our own wants, has had, in connection with certain circumstances,
with certain relations of time and place, a particular, directly individual reference of its own.”

Goethe: quoted by M. Arnold in “The Great Prophecy of Israel’s Restoration.”

Quoted from:
The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible, by R. Heber Newton
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12282

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Ab:

Father, grandfather or remote ancestors.
Eleventh month of the Jewish civil, and fifth of the saced year.

Ab is a word that is used in the completing of other words such as Abinadab meaning “my father
is noble.”
The name of the fifth month in the Hebrew calendar, and according to my records Josephus
makes it the month that Aaron died.

Also look up the word Abba.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

There appeared what is known as the Great Bible in 1539. It was only another version made by
Coverdale on the basis of the Matthew version, but corrected by more accurate knowledge.
There is an interesting romance of its publication. The presses of England were not adequate
for the great work planned; it was to be a marvel of typography. So the consent of King Francis
was gained to have it printed in France, and Coverdale was sent as a special ambassador to
oversee it. He was in dread of the Inquisition, which was in vogue at the time, and sent off his
printed sheets to England as rapidly as possible. Suddenly one day the order of confiscation
came from the Inquisitor-General. Only Coverdale’s official position as representing the King
saved his own life. As for the printed sheets on which so much depended, they seemed
doomed. But in the nick of time a dealer appeared at the printing-house and purchased four
great vats full of waste paper which he shipped to England-when it was found that the waste
paper was those printed sheets. The presses and the printers were all loyal to England, and the
edition was finally completed. The Great Bible was issued to meet a decree that each church
should make available in some convenient place the largest possible copy of the whole Bible,
where all the parishioners could have access to it and read it at their will. The version gets its
name solely from the size of the volume. That decree dates 1538, twelve years after Tindale’s
books were burned, and two years after he was burned! The installation of these great books
caused tremendous excitement-crowds gathered everywhere. Bishop Bonner caused six
copies of the great volume to be located wisely throughout St. Paul’s. He found it difficult to
make people leave them during the sermons. He was so often interrupted by voices reading to
a group, and by the discussions that ensued, that he threatened to have them taken out during
the service if people would not be quiet. The Great Bible appeared in seven editions in two
years, and continued in recognized power for thirty years. Much of the present English
prayer-book is taken from it.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Spite of his odds, however, Tindale is the real father of our King James version. About eighty
per cent. of his Old Testament and ninety per cent. of his New Testament have been transferred
to our version. In the Beatitudes, for example, five are word for word in the two versions, while the
other three are only slightly changed. Dr. Davidson has calculated that nine-tenths of the words
in the shorter New Testament epistles are Tindale’s, and in the longer epistles like the Hebrews
five-sixths are his. Froude’s estimate is fair: “Of the translation itself, though since that time it has
been many times revised and altered, we may say that it is substantially the Bible with which we
are familiar. The peculiar genius which breathes through it, the mingled tenderness and majesty,
the Saxon simplicity, the preternatural grandeur, unequaled, unapproached, in the attempted
improvements of modern scholars, all are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man,
William Tindale.”

[1] The fourth reads in his version, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness”;
the seventh, “Blessed are the maintainers of peace”; the eighth, “Blessed are they which suffer
persecution for righteousness’ sake.”

[2] History of England, end of chap. xii.

We said a moment ago that Wiclif’s translation was the standard of Middle English. It is time to
add that Tindale’s version “fixed our standard English once for all, and brought it finally into
every English home.” The revisers of 1881 declared that while the authorized version was the
work of many hands, the foundation of it was laid by Tindale, and that the versions that followed
it were substantially reproductions of Tindale’s, or revisions of versions which were themselves
almost entirely based on it.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

With the death of Elizabeth the Tudor line of sovereigns died out. The collateral Stuart line,
descending directly from Henry VII., naturally succeeded to the throne, and James VI. of
Scotland made his royal progress to the English capital and became James I. of England. In
him appears the first of that Stuart line during whose reign great changes were to occur. Every
one in the line held strongly to the dogma of the divine right of kings, yet under that line the
English people transferred sovereignty from the king to Parliament. Fortunately for history, and
for the progress of popular government, the Stuart line had no forceful figures in it. Macaulay
thinks it would have been fatal to English liberty if they had been able kings. It was easier to take
so dangerous a weapon as the divine right of kings from weak hands than from strong ones. So
it was that though James came out of Scotland to assert his divine and arbitrary right as
sovereign, by the time Queen Anne died, closing the Stuart line and giving way to the
Hanoverian, the real sovereignty had passed into the hands of Parliament.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

But [King] James spoke up to say that he had never yet seen a Bible well translated into
English; but the worst of all he thought the Genevan to be. He spoke as though he had just had a
copy given him by an English lady, and had already noted what he called its errors. That was at
the very least a royal evasion, for if there was any Book he did know it was the Genevan
version. He had been fairly raised on it; he had lived in the country where it was commonly used.
It had been preached at him many and many a time. Indeed, he had used it as the text for that
paraphrase of the Revelation of which we spoke a moment ago. And he knew its notes-well he
knew them- knew that they were from republican Geneva, and that kingly pretensions had short
shrift with them. James told the conference that these notes were “very partial, untrue, seditious,
savoring too much of traitorous and dangerous conceits,” supporting his opinion by two
instances which seemed disrespectful to royalty. One of these instances was the note on
Exodus 1:17, where the Egyptian midwives are said to have disobeyed the king in the matter of
destroying the children. The note says: “Their disobedience to the king was lawful, though their
dissembling was not.” James quoted that, and said: “It is false; to disobey the king is not lawful,
and traitorous conceits should not go forth among the people.”

Some of the High Church party objected that there were translations enough already; but it
struck James’s fancy to set them all aside by another version, which he at once said he would
order. It was to be made by the most learned of both universities, then to be revised by the
bishops and other Church dignitaries, then presented to the Privy Council, and finally to be
passed upon by himself. There is the echo of some sharp Scotch experiences in his
declaration that there were to be no marginal notes in that new version.

When they looked back on the conference, the Puritans felt that they had lost everything, and the
High Church people that they had gained everything. One of the bishops, in a very servile way,
and on his knee, gave thanks to God for having given the country such a king, whose like had
never been seen since Christ was on earth. Certainly hard times were ahead for the Puritans.
The King harried them according to his word. Within sixteen years some of them landed at
Plymouth Rock, and things began to happen on this side. That settlement at Plymouth was the
outcome of the threat the King had made at the Hampton Court conference.
But looking back one can see that the conference was worth while for the beginning of the
movement for the new version. The King was true to his word in this line also, and before the
year was out had appointed the fifty-four best Bible scholars of the realm to make the new
version. They were to sit in six companies of nine each, two at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and
two at Westminster. The names of only forty-seven of them have come down to us, and it is not
known whether the other seven were ever appointed, or in what way their names have been lost.
It must be said for the King that the only principle of selection was scholarship, and when those
six groups of men met they were men of the very first rank, with no peers outside their own
numbers–with one exception, and that exception is of some passing interest…

…It was the original plan that when one company had finished its part, the result should go to
each of the other companies, coming back with their suggestions to the original workers to be
recast by them. The whole was then to be reviewed by a smaller committee of scholars to give it
uniformity and to see it through the press. The records are not extant that tell whether this was
done in full detail, though we may presume that each section of the Scripture had the benefit of
the scholarship of the entire company.

We know a good deal of the method of their work. We shall understand it better by recalling
what material they had at hand. They were enabled to use the result of all the work that had
been done before them. They were instructed to follow the Bishops’ Bible wherever they could
do so fairly; but they were given power to use the versions already named from Wiclif down, as
well as those fragmentary versions which were numerous, and of which no mention has been
made. They ransacked all English forms for felicitous words and happy phrases. It is one of the
interesting incidents that this same Hugh Broughton, who was left off the committee and took it so
hard, yet without his will contributed some important matter to the translation, because he had on
his own authority made translations of certain parts of the Scripture. Several of our capital
phrases in the King James version are from him. There was no effort to break out new paths.
Preference was always given to a familiar phrase rather than to a new one, unless accuracy
required it. First, then, they had the benefit of all the work that had been done before in the same
line, and gladly used it.

In addition, they had all other versions made in the tongues of the time. Chiefly there was
Luther’s German Bible, already become for the German tongue what their version was destined
to be for the English tongue. There were parts of the Bible available in Spanish, French, and
Dutch. They were kept at hand constantly for any light they might cast on difficult passages.

For the Old Testament there were very few Hebrew texts. There had been little critical work yet
done on them, and for the most part there were only different editions running back over the
centuries. We have little more than that now, and there is almost no new material on the Old
Testament since the days of the King James translators. There was, of course, the Septuagint,
the Greek translation from the Hebrew made before Christ, with the guidance it could give in
doubtful places on the probable original. And finally there was the Vulgate, made into Latin out
of the Greek and Hebrew. This was all the Old Testament material they had, or that any one
could have in view of the antiquated original sources.

The New Testament material was more abundant, though not nearly so abundant as to-day.
There were few manuscripts of the early days to which they could refer; but there were the two
great critical versions of the New Testament in Greek, that by Erasmus and the Complutensian,
which had made use of the best manuscripts known. Then, finally again, there was the Vulgate.

Very faithfully these greatest scholars of their time wrought. No one worked for money, and no
one worked for pay, but each for the joy of the working. Three years they spent on the original
work, three years on careful revision and on the marginal references by which Scripture was
made to throw light on Scripture. Then in six months a committee reviewed it all, put it through the
press, and at last, in 1611, with the imprint of Robert Barker, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent
Majesty, the King James version appeared. The name Authorized Version is not a happy one,
for so far as the records go it was never authorized either by the King or the bishop; and, even if
it were, the authority does not extend beyond the English Church, which is a very small fraction of
those who use it. On the title-page of the original version, as on so many since, is the familiar
line, “Appointed to be Read in Churches,” but who made the appointment history does not say.

The version did not at once supersede the Genevan and the Bishops’; but it was so
incomparably better than either that gradually they disappeared, and by sheer excellence it
took the field, and it holds the field to-day in spite of the numerous supposedly improved
versions that have appeared under private auspices. It holds the field, also, in spite of the
excellent revised version of 1881 made by authority, and the more excellent version issued in
1901 by the American Revision Committee, to-day undoubtedly the best version in existence,
considered simply as a reproduction of the sense of the original. And for reasons that may later
appear, the King James version bids fair to hold the field for many years to come.

Excerpts quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Adam is the Hebrew word for man; Abraham means Father of a Great Multitude; David is the
Hebrew word for Beloved; Malachi means My Messenger.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The King James translators follow that same practice of transliteration rather than translation with
another word which is full of controversial. possibility. I mean the word “baptism.” There was
dispute then as now about the method of that ordinance in early Christian history. There were
many who held that the classical meaning which involved immersion had been taken over
bodily into the Christian faith, and that all baptism was by immersion. There were others who
held that while that might be the classical meaning of the word, yet in early Christian custom
baptism was not by immersion, but might be by sprinkling or pouring, and who insisted that no
pressure on the mode was wise or necessary. That dispute continues to this day. Early versions
of the Bible already figured in the discussion, and for a while there was question whether this
King James version should take sides in that controversy, about which men equally loyal to truth
and early Christian history could honestly differ. The translators avoided taking sides by
bringing the Greek word which was under discussion over into English, letter by letter. Our word
“baptism” is not an English word nor a Saxon word; it is a purely Greek word. The controversy
has been brought over into the English language; but the King James version avoided
becoming a controversial book. A number of years ago the convictions of some were so strong
that another version of the Bible was made, in which the word baptism was carefully replaced by
what was believed to be the English translation, “immersion,” but the version never had wide
influence.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

In this connection it is well to notice the effort of the King James translators at a fair statement of
the divine name. It will be remembered that it appears in the Old Testament ordinarily as
“LORD,” printed in small capitals. A very interesting bit of verbal history lies back of that word.
The word which represents the divine name in Hebrew consists of four consonants, J or Y, H, V,
and H. There are no vowels; indeed, there were no vowels in the early Hebrew at all. Those that
we now have were added not far from the time of Christ. No one knows the original pronunciation
of that sacred name consisting of four letters. At a very early day it had become too sacred to
pronounce, so that when men came to it in reading or in speech, they simply used another word
which is, translated into English, Lord, a word of high dignity. When the time came that vowels
were to be added to the consonants, the vowels of this other word Lord were placed under the
consonants of the sacred name, so that in the word Jehovah, where the J H V H occur, there are
the consonants of one word whose vowels are unknown and the vowels of another word whose
consonants are not used.

Illustrate it by imagining that in American literature the name Lincoln gathered to itself such
sacredness that it was never pronounced and only its consonants were ever printed. Suppose
that whenever readers came to it they simply said Washington, thinking Lincoln all the while.
Then think of the displacement of the vowels of Lincoln by the vowels of Washington. You have
a word that looks like Lancilon or Lanicoln; but a reader would never pronounce so strange a
word. He would always say Washington, yet he would always think the other meaning. And while
he would retain the meaning in some degree, he would soon forget the original word, retaining
only his awe of it. Which is just what happened with the divine name. The Hebrews knew it was
not Lord, yet they always said Lord when they came to the four letters that stood for the sacred
word. The word Jehovah, made up of the consonants of an unknown word and the vowels of a
familiar word, is in itself meaningless. Scholarship is not yet sure what was the original meaning
of the sacred name with its four consonants.

These translators had to face that problem. It was a peculiar problem at that time. How should
they put into English the august name of God when they did not know what the true vowels were?
There was dispute among scholars. They did not take sides as our later American Revision
has done, some of us think quite unwisely. They chose to retain the Hebrew usage, and print the
divine name in unmistakable type so that its personal meaning could not be mistaken.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The first of those results is visible in the italicized words which they used. In the King James
version words in italics are a frank acknowledgment that the Greek or the Hebrew cannot be put
into English literally. These are English words which are put in because it seems impossible to
express the meaning originally intended without certain additions which the reader must take
into account in his understanding of the version. We need not think far to see how necessary that
was. The arrangement of words in Greek, for example, is different from that in English. The
Greek of the first verse of the Gospel of John reads that “God was the Word,” but the English
makes its sentences in a reversed form, and it really means, “the Word was God.” So the Greek
uses particles where the English does not. Often it would say “the God” where we would say
simply “God.” Those particles are ordinarily wisely omitted. So the Greek does not use verbs at
some points where it is quite essential that the English shall use them. But it is only fair that in
reading a version of the Scripture we should know what words have been put in by translators in
their effort to make the version clear to us; and the italicized words of the King James version are
a frank effort to be accurate and yet fair.

The second result which shows their effort at accuracy is in the marginal readings. Most of these
are optional readings, and are preceded by the word “or,” which indicates that one may read
what is in the text, or substitute for it what is in the margin with equal fairness to the original. But
sometimes, instead of that familiar “or,” occur letters which indicate that the Hebrew or the Greek
literally means something else than what is given in the English text, and what it literally means is
given in the margin. The translators thereby say to the reader that if he can take that literal
meaning and put it into the text so that it is intelligible to him, here is his chance. As for them, they
think that the whole context or meaning of the sentence rather involves the use of the phrase
which they put into the text. But the marginal references are of great interest to most of us as
showing how these men were frank to say that there were some things they could not settle.
They were rather blamed for it, chiefly by those who had committed themselves to the Douai
version, which has no marginal readings, on the ground that the translation ought to be as
authoritative as the original. The King James translators repudiate that theory and frankly say
that the reason they put these words in the margin was because they were not sure what was the
best reading. In the margin of the epistle to the Romans there are eighty- four such marginal
readings, and the proportion will hold throughout most of the version. They were only trying to be
accurate and to give every one a chance to make up his own mind where there was fair reason
to question their results.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The third thing which shows their effort at accuracy is their explicit avoidance of uniformity in
translating the same word. They tried to put the meaning into English terms. So, as they say, the
one word might become either “journeying” or “traveling”; one word might be “thinking” or
“supposing,” “joy” or “gladness,” “eternal” or “everlasting.” One of the reasons they give for this
is quaint enough to quote. They said they did not think it right to honor some words by giving
them a place forever in the Bible, while they virtually said to other equally good words: Get ye
hence and be banished forever. They quote a “certaine great philosopher” who said that those
logs were happy which became images and were worshiped, while, other logs as good as they
were laid behind the fire to be burned. So they sought to use as many English words, familiar in
speech and commonly understood, as they might, lest they should impoverish the language,
and so lose out of use good words. There is no doubt that in this effort both to save the
language, and to represent accurately the meaning of the original, they sometimes overdid that
avoidance of uniformity. There were times when it would have been well if the words had been
more consistently translated. For example, in the epistle of James ii: 2, 3, you have goodly
“apparel,” vile “raiment,” and gay “clothing,” all translating one Greek word. Our revised
versions have sought to correct such inconsistencies. But it was all done in the interest of an
accuracy that should yet not be a slavish uniformity.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

It can be illustrated in one or two ways. For instance, a word which has become common to us is
the neuter possessive pronoun “its.” That word does not occur in the edition of 1611, and
appears first in an edition in the printing of 1660. In place of it, in the edition of 1611, the more
dignified personal pronoun “his” or “her” is always used, and it continues for the most part in our
familiar version. In this verse you notice it: “Look not upon the wine when it is red; when it giveth
HIS color aright in the cup.” In the Levitical law especially, where reference is made to sacrifices,
to the articles of the furniture of the tabernacle, or other neuter objects, the masculine pronoun is
almost invariably used. In the original it was invariably used. You see the other form in the
familiar verse about charity, that it “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not HER own, is not
easily provoked.” Now, there is evidence that the neuter possessive pronoun was just coming
into use. Shakespeare uses it ten times in his works, but ten times only, and a number of writers
do not use it at all. It was, to be sure, a word beginning to be heard on the street, and for the most
part on the lower level. The King James translators never used it. The dignified word was that
masculine or feminine pronoun, and they always use it in place of the neuter.

On the other hand, there was a word which was coming into use on the upper level which has
become common property to us now. It is the word “anxiety.” It is not certain just when it came
into use. I believe Shakespeare does not use it; and it occurs very little in the literature of the
times. Probably it was known to these translators. When they came, however, to translating a
word which now we translate by “anxious” or “anxiety” they did not use that word. It was not
familiar. They used instead the word which represented the idea for the people of the middle
level; they used the word “thought.” So they said, “Take no thought for the morrow,” where we
would say, “Be not anxious for the morrow.” There is a contemporary document which illustrates
how that word “thought” was commonly used, in which we read: “In five hundred years only two
queens died in child birth, Queen Catherine Parr having died rather of thought.” That was written
about the time of the King James version, and “thought” evidently means worry or anxiety.
Neither of those words, the neuter possessive pronoun or the new word “anxious,” got into the
King James version. One was coming into proper use from the lower level, and one was coming
into proper use from the upper level. They had not yet so arrived that they could be used.

One result of this care to preserve dignity and also popularity appears in the fact that so few
words of the English version have become obsolete. Words disappear upward out of the upper
level or downward out of the lower level, but it takes a long time for a word to get out of a
language once it is in confirmed use on the middle level. Of course, the version itself has tended
to keep words familiar; but no book, no matter how widely used, can prevent some words from
passing off the stage or from changing their meaning so noticeably that they are virtually
different words. Yet even in those words which do not become common there is very little
tendency to obsolescence in the King James version. More words of Shakespeare have
become obsolete or have changed their meanings than in the King James version.

There is one interesting illustration to which attention has been called by Dr. Davidson, which is
interesting. In the ninth chapter of the Judges, where we are told about Abimelech, the fifty-third
verse reads that a woman cast a stone down from the wall and “all to break his skull.” That is
confessedly rather obscure. Our ordinary understanding of it would be that she did that for no
other purpose than just to break the skull of Abimelech. As a matter of fact, that expression is a
printer’s bungling way of giving a word which has become obsolete in the original form. When
the King James translators wrote that, they used the word “alto,” which is evidently the beginning
of “altogether,” or wholly or utterly, and what they meant was that she threw the stone and utterly
broke his skull. But that abbreviated form of the word passed out of use, and when later
printers-not much later-came to it they did not know what it meant and divided it as it stands in
our present text. It is one of the few words that have become obsolete. But so few are there of
them, that it was made a rule of the Revised Version not to admit to the new version, where it
could be avoided, any word not already found in the Authorized Version, and also not to omit
from the Revised Version, except under pressure of necessity, any word which occurred there. It
is largely this blending of dignity and popularity that has made the King James version so
influential in English literature. It talks the language not of the upper level nor of the lower level,
but of that middle level where all meet sometimes and where most men are all the while.

These are great traits to mark a book, any book, but especially a translation–that it is honest, that
it is accurate, and that its language blends dignity and popularity so that it lowers the speech of
none. They are all conspicuous traits of our familiar version of the Bible, and in them in part lies
its power with the generations of these three centuries that have followed its appearance.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Many of us have seen a dozen books hailed as classic novels sure to live, each of them the
great American novel at last, the author to be compared with Dickens and Thackeray and
George Eliot. And the books have gone the way of all the earth. With some, the trouble is a
weak, involved, or otherwise poor style. With most the trouble is lack of real ideas. Charles
Dickens, to be sure, does deal with boarding-schools in England, with conditions which in their
local form do not recur and are not familiar to us; but he deals with them as involving a great
principle of the relation of society to youth, and so David Copperfield or Oliver Twist becomes a
book for the life of all of us, and for all time.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE KING JAMES VERSION AS ENGLISH LITERATURE

LET it be plainly said at the very first that when we speak of the literary phases of the Bible we
are not discussing the book in its historic meaning. It was never meant as literature in our usual
sense of the word. Nothing could have been further from the thought of the men who wrote it,
whoever they were and whenever they wrote, than that they were making a world literature. They
had the characteristics of men who do make great literature– they had clear vision and a great
passion for truth; they loved their fellows mightily, and they were far more concerned to be
understood than to speak. These are traits that go to make great writers. But it was never in their
minds that they were making a world literature. The Bible is a book of religious significance from
first to last. If it utterly broke down by the tests of literature, it might be as great a book as it needs
to be. It is a subordinate fact that by the tests of literature it proves also to be great. Prof.
Gardiner, of Harvard, whose book called The Bible as English Literature makes other such
works almost unnecessary, frankly bases his judgment on the result of critical study of the Bible,
but he serves fair warning that he takes inspiration for granted, and thinks it “obvious that no
literary criticism of the Bible could hope for success which was not reverent in tone. A critic who
should approach it superciliously or arrogantly would miss all that has given the Book its power
as literature and its lasting and universal appeal.”[1] Farther over in his book he goes on to say
that when we search for the causes of the feelings which made the marvelous style of the Bible a
necessity, explanation can make but a short step, for “we are in a realm where the only ultimate
explanation is the fact of inspiration; and that is only another way of saying that we are in the
presence of forces above and beyond our present human understanding.

However, we may fairly make distinction between the Bible as an original work and the Bible as
a work of English literature. For the Bible as an original work is not so much a book as a series
of books, the work of many men working separately over a period of at least fifteen hundred
years, and these men unconscious for the most part of any purpose of agreement. This series
of books is made one book in the original by the unity of its general purpose and the agreement
of its parts. The Bible in English is, however, not a series of books, but properly one book, the
work of six small groups of men working in conscious unity through a short period of years. And
while there is variation in style, while there are inequalities in result, yet it stands as a single
piece of English literature. It has a literary style of its own, even though it feels powerfully the
Hebrew influence throughout. And while it would not be a condemnation of the Bible if it were not
great literature in English or elsewhere, it is still part of its power that by literary standards alone it
measures large.

It is so that men of letters have rated it since it came into existence. “It holds a place of
pre-eminence in the republic of letters.” When John Richard Green comes to deal with it, he
says: “As a mere literary monument the English version of the Bible remains the noblest
language of the English tongue, while its perpetual use made of it from the instant of its
appearance the standard of our language.” And in Macaulay’s essay on Dryden, while he is
deploring the deterioration of English style, he yet says that in the period when the English
language was imperiled there appeared “the English Bible, a book which if everything else in
our language should perish would alone suffice to show the extent of its beauty and power.”

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The fact that the words are short can be quickly illustrated by taking some familiar sections. In
the Ten Commandments there are three hundred and nineteen words in all; two hundred and
fifty-nine of them are words of one syllable, and only sixty are of two syllables and over. There
are fifty words of two syllables, six of three syllables, of which four are such composite words that
they really amount to two words of one and two syllables each, with four words of four syllables,
and none over that. Make a comparison just here. There is a paragraph in Professor March’s
lectures on the English language where he is urging that its strongest words are purely English,
not derived from Greek or Latin. He uses the King James version as illustration. If, now, we take
three hundred and nineteen words at the beginning of that paragraph to compare with the three
hundred and nineteen in the Ten Commandments, the result will be interesting. Where the Ten
Commandments have two hundred and fifty-nine words of one syllable, Professor March has
only one hundred and ninety-four; over against the fifty two-syllable words in the Ten
Commandments, Professor March has sixty-five; over against their six words of three syllables,
he has thirty-five; over against their four words of four syllables, he uses eighteen; and while the
Ten Commandments have no word longer than four syllables, Professor March needs five
words of five syllables and two words of six syllables to express his ideas.[1]

[1] This table will show the comparison at a glance:

Syllables 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Commandments 259 50 6 4 0 0 319
Professor March 194 65 35 18 5 2 319

The same thing appears in the familiar 23d Psalm, where there are one hundred and nineteen
words in all, of which ninety-five are words of one syllable, and only three of three syllables, with
none longer. In the Sermon on the Mount eighty two per cent. of the words in our English version
are words of one syllable.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The name of Charles Dickens suggests a different atmosphere. He is a New Testament
prophet. Where Carlyle has caught the spirit of rugged power in the Old Testament, Dickens has
caught the sense of kindly love in the New Testament. Dickens’ love for the child, the fact that
he could draw children as he could draw no one else and make them lovable, suggests the
value to him of those frequent references which he makes to Christ setting a child in the midst of
the disciples. It is notable, too, how often Dickens uses the great Scripture phrases for his most
dramatic climaxes. There are not in literature many finer uses of Scripture than the scene in
Bleak House, where the poor waif Joe is dying, and while his friend teaches him the Lord’s
Prayer he sees the light coming. A Christmas season without Dickens’s Christmas Carol would
be incomplete; but there again is the Scripture idea pressed forward.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

George Eliot surely, if any writer, was under the spell of the Scripture. One of her critics calls her
the historian of conscience. All of her heroes and heroines know the lash of the law. She knows
very little about the New Testament, one would judge; but the one thing about which she has no
doubt is certainly the reign of moral law. If a man will not yield to its power, it will break him. There
is no such thing as breaking the moral law; there is nothing but being broken by it. Her
characters are always quoting the Bible. They preach a great deal. She tells that she herself
wrote Dinah Morris’s sermon on the green with tears in her eyes. She meant it all. While her own
religious faith was clouded, her finest characters are never clouded in their religious faith, and
she grounds their faith quite invariably on their early training in the Scripture. It is an interesting
fact that George Eliot has no principal story which has not in it a church, and a priest or a
preacher, with all that they involve.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Not only was Ruskin well trained in the Bible, but he was a great teacher of it. In his preface to
the Crown of Wild Olives he answers his critics by saying he has used the Book for some forty
years. “My endeavor has been uniformly to make men read it more deeply than they do; trust it,
not in their own favorite verses only, but in the sum of it all; treat it not as a fetish or a talisman
which they are to be saved by daily repetition of, but as a Captain’s order, to be held and
obeyed at their peril.” In the introduction to the Seven Lamps of Architecture he urges that we are
in no danger of too much use of the Bible. “We use it most reverently when most habitually.”
Many of Ruskin’s most striking titles come straight out of the Scripture. Crown of Wild Olives,
Seven Lamps, Unto this Last-all these are suggested by the Bible.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Yet that was not a mistaken move nearly forty years ago, when the revision of the King James
version was proposed and undertaken. Thirty years ago (1881) it was completed in what we
ordinarily call the Revised Version, and ten years ago (1901) the American form of that Revised
Version appeared. Few things could more definitely prove the accepted place of the King
James version than the fact that we seem to hear less to-day of the Revised Version than we
used to hear, and that, while the American Revised Version is incomparably the best in
existence in its reproduction of the original, even it makes way slowly. In less than forty years the
King James version crowded all its competitors off the field. The presence of the Revised
Version of 1881 has not appreciably affected the sales or the demand for the King James
version. In the minds of most people the English and the American revisions stand as admirable
commentaries on the King James version. If one wishes to know wherein the King James
version failed of representing the original, he will learn it better from those versions than from any
number of commentaries; but the number of those to whom one or other of the versions has
supplanted the King James version is not so large as might have been expected.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Then there have been new and important discoveries of Biblical literature which date earlier in
Christian history than any our fathers knew three hundred years ago. In some instances those
earlier discoveries have shown that a phrase here or there has been wrongly introduced into the
text. There has been no marked instance where a phrase was added by the revisers; that is, a
phrase dropped out of the original and now replaced. One illustration of the omission of a
phrase will be enough. In the fifth chapter of I John the seventh verse reads: “For there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.”
In the revised versions it is omitted, because it seems quite certain that it was not in the original
writing. It does not at all alter the meaning of Scripture. While it appears in most of the best
manuscripts which were available for the King James translators, earlier manuscripts found
since that time have shown that it was formerly written at the side as a gloss, and was by some
transcriber set over in the text itself. The process of making the early manuscripts shows how
easily that could have occurred. Let us suppose that two or three manuscripts were being made
at once by different copyists. One was set to read the original; as he read, the others wrote. It
would be easy to suppose that he might read this marginal reference as a suitable commentary
on the text, and that one or more of the writers could have written it in the text. It could easily
happen also that a copyist, even seeing where it stood, might suppose it had been omitted by
the earlier copyist, and that he had completed his work by putting it on the margin. So the next
copyist would put it into his own text. Once in a manuscript, it would readily become part of the
accepted form. Discoveries that bring that sort of thing to light are of value in giving us an
accurate version of the original Bible.

3. Then there are in our King James version a few archaic and obsolete phrases. We have
already spoken of them. Most of them have been avoided in the revised versions. The neuter
possessive pronoun, for example, has been put in. Animal names have been clarified, obsolete
expressions have been replaced by more familiar ones, and so on.

Then there were certain inaccuracies in the King James version. The fact is familiar that they
transliterated certain words which they could not well translate. In the revised versions that has
been carried farther still. The words which they translated “hell” have been put back into their
Hebrew and Greek equivalents, and appear as Sheol and Hades. Another instance is that of an
Old Testament word, Asherah, which was translated always “grove,” and was used to describe
the object of worship of the early enemies of Israel. The translation does not quite represent the
fact, and the revisers have therefore replaced the old Hebrew word Asherah. The
transliterations of the King James version have not been changed into translations. Instead, the
number of transliterations has been increased in the interest of accuracy. At one point one might
incline to be adversely critical of the American revisers. They have transliterated the Hebrew
word Jehovah; so they have taken sides in a controversy where scholars have room to differ.
The version would have gained in strength if it had retained the dignified and noble word “Lord,”
which comes as near representing the idea of the Hebrew word for God as any word we could
find. It must be added that the English of neither of our new versions has the rhythm and
movement of the old version. That is partly because we are so accustomed to the old
expressions and new ones strike the ear unpleasantly. In any case, the versions differ plainly in
their English. It seems most unlikely that either of these versions shall ever have the literary
influence of the King James, though any man who will prophesy about, that affects a wisdom
which he has not.

These, then, are the two differences between this lecture and the preceding ones, that in this
lecture we shall deal with judgments as well as facts, and that we shall deal with the Bible of
to-day rather than the King James version.

Quoted from:
A Study Of The King James Version Of The Bible And Its Influence On Life And Literature.
By CLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1592

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Chapter V. Use Of The Old Testament By The First Christian Writers, And By The Fathers Till
The Time Of Origen.

The writings of the New Testament show the authors’ acquaintance with the apocryphal books.
They have expressions and ideas derived from them. Stier collected one hundred and two
passages which bear some resemblance to others in the Apocrypha; but they needed sifting,
and were cut down to a much smaller number by Bleek. They are James i. 19, from Sirach v. 11
and iv. 29; 1 Peter i. 6, 7, from Wisdom iii. 3-7; Hebrews xi. 34, 35, from 2 Maccabees vi. 18-vii. 42;
Hebrews i. 3, from Wisdom vii. 26, &c.; Romans i. 20-32, from Wisdom xiii.-xv.; Romans ix. 21,
from Wisdom xv. 7; Eph. vi. 13-17, from Wisdom v. 18-20; 1 Cor. ii. 10, &c., from Judith viii. 14.
Others are less probable.91 When Bishop Cosin says, that “in all the New Testament we find not
any one passage of the apocryphal books to have been alleged either by Christ or His
apostles for the confirmation of their doctrine,” the argument, though based on fact, is scarcely
conclusive; else Esther, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, and other works might be equally discredited.
Yet it is probable that the New Testament writers, though quoting the Septuagint much more than
the original, were disinclined to the additional parts of the Alexandrian canon. They were
Palestinian themselves, or had in view Judaisers of a narrow creed. Prudential
motives, no less than a predisposition in favor of the old national canon, may have hindered
them from expressly citing any apocryphal production. The apostle Paul and probably the other
writers of the New Testament, believed in the literal inspiration of the Biblical books, for he uses
an argument in the Galatian epistle which turns upon the singular or plural of a noun. And as
the inspiration of the Septuagint translation was commonly held by the Christians of the early
centuries, it may be that the apostles and evangelists made no distinction between its parts.
Jude quotes Enoch, an apocryphal work not in the Alexandrian canon; so that he at least had no
rigid notions about the difference of canonical and uncanonical writings. Still we know that the
compass of the Old Testament canon was somewhat unsettled to the Christians of the first
century, as it was to the Hellenist Jews themselves. It is true that the Law, the Prophets, and the
Psalms were universally recognized as authoritative; but the extent of the third division was
indefinite, so that the non-citation of the three books respecting which there was a difference of
opinion among the Jews may not have been accidental. Inasmuch, however, as the
Greek-speaking Jews received more books than their Palestinian brethren, the apostles and
their immediate successors were not wholly disinclined to the use of the apocryphal
productions. The undefined boundary of the canon facilitated also the recognition of all primitive
records of the new Revelation.

The early fathers, who wrote in Greek, used the Greek Bible, as almost all of them were ignorant
of Hebrew. Thus restricted; they naturally considered its parts alike, citing apocryphal
and canonical in the same way. Accordingly, Irenæus quotes Baruch under the name of
“Jeremiah the prophet;” and the additions to Daniel as “Daniel the prophet.” Clement of
Alexandria uses the apocryphal books like the canonical ones, for explanation and proof
indiscriminately. He is fond of referring to Baruch, which he cites upwards of twenty-four times in
the second book of his Pædagogus, and in a manner to show that he esteemed it as highly as
many other parts of the Old Testament. A passage from Baruch is introduced by the phrase,
“the divine Scripture says;” and another from Tobit by “Scripture has briefly signified this,
saying.” Assuming that Wisdom was written by Solomon, he uses it as canonical and inspired,
designating it divine. Judith he cites with other books of the Old Testament; and the Song
of the three children in the furnace is used as Scripture. Ecclesiasticus also is so treated.
Dionysius of Alexandria cites Ecclesiasticus (xvi. 26), introducing the passage with “hear
divine oracles.” The same book is elsewhere cited, chapters xliii. 29, 30106 and i. 8. 9.107 So
is Wisdom, vii. 15108 and 25.109 Baruch (iii. 12-15) is also quoted. The fathers who wrote in
Latin used some of the old Latin versions of which Augustine speaks; one of them, and that the
oldest probably dating soon after the middle of the second century, being known to us as the
Itala. As this was made from the Septuagint, it had the usual apocryphal books. Jerome’s
critical revision or new version did not supplant the old Latin till some time after his death.
Tertullian quotes the Wisdom of Solomon expressly as Solomon’s; and introduces
Sirach by “as it is written.” He cites Baruch as Jeremiah. He also believes in the
authenticity of the book of Enoch, and defends it as Scripture at some length. Cyprian often
cites the Greek additions to the Palestinian canon. He introduces Tobit with the words “as it is
written,” or “divine Scripture teaches, saying;” and Wisdom with, “the Holy Spirit shows by
Solomon.” Ecclesiasticus is introduced with, “it is written;” and Baruch with, “the Holy Spirit
teaches by Jeremiah.” 1 and 2 Maccabees are used as Scripture; as are the additions to
Daniel. The African fathers follow the Alexandrian canon without scruple. Hippolytus of
Rome (about a.d. 220), who wrote in Greek, quotes Baruch as Scripture; and interprets the
additions to Daniel, such as Susanna, as Scripture likewise.
Melito of Sardis made it his special business to inquire among the Palestinian Jews about the
number and names of their canonical books; and the result was the following list:–the five books
of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Chronicles, the Psalms of David,
the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the twelve in
one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra. Here Ezra includes Nehemiah; and Esther is absent, because
the Jews whom he consulted did not consider it canonical.

Origen’s list does not differ much from the Palestinian one. After the Pentateuch, Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, Kings first and second, Samuel, Chronicles, come Ezra first and second, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations and the epistle, Daniel,
Ezekiel, Job, Esther. Besides these there are the Maccabees, which are inscribed Sarbeth
Sarbane el. The twelve prophets are omitted in the Greek; but the mistake is rectified in
Rufinus’s Latin version, where they follow Canticles, as in Hilary and Cyril of Jerusalem. It is
remarkable that Baruch is given, and why? Because Origen took it from the MSS. of the
Septuagint he had before him, in which the epistle is attributed to Jeremiah. But the catalogue
had no influence upon his practice. He followed the prevailing view of the extended canon.
Sirach is introduced by “for this also is written”; the book of Wisdom is cited as a divine word; the
writer is called a prophet; Christ is represented as speaking in it through Solomon; and Wisdom
vii. 17 is adduced as the word of Christ himself. Tobit is cited as Scripture. His view of the
additions to the books of Daniel and Esther, as well as his opinion about Tobit, are sufficiently
expressed in the epistle to Africanus, so that scattered quotations from these parts of Scripture
can be properly estimated. Of the history of Susanna he ventures to say that the Jews withdrew it
on purpose from the people. He seems to argue in favor of books used and read in the
churches, though they may be put out of the canon by the Jews. As divine Providence had
preserved the sacred Scriptures, no alteration should be made in the ecclesiastical tradition
respecting books sanctioned by the churches though they be external to the Hebrew canon.

Most of the writings of Methodius, Bishop of Tyre are lost, so that we know little of his opinions
respecting the books of Scripture. But it is certain that he employed the Apocrypha like the other
writings of the Old Testament. Thus Sirach (xviii. 30 and xix. 2) is quoted in the same way as the
Proverbs. Wisdom (iv. 1-3) is cited,138 and Baruch (iii. 14).

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

No New Testament canon, except a partial and unauthoritative one, existed till the latter half of
the second century, that is, till the idea of a Catholic church began to be entertained. The living
power of Christianity in its early stages had no need of books for its nurture. But in the
development of a church organization the internal rule of consciousness was changed into an
external one of faith. The Ebionites or Jewish Christians had their favorite Gospels and Acts.
The gospel of Matthew was highly prized by them, existing as it did in various recensions, of
which the gospel according to the Hebrews was one. Other documents, such as the Revelation
of John; and the preaching of Peter, a Jewish-Christian history subsequently re-written and
employed in the Clementine Recognitions and Homilies, were also in esteem. Even so late as
175-180 a.d., Hegesippus, a Jewish Christian, does not seem to have had a canon consisting of
the four gospels and Paul’s Epistles, but appeals to “the law and the prophets and the Lord,” so
that his leading principle was, the identity of Jesus’s words with the Old Testament; agreeably to
the tenets of the party he belonged to. The source whence he drew the words of Jesus was
probably the Gospel according to the Hebrews, a document which we know he used, on the
authority of Eusebius. He does not refer to Paul except by implication in a passage given in
Photius from Stephen Gobar, where he says that such as used the words “Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard,” &c., falsified the Divine Scriptures and the Lord’s words, “Blessed are your eyes
for they see,” &c. As Paul quoted the condemned language, he is blamed. Though he knew
Paul’s epistles, he does not look upon them as authoritative. He betrays no acquaintance with
the fourth gospel; for the question, “What is the door to Jesus?” does not presuppose the
knowledge of John x. 2, 7, 9. Nösgen has failed to prove Hegesippus’s Jewish descent; and
Holtzmann’s mediating view of him is incorrect.

The Clementine Homilies (161-180 a.d.) used the four canonical gospels even the fourth (which
is somewhat singular in a writer who denies the deity of Christ), and assigned it to the apostle
John. The gospel according to the Egyptians was also employed. Paul’s epistles were rejected
of course, as well as the Acts; since the apostle of the Gentiles was pointed at in Simon Magus,
whom Peter refutes. It is, therefore, obvious that a collection of the New Testament writings could
make little progress among the Ebionites of the second century. Their reverence for the law and
the prophets hindered another canon. Among the Gentile Christians the formation of a canon
took place more rapidly, though Judaic influences retarded it even there. After Paul’s epistles
were interchanged between churches, a few of them would soon be put together. A collection of
this kind is implied in 2 Peter iii. 16. The pastoral epistles, which show their dependence on the
authentic Pauline ones, with those of Peter, presuppose a similar collection; which along with the
Synoptists, existed before the fourth gospel. The Apocalypse and the epistle to the Hebrews
were obnoxious to the Pauline churches, as Paul’s letters were to the Jewish-Christian ones.
Hence the former were outside the Pauline collections.

The first Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (about 120 a.d.), implies acquaintance with several
of the epistles, with those to the Corinthians, Romans, Hebrews, and perhaps others. Two
passages have also been adduced as derived from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, viz., in
chapters xiii. 2 and xlvi. 8; but probably some other source supplied them, such as oral tradition.
It has also been argued that the quotation in the fifteenth chapter, “The Scripture says
somewhere, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,” comes from
Mark vii. 6 in which it varies from the Hebrew of Isaiah xxix. 13, as well as the Septuagint version.
Clement therefore, so it is said, quotes the Old Testament through the medium of the gospels
(Matthew xv. 8, Mark vii. 6). But the argument is inconclusive because the words agree closely
enough with the Septuagint to render the supposition very probable that they are a memorized
citation from it. As they stand, they coincide exactly neither with Mark nor the Septuagint. Thus
we dissent from the opinion of Gebhardt and Harnack. Wherever “Scripture” is cited, or the
expression “it is written” occurs, the Old Testament is meant.

Hermas (about 140 a.d.) seems to have used the epistle to the Ephesians and perhaps that to
the Hebrews, as well as the epistle of James; but there is great uncertainty about the matter, for
there is no express or certain quotation from any part of the New Testament. The writer often
alludes to words of Jesus, found in Matthew’s gospel, so that he may have been acquainted
with it. Keim and others have discovered references to the fourth gospel; but they are invalid.
There is no allusion to the Acts in vis. iv. 2, 4. The only Scripture cited is the apocryphal book
Eldat and Modat, now lost. The writer seems to have known several Jewish Apocalypses.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The conception of a Catholic canon was realized about the same time as that of a Catholic
church. One hundred and seventy years from the coming of Christ elapsed before the collection
assumed a form that carried with it the idea of holy and inspired. The way in which it was done
was by raising the apostolic writings higher and higher till they were of equal authority with the
Old Testament, so that the church might have a rule of appeal. But by lifting the Christian
productions up to the level of the old Jewish ones, injury was done to that living consciousness
which feels the opposition between spirit and letter; the latter writings tacitly assuming or
keeping the character of a perfect rule even as to form. The Old Testament was not brought
down to the New; the New was raised to the Old. It is clear that the earliest church fathers did not
use the books of the New Testament as sacred documents clothed with divine authority, but
followed for the most part, at least till the middle of the second century, apostolic tradition orally
transmitted. They were not solicitous about a canon circumscribed within certain limits.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

In the second half, then, of the second century there was a canon of the New Testament
consisting of two parts called the gospel and the apostle. The first was complete, containing the
four gospels alone; the second, which was incomplete, contained the Acts of the Apostles and
epistles, i.e., thirteen letters of Paul, one of Peter, one of John, and the Revelation. How and
where this canon originated is uncertain. Its birthplace may have been Asia Minor, like
Marcion’s; but it may have grown about the same time in Asia Minor, Alexandria, and Western
Africa. At all events, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian agree in recognizing its
existence.

Irenæus had a canon which he adopted as apostolic. In his view it was of binding force and
authoritative. This contained the four gospels, the Acts, thirteen epistles of Paul, the first epistle
of John, and the Revelation. He had also a sort of appendix or deutero-canon, which he highly
esteemed without putting it on a par with the received collection, consisting of John’s second
epistle, the first of Peter, and the Shepherd of Hermas. The last he calls Scripture. The epistle to
the Hebrews, that of Jude, James’s, second Peter, and third John he ignored.

Clement’s collection was more extended than Irenæus’. His appendix or deutero-canon
included the epistle to the Hebrews, 2 John, Jude, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd of
Hermas, the Epistles of Clement and Barnabas. He recognized no obligatory canon, distinct
and of paramount authority. But he separated the New Testament writings by their traditionally
apostolic character and the degree of importance attached to them. He did not attach the
modern idea of canonical in opposition to non-canonical, either to the four gospels or any other
part of the New Testament. Barnabas is cited as an apostle. So is the Roman Clement. The
Shepherd of Hermas is spoken of as divine. Thus the line of the Homologoumena is not
marked off even to the same extent as in Irenæus.

Tertullian’s canon consisted of the gospels, Acts, thirteen epistles of Paul, the Apocalypse, and
1 John. As an appendix he had the epistle to the Hebrews, that of Jude, the Shepherd of
Hermas, 2 John probably, and 1 Peter. This deutero-canon was not regarded as authoritative.
No trace occurs in his works of James’ epistle, 2 Peter, and 3 John. He used the Shepherd,
calling it Scripture, without implying, however, that he put it on a par with the usually
acknowledged canonical writings; but after he became a Montanist, he repudiated it as the
apocryphal Shepherd of adulterers, “put among the apocryphal and false, by every council of
the churches.” It was not, however, reckoned among the spurious and false writings, either at
Rome or Carthage, in the time of Tertullian. It was merely placed outside the universally
received works by the western churches of that day.

These three fathers did not fix the canon absolutely. Its limits were still unsettled. But they
sanctioned most of the books now accepted as divine, putting some extra-canonical
productions almost on the same level with the rest, if not in theory, at least in practice.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

What is the result of an examination of the Christian literature belonging to the second century? Is
it that a canon was then fixed, separating some books from others by a line so clear, that those
on one side of it were alone reckoned inspired, authoritative, of apostolic origin or sanction;
while those on the other were considered uninspired, unauthoritative, without claim to
apostolicity, unauthentic? Was the separation between them made on any clear principle or
demarcation? It cannot be said so. The century witnessed no such fact, but merely the incipient
efforts to bring it about. The discriminating process was begun, not completed. It was partly
forced upon the prominent advocates of a policy which sought to consolidate the Jewish and
Gentile-Christian parties, after the decline of their mutual antagonism, into a united church. They
were glad to transfer the current belief in the infallible inspiration of the Old Testament, to
selected Christian writings, as an effective means of defence against those whom they
considered outside a new organization–the Catholic Church.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The stichometrical list of the Old and New Testament Scriptures in the Latin of the Clermont MS.
(D), was that read in the African Church in the third century. It is peculiar. After the Pentateuch,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and the historical books, follow Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Canticles, Wisdom, Sirach, the twelve minor prophets, the four greater; three books of the
Maccabees, Judith, Esdras, Esther, Job, and Tobit. In the New Testament, the four gospels,
Matthew, John, Mark, Luke, are succeeded by ten epistles of Paul, two of Peter, the epistle of
James, three of John, and that of Jude. The epistle to the Hebrews (characterized as that of
Barnabas), the Revelation of John, Acts of the Apostles, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Acts of
Paul, the Revelation of Peter, follow. The last three constitute a sort of appendix; and the number
of their verses is given. It is possible that the carelessness of a transcriber may have caused
some of the singularities observable in this list; such as the omission of the epistles to the
Philippians and Thessalonians; but the end shows a freer idea of books fit for reading than what
was usual even at that early time in the African Church.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The testimony of Eusebius regarding the canon, important as it is, has less weight because of
the historian’s credulity. One who believed in the authenticity of Abgar’s letters to Christ, and in
the canon of the four gospels at the time of Trajan, cannot take rank as a judicious collector or
sifter of facts.

About 332 a.d. the Emperor Constantine entrusted Eusebius with the commission to make out a
complete collection of the sacred Christian writings for the use of the Catholic Church. How this
order was executed we are not told. But Credner is probably correct in saying that the code
consisted of all that is now in the New Testament except the Revelation. The fifty copies which
were made must have supplied Constantinople and the Greek Church for a considerable time
with an authoritative canon.

Eusebius’s catalogue agrees in substance with that of Origen’s. The historian followed
ecclesiastical tradition. He inquired diligently into the prevailing opinions of the Christian
churches and writers, with the views held by others before and contemporaneously with himself,
but could not attain to a decided result. His hesitation stood in the way of a clear, firm, view of the
question. The tradition respecting certain books was still wavering, and he was unable to fix it.
Authority fettered his independent judgment. That he was inconsistent and confused does not
need to be shown.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

When it is asked, to whom do we owe the canon? the usual answer is, to the Church. This is true
only in a sense. The unity attributed to Christians before Irenæus and Tertullian, consisted in
their religious consciousness. It was subjective. The idea of the church was that of inward
fellowship–the fellowship of the spirit rather than an outward organism. The preservation of the
early Christian writings was owing, in the first instance, to the congregations to whom they were
sent, and the neighboring ones with whom such congregations had friendly connection. The
care of them devolved on the most influential teachers,–on those who occupied leading
positions in the chief cities, or were most interested in apostolic writings as a source of
instruction. The Christian books were mostly in the hands of the bishops. In process of time the
canon was the care of assemblies or councils. But it had been made before the first general
council by a few leading fathers towards the end of the second century in different countries. The
formation of a Catholic Church and of a canon was simultaneous. The circumstances in which
the collection originated were unfavorable to the authenticity of its materials, for tradition had
been busy over them and their authors. Instead of attributing the formation of the canon to the
Church, it would be more correct to say that the important stage in it was due to three teachers,
each working separately and in his own way, who were intent upon the creation of a Christian
society which did not appear in the apostolic age,–a visible organization united in faith,–where
the discordant opinions of apostolic and sub-apostolic times should be finally merged.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Chapter VII. The Bible Canon From The Fourth Century To The Reformation.

It will now be convenient to treat of the two Testaments together, i.e., the canon of the Bible. The
canons of both have been considered separately to the end of the third century; they may be
henceforward discussed together. We proceed, therefore, to the Bible-canon of the fourth
century, first in the Greek Church and then in the Latin. The Council of Laodicea (a.d. 363), at
which there was a predominant semiarian influence, forbad the reading of all non-canonical
books. The 59th canon enacts, that “private psalms must not be read in the Church, nor
uncanonized books; but only the canonical ones of the New and Old Testament.” The 60th
canon proceeds to give a list of such. All the books of the Old Testament are enumerated, but in
a peculiar order, somewhat like the Septuagint one. With Jeremiah is specified Baruch, then the
Lamentations and Epistle. The prophets are last; first the minor, next the major and Daniel. In the
New Testament list are the usual seven Catholic epistles, and fourteen of Paul, including that to
the Hebrews. The Apocalypse alone is wanting. Credner has proved that this 60th canon is not
original, and of much later date.

Cyril of Jerusalem, who took part in the Council of Laodicea, gives a list “of the divine
Scriptures.” The books of the Old Testament are twenty-two, and the arrangement is nearly that
which is in the English Bible. With Jeremiah is associated “Baruch and the Epistle.” All the New
Testament books are given except the Apocalypse. The list agrees very nearly with that of
Eusebius, by taking the latter’s “controverted” writings into the class of the “generally
received.” The writer insists on the necessity of unity in the Church upon the subject, and forbids
the reading of writings not generally received. None but these are allowed. Yet he refers to
Baruch (iii. 36-38) as the prophet; and in adducing the testimonies of the prophets for the
existence of the Holy Spirit, the last he gives is Daniel xiii. 41, 45. Sirach iii. 21, 22 is cited;
Wisdom is quoted as Solomon’s (xiii. 5); the song of the three children is used (verse 55) with
verses 27, 29; and Daniel (xiii. 22, 45) is quoted.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The charge of Constantine to Eusebius to make out a list of writings for the use of the Church and
its performance may be considered as that which first put the subject on a broad and permanent
basis. Its consequences were important. If it cannot be called the completion or close of the
New Testament canon, it determined it largely. Eusebius made a Greek Bible containing the
usual books, except the Revelation. Though the historian of the church was not well fitted for the
task, being deficient in critical ability and trammeled by tradition, he doubtless used his best
judgment. Hence, about the year 337, the Constantinian Church received a Bible which had an
influential origin. No binding authority indeed attached to the list of the Christian books it
presented; but it had weight in the Greek Church. It did not prevent different opinions, nor deter
individuals from dissent. Thus Athanasius, who disliked Eusebius and his party, issued a list of
the sacred writings which included the Revelation. The canon of the Laodicean Council (a.d.
363) agreed with the Constantine one.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not totally read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The portion of Scripture selected was the Gospel according to St. John. Those who undertook
the revision were five in number:–Dr. Barrow, the then Principal of St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford; Dr.
Moberly, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury; Rev. Henry Alford, afterwards Dean of Canterbury;
Rev. W. G. Humphry, Vicar of St. Martin’s in the Fields; and lastly, the writer of this charge. Mr.
Ernest Hawkins, busy as he was, acted to a great extent as our secretary, superintended
arrangements, p. 13and encouraged and assisted us in every possible manner. Our place of
meeting was the library of our hospitable colleague Mr. Humphry. We worked in the greatest
possible harmony, and happily and hopefully concluded our Revision of the Authorised Version
of the Gospel of St. John in the month of March, 1857.

Quoted from:
Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy Scripture, by C. J. Ellicott
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25412

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Early History of Revision.

As there now seem to be sufficient grounds for thinking that ere long the Revised Version of
Holy Scripture will obtain a wider circulation and more general use than has hitherto been
accorded to it, it seems desirable that the whole subject of the Revised Version, and its use in
the public services of the Church, should at last be brought formally before the clergy and laity,
not only of this province, but of the whole English Church.

Twenty years have passed away since the appearance of the Revised Version of the New
Testament, and the presentation of it by the writer of these pages to the Convocation of
Canterbury on May 17, 1881. Just four more years afterwards, viz. on April 30, 1885, the Revised
Version of the Old Testament p. 6was laid before the same venerable body by the then Bishop
of Winchester (Bp. Harold Browne), and, similarly to the Revised Version of the New Testament,
was published simultaneously in this country and America. It was followed, after a somewhat
long interval, by the Revised Version of the Apocrypha, which was laid before Convocation by
the writer of these pages on February 12, 1896.

The revision of the Authorised Version has thus been in the hands of the English-speaking
reader sixteen years, in the case of the Canonical Scriptures, and five years in the case of the
Apocrypha–periods of time that can hardly be considered insufficient for deciding generally,
whether, and to what extent, the Revised Version should be used in the public services of the
Church.

Quoted from:
Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy Scripture, by C. J. Ellicott
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25412

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER I.
THE KING’S HERALD.
“On Jordan’s banks the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King….”

Quoted from:
The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?, by Edward Burbidge
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24759

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The said John Rough, preacher, directed his words to the said John Knox, saying, “Brother, ye
shall not be offended, albeit that I speak unto you that which I have in charge, even from all those
that are here present, which is this: In the name of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, and in the
name of these that presently call you by my mouth, I charge you that you refuse not this holy
vocation, but … that you take upon you the public office and charge of preaching, even as you
look to avoid God’s heavy displeasure, and desire that He shall multiply His graces with you.”
And in the end, he said to those that were present, “Was not this your charge to me? And do ye
not approve this vocation?” They answered, “It was: and we approve it.” Whereat the said John,
abashed, burst forth in most abundant tears, and withdrew himself to his chamber. His
countenance and behaviour, from that day till the day that he was compelled to present himself
to the public place of preaching, did sufficiently declare the grief and trouble of his heart; for no
man saw any sign of mirth in him, neither yet had he pleasure to accompany any man, many
days together.

There is no reason to think that Knox exaggerates the importance of this scene in his own
history. A man has but one life, and the choosing even of his secular work in it is sometimes so
difficult as to make him welcome any external compulsion. But the necessity of an external and
even a divine vocation, in order to justify a man’s devoting his life to handling things divine, has
long been a tradition of the Christian Church–and especially of the Scottish church, which in its
parts, and as a whole, has been repeatedly convulsed by this question of ‘The Call.’ And in
Knox’s time, as in the earliest age of Christianity, what is now a tradition was a very stern fact.
The men who were thus calling him knew well, and Knox himself, more clear of vision than any of
them, knew better, that what they were inviting him to was in all probability a violent death. Rough
himself perished in the flames at Smithfield; and four months after this vocation Knox was sitting
chained and half-naked in the galleys at Rouen, under the lash of a French slave-driver. He did
not perhaps himself always remember how the future then appeared to him. Old men looking
back upon their past are apt ‘to see in their life the story of their life,’ and the Reformer, after his
later amazing victories, sometimes speaks as if these had been his in hope, or even in promise,
from the outset of his career. But it is plain to us now, as we study his letters in those early years,
that he was repeatedly brought to accept what we know to have been the real probability-viz.,
that, while the ultimate triumph of the Evangel would be secure, it might be brought about only
after his own failure and ruin. Such were the alternatives which Knox–a man of undoubted
sensitiveness and tenderness, and who describes himself as naturally ‘fearful’ -had to ponder
during those days of seclusion at St Andrews. Of one thing he had no doubt. The call, if once he
accepted it, was irrevocable;[16] and he must thenceforward go straight on, abandoning the
many resources of silence and of flight which might still be open to a private man.

Quoted from:
John Knox, by A. Taylor Innes
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22106

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Considering myself rather called of my God to instruct the ignorant, comfort the sorrowful,
confirm the weak, and rebuke the proud, by tongue and lively voice in these most corrupt days,
than to compose books for the age to come: seeing that so much is written (and that by men of
most singular condition), and yet so little well observed; I decreed to contain myself within the
bonds [bounds?] of that vocation, whereunto I found myself specially called. I dare not deny
(lest that in so doing I should be injurious to the giver), but that God hath revealed to me secrets
unknown to the world; and also that he hath made my tongue a trumpet, to forewarn realms and
nations, yea, certain great personages, of translations and changes, when no such things were
feared, nor yet were appearing; a portion whereof cannot the world deny (be it never so blind) to
be fulfilled, and the rest, alas! I fear shall follow with greater expedition, and in more full
perfection, than my sorrowful heart desireth. Those revelations and assurances notwithstanding,
I did ever abstain to commit anything to writ, contented only to have obeyed the charge of Him
who commanded me to cry.

And when he did ‘cry,’ from the pulpit or elsewhere, he was careful to found his claim to be
heard, not on private intimations, but on God’s open word. As early as 1554 he denounces
judgment to come upon England (which, by the way, was not fulfilled in the sense which he
expected), but he adds immediately–

Quoted from:
John Knox, by A. Taylor Innes
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22106

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES OF THE CHIEF EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF JOHN KNOX.

Knox was born this year, at the village of Gifford, near the town of Haddington, in East-Lothian.
His father is said to have been descended from the Knoxes of Ranferly, in the county of
Renfrew; and the name of his mother was Sinclair. Knox himself, in describing an interview with
the Earl of Bothwell, in 1562, mentions that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, had all
served his Lordship’s predecessors, and that some of them had died under their standards;
which implies that they must have been settled for a considerable period in East-Lothian, where
the Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell, had their chief residence. 1505.

After being educated at Haddington, Knox was sent to the University of Glasgow; where John
Major was Principal Regent or Professor of Philosophy and Divinity. The name “Joha-nes
Knox,” occurs in the Registers of the University, among those of the students who were
incorporated in the year 1522. There is no evidence to shew that he afterwards proceeded to St.
Andrews, as is usually stated, either to complete his academical education, or publicly to teach
philosophy, for which he had not qualified himself by taking his degree of Master of Arts. If he
ever taught philosophy, it must have been in the way of private tuition. 1522.

About this time Knox took priest’s orders; and he was probably connected, for upwards of ten
years, with one of the religious establishments in the neighbourhood of Haddington. It is
generally supposed, that between the years 1535 and 1540, in the course of his private studies,
the perusal of the writings of Augustine and other ancient Fathers, led him to renounce scholastic
theology, and that he was thus prepared, at a mature period of life, to profess his adherence to
the Protestant faith. 1530.

March 8. The name of “Schir John Knox” occurs among the witnesses to a deed concerning
Rannelton Law, in a Protocol-book belonging to the borough of Haddington; and there is no
reason to doubt that this was the Reformer. 1541.

Knox entered the family of Hugh Douglas of Longniddry, as tutor of his sons Francis and George
Douglas; and also of Alexander Cockburn, son of John Cockburn of Ormiston. 1544.

In this year he attached himself as an avowed adherent of George Wishart, from the time of his
first visit to East-Lothian. 1545.

George Wishart suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews, on the 1st of March 1545-6; and on the 29th
of May that year, Cardinal Beaton was murdered. 1546.

April 10. Knox, with his young pupils, entered the Castle of St. Andrews, as a place of safety from
the persecution of the Popish clergy. 1547.

May. At the end of this month, or early in June, he received a public call to the ministry, which he
obeyed with great reluctance; but having undertaken the office, he continued, along with John
Rough, to preach both in the parish Church, and in the Castle until its surrender.

June. The French fleet appeared in St. Andrews Bay, to lay siege to the Castle, which
surrendered on the 30th of July; but in defiance of the terms of capitulation, the chief persons in
the place were sent as prisoners on board the French galleys.

During this winter, the vessel on board of which Knox was confined, remained in the river Loire.

The vessel returned to Scotland, about the time of the siege of Haddington in June; and when
within sight of St. Andrews, Knox uttered his memorable prediction, that he would yet survive to
preach in that place where God had opened his mouth for the ministry. 1548.

During this winter, he was kept prisoner at Rouen, where he wrote a Preface to Balnaves’s
Treatise of Justification, which was sent to Scotland, and until some years after his death, was
supposed to be lost.

February. Knox obtained his liberty, after an imprisonment of nineteen months. He came to
England, and soon afterwards was appointed by the English Council to be a preacher in the
town of Berwick. 1549.

April 4. Knox was summoned to appear at Newcastle before Dr. Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, to
give an account of his doctrine. 1550.

At the close of this year he was removed from Berwick to Newcastle, where he continued his
ministerial labours.

December. Knox was appointed by the Privy Council of England one of six Chaplains to Edward
the Sixth. This led to his occasional residence in London during 1552 and 1553. 1551.

October. He received an offer of the Bishopric of Rochester; but this preferment he
declined.1552.

In or about February, Knox was summoned before the Privy Council of England, upon
complaints made by the Duke of Northumberland; but was acquitted.

April 14. He also declined accepting the vacant living of All-Hallows, in London, and, on account
of his refusal, was again summoned before the Privy Council. 1553.

Edward the Sixth died on the 6th of July, and the persecution of the Protestants being revived
during the reign of Queen Mary, most of the Reformed ministers and many of the laity made their
escape, and sought refuge in foreign countries, in the course of that year.

January 28. Knox was at Dieppe, where he remained till the end of February. He then
proceeded to Geneva, but was again at Dieppe in July, “to learn the estate of England.” 1554.

April 10. The Queen Dowager, Mary of Guise, was installed Regent of Scotland.

On the 4th of September, he received a call from the English Congregation at Frankfort on the
Maine, to become their minister. He accepted the invitation, and repaired to that city in
November.

In consequence of the disputes which arose in the English Congregation at Frankfort, in regard
to the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and the introduction of various ceremonies. Knox was
constrained to relinquish his charge; and having preached a farewell discourse on the 26th of
March, he left that city, and returned to Geneva. Here he must have resumed his ministerial
labours; as, on the 1st of November that year, in the “Livre des Anglois, à Geneve,” it is
expressly said, that Christopher Goodman and Anthony Gilby were “appointed to preche the
word of God and mynyster the Sacraments, in th’ absence of John Knox.” This refers to his
having resolved to visit his native country. 1555.

Knox proceeded to Dieppe in August, and in the following month landed on the east coast of
Scotland, not far from Berwick. Most of this winter he spent in Edinburgh, preaching and
exhorting in private.

In the beginning of this year Knox went to Ayrshire, accompanied with several of the leading
Protestants of that county, and preached openly in the town of Ayr, and in other parts of the
country. He was summoned to appear before a Convention of the Popish Clergy, on the 15th of
May, at Edinburgh. About the same time, he addressed his Letter to the Queen Regent. 1556.

Having received a solicitation for his return to Geneva, to become one of their pastors, Knox left
Scotland in July that year. Before this time he married Marjory Bowes. Her father was Richard,
the youngest son of Sir Ralph Bowes of Streatlam; her mother was Elizabeth, a daughter and
co-heiress of Sir Roger Aske of Aske.

On the 13th September, Knox, along with his wife and his mother-in-law, were formally admitted
members of the English Congregation. At the annual election of Ministers, on the 16th of
December, Knox and Goodman were re-elected.

Having received a pressing invitation from Scotland, which he considered to be his duty to
accept, Knox took leave of the Congregation at Geneva, and came to Dieppe; but finding letters
of an opposite tenor, dissuading him from coming till a more favourable opportunity, after a time
he returned again to Geneva. 1557.

In May, his son Nathaniel was born at Geneva, and was baptized on the 23d, William
Whittingham, afterwards Dean of Durham, being god-father.

On the 16th of December, Knox and Goodman still continued to be ministers of the English
Congregation at Geneva.

April. Mary Queen of Scots was married, at Paris, to Francis, Dauphin of France.

In this year Knox republished, with additions, his Letter to the Queen Regent; and also his
Appellation from the cruel sentence of the Bishops and Clergy of Scotland; and his First Blast of
the Trumpet against the Regiment of Women. 1558.

In November, his son Eleazar was born at Geneva, and was baptized on the 29th, Myles
Coverdale, formerly Bishop of Exeter, being witness or god-father.
November 17. Upon the death of Mary Queen of England, Elizabeth ascended the throne.

On the 16th December, Knox and Goodman were again re-elected ministers of the English
Congregation.

January 7. Knox took his final departure from Geneva, in consequence of an invitation to return to
Scotland; and was on that occasion honoured with the freedom of the city. 1559.

In March, he arrived at Dieppe, and finding that the English Government refused to grant him a
safeconduct, on the 22d April he embarked for Leith, and reached Edinburgh on the 2d May.
During that month, the Queen Regent published a Declaration against the Protestants, and the
Lords of the Congregation sent a deputation to remonstrate; but their remonstrance being
despised, they took arms in self-defence.

June 11. Knox preached in St. Andrews; and at Perth on the 25th, when the populace defaced
several of the Churches or Monasteries in that city.

July 7. He was elected Minister of Edinburgh. Owing to the troubles, within a brief space he was
obliged to relinquish his charge; but he continued his labours elsewhere for a time, chiefly at St.
Andrews.

July 10. On the death of Henry II. of France, his son Francis, who had espoused Mary Queen of
Scots, and had[Pg xix] obtained the Matrimonial Crown of Scotland in November 1558, at the
age of sixteen, ascended the throne of France.

August 1. The Protestants assembled at Stirling, and having resolved to solicit aid from
England, on the 3d of that month Knox proceeded to Berwick to hold a conference with Sir
James Crofts. In this month, he sent Calvin a favourable report of his labours since his arrival in
Scotland: Calvin’s answer to this communication is dated in November.

September 20. Knox’s Wife and children, accompanied by Christopher Goodman, arrived in
Edinburgh.

October 18. The Protestants entered Edinburgh, while the Queen Regent retired to Leith, with the
French troops which had come to her aid.

February 27. A treaty concluded between England and the Lords of the Congregation. The
English fleet blockaded the port of Leith, and furnished reinforcements, their troops at the same
time having entered Scotland. 1560.

April. At the end of this month, Knox had returned to Edinburgh. His work on Predestination was
published this year at Geneva.

June 10. The Queen Regent died in the Castle of Edinburgh. Articles of Peace were concluded
in July.

August 1. The Scotish Parliament assembled; and, on the 17th, the Confession of Faith was
ratified, and the Protestant religion formally established.

December 5. Francis II. of France, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, died.

December 20. The first meeting of the General Assembly was held at Edinburgh.

At the end of this year, Knox’s Wife died, leaving him the two sons above mentioned.

An invitation having been sent by the Protestant Nobility[Pg xx] to their young Queen, to revisit
Scotland, she arrived from France, and assumed the Government, on the 19th of August. 1561.

May. Knox engaged in a dispute at Maybole, with Quintin Kennedy, Abbot of Crossragwell; of
which dispute he published an account in the following year. 1562

December. He was summoned to appear before the Privy Council, on account of a circular
letter which he had addressed to the chief Protestants, in virtue of a commission granted to him
by the General Assembly.

The town of Edinburgh formed only one parish. Knox, when elected Minister, had the assistance
of John Cairns as Reader. John Craig, minister of the Canongate or Holyrood, had been
solicited to become his colleague, in April 1562; but his appointment did not take place till June
1563. 1563.

March. Knox married to his second wife, Margaret Stewart, daughter of Andrew Lord Ochiltree.

June 30. He was appointed by the General Assembly to visit the churches in Aberdeen and the
North of Scotland. The following Assembly, 26th of December, gave him a similar appointment
for Fife and Perthshire. 1564.

Knox was summoned before the Privy Council, on account of a sermon which, on the 19th of
August, he had preached in St. Giles’s Church. 1565.

In this year he appears to have written the most considerable portion of his History of the
Reformation; having commenced the work in 1559 or 1560. 1566.

In consequence of the unsettled state of public affairs, after the murder of David Riccio, 9th of
March, Knox left Edinburgh, and retired for a time to Kyle.

June 19. James the Sixth was born in the Castle of Edinburgh.

December. Knox obtained permission from the General Assembly to proceed to England,
having received from the English Government a safeconduct, to visit his two sons, who were
residing with some of their mother’s relations.

February 10. Henry Lord Darnley was murdered.

April 24. Bothwell carried off Queen Mary to the Castle of Dunbar; and their marriage was
celebrated on the 15th of May. 1567.

June 15. Bothwell fled from Carberry-hill to Dunbar; and the Queen was brought to Edinburgh,
and afterwards confined in Lochleven Castle. About the same time, Knox returned from England.

July 29. At the King’s Coronation at Stirling, Knox preached an inaugural sermon on these words,
“I was crowned young.”

August 22. James Earl of Murray was appointed Regent of Scotland.

December 15. Knox preached at the opening of Parliament; and on the 20th, the Confession of
Faith, which had been framed and approved by Parliament in 1560, with various Acts in favour of
the Reformed religion, was solemnly ratified.

May 2. Queen Mary escaped from Lochleven; but her adherents, who had assembled at
Langside, being defeated, she fled into England, and was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth for
the rest of her life; having been beheaded at Fotheringay on the 8th of February 1586-7. 1568.

January 23. The Earl of Murray was assassinated at Linlithgow; and on occasion of his funeral,
Knox preached a sermon on these words, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” (Rev. xiv.
13.) 1569.

July 12. Matthew Earl of Lennox was elected Regent of Scotland; but was assassinated on the
4th of September. On the following day, John Earl of Mar was chosen Regent. 1570.

October. Knox had a stroke of apoplexy, but was enabled occasionally to resume his ministerial
labours.

May 5. The troubles which then agitated the country induced Knox to quit the metropolis, and to
retire to St. Andrews. 1571.

September. The news arrived of the massacre of the Protestants on St. Bartholomew’s Eve,
24th of August, at Paris, and in other parts of France.

July. On the cessation of hostilities, at the end of this month, a deputation from the citizens of
Edinburgh was sent to St. Andrews, with a letter to Knox, expressive of their earnest desire “that
once again his voice might be heard among them.” He returned in August, having this year
published, at St. Andrews, his Answer to Tyrie the Jesuit. 1572.

The Earl of Mar died on the 29th of October; and James Earl of Morton, on the 24th of
November, was elected Regent of Scotland.

On the same day, the 24th of November, having attained the age of sixty-seven, Knox closed
“his most laborious and most honourable career.” He was buried in the church-yard of St. Giles;
but, as in the case of Calvin, at Geneva, no monument was erected to mark the place where he
was interred.

Knox left a widow, and two sons by his first marriage, and three daughters by the second. In the
concluding volume will be given a genealogical tree, or notices of his descendants.

Quoted from:
The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6), by John Knox
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21938

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE TO THE HISTORY.

In the long series of events recorded in the Annals of Scotland, there is unquestionably none of
greater importance than those which exhibit the progress and establishment of the Reformed
Religion in the year 1560. This subject has accordingly called forth in succession a variety of
writers of different sentiments and persuasions. Although in the contemporary historians, Lesley,
Buchanan, and their successors, we have more or less copious illustrations of that period, yet a
little examination will show that we possess only one work which bears an exclusive reference to
this great event, and which has any claims to be regarded as the production of an original
historian. Fortunately the writer of the work alluded to was of all persons the best qualified to
undertake such a task, not only from his access to the various sources of information, and his
singular power and skill in narrating events and delineating characters, but also from the
circumstance that he himself had a personal and no unimportant share in most of the
transactions of those times, which have left the character of his own mind so indelibly impressed
on his country and its institutions. It is scarcely necessary to subjoin the name of John Knox.

The doubts which were long entertained respecting Knox’s share in the “History of the
Reformation,” have been satisfactorily explained. Such passages as were adduced to prove
that he could not have been the author, consist of palpable[Pg xxvi] errors and interpolations.
Without adverting to these suspicions, we may therefore attend to the time when the work was
actually written.
The necessity of leaving upon record a correct account of their proceedings suggested itself to
the Reformers at an early period of their career, and led to this History being commenced. Knox
arrived in Scotland in May 1559; and by his presence and counsels, he served to animate and
direct their measures, which were attended with so much success. In a letter dated from
Edinburgh 23d October that year, while alluding to the events which had taken place during their
contentions with the Queen Regent and her French auxiliaries, he uses these words, “Our most
just requeastes, which ye shall, God willing, schortlie hereafter onderstand, together with our
whole proceeding from the beginning of this matter, which we ar to sett furth in maner of Historie.”
That he had commenced the work, further appears from a letter, dated Edinburgh, 23d
September 1560, and addressed to Secretary Cecil by the English Ambassador, Randolph, in
which he says, “I have tawlked at large with Mr. Knox concerning his Hystorie. As mykle as ys
written thereof shall be sent to your Honour, at the comynge of the Lords Embassadours, by Mr.
John Woode. He hath wrytten only one Booke. If yow lyke that, he shall continue the same, or
adde onie more. He sayethe, that he must have farther helpe then is to be had in thys countrie,
for more assured knowledge of thyngs passed than he hath hymself, or can come bye here: yt
is a work not to be neglected, and greatly wyshed that yt sholde be well handled.”

Whether this portion of the work was actually communicated to Cecil at that time, is uncertain; as
no such manuscript has been discovered among his papers, either in the British Museum or the
State Paper Office. It could only have con[Pg xxvii]sisted of part of the Second Book; and this
portion remains very much in its original state, as may be inferred from these two passages.–In
July 1559, while exposing “the craftyness of the Queen Regent,” in desiring a private conference
with the Earl of Argyle and Lord James Stewart, with the hope that she might be able to withdraw
them from their confederates, we read, “And one of hir cheaf Counsale in those dayis, (and we
fear but over inward with hir yit,) said,” &c. See page 368 of this volume. This must necessarily
have been written during the Queen Regent’s life, or previously to June 1560. During the
following month, after noticing the Earl of Arran’s escape from France, and the imprisonment of
his younger brother, Lord David Hamilton, it is stated, “For the same tyme, the said Frensche
King, seing he could not have the Erle him self, gart put his youngar brother … in strait prisoun,
quhair he yitt remaneis, to witt, in the moneth of October, the yeir of God 1559.” See page 383. In
like manner, in a letter of intelligence, dated at Hamilton, 12th October 1559, and addressed to
Cecil, Randolph says, “Since Nesbot went from hence, the Duke never harde out of Fraunce,
nor newes of his son the Lord David.”–(Sadler’s State Papers, vol. i. p. 500.) We might have
supposed that his restraint was not of long duration, as he is named among the hostages left in
England, at the treaty of Berwick, 27th February 1559-60; a circumstance of which Knox could not
have been ignorant, as he gives a copy of the confirmation of the treaty by the Duke of
Chastelherault and the Lords of the Congregation; but it appears from one of the articles in the
treaty of peace in July, that Lord David Hamilton, who was still a prisoner at Bois de St. Vincent,
in France, then obtained liberty to return to Scotland; and he arrived at Edinburgh in October
1560. We are therefore warranted to infer that this portion of the Second Book of his History, must
have been written towards the end of the year 1559.

Knox himself in his general Preface, says, the intention was to have limited the period of the
History from the year 1558, until the arrival of Queen Mary from France to assume the
government in this country, in August 1561; thus extending the period originally prescribed
beyond the actual attainment of the great object at which the Reformers aimed, in the overthrow
of Popish superstition, and the establishment by civil authority of the Protestant faith, which was
actually secured by the proceedings of the Parliament that met at Edinburgh on the 1st of August
1560. But he further informs us, that he was persuaded not only to add the First Book as an
Introduction, but to continue the Narrative to a later period. This plan of extending the work he
carried into effect in the year 1566, when the First and Fourth Books were chiefly written, and
when there is reason to believe that he revised and enlarged the intermediate portion, at least
by dividing it into two parts, as Books Second and Third. The Fourth Book extends to the year
1564; and he seems to intimate that he himself had no intention to continue the History to a later
period; for alluding to the death of David Riccio, in March 1565-6, he says, “of whom we delay
now farther to speik, becaus that his end will requyre the descriptioun of the whole, and referris it
unto suche as God sall rayse up to do the same;” and a marginal note on this passage, written
probably by Richard Bannatyne in 1571, says “This ves never done be this Authour.”

Dr. M?Crie states, that “the First and Fourth Books were composed during the years 1566, 1567,
and 1568,” and that “some additions were made to the Fourth Book so late as 1571.” The only
evidence to support this supposition, is founded upon the circumstance of some marginal notes
having been added in those years, and introduced by subsequent transcribers, as belonging to
the text. Whether the Fifth Book, published by David Buchanan in 1644, was actually written by
the Reformer, will be considered in the preliminary notice to that Book. Meanwhile it may be
remarked, that the Author himself whilst occasionally engaged in collecting materials for a
continuation of his History, felt the necessity of delaying the publication; and in a letter
addressed to Mr. John Wood, 14th February 1567-8, he expresses the resolution he had formed
of withholding the work from the public during his own life.

Quoted from:
The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6), by John Knox
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21938

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

About the year 664, the wars in the south with Northumbria resulted in the introduction by its king
Oswy into south Pictland of the Catholic instead of the Columban Church, a change which
Nechtan, king of the Southern Picts, afterwards confirmed, and which long afterwards led to the
abandonment throughout Scotland of the Pictish and Columban systems, and to the adoption in
their place of the wider and broader culture, and the politically superior organisation and stricter
discipline of the Catholic Church, as new bishoprics were gradually founded throughout
Scotland by its successive kings.10

Meantime, during the centuries which elapsed before the Catholic Church reached the extreme
north of Scotland, the Pictish and Columban churches held the field, as rivals, there, and
probably never wholly perished in Norse times even in Caithness and Sutherland.

Quoted from:
SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS IN SAGA-TIME OR, THE JARLS AND THE FRESKYNS
BY JAMES GRAY, M.A. OXON.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15856

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

But there is a further feature which arrests us in the life and
ministry of the Baptist. He was ordained to be “the clasp” of two
covenants. In him Judaism reached its highest embodiment, and the Old
Testament found its noblest exponent. It is significant, therefore,
that through his lips the law and the prophets should announce their
transitional purpose, and that he who caught up the torch of Hebrew
prophecy with a grasp and spirit unrivalled by any before him, should
have it in his power and in his heart to say: “The object of all
prophecy, the purpose of the Mosaic law, the end of all sacrifices, the
desire of all nations, is at hand.” And forthwith turning to the True
Shepherd, who stood at the door waiting to be admitted, to Him the
porter opened, bowing low as He passed, and crying: “This is He of whom
Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, who was
for to come.”

Quoted from:
John the Baptist, by F. B. Meyer
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25904

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

HISTORY AND ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS OF THE CHURCHES OF THE
PRESBYTERIAL ORDER, AT AMOY, CHINA.

The first Protestant Missionaries at Amoy arrived there in the year 1842. They were Dr. Abeel of
the American Reformed Dutch Church, and Bishop Boone of the American Episcopal Church.
After these there arrived Missionaries of the London Missionary Society, of the American
Presbyterian Church, of the English Presbyterian Church, and others of the American Reformed
Dutch Church.

Bishop Boone soon left Amoy, and no others of his Church have since then been stationed
there. The American Presbyterian Mission was removed to other parts of China. At the present
time there are three Missions at Amoy, viz.: the Missions of the American Reformed Dutch
Church, of the London Missionary Society, and of the English Presbyterian Church.

The Missionaries of the London Missionary Society are Independents or Congregationalists,
and have organized their churches after the Congregational order. Thus their churches form a
distinct Denomination, and nothing further need be said of them in this paper.

The first Missionary of the English Presbyterian Church at Amoy was Dr. Jas. Young. He arrived
in May, 1850. At that time there were two Missionaries connected with our (R.D.C.) Mission, viz.:
Rev. E. Doty, on the ground, and Rev. J.V.N. Talmage, absent on a visit to the United States.
There were then under our care six native church members. Five of them had been baptized by
our Missionaries at Amoy. The other had been baptized in Siam, by a Congregationalist or
Presbyterian Minister of the A.B.C.F.M.

Dr. Young, being a physician, and not an ordained Minister, instead of commencing an
independent work, inasmuch as our doctrines and order of church government did not
essentially differ from those of his own Church, very naturally became more especially
associated with us in our work. A school under the care of our Mission, of which Mr. Doty did not
feel able to continue the charge, was passed over to his care. He also rendered medical
assistance to the Missionaries, and to the Chinese, both in Amoy, and by occasional tours in the
country. In his labors he was usually assisted by native Christians under our care.

Quoted from:
History and Ecclesiastical Relations of the Churches of the Presbyterial Order at Amoy, China,
by J. V. N. Talmage
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17002

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The opening words of Sir William Dugdale’s account of Coventry assert that it is a city
“remarkable for antiquity, charters, rights and privileges, and favours shown by monarchs.”
Though this handbook is primarily concerned with a feature of the city he does not here
mention–its magnificent buildings–the history of these is bound up with that of the city. The
connection of its great parish churches with the everyday life of the people, though commonly on
a narrower stage, is more intimate than is that of a cathedral or an abbey church, but it is to be
remembered that without its Monastery Coventry might never have been more than a village or
small market town.

We cannot expect the records of a parish church to be as full and complete as those of a
cathedral, always in touch through its bishops with the political life of the country and enjoying
the services of numerous officials; or as those of a monastery, with its leisured chroniclers ever
patiently recording the annals of their house, the doings of its abbots, the dealings of their house
with mother church and the outside world, and all its internal life and affairs. In the case of
Coventry, the unusual fulness of its city archives, the accounts and records of its guilds and
companies, and the close connection of these with the church supplies us with a larger body of
information than is often at the disposal of the historian of a parish church. As therefore, in
narrating the story of a cathedral some account of the Diocese and its Bishops has been given,
so, before describing the churches of Coventry, we shall give in outline the history of the city
which for 700 years gave its name to a bishop and of the great monastery whose church was for
400 years his seat.

Though Dugdale says that it is remarkable for antiquity, Coventry as a city has no early history
comparable with that of such places as York, Canterbury, Exeter, or Colchester, while its modern
history is mainly a record of fluctuating trade and the rise and decline of new industries. But
through all its Mediæval period, from the eleventh century down to the Reformation, with an
expiring flicker of energy in the seventeenth, there is no lack of life and colour, and its story
touches every side of the national life, political, religious, and domestic. The only evidence of
extreme antiquity produced by Dugdale is the suffix of its name, for “tre is British, and signifieth
the same that villa in Latin doth;” while the first part may be derived from the convent or from a
supposed ancient name, Cune, for the Sherborne brook.

The first date we have is 1016, when Canute invaded Mercia, burning and laying waste its towns
and settlements, including a house of nuns at Coventry founded by the Virgin St. Osburg in 670,
and ruled over by her.

Quoted from:
History and Ecclesiastical Relations of the Churches of the Presbyterial Order at Amoy, China,
by J. V. N. Talmage
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17002

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Such was the end of the life and ministry of George Wishart, one of the most zealous and
winning evangelists, and one of the most heroic and steadfast confessors, that our country has
ever produced. The remembrance of him was fondly cherished, especially in that district where
he chiefly laboured, and where he wrought a work not less memorable than that which M’Cheyne
and Burns were honoured to do in our own day. His influence was but deepened by his cruel
fate, and he “lived again,” as Dr Lorimer has eloquently said, “in John Knox…. The zealous
disciple, who had counted it an honour to be allowed to carry a sword before his master,
stood forth immediately to wield the spiritual sword which had fallen from the master’s
grasp, and to wield it with a vigour and trenchant execution superior even to his.”

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION. CHAPTER I.

THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION.

With the single exception of the period which covers the introduction and first marvellous
triumphs of Christianity, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be owned as perhaps the
greatest and most glorious revolution in the history of the human race. And the years of earnest
contendings and heroic sufferings which prepared the way for its triumph in many lands and
issued in its cruel suppression in others, and the story of the men who by God’s grace were
enabled to bear the brunt of the battle and to lead their countrymen on to victory or to martyrdom,
will ever have a fascination for all in whose hearts faith in the great truths, then more clearly
brought to light, has not yet altogether evaporated. The movement then initiated was no mere
effort to get quit of acknowledged scandals, which had long been grieved over but never firmly
dealt with; no mere desire to lop off a few later accretions, which had gathered round and
obscured the faith once delivered to the saints; no mere “return to the Augustinian, or the Nicene,
or the Ante-Nicene age,” but a vast progress beyond any previous age since the death of St
John–a Its Animating Principle. deeper plunge into the meaning of revelation than had been
made by Augustine, or Anselm, or St Bernard, or À Kempis, or Wycliffe, or Tauler. Its object was
to get back to the divine sources of Christianity,–to know, and understand, and appropriate it as it
came fresh and pure from the lips of the Son of God and His inspired apostles, not excluding
that chosen vessel to whom the grace had been given “to preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ.” It was, in fact, a return to the old Gospel so attractively set forth by
him in his Epistles, and verified to the reformers by their own inmost spiritual experience under
deep convictions of sin and shortcoming. The cry of their awakened consciences had been,
How shall we sinners have relief from our load and be justified before God? And this, as has
been said, was just the old question put to the apostle himself by the jailer at Philippi, What must
I do to be saved? And the answer their own experience warranted them with one accord to
proclaim was still, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in the riches of His pardoning mercy,
in the merit of His atoning death, in the freeness and power of His efficacious grace. By
believing, however, they meant, and were careful to explain that they meant, not a mere
intellectual assent to the truth of the facts, but such an assent as drew with it the trust of the heart
and the personal surrender of the soul to Christ; or–to use language of somewhat later origin–the
individual appropriation of the freely offered Saviour, with all His fulness of blessing, pardon,
and righteousness by His one offering once offered, and renewal into His own image by the
continuous indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

PATRICK HAMILTON.

It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and writings of Luther were
first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour, who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was
accused of having vented various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the
Duke of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June 1523, the same
day that John Major was received as Principal of the Pædagogium, or St Mary’s College,
Patrick Hamilton was incorporated into the University of St Andrews; and on 3rd October 1524
he was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Arts. If he did not from the latter date act as a
regent in the University, he probably took charge of some of the young noblemen or gentlemen
attending the classes. At that date he was probably more Erasmian than Lutheran, though of that
more earnest school who were ultimately to outgrow their teacher, and find their congenial home
in a new church.

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER IV.

GEORGE WISHART.

It was about this time that a new evangelist arrived in the country, singularly fitted to impress on
the hearts of men the lessons of the Holy Book to which they had now access in their native
tongue. This was George Wishart, a younger son or nephew of Sir James Wishart, laird of
Pittarrow in the Mearns. He appears to have been born about 1512-13, and to have received his
university training in King’s College, Aberdeen, then presided over by a distinguished humanist
skilled both in Latin and Greek. He acquired a knowledge of Greek–at that time a very rare
accomplishment in Scotland–either from the Principal of King’s College, or from a Frenchman
teaching languages in Montrose. From his early years he seems to have been intimate with
John Erskine, laird of Dun, and at that time also provost of the neighbouring burgh of Montrose.
The earliest notice we have of him is as attesting a charter granted in favour of Erskine. This
lends confirmation to the tradition which Petrie, himself a native of the town, says he had heard
from ancient men (who in their youth had seen and known the reformer) that then, or soon after,
he was employed as assistant or successor of Marsillier, the Frenchman Erskine had brought
from France to teach the languages, and that, like him, he read the Greek New Testament with
some of his pupils. John Hepburn, then Bishop of Brechin, would not naturally have been
quick-scented to detect heresy in one who stood so high with his good friend Erskine of Dun; but
David Betoun, Abbot of Arbroath, often resided at the mansion-house of Ethie, half-way between
Arbroath and Montrose, and he was both more lynx-eyed and more anxious to stamp out any
approach to heresy, and he urged the bishop on…

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.

As soon as the king [i.e., Henry VIII.] began to hate her [i.e., Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the
purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. When I could not bear these with a good conscience,
nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary
reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the king’s orders), I came to the Court, and
asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with
empty hopes, until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be
separated from their wives and punished at the king’s pleasure. But before this law was
published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord Pachet [i.e. Paget] from Lambeth to me at
London…. He directed me to call upon the archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon
him, “Happy man that you are,” said he, “you can escape! I wish that I might do the same; truly
my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make haste to escape before the island is
blocked up, unless you are willing to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of
what I have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been deposition from
the archbishopric (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is deposed), of a truth I would not have
subscribed. I am grieved, however, that you have been deprived of your salary for three years
by Crumwell; that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and that I have no ready
money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest the king should become aware that warning
had been given by me for you to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of
travelling. I give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once belonged to Thomas
Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the king when he gave me the archbishopric.”

When I heard what the bishop had to say, I immediately caused my property to be sold, and I
concealed myself in the house of a German sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked,
dressed as a soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected. When I had
escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although he had not behaved well
towards me) and warned him of the danger in which he stood at that time, and about certain
other matters. For this I can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and
Pachet him self. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare to speak to me when I
was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor could he venture to give me anything, lest he
should be accused to the king, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.

The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had undergone capital
punishment by order of the king; to whom he had written, when in prison, saying that he was
punished by the just judgment of God, because he had loved the king more than God; and that
out of deference to his sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to be put to death, not
sparing your [i.e., Elizabeth’s] most holy mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting
the doctrine of the Gospel.–(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 532-534).]

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE NATIONAL COVENANT: SERMON AT EDINBURGH.[5] BY ANDREW CANT.

“Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall
bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”

I perceive that God will have His temple built, which had been long neglected; partly by the
worldliness of the people, who had greater care of their own houses, than of the house of God;
as appears by the prophet Haggai, chap. i. 3,4. He reproves them for this fault, that they cared
more for their own houses than for the house of God; partly, because of the great impediments
and difficulties they apprehended in the work. Yet God, having a purpose to have it builded,
sends His prophets to stir them up to the building of it. As for impediments He promises to
remove them all, and assures them of this by Haggai and Zechariah; yea, He shews to
Zerubbabel and the people, that although impediments were as mountains, yet they should be
removed.

I need not stand upon introductions and connections: this verse I have read, shows the scope of
the prophet; viz. God will have His work going on, and all impediments removed. These times
require that I should rather insist upon application to the present work of reformation in hand, than
to stand upon the temple of Jerusalem, which we know well enough was a type of Christ’s kirk,
which in this land was once built, but now hath been defaced by the enemies of Christ: we have
long neglected the re-edifying of it; partly, men being given more to build their own houses, nor
the house of Christ; and partly, because of the great impediments that have discouraged God’s
people to meddle with it. Now, it hath pleased God to stir up prophets, noblemen, and people of
the land, to put their hands to this work. And I think God saith to you in this text, “Who art thou, O
great mountain? thou shalt become a plain.”

Quoted from:
The Covenants And The Covenanters, by Various
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19100

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

W.H.G. Kingston – “Count Ulrich of Lindburg” Chapter One.

On the banks of the river Saal, in Merseburg, forming part of Saxony, at the time of which we
speak, governed by the aged and excellent Elector Frederick, stood the Castle of Lindburg. It
was one of those feudal piles of the Middle Ages, impregnable to the engines of ancient
warfare, but which were destined to crumble before the iron shots with which cannon assailed
them, as the system they represented was compelled to succumb to the light of that truth which
the Gospel was then diffusing over the greater part of Europe.

Ulrich, Count von Lindburg, or the Knight of Lindburg, as he was often called, sat in a room in his
Castle, with his arm resting on a table and a book before him, at which, however, his eyes
seldom glanced; his looks were thoughtful and full of care. He had engaged in much hard
fighting in his younger days, and now all he wished for was rest and quiet, though the state of the
times gave him but little hope of enjoying them. In his own mind, too, he was troubled about
many things. Four years before the time at which he is introduced to the reader, he had visited
Worms, during the time the Diet, summoned by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, was sitting, and
was among those who found their way into the great hall where the Emperor and the chief
princes, bishops, and nobles of the land were sitting, when Dr Martin Luther, replied to the
chancellor of Treves, the orator of the Diet, who demanded whether he would retract the
opinions put forth in numerous books he had published and sermons he had preached.

“Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple,
and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my fate either to the Pope
or to the councils, because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted
each other. Unless, therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest
reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they
thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and will not retract, for it is
unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience.” And then, looking round on that
assembly before which he stood, and which held his life in its hands, he said, “HERE I STAND, I
CAN DO NO OTHER. MAY GOD HELP ME! AMEN!”

Quoted from:
Count Ulrich of Lindburg, by W.H.G. Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23191

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The assembly were thunderstruck. Many of the princes found it difficult to conceal their
admiration; even the emperor exclaimed, “This monk speaks with an intrepid heart and
unshaken courage.” Truly he did. This is the weakness of God, which is stronger than man. God
had brought together these kings and these prelates publicly to confound their wisdom. These
bold words had had also a deep effect on the Knight of Lindburg, and he kept meditating on
them as he rode homeward towards the north. Could it, then, be possible that the lowly monk–the
peasant’s son–should be right, and all those great persons, who wished to condemn him,
wrong? Was that faith, in which he himself had been brought up, not the true one? Was there a
purer and a better? He must consult Father Nicholas Keller, his confessor, and hear what he had
to say on the subject. The Knight carried out his intention. Father Nicholas was puzzled; scarcely
knew what answer to make. It was a dreadful thing to differ with the Church–to rebel against the
Pope. Dr Martin was a learned man, but he opined that he was following too closely in the steps
of John Huss, and the Knight, his patron, knew that they led to the stake. He had no wish that any
one under his spiritual charge should go there. As to the Scriptures, he had read but very small
portions of them, and he could not tell how far Dr Martin’s opinions were formed from them. The
Knight was not satisfied. He asked Father Nicholas to explain what was the Church, and if it was
not founded on the Scriptures, on what was it founded? Father Nicholas replied that it was
founded on Peter, and that the popes were Peter’s successors, and that therefore the Church
was founded on the Pope. The Knight remarked that from what he had heard of Peter he must
have been a very different sort of person to Leo the Tenth, and he asked what we knew about
Peter, and indeed the other apostles, except through the Scriptures? Father Nicholas, shaking
his head at so preposterous a question, replied, “Through tradition.” The Knight asked, “What is
tradition?” Father Nicholas hesitated–coughed–hemmed–and then said, “My son, tradition–is
tradition! And now let us change the subject, it is becoming dangerous.”

The Knight was not yet satisfied, and he determined to look more particularly into the matter.
When, therefore, his son Eric came home, and expressed a strong desire to migrate to
Wittemburg, that he might pursue his studies under the learned professors of that University, Drs.
Martin Luther, Melancthon, Jerome Schurff, Jonas Armsdorff, Augustin Schurff, and others, he
made no objection. Dame Margaret, his wife, however, and Father Nicholas, loudly protested
against Eric’s going among such a nest of heretics.

“He will be perverted,” they exclaimed; “he will share the fate of Huss.”

“I have promised him that he shall have his will, and perhaps he will be able to come back and
tell us the meaning of tradition,” answered the Knight, with a peculiar look at Father Nicholas.
“There are, besides, two or three other things about which I want him to gain information for me.”

Dame Margaret knew from experience that when the knight, who was an old soldier and wont to
rule in his own house, said a thing, he meant it. She therefore held her peace, and it was finally
arranged that Eric should forthwith set off for Wittemburg.

Quoted from:
Count Ulrich of Lindburg, by W.H.G. Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23191

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THOMAS CRANMER. A. D. 1489-1556. THE ENGLISH REFORMATION.

As the great interest of the Middle Ages, in an historical point of view, centres around the throne
of the popes, so the most prominent subject of historical interest in our modern times is the revolt
from their almost unlimited domination. The Protestant Reformation, in its various relations, was
a movement of transcendent importance. The history of Christendom, in a moral, a political, a
religious, a literary, and a social point of view, for the last three hundred years, cannot be
studied or comprehended without primary reference to that memorable revolution.

We have seen how that great insurrection of human intelligence was headed in Germany by
Luther, and we shall shortly consider it in Switzerland and France under Calvin. We have now to
contemplate the movement in England.

The most striking figure in it was doubtless Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury,
although he does not represent the English Reformation in all its phases. He was neither so
prominent nor so great a man as Luther or Calvin, or even Knox. But, taking him all in all, he was
the most illustrious of the English reformers; and he, more than any other man, gave direction to
the spirit of reform, which had been quietly working ever since the time of Wyclif, especially
among the humbler classes.

Quoted from:
Count Ulrich of Lindburg, by W.H.G. Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23191

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER II.

PATRICK HAMILTON.

It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and writings of Luther were
first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour, who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was
accused of having vented various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the
Duke of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June 1523, the same
day that John Major was received as Principal of the Pædagogium, or St Mary’s College,[14]
Patrick Hamilton was incorporated into the University of St Andrews;[15] and on 3rd October
1524 he[Pg 20] was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Arts. If he did not from the latter date
act as a regent in the University, he probably took charge of some of the young noblemen or
gentlemen attending the classes. At that date he was probably more Erasmian than Lutheran,
though of that more earnest school who were ultimately to outgrow their teacher, and find their
congenial home in a new church.

Patrick Hamilton was born in 1503 or 1504 at Stonehouse in Lanarkshire, or at Kincavel near
Linlithgow. His father, a natural son of the first Lord Hamilton, had been knighted for his bravery,
and rewarded by his sovereign with the above lands and barony. His mother was a daughter of
Alexander, Duke of Albany, the second son of James II., so that he had in his veins the noblest
blood in the land. His cousins, John and James Hamilton, were in due time raised to episcopal
rank in the unreformed church of Scotland, and several others of his relations received high
ecclesiastical promotion…

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER IV.

GEORGE WISHART.

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER I.

THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION.

Quoted from:
The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22023

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The word “church” as used in the New Testament is, in most cases, derived from the Greek
word ekklesia. The component parts of this word literally mean to summon or call together in
public convocation. It was, therefore, used to designate any popular assembly which met for the
transaction of public business. As an example of the secular use of the term, see Acts 19: 32, 39.
This particular application of the word, however, does not here concern us.

Quoted from:
The Last Reformation, by F. G. [Frederick George] Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13330

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION
CHAPTER I – THE OLD AND THE NEW – SECTION 1. THE WORLD.

Though in some sense every age is one of transition and every generation sees the world
remodelled, there sometimes comes a change so startling and profound that it seems like the
beginning of a new season in the world’s great year. The snows of winter melt for weeks, the
cold winds blow and the cool rains fall, and we see no change until, almost within a few days, the
leaves and blossoms put forth their verdure, and the spring has come.

Such a change in man’s environment and habits as the world has rarely seen, took place in the
generation that reached early manhood in the year 1500. [Sidenote: 1483-1546] In the span of a
single life–for convenience let us take that of Luther for our measure–men discovered, not in
metaphor but in sober fact, a new heaven and a new earth. In those days masses of men began
to read many books, multiplied by the new art of printing. In those days immortal artists shot the
world through with a matchless radiance of color and of meaning. In those days Vasco da
Gama and Columbus and Magellan opened the watery ways to new lands beyond the seven
seas. In those days Copernicus established the momentous truth that the earth was but a tiny
planet spinning around a vastly greater sun. In those days was in large part accomplished the
economic shift from medieval gild to modern production by capital and wages. In those days
wealth was piled up in the coffers of the merchants, and a new power was given to the life of the
individual, of the nation, and of the third estate. In those days the monarchy of the Roman church
was broken, and large portions of her dominions seceded to form new organizations, governed
by other powers and animated by a different spirit.

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation, by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

But all other inventions yield to that of printing, the glory of John Gutenberg of Mayence, one of
those poor and in their own times obscure geniuses who carry out to fulfilment a great idea at
much sacrifice to themselves. The demand for books had been on the increase for a long time,
and every effort was made to reproduce them as rapidly and cheaply as possible by the hand
of expert copyists, but the applications of this method produced slight result. The introduction of
paper, in place of the older vellum or parchment, furnished one of the indispensable
pre-requisites to the multiplication of cheap volumes. In the early fifteenth century, the art of the
wood-cutter and engraver had advanced sufficiently to allow some books to be printed in this
manner, i.e. from carved blocks. This was usually, or at first, done only with books in which a
small amount of text went with a large amount of illustration. There are extant, for example, six
editions of the Biblia Pauperum, stamped by this method. It was afterwards applied, chiefly in
Holland, to a few other books for which there was a large demand, the Latin grammar of
Donatus, for example, and a guide-book to Rome known as the Mirabilia Urbis Romae. But at
best this method was extremely unsatisfactory; the blocks soon wore out, the text was blurred
and difficult to read, the initial expense was large.

The essential feature of Gutenberg’s invention was therefore not, as the name implies, printing,
or impression, but typography, or the use of type. The printer first had a letter cut in hard metal,
this was called the punch; with it he stamped a mould known as the {9} matrix in which he was
able to found a large number of exactly identical types of metal, usually of lead.

These, set side by side in a case, for the first time made it possible satisfactorily to print at
reasonable cost a large number of copies of the same text, and, when that was done, the types
could be taken apart and used for another work.

The earliest surviving specimen of printing–not counting a few undated letters of indulgence–is a
fragment on the last judgment completed at Mayence before 1447. In 1450 Gutenberg made a
partnership with the rich goldsmith John Fust, and from their press issued, within the next five
years, the famous Bible with 42 lines to a page, and a Donatus (Latin grammar) of 32 lines. The
printer of the Bible with 36 lines to a page, that is the next oldest surviving monument, was
apparently a helper of Gutenberg, who set up an independent press in 1454. Legible, clean-cut,
comparatively cheap, these books demonstrated once for all the success of the new art, even
though, for illuminated initials, they were still dependent on the hand of the scribe.

In those days before patents the new invention spread with wonderful rapidity, reaching Italy in
1465, Paris in 1470, London in 1480, Stockholm in 1482, Constantinople in 1487, Lisbon in 1490,
and Madrid in 1499. Only a few backward countries of Europe remained without a press. By the
year 1500 the names of more than one thousand printers are known, and the titles of about
30,000 printed works. Assuming that the editions were small, averaging 300 copies, there would
have been in Europe by 1500 about 9,000,000 books, as against the few score thousand
manuscripts that lately had held all the precious lore of time. In a few years the price of books
sank to one-eighth of what it had been before. “The gentle reader” had started on his career.

The importance of printing cannot be over-estimated. There are few events like it in the history
of the world. The whole gigantic swing of modern democracy and of the scientific spirit was
released by it. The veil of the temple of religion and of knowledge was rent in twain, and the
arcana of the priest and clerk exposed to the gaze of the people. The reading public became
the supreme court before whom, from this time, all cases must be argued. The conflict of
opinions and parties, of privilege and freedom, of science and obscurantism, was transferred
from the secret chamber of a small, privileged, professional, and sacerdotal coterie to the arena
of the reading public.

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation, by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

If printing opened the broad road to popular education, other and more formal means to the
same end were not neglected. One of the great innovations of the Middle Ages was the
university. These permanent corporations, dedicated to the advancement of learning and the
instruction of youth, first arose, early in the twelfth century, at Salerno, at Bologna and at Paris. As
off-shoots of these, or in imitation of them, many similar institutions sprang up in every land of
western Europe. The last half of the fifteenth century was especially rich in such foundations. In
Germany, from 1450 to 1517, no less than nine new academies were started: Greifswald 1456,
Freiburg in the Breisgau 1460, Basle 1460, Ingolstadt 1472, Trèves 1473, Mayence 1477,
Tübingen 1477, Wittenberg 1502, and Frankfort on the Oder 1506. Though generally founded by
papal charter, and maintaining a strong ecclesiastical flavor, these institutions were under the
direction of the civil government.

In France three new universities opened their doors during the same period: Valence 1459,
Nantes 1460, Bourges 1464. These were all placed under the general supervision of the local
bishops. The great university of Paris was gradually changing its character. From the most
cosmopolitan and international of bodies it was fast becoming strongly nationalist, and was the
chief center of an Erastian Gallicanism. Its tremendous weight cast against the Reformation was
doubtless a chief reason for the failure of that movement in France.

Spain instituted seven new universities at this time: Barcelona 1450, Saragossa 1474, Palma
1483, Sigüenza 1489, Alcalá 1499, Valencia 1500, and Seville 1504. Italy and England remained
content with the academies they already had, but many of the smaller countries now started
native universities. Thus Pressburg was founded in Hungary in 1465, Upsala in Sweden in 1477,
Copenhagen in 1478, Glasgow in 1450, and Aberdeen in 1494. The number of students in each
foundation fluctuated, but the total was steadily on the increase.

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation, by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

SECTION 2. THE CHURCH

Over against “the world,” “the church.” . . . As the Reformation was primarily a religious
movement, some account of the church in the later Middle Ages must be given. How Christianity
was immaculately conceived in the heart of the Galilean carpenter and born with words of
beauty and power such as no other man ever spoke; how it inherited from him its background of
Jewish monotheism and Hebrew Scripture; how it was enriched, or sophisticated, by Paul, who
assimilated it to the current mysteries with their myth of a dying and rising god and of salvation
by sacramental rite; how it decked itself in the white robes of Greek philosophy and with many a
gewgaw of ceremony and custom snatched from the flamen’s vestry; how it created a pantheon
of saints to take the place of the old polytheism; how it became first the chaplain and then the
heir of the Roman Empire, building its church on the immovable rock of the Eternal City,
asserting like her a dominion without bounds of space or time; how it conquered and tamed the
barbarians;–all this lies outside the scope of the present work to describe. But of its later fortunes
some brief account must be given.

By the year 1200 the popes, having emerged triumphant from their long strife with the German
emperors, successfully asserted their claim to the suzerainty of all Western Europe. Innocent III
took realms in fief and dictated to kings. The pope, asserting that the spiritual power was as
much superior to the civil as the sun was brighter than the moon, acted as the vicegerent of God
on earth. But this supremacy did not last long unquestioned. Just a century after Innocent III,
Boniface VIII [Sidenote: Boniface VIII 1294-1303] was worsted in a quarrel with Philip IV of
France, and his successor, Clement V, a Frenchman, by transferring the papal capital to
Avignon, virtually made the supreme pontiffs subordinate to the French government and thus
weakened their influence in the rest of Europe. This “Babylonian Captivity” [Sidenote: The
Babylonian Captivity 1309-76] was followed by a greater misfortune to the pontificate, the Great
Schism, [Sidenote: The Great Schism 1378-1417] for the effort to transfer the papacy back to
Rome led to the election of two popes, who, with their successors, respectively ruled and
mutually anathematized each other from the two rival cities. The difficulty of deciding which was
the true successor of Peter was so great that not only were the kingdoms of Europe divided in
their allegiance, but doctors of the church and canonized saints could be found among the
supporters of either line. There can be no doubt that respect for the pontificate greatly suffered
by the schism, which was in some respects a direct preparation for the greater division brought
about by the Protestant secession.

[Sidenote: Councils–Pisa, 1409, Constance, 1414-18]

The attempt to end the schism at the Council of Pisa resulted only in the election of a third pope.
The situation was finally dealt with by the Council of Constance which deposed two of the popes
and secured the voluntary abdication of the third. The synod further strengthened the church by
executing the heretics Huss and Jerome of Prague, and by passing decrees intended to put the
government of the church in the hands of representative assemblies. It asserted that it {15} had
power directly from Christ, that it was supreme in matters of faith, and in matters of discipline so
far as they affected the schism, and that the pope could not dissolve it without its own consent.
By the decree Frequens it provided for the regular summoning of councils at short intervals.
Beyond this, other efforts to reform the morals of the clergy proved abortive, for after long
discussion nothing of importance was done.

For the next century the policy of the popes was determined by the wish to assert their
superiority over the councils. The Synod of Basle [Sidenote: Basle 1431-43] reiterated all the
claims of Constance, and passed a number of laws intended to diminish the papal authority and
to deprive the pontiff of much of his ill-gotten revenues–annates, fees for investiture, and some
other taxes. It was successful for a time because protected by the governments of France and
Germany, for, though dissolved by Pope Eugene IV in 1433, it refused to listen to his command
and finally extorted from him a bull ratifying the conciliar claims to supremacy…

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation, by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

I pray God, that we may be of the number of those who shall hear this joyful and most
comfortable voice of Christ our Saviour, when he will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,
possess the kingdom which is prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid.”
There are a great number amongst the Christian people, who in the Lord’s prayer, when they
pray, “Thy kingdom come,” pray that this day may come; but yet, for all that, they are drowned in
the world, they say the words with their lips, but they cannot tell what is the meaning of it; they
speak it only with their tongue: which saying indeed is to no purpose. But the man or woman that
saith these words, “Thy kingdom come,” with a faithful heart,…

Quoted from:
The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. by John Welch, and Bishop Latimer and John
Knox
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/28104

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The first of the great German mystics was Master Eckhart, a Dominican who lived at Erfurt, in
Bohemia, at Paris, and at Cologne. The inquisitors of this last place summoned him before their
court on the charge of heresy, but while his trial was pending he died. He was a Christian
pantheist, teaching that God was the only true being, and that man was capable of reaching {31}
the absolute. Of all the mystics he was the most speculative and philosophical. Both Henry
Suso and John Tauler were his disciples. [Sidenote: Suso, 1300-66] Suso’s ecstatic piety was
of the ultra-medieval type, romantic, poetic, and bent on winning personal salvation by the old
means of severe self-torture and the constant practice of good works. Tauler, a Dominican of
Strassburg, belonged to a society known as The Friends of God. [Sidenote: Tauler c. 1300-61]
Of all his contemporaries he in religion was the most social and practical. His life was that of an
evangelist, preaching to laymen in their own vernacular the gospel of a pure life and direct
communion with God through the Bible and prayer. Like many other popular preachers he
placed great emphasis on conversion, the turning (Kehr) from a bad to a good life. Simple faith
is held to be better than knowledge or than the usual works of ecclesiastical piety. Tauler
esteemed the holiest man he had ever seen one who had never heard five sermons in his life.
All honest labor is called God’s service, spinning and shoe-making the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Pure religion is to be “drowned in God,” “intoxicated with God,” “melted in the fire of his love.”
Transcending the common view of the average Christian that religion’s one end was his own
salvation, Tauler taught him that the love of God was greater than this.

One of the fine flowers of German mysticism is a book written anonymously–”spoken by the
Almighty, Eternal God, through a wise, understanding, truly just man, his Friend, a priest of the
Teutonic Order at Frankfort.” The German Theology, [Sidenote: The German Theology] as it
was named by Luther, teaches in its purest form entire abandonment to God, simple passivity in
his hands, utter {32} self-denial and self-surrender, until, without the interposition of any external
power, and equally without effort of her own, the soul shall find herself at one with the
bridegroom. The immanence of God is taught; man’s helpless and sinful condition is
emphasized; and the reconciliation of the two is found only in the unconditional surrender of
man’s will to God. “Put off thine own will and there will be no hell.”

Tauler’s sermons, first published 1498, had an immense influence on Luther. They were later
taken up by the Jesuit Canisius who sought by them to purify his church. [Sidenote: 1543] The
German Theology was first published by Luther in 1516, with the statement that save the Bible
and St. Augustine’s works, he had never met with a book from which he had learned so much of
the nature of “God, Christ, man, and all things.” But other theologians, both Protestant and
Catholic, did not agree with him. Calvin detected secret and deadly poison in the author’s
pantheism, and in 1621 the Catholic Church placed his work on the Index.

The Netherlands also produced a school of mystics, later in blooming than that of the Germans
and greater in its direct influence. The earliest of them was John of Ruysbroeck, a man of
visions and ecstasies. [Sidenote: Ruysbroeck, 1293-1381] He strove to make his life one long
contemplation of the light and love of God. Two younger men, Gerard Groote and Florence
Radewyn, socialized his gospel by founding the fellowship of the Brethren of the Common Life.
[Sidenote: Groote, 1340-84] [Sidenote: Radewyn, 1350-1400] Though never an order
sanctioned by the church, they taught celibacy and poverty, and devoted themselves to service
of their fellows, chiefly in the capacity of teachers of boys.

The fifteenth century’s rising tide of devotion brought forth the most influential of the products of
all the mystics, the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. [Sidenote: Thomas à Kempis, c.
1380-1471] Written in a plaintive minor key of resignation and pessimism, it sets forth with much
artless eloquence the ideal of making one’s personal life approach that of Christ. Humility,
self-restraint, asceticism, patience, solitude, love of Jesus, prayer, and a diligent use of the
sacramental grace of the eucharist are the means recommended to form the character of the
perfect Christian. It was doubtless because all this was so perfect an expression of the medieval
ideal that it found such wide and instant favor. There is no questioning of dogma, nor any
speculation on the positions of the church; all this is postulated with child-like simplicity.
Moreover, the ideal of the church for the salvation of the individual, and the means supposed to
secure that end, are adopted by à Kempis. He tacitly assumes that the imitator of Christ will be a
monk, poor and celibate. His whole endeavor was to stimulate an enthusiasm for privation and
a taste for things spiritual, and it was because in his earnestness and single-mindedness he so
largely succeeded that his book was eagerly seized by the hands of thousands who desired
and needed such stimulation and help. The Dutch canon was not capable of rising to the
heights of Tauler and the Frankfort priest, who saw in the love of God a good in itself
transcending the happiness of one’s own soul. He just wanted to be saved and tried to love
God for that purpose with all his might. But this careful self-cultivation made his religion
self-centered; it was, compared even with the professions of the Protestants and of the Jesuits,
personal and unsocial.

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

A far stronger impression on his age was made by John Wyclif, the most significant of the
Reformers before Luther. He, too, was an Oxford professor, a schoolman, and a patriot, but he
was animated by a deeper religious feeling than was Occam. In 1361 he was master of Balliol
College, where he lectured for many years on divinity. At the same time he held various
benefices in turn, the last, the pastorate of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, from 1374 till his death.
He became a reformer somewhat late in life owing to study of the Bible and of the bad condition
of the English church. [Sidenote: 1374] At the peace congress at Bruges as a commissioner to
negotiate with papal ambassadors for the relief of crying abuses, he became disillusioned in
his hope for help from that quarter. He then turned to the civil government, urging it to regain the
usurped authority of the church. This plan, set forth in voluminous writings, in lectures at Oxford
and in popular sermons in London, soon brought him before the tribunal [Sidenote: 1377] of
William Courtenay, Bishop of London, and, had he not been protected by the powerful prince,
John of Lancaster, it might have gone hard with him. Five bulls launched against him by Gregory
XI from Rome only confirmed him in his course, for he {37} appealed from them to Parliament.
Tried at Lambeth he was forbidden to preach or teach, and he therefore retired for the rest of his
life to Lutterworth. [Sidenote: 1378] He continued his literary labors, resulting in a vast host of
pamphlets.

Quoted from:
The Age of the Reformation by Preserved Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18879

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

TWENTY-ONE years ago, on 19th February 1896, Pastor Hsi, to quote the words of his
biographer, “was translated to higher service.” Those who read the fascinating and wonderful
story of his life by Mrs. Howard Taylor will at once be interested in The Fulfilment of a Dream,
which is the story of the work in Hwochow, and gives the account of the carrying on of the
spiritual labour of that remarkable man, and of the fulfilment of his dream. I think it is equally true
that those who have not read Pastor Hsi’s life will desire to do so after reading this book…

…THE spirit of the Confucian scholar Hsi met with its Master Christ, and overwhelmed by the
vision yielded all to His control. Constrained by His love the souls of men were sought and won;
led by His Spirit, churches were established in the faith; sharing His sufferings, their failures
became his burden.

In the darkest days the Hwochow Church has known, when many forsook their faith, he was
strengthened by a dream, in which he saw a tree cut down to the ground, only to sprout again,
and throw out branches stronger than before.

In his dream, Pastor Hsi knew this tree to be the Hwochow Church. He knew that though it were
brought low, it would revive, and by faith obtained the promise, the fulfilment of which is recorded
in these pages.

Quoted from:
THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM OF PASTOR HSI’S
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27243

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CHAPTER I – MRS. HSI’S GIFT – Being an Account of the Opening of the Station of Hwochow

MRS. HSI was in great mental distress. The blow she feared had fallen, and her husband was a
prey to the bewitching power of the “foreign devils.” How cleverly the trap had been laid. Firstly,
the offer of a monetary prize for a classical essay–which he had won; secondly, the insistence of
the foreigner on a personal interview with the writer, on the occasion of which, certain as her
husband had been that he had tasted neither food nor drink under his roof, some means had
certainly been found to introduce into his system some of that subtle foreign drug which, as
every one knew, must eventually compel the victim to embrace Christianity and follow the
“foreign devil” to the world’s end. Thirdly, he had been invited to become the teacher of this
dreaded man (Rev. David Hill), and she had foolishly yielded her consent. She had taken every
precaution and had, on three occasions, sent for him on plea of her own illness during the time
he was an inmate in the foreigner’s household. His clothing had been carefully searched for
traces of the magical compound, but in vain; nothing had come to light, and now here was her
husband, one of the leading Confucianists of the district, declaring that, of his own free will and
action, he had determined to follow–not the foreign devils–but this Jesus, around Whom all their
preaching centred. He attributed this change of mind, evidently quite irrationally, to the reading
of a book printed under the strange title of Happy Sound,–but perhaps even the sacred Chinese
character might become a snare in their hands! Nothing but the influence of some powerful
magic could have worked so complete a transformation. Even his intense craving for opium
was gone, the Confucian writings which had been his constant companion were now neglected,
and in spite of her entreaties and fears, the family gods were destroyed.

During his stay at home he spoke constantly, both to her and in her hearing to many visitors, of
the teachings of this Jesus Who, he explained to all comers, was the Son of the only True God.

Quoted from:
THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM OF PASTOR HSI’S
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27243

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“On the other side of the River was also a meadow, curiously beautified with lilies, and it was
green all the year round.”–Pilgrim’s Progress.

Quoted from:
THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM OF PASTOR HSI’S
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27243

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

My sole reason for writing this book and placing it before the public is to call the public’s
attention to another book, wherein is contained the Christ truth, the understanding of which will
free you from all your troubles.

If in sin, it shows the way out; if sick, it will heal you; if grief-stricken, it will mend your broken
heart; if in poverty, it will give you plenty. I speak from experience, having been sick for more
than seven years, at the edge of the grave, reduced to poverty, and all earthly hope gone. I
was rescued from this inferno on earth, my health restored, my supply sufficient, my joy
complete; surely I can say, my cup of happiness runneth over. Truly that book sayeth–”Come
all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Quoted from:
The Pastor’s Son, by William W. Walter
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6310

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. This appears to be a fiction work but interesting. I will read it
sometime, do let me know your thoughts on it.

It has pleased the Lord so abundantly to bless the former parts of my Narrative to the comfort,
encouragement, strengthening, and instruction of those who are young and weak in the faith,
and to those unacquainted with the simplicity of the truth, that I consider myself to be the
servant of such; and I feel that responsibility is laid upon me, to do what further I can, in this
way, to serve them. And this, I confess, I do joyfully; for my spirit has oft times been not a little
refreshed during the eighteen years which have elapsed, since I published the first part of my
Narrative, by the many hundreds of letters I have received, giving an account of the blessing,
which the writers of them have derived from the perusal of it; and I have thus been again and
again encouraged to go on with the work.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. Do also help
Gutenburg put up more Christian type books for the general public.

Thus the Lord rewarded at once this determination to endeavour not to look in the least to that
promise from a brother, but only to Himself. But this was not all. About two o’clock this
afternoon I received from the brother, who had, more than forty days ago, made that promise,
166l. 18s., as he this day received the money, on the strength of which he had made that
promise. Of this sum 100l. are to be used for the work in my hands, and the remainder for
brother Craik’s and my own personal expenses.–I took of these two sums, i.e. of the 70l. and
the 100l., half for the Orphans and half for these objects. When this money came in, there was
only very little in hand. The last tracts had been given away, two or three days ago, but I had
no money to order more: thus I was able to send off an order for 11,700. Bibles also needed to
be ordered, but I had no money: I am now able to order some. It had been much on my heart to
send a little help to some Missionary brethren, as a token of affectionate interest, and this I am
now able to do. The Lord be praised for His goodness in helping thus so seasonably!

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

On March 10, 1846, I asked the Lord for still further supplies for missionary purposes, and while
I was in prayer a letter came from C. W. with 20l. for missionary purposes. Thus also, about the
same time, came in, from the neighbourhood of Ludlow, 2l., and from Keswick 5l. for Missions,
besides other smaller donations for the same purpose.

It must not be supposed that these are all the donations which I received for the carrying on
these objects from July 14, 1844, to May 26, 1846; but those which are referred to came in
under remarkable circumstances, or, more manifestly, as answers to prayer.

I now proceed to give an account of the Lord’s goodness in supplying me with means for the
Orphans, from July 14, 1844, up to May 26, 1846; though here again only the most remarkable
instances, on account of the great number of cases, can be given.

Supplies for the Orphan Fund, sent in answer to Prayer, from July 14, 1844, to May 26, 1846…

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

Aug. 2. The day began with 2 ¾ d. in hand. A little before ten o’clock in the morning the
letter-bag was brought from the Orphan-Houses for money, in which I found a note stating that
the need of today was 1l. 17s., but I had only 2 ¾ d. to send. I wrote so to brother R. B. master of
the Orphan Boys, intending to request him (to send up again in the afternoon, for what the Lord
might have sent in the mean time. When I was going to put the 2 ¾ d into the purse in the bag, I
found half-a-crown in the bag, slipped into it before it was opened. This half-crown is a
precious earnest that the Lord will help this day also. It was found by me just after I had risen
from my knees, having been with some of the labourers in the work in prayer for means. Before
I bad yet finished the note to brother B. B., a sovereign was given to me, so that I had 1l. 2s. 8 ¾
d. to send off. About two o’clock this afternoon I received by sale of articles 10s. 6d., by sale of
stockings 6s. 8d., and by the sale of ladies’ bags 9s. 4d. Thus I could send off the 14s. 6d.
which was still needed for today, and had 12s. left.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

“Aug. 29, 1844.

“The history of this money is this. I did some work in the country some time ago, and thought I
should never get the money for it, as I had repeatedly written about it, and could not get it. But
some time ago I was asking the Lord to incline the heart of the person who owed me the
money, to send it to me, and I told Him, that, if He would do so, I would give 10s. for the
Orphans. Three days ago I had such confidence, that I should have the money, that I was
enabled to praise the Lord for it; and today I was going up Park Street, and met the person
coming with the money. It had been put into the party’s heart the day before yesterday to pay
me the money. Now, dear brother, I fulfil my promise to the Lord by giving you the money. Help
me, dear brother, to praise Him for it, and that I may be enabled to trust Him more than ever I
have done yet.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

How blessed to have the living God to go to! Particularly precious to know Him in these days
of widespread distress!

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

My dear Christian reader, will you not try this way? Will you not know for yourself, if as yet you
have not known it, the preciousness and the happiness of this way of casting all your cares
and burdens and necessities upon God? This way is as open to you as to me. Every one of
the children of God is not called by Him to be engaged in such a service as that to which He
has condescended to call me; but every one is invited and commanded to trust in the Lord, to
trust in Him with all his heart, and to cast his burden upon Him, and to call upon Him in the day
of trouble. Will you not do this, my dear brethren in Christ? I long that you may do so. I desire
that you may taste the sweetness of that state of heart, in which, while surrounded by difficulties
and necessities, you can yet be at peace, because you know that the living God, your Father
in heaven, cares for you. Should, however, any one read this, who is not reconciled to God, but
is still going on in the ways of sin and carelessness, unbelief and self-righteousness, then let
me say to such, that it is impossible, that you should have confidence to come boldly to God in
such a state, and I therefore ask you to make confession of your sins to Him, and to put your
trust for eternity entirely in the merits of the Lord Jesus, that you may obtain the forgiveness of
your sins. Again, should any one read this who has believed in the Lord Jesus, but who is now
again living in sin, who is again regarding iniquity in his heart, let not such a one be surprised
that he has no confidence toward God, and that he does not know the blessedness of having
answers to his prayers; for it is written: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
but verily God bath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” Ps. lxvi. 18, 19. The
first thing such a one has to do is, to forsake his evil course, to make confession of it, and to
know afresh the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus on his conscience, by putting his trust in
that precious blood, in order that he may obtain confidence toward God.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

At the time where the last chapter, referring to this subject, closes, the New Orphan-House was
being built. Part of it was already roofed in, and the remainder was to be roofed not many
weeks afterwards. But how much did there yet remain to be done in other respects! A building
so considerable as to contain about 300 large windows, would require, even after it was
finished, an immense amount of labour, to be fitted up and furnished for 330 persons. Then,
after this was done, the settling in of the Orphans and their teachers and other overseers,
needed still more abundant help. Further, the obtaining of suitable helpers for this part of the
work, was indeed no small matter. Lastly, though the Lord had been pleased to give me
already above Eleven Thousand Pounds for the New Orphan-House, yet I needed several
thousand pounds more, in order to bring the whole into such a state, as might render the
building fit for the reception of the Orphans. And now, in looking back, and finding that I not only
was helped in all these matters, but also in every one of them far beyond my largest
expectations does it not become me to say to those who love the Lord Jesus, and into whose
hands this account may fall: “0 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!”
Each one of the foregoing difficulties which still existed on the 26th of May, 1848, was so great,
that if only one of them had remained, and I had not been helped, what would have been the
result? But while the prospect before me would have been overwhelming had I looked at it
naturally, I was never, even for once, permitted to question what would be the end. For as, from
the beginning, I was sure that it was the will of God, that I should go to the work of building for
Him this large Orphan-House, so also, from the beginning, I was as certain that the whole
would be finished, as if the building had been already before my natural eyes, and as if the
house had been already filled with three hundred destitute Orphans. I was therefore of good
courage, in the midst of an overwhelming pressure of work yet to be done, and very many
difficulties yet to be overcome, and thousands of pounds yet needed; and I gave myself still
further to prayer, and sought still further to exercise faith on the promises of God. And now, the
work is done, the difficulties are overcome, all the money that was needed has been obtained,
and even more than I needed; and, as to helpers in the work, I have obtained even beyond my
expectations and prayers. Nearly seven years have passed away already [1856] since the
New Orphan-House was opened, and about three hundred and thirty persons sit down in it
day by day to their meals.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

With reference to the present of 50l. for myself, as mentioned just now, I cannot help calling
upon the Christian reader to observe how richly the Lord supplies my own personal
necessities. Since 1830 I have had no regular salary nor any stated income whatever I then
began to rely upon the living God alone for the supply of all my temporal necessities; and all
these many years have never once been allowed to regret this step, nor has the Lord at any
time failed me. Often, indeed, I have known what it is to be poor; but for the most part I have
abounded. I sought no payment from man for my service for God, whether in the ministry of the
Word or as director of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution; but though I did not seek for any
payment, the Lord has most abundantly recompensed me, even as to this life. By far the most
important point, however, of this my way of living, is, that many of the disciples of the Lord
Jesus have had their hearts comforted, and have been encouraged themselves to trust more
in God, than they used to do; and it was, moreover, my becoming more experimentally
acquainted, through this way of living, with the readiness of God to help, to succour, to relieve,
and to answer prayer, which led me in March 1834 to begin the Scriptural Knowledge
Institution, and in November 1835 to care about destitute Orphans.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

Oct. 16. For a long time past brother Craik and I have felt the importance of more pastoral
visiting, and it has been one of our greatest trials, that we have been unable to give more time
to it. This evening we had purposely a meeting of the two Churches, at which brother Craik and
I spoke on; I. The importance of pastoral visiting. II. The particular obstacles which hindered us
in attending to it. III. The question whether there was any way of removing some of the
obstacles.

I. As to the importance of pastoral visiting, the following points were mentioned: 1. Watching
over the saints, by means of visiting them, to prevent coldness, or to recover them from
backsliding. 2. To counsel and advise them in family affairs, in their business, and in spiritual
matters. 3. To keep up that loving familiar intercourse, which is so desirable between the
saints and those who have the oversight of them.–These visits should be, if possible, frequent;
but in our case there have been several obstacles in the way.

II. The particular obstacles in our case are: 1. The largeness of the number who are in
communion with us. One hundred would be quite as many as we have strength to visit
regularly, and as often as would be desirable; but there are nearly 400 in fellowship with us. 2.
The distance of the houses of the saints from our own dwellings, as many live more than two
miles of. 3. The Lord’s blessing upon our labours. Not one year has passed away, since we
have been in Bristol, without more than fifty having been added to our number, each of whom,
in general, needed several times to be conversed with before being admitted into fellowship.
4. That brother Craik and I have each of us the care of two churches. At the first sight it appears
as if the work is thus divided, but the double number of meetings, &c., nearly double the work.
5. The mere ruling, and taking care, in general, of a large body of believers, irrespective of the
other work, takes much more time, and requires much more strength, than the taking care of a
small body of believers, as we, by grace, desire not to allow known sin among us. 6. The
position which we have in the church at large brings many brethren to us who travel through
Bristol, who call on us, or lodge with us, and to whom, according to the Lord’s will, we have to
give some time. 7. In my own case an extensive needful correspondence. 8. The weakness of
body on the part of both of us. When the preaching is done,–when the strangers who lodge with
us are gone,–when the calls at our house are over,–when the needful letters, however briefly,
are written,–when the necessary church business is settled;–our minds are often so worn out,
that we are glad to be quiet. 9. But suppose we have bodily strength remaining after the above
things have been attended to, yet the frame of mind is not always so, as that one could visit.
After having been particularly tried by church matters, which in so large a body does not rarely
occur, or being cast down in one’s own soul, one may be fit for the closet, but not for visiting the
saints. 10. Lastly, in my own case, no small part of my time is taken up by attending to the
affairs of the Orphan-Houses, Schools, the circulation of the Scriptures, the aiding Missionary
efforts, and other work connected with the Scriptural Knowledge Institution.

III. What is to be done under these circumstances? 1. In the days of the Apostles there would
have been more brethren to take the oversight of so large a body as we are. The Lord has not
laid upon us a burden which is too heavy for us; He is not a hard master. It is evident that He
does not mean us even to attempt to visit all the saints as much as is absolutely needful, and
much less as frequently as it would be desirable. We mention this, to prevent uncomfortable
feelings on the part of the dear saints under our pastoral care, who find themselves not as
much visited as they used to be when we came to Bristol, when the number of them was not 70,
and now it is about 400, and when in many other respects the work in our hands was not half so
much, as it is now, and when we had much more bodily strength. 2. it is therefore evident that
there are other pastors needed; not nominal pastors, but such as the Lord has called, to whom
He has given a pastor’s heart, and pastoral gifts. 3. Such may be raised up by the Lord from
our own number, or the Lord may send them from elsewhere. 4. But in the meantime we should
at least see whether there are not helpers among us. 5. As to the work itself, in order that time
may be saved, it appears desirable that the two churches, Bethesda and Gideon, should be
united into one, that the breaking of bread should be alternately, and that the number of weekly
meetings should be reduced.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller – 2nd Part.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller – 2nd Part.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

In looking back upon my past life, I know not where to begin, and where to end, in making
mention of the Lords mercies. His long-suffering towards me in the days of my unregeneracy
cannot be described. You know a little of my sinful life, before I was brought to the Lord; still
you know but very little. If, however, I have much reason to praise God for His mercies towards
me in those days, I have more abundant reason to admire His gentleness, long-suffering, and
faithfulness towards me since I have known Him. He has step by step led me on, and He has
not broken the bruised reed. His gentleness towards me has been great indeed, very great.
(Brethren, let us follow God, in dealing gently with each other!) He has borne with my coldness,
half-heartedness, and backsliding. In the midst of it all, He has treated me as His child. How
can I sufficiently praise Him for this long-suffering? (Brethren, let us imitate our Father, let us
bear long, and suffer long with each other!) He has been always the same gracious, kind,
loving Father, Friend, Supporter, Teacher, Comforter, and all in all to me, as He was at the
beginning. No variableness has been found in Him towards me, though I have again and
again provoked Him. I say this to my shame. (Brethren, let us seek to be faithful, in the Lord,
towards each other! Let us seek to love each other in the truth, and for the truths sake, without
variableness! It is easy, comparatively, to begin to love; but it requires much watchfulness, not
to grow weary in love, when little or no love is returned; yea, when we are unkindly treated,
instead of being loved. But as our gracious, faithful God, notwithstanding all our variableness,
loves us without change, so should we, His children, love each other. Lord, help us so to do!)

Besides this gentleness, long-suffering, and faithfulness, which the Lord has manifested
towards me, and which I have experienced in common with you all, the Lord has bestowed
upon me peculiar blessings and privileges. One of the chief is, that He has condescended to
call me for the ministry of His word. How can I praise Him sufficiently for this! One who was such
a sinner, such a servant of Satan, so fit for hell, so deserving of everlasting destruction, was not
merely cleansed from sin and made a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus, and thus
fitted for heaven, and did not merely receive the sure promise that he should have eternal
glory; but was also called unto, and, in a measure, qualified for the expounding of the word of
God. I magnify Him for this honour!-But more than this. More than eleven years, with very little
interruption, have I been allowed, more or less, to preach the Word. My soul does magnify the
Lord for this! More still. The Lord has condescended to use me as an instrument in converting
many sinners, and, in a measure at least, in benefiting many of His children. For this honour I
do now praise God, and shall praise Him not merely as long as I live, but as long as I have a
being. But I do not stop here. I have many other reasons to speak well of the Lord, but I would
only mention one. It is my present affliction. Yes, my present affliction is among the many
things, for which I have very much reason to praise God; and I do praise Him for it. Before you,
before the whole church of Christ, and before the world would I confess that God has dealt in
very kindness towards me in this affliction. I own, I have not borne it without impatience and
fretfulness; I own, I have been several times overcome by irritability of temper on account of it;
but nevertheless, after the inner man, I praise God for the affliction, and I do desire from my
heart, that it may truly benefit me, and that it may not be removed till the end has been
answered, for which it has been sent. God has blessed me in this trial, and is still blessing
me.–As I know you love me, (unworthy as I am of it), and feel interested about me, I mention a
few of the many mercies with which God has favoured me during these twelve weeks. 1. At the
commencement of my illness, when my head was affected in a manner quite new to me, and
when thus it continued day after day, I feared lest I should lose my reason.–This created more
real internal suffering than ever I had known before. But our gracious Lord supported me. His
precious gospel was full of comfort to me. All, all will be well, was invariably the conclusion, the
conclusion grounded upon Scripture, to which I came; yea, all will be well with me eternally,
though the heaviest of all earthly trials should coins upon me, even that of dying in a state of
insanity.–I was once near death, as I then thought, nearly nine years ago: I was full of comfort at
that time; but to be comfortable,–to be able quietly to repose upon God, with the prospect of an
affliction before one, such as I have now mentioned,–is more than to be comfortable in the
prospect of death, at least for a believer.–Now, is it not well to be afflicted, in order to obtain
such an experience? And have I not reason, therefore, to thank God for this affliction?

Oxford, Feb. 6, 1838.

When I began to write the foregoing lines, beloved brethren, I intended to write but very briefly;
but as I love you, and as I have abundant reason to magnify the Lord, my pen ran on, till my
head would follow no longer.–I go on now to mention some other mercies which the Lord has
bestowed upon me, through my present affliction.

2. Through being deprived for so long a time of the privilege of preaching the Word to sinners
and saints, the Lord has been pleased to create in me a longing for this blessed work, and to
give me at the same time to feel the importance of it, in a degree in which I never had
experienced it before. Thus the Lord has fitted me somewhat more for His work, by laying me
aside from it. Good therefore is the Lord, and kind indeed, in disabling me from preaching.
Great has been my trial, after the self-willed old nature, not to be able to preach; and long ere
this, unfit as I was for it, I should have resumed the work, had I followed my own will; but hitherto
have I considered it most for the glory of God, quietly to refrain from outward service, in order
to glorify Him by patient submission, till my Lord shall be pleased to condescend to call His
servant forth again for active engagements. And then, I know, He will give me grace, cheerfully
to go back to the delightful service of pointing sinners to the Lamb of God, and of feeding the
church.

3. Through this affliction I have known experimentally in a higher degree than I knew it before,
how, if obliged to refrain from active service, one can nevertheless as really and truly help the
armies of Jesus, through secret prayer, as if one were actively engaged in the proclamation of
the truth.–This point brings to my mind a truth, of which we all need to be reminded frequently,
even this, that at all times, and under all circumstances, we may really and truly serve the Lord,
and fight for His kingdom, by seeking to manifest His mind, and by giving ourselves to prayer.

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller – 2nd Part.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20245

I was born at Kroppenstaedt, near Halberstadt, in the kingdom of Prussia, on September 27th,
1805. In January 1810 my parents removed to Heimersleben, about four miles from
Kroppenstaedt, where my father was appointed collector in the excise. As a warning to parents
I mention, that my father preferred me to my brother, which was very injurious to both of us. To
me, as tending to produce in my mind a feeling of self-elevation; and to my brother, by creating
in him a dislike both towards my father and me.

My father, who educated his children on worldly principles, gave us much money, considering
our age; not in order that we might spend it, but, as he said, to accustom us to possess money
without spending it. The result was, that it led me and my brother into many sins. For I
repeatedly spent a part of the money in a childish way, and afterwards, when my father looked
over my little treasure, I sought to deceive him in making up the accounts, either by not putting
down all the money which he had given me, or by professing to have more money in hand
than was the case, and counting it out accordingly before him. Now, though this deceit was
found out at last, and I was punished, yet I remained the same. For before I was ten years old I
repeatedly took of the government money which was intrusted to my father, and which he had
to make up; till one day, as he had repeatedly missed money, he detected my theft, by
depositing a counted sum in the room where I was, and leaving me to myself for a while. Being
thus left alone, I took some of the money, and hid it under my foot in my shoe. When my father,
after his return, had counted and missed the money, I was searched and my theft detected.

Though I was punished on this and other occasions, yet I do not remember that at any time,
when my sins were found out, it made any other impression upon me than to make me think
how I might do the thing the next time more cleverly, so as not to be detected. Hence it came,
that this was not the last time that I was guilty of stealing.
When I was between ten and eleven years of age, I was sent to Halberstadt, to the cathedral
classical school, there to be prepared for the university; for my father’s desire was, that I
should become a clergyman: not, indeed, that thus I might serve God, but that I might have a
comfortable living. My time was now spent in studying, reading novels, and indulging, though
so young, in sinful practices. Thus it continued till I was fourteen years old, when my mother
was suddenly removed. The night she was dying, I, not knowing of her illness, was playing at
cards till two in the morning, and on the next day, being the Lord’s day, I went with some of my
companions in sin to a tavern, and then we went about the streets, half intoxicated.

The following day I attended, for the first time, the religious instruction, which I was to receive
previous to my confirmation. This likewise was attended to in a careless manner; and when I
returned to my lodgings, my father had arrived to fetch my brother and me home to our
mother’s funeral. This bereavement made no lasting impression on my mind. I grew worse
and worse. Three or four days before I was confirmed, (and thus admitted to partake of the
Lord’s supper,) I was guilty of gross immorality; and the very day before my confirmation, when
I was in the vestry with the clergyman to confess my sins, (according to the usual practice,)
after a formal manner, I defrauded him; for I handed over to him only the twelfth part of the fee
which my father had given me for him.

In this state of heart, without prayer, without true repentance, without faith, without knowledge of
the plan of salvation, I was confirmed, and took the Lord’s supper, on the Sunday after Easter
1820. Yet I was not without some feeling about the solemnity of the thing, and I stayed at home
in the afternoon and evening, whilst the other boys and girls, who had been confirmed with me,
walked about in the fields I also made resolutions to turn from those vices in which I was living,
and to study more. But as I had no regard to God, and attempted the thing in my own strength,
all soon came to nothing, and I still grew worse.

Six weeks after my confirmation I went for a fortnight to Brunswick, to a sister of my father, where
I became attached to a young female, who was a Roman catholic. My time till Midsummer
1821 was spent partly in study, but in a great degree in playing the piano-forte and guitar,
reading novels, frequenting taverns, forming resolutions to become different, yet breaking
them almost as fast as they were made. My money was often spent on my sinful pleasures,
through which I was now and then brought into trouble, so that once, to satisfy my hunger, I stole
a piece of coarse bread, the allowance of a soldier who was quartered in the house where I
lodged. What a bitter, bitter thing is the service of Satan, even in this world!!

At Midsummer 1821 my father obtained an appointment at Schoenebeck, near Magdeburg,
and I embraced the opportunity of entreating him to remove me to the cathedral classical
school of Magdeburg; for I thought, that, if I could but leave my companions in sin, and get out,
of certain snares, and be placed under other tutors, I should then live a different life. But as my
dependence in this matter also was not upon God, I fell into a still worse state. My father
consented, and I was allowed to leave Halberstadt, and to stay at Heimersleben till
Michaelmas. During that time I superintended, according to my father’s wish, certain
alterations, which were to be made in his house there, for the sake of letting it profitably. Being
thus quite my own master, I grew still more idle, and lived as much as before in all sorts of sin.

When Michaelmas came, I persuaded my father to leave me at Heimersleben till Easter, and
to let me read the classics with a clergyman living in the same place. As Dr. Nagel was a very
learned man, and also in the habit of having pupils under his care, and a friend of my father,
my request was granted. I was now living on the premises belonging to my father, under little
real control, and intrusted with a considerable sum of money, which I had to collect for my
father, from persons who owed it to him. My habits soon led me to spend a considerable part
of this money, giving receipts for different sums, yet leaving my father to suppose I had not
received them.

In November I went on a pleasure excursion to Magdeburg, where I spent six days in much sin;
and though my absence from home had been found out by my father, before I returned from
thence; yet I took all the money I could obtain, and went to Brunswick, after I had, through a
number of lies, obtained permission from my tutor. The reason of my going to Brunswick was,
the attachment I had formed eighteen months previously to the young female residing there. I
spent a week at Brunswick, in an expensive hotel. At the end of the week my money was
expended. This, as well as the want of a passport, prevented my staying any longer in the
hotel; but as I still wished to remain at Brunswick, I went to my uncle, the husband of my father’s
sister, and made some excuse for not having gone to him in the first instance. My uncle, seeing
I suppose my unsteady life, intimated after a week, that he did not wish me to remain with him
any longer.

I then went, without money, to another hotel, in a village near Brunswick, where I spent another
week in an expensive way of living. At last, the owner of the hotel suspecting that I had no
money, asked for payment, and I was obliged to leave my best clothes as a security, and
could scarcely thus escape from being arrested. I then walked about six miles, to
Wolfenbuttel, went to an inn, and began again to live as if I had plenty of money. Here I stayed
two days, looking out for an opportunity to run away; for I had now nothing remaining to leave
as a pledge. But the window of my room was too high to allow of my escaping, by getting down
at night. On the second or third morning I went quietly out of the yard, and then ran off; but being
suspected and observed, and therefore seen to go off, I was immediately called after, and so
had to return.
I now confessed my case, but found no mercy. I was arrested, and taken between two soldiers
to a police officer. Being suspected by him to be a vagabond or thief, I was examined for
about three hours, and then sent to gaol. I now found myself at the age of sixteen, an inmate of
the same dwelling with thieves and murderers, and treated accordingly. My superior manners
profited nothing. For though, as a particular favour, I received the first evening some meat with
my bread, I had the next day the common allowance of the prisoners,–very coarse bread and
water, and for dinner vegetables, but no meat. My situation was most wretched. I was locked
up in this place day and night, without permission to leave my cell. The dinner was such that on
the first day I completely loathed it; and left it untouched. The second day I took a little, the third
day all, and the fourth and following days I would fain have had more. On the second day I
asked the keeper for a Bible, not to consider its blessed contents, but to pass away the time.
However, I received none. Here then I was; no creature with me; no book, no work in my
hands, and large iron rails before my narrow window.

During the second night I was awakened out of my sleep by the rattling of the bolts and keys.
Three men came into my room. When I asked them in my fright what it meant, they laughed at
me, continuing quietly to try the iron rails, to see whether I could escape.–After a few days I
found out, that a thief was imprisoned next to me, and, as far as a thick wooden partition would
allow of it, I conversed with him; and shortly after the governor of the prison allowed him, as a
favour to me, to share my cell. We now passed away our time in relating our adventures, and I
was by this time so wicked, that I was not satisfied with relating things of which I had been really
guilty, but I even invented stories, to show him what a famous fellow I was.

I waited in vain day after day to be liberated.–After about ten or twelve days my fellow prisoner
and I disagreed, and thus we two wretched beings, to increase our wretchedness, spent day
after day without conversing together.–I was in prison from December 18th, 1821, till January
12th, 1822, when the keeper came and told me to go with him to the police office. Here I found,
that the Commissioner, before whom I had been tried, had first written to my uncle at Brunswick,
and when he had written in reply, that it was better to acquaint my father with my conduct, the
Commissioner had done so; and thus I was kept in prison till my father sent the money which
was needed for my traveling expenses, to pay my debt in the inn, and for my maintenance in
the prison. So ungrateful was I now, for certain little kindnesses shown to me by my
fellow-prisoner, that, although I had promised to call on his sister, to deliver a message from
him, I omitted to do so; and so little had I been benefited by this my chastisement, that, though I
was going home to meet an angry father, only two hours after I had left the town where I had
been imprisoned, I chose an avowedly wicked person as my traveling companion for a great
part of my journey.

My father, who arrived two days after I had reached Heimersleben, after having severely
beaten me, took me home to Schoenebeck, intending to keep me there till Easter, and then to
send me to a classical school at Halle, that I might be under strict discipline and the continual
inspection of a tutor. In the meantime I took pupils, whom I instructed in Latin, French, arithmetic,
and German Grammar. I now endeavoured, by diligence in study, to regain the favour of my
father. My habits were, as to outward appearance, exemplary. I made progress in my own
studies, benefited my pupils, and was soon liked by every body around me, and in a short
time my father had forgotten all. But all this time I was in heart as bad as ever; for I was still in
secret habitually guilty of great sins.

Easter came, and on account of my good behaviour, my diligence in study, and also because
I was no expense to my father, but earned much more than I cost him, I easily persuaded him
to let me stay at home till Michaelmas. But after that period he would not consent to my
remaining any longer with him, and therefore I left home, pretending to go to Halle to be
examined. But having a hearty dislike to the strict discipline of which I had heard, and knowing
also that I should meet there young men attending the university with whom I was acquainted,
enjoying all the liberty of German students, whilst I myself was still at school: for these and
other reasons I went to Nordhausen, and had myself examined by the director of the
gymnasium, to be received into that school. I then went home, but never told my father a word
of all this deception, till the day before my departure, which obliged me to invent a whole chain
of lies. He was then very angry; but at last, through my entreaties and persuasion, he gave
way and allowed me to go. This was in the beginning of October, 1822.

I continued at Nordhausen two years and six months, till Easter, 1825. During this time I studied
with considerable diligence the Latin classics, French, history, my own language, &c.; but did
little in Hebrew, Greek, and the Mathematics. I lived in the house of the director, and got,
through my conduct, highly into his favour, so much so, that I was held up by him in the first
class as an example to the rest, and he used to take me regularly with him in his walks, to
converse with me in Latin. I used now to rise regularly at four, winter and summer, and
generally studied all the day, with little exception, till ten at night.

But whilst I was thus outwardly gaining the esteem of my fellow-creatures, I did not care in the
least about God, but lived secretly in much sin, in consequence of which I was taken ill, and for
thirteen weeks confined to my room. During my illness I had no real sorrow of heart, yet being
under certain natural impressions of religion, I read through Klopstock’s works without
weariness. I cared nothing about the word of God. I had about three hundred books of my own,
but no Bible. I practically set a far higher value upon the writings of Horace and Cicero, Voltaire
and Moliere, than upon the volume of inspiration. Now and then I felt that I ought to become a
different person, and I tried to amend my conduct, particularly when I went to the Lord’s supper,
as I used to do twice every year, with the other young men. The day previous to attending that
ordinance, I used to refrain from certain things; and on the day itself I was serious, and also
swore once or twice to God, with the emblem of the broken body in my mouth, to become
better, thinking that for the oath’s sake I should be induced to reform. But after one or two days
were over, all was forgotten, and I was as bad as before.

I had now grown so wicked, that I could habitually tell lies without blushing. And further, to show
how fearfully wicked I was, I will mention, out of many others, only one great sin, of which I was
guilty, before I left this place. Through my dissipated life I had contracted debts, which I had no
means of discharging; for my father could allow me only about as much as I needed for my
regular maintenance. One day, after having received a sum of money from him, and having
purposely shown it to some of my companions, I afterwards feigned that it was stolen, having
myself by force injured the lock of my trunk, and having also designedly forced open my guitar
case. I also feigned myself greatly frightened at what had happened, ran into the director’s
room with my coat off, and told him that my money was stolen. I was greatly pitied. Some
friends also gave me now as much money as I pretended to have lost, and the circumstance
afforded me a ground upon which to ask my creditors to wait longer. But this matter turned out
bitterly; for the director, having ground to suspect me, though he could not prove anything,
never fully restored me to his confidence.

As it regards my own feeling, though I was very wicked, yet this desperate act of depravity was
too much, even for my hardened conscience; for it never afterwards allowed me to feel easy in
the presence of the director’s wife, who, like a kind mother, had waited on me in my illness, and
on whom I had now so willfully brought trouble. How long-suffering was God at this time, not to
destroy me at once! And how merciful that he did not suffer me to be tried before the police,
who easily would have detected that the whole was a fabrication! I was heartily glad for many
reasons, but particularly on account of this latter circumstance, to be able soon after to
exchange the school for the university.

…One day when I was in a tavern with some of my wild fellow-students, I saw among them one
of my former school-fellows, named Beta, whom I had known four years before at Halberstadt,
but whom at that time had despised, because he was so quiet and serious. It now appeared
well to me to choose him as my friend, thinking that if I could but have better companions, I
should by that means improve my own conduct. I entered into familiar discourse with him, and
we were soon much knit to one another. “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm.” Jeremiah xvii. 5.

This Beta was a backslider. When formerly he was so quiet at school, I have reason to
believe it was because the Spirit of God was working on his heart; but now, having departed
from the Lord, he tried to put off the ways of God more and more, and to enjoy the world of
which he had known but little before. I sought his friendship because I thought it would lead me
to a steady life; and he gladly formed an acquaintance with me, as he told me afterwards,
because he thought it would bring him into gay society. Thus my poor foolish heart was again
deceived. And yet, God, in His abundant mercy, made him, after all, in a way which was never
thought of by me, the instrument of doing me good, not merely for time, but for eternity.
Try the Internet link below to find out how this ends…

Quoted from:
A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, by George Müller.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20379

Servant of God, be fill’d
With Jesu’s love alone;
Upon a sure foundation build,
On Christ the corner-stone;
By faith in Him abide,
Rejoicing with His saints;
To Him with confidence, when tried,
Make known all thy complaints.”

– Moravian Hymn-book.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

“The Interpreter had Christian into a private Room, and bid his Man open a Door; the which
when he had done, Christian saw a Picture of a very grave Person hang up against the Wall,
and this was the fashion of it: It had eyes lift up to Heaven, the best of Books was in its hand,
the Law of Truth was written upon its lips, the World was behind his back; it stood as if it
Pleaded with Men, and a Crown of gold did hang over its head.”

Pilgrim’s Progress.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

AIM OF THE BOOK.

Day by day, for many years past, my life has lain among men preparing themselves for just
that work. As a matter of course my thoughts have run incessantly in that direction. Many a
lecture in the library where we work together, and many a conversation in dining-hall, or by
study fire, or in college garden, or on country road, has given point to those thoughts and
enabled me, I trust, better to[Pg 4] understand my younger Brethren, and with more sympathy
to make myself, as an elder brother, understood by them. What I here seek to do, with the
gracious aid of our blessed Master, is somewhat to extend the range of such talks, and to ask
a friendly hearing from younger Brethren in the holy Ministry with whom I have never had the
opportunity of speaking personally.

I have not the least intention of writing a treatise on the Christian Pastorate. To talk to young
Christian Ministers about some important details of pastoral life and work, but above all of life,
inward and outward–this is my simple purpose.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

THREE LINES OF PRAYER.

One day in each week, at Ridley Hall, we unite in special prayer, without liturgical form, for
those members of the Hall who have gone out into actual ministry. As I lead my dear younger
Brethren in that supplication, the heart feels itself full of many, very many, well-remembered
faces, characters, lives. It seems to see those many old friends scattered abroad in the Lord’s
work-field; and it sees, of course, a very large variety among them, in the way of both character
and circumstances. But, with all this consciousness of differences, my thoughts and my
petitions always, by a deep necessity, run for all alike along three main paths. The first prayer
is for the young Clergyman’s inner and secret Life and Walk with God. The second is for his
daily and hourly general Intercourse with Men. The third is for his official Ministrations of the
Word and Ordinances of the Gospel. And in all these directions, after all, one desire, one
prayer, has to be offered, the prayer that everywhere and always, from the inmost recesses of
life to its largest and most public circumference, the Lord and Master may take, and keep, full
possession of the servant. I pray that in secret devotion, and in secret habits, Jesus Christ may
be intensely present with the man; and that in common intercourse, in all its parts, He may be
the constant and all-influencing Companion, to stimulate, to control, to chasten, to gladden, to
empower; and that in the preaching of the Word the servant may really and manifestly speak
from, and for, and in, his Lord; and that in ministration of the sacramental and other Ordinances
he may truly and unmistakably walk before Him in holy simplicity, holy reverence, and full
spiritual reality, “serving the Lord,” and serving the flock, “with all humility of mind.” [Acts xx. 19.]

My present talks on paper will take very much the lines of these prayers. Secret walk with God,
common and general walk with men, special ministrations–I desire to say a little on each and
all of these points, and more or less in this order, though without attempting too rigid an
arrangement, where one subject must often run over into another.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

SECRET WALK WITH GOD.

Let me take up the first great topic of the three for a few preliminary words in this chapter: The
Secret Walk with God of the young Pastor of Christ’s flock.

HINDRANCES: WORK.

My brotherly reader will not need any long explanation or careful apology from me here. He
knows as well as I do, on the one hand, that a close secret walk with God is unspeakably
important in pastoral life, and, on the other hand, that pastoral life, and not least in its early
days, is often allowed to hinder or minimize the real, diligent work (for it is a work indeed in its
way) of that close secret walk. He finds all too many possible interferences with the inner
working on the part of the outer. Such interferences come from very different quarters. The new
Curacy, the new duties and opportunities, if the man has his heart in his ministry, will prove
intensely interesting, and at first, very possibly, encouragement and acceptance may
predominate over experiences of difficulty and trial. Services, sermons, visits to homes and to
schools, with all the miscellanies that attend an active and well-ordered parochial
organization–these things are sure to have a special and exciting interest for most young men
who have taken Orders in earnest. And it will be almost inevitable that the Curate, under even
the most wise, considerate, and unselfish of Incumbents, should find “work” threatening rapidly
to absorb so much, not of time only but thought and heart, that the temptation is to abridge and
relax very seriously indeed secret devotion, secret study of Scripture, and generally secret
discipline of habits, that all-important thing.

*HINDRANCES: SOLITUDE.

Then, on the other hand, there is a risk and trial from a region quite opposite. The Curate
comes to his new work, and takes up his abode in lodgings–alone. Only a few months ago,
perhaps only a few weeks ago, he was in rooms at College, amidst all the social as well as
mental interests of University life, and (so it is, thank God, for many University men now) feeling
on every side the help of Christian friendship and fellowship of the warmest and truest sort. And
now, socially and as to fellowship in Christ, he is, to speak comparatively, alone. I say,
comparatively. Very likely he has found in his Incumbent a friend and elder brother, perhaps a
friend and loving father, in the Lord. And most probably he will find among his people, and that
very soon if he is on the watch, friends in Christ, gentle or simple. He may be associated with a
brother Curate or Curates; and if so, the inmost aim of both or all ought to be, and in most
cases will be, not only to work in the same parish but to work heart to heart as “in Him.”
Nevertheless, the Vicar or Rector, though a friend, is a very busy friend; and so is the brother
Curate; and the Christian friend in the parish is after all only one of the many souls to whom the
man has to minister, and he must not forget those who perhaps need him most just because
they are least congenial to him.

ITS DANGERS.

So the sense of change, of solitude, in such part of his life as is spent indoors, may be, and, as
I know, very often is, real and deep, sad and sorrowful, and in itself not wholesome, to the
young Minister of Christ. Possibly my reader knows nothing of all this; but I think it more likely
that at least he knows something of it. And it needs his prompt and watchful dealing if it is not to
hurt him greatly. Solitude will not by itself, if I judge rightly, help him to secret intercourse with
God. A feeling of solitude, under most circumstances, much more tends, by itself, to drive a
man unhealthily inward, in unprofitable questionings and broodings, or in still less happy
exercises of thought. Or it drives him unhealthily outward, quickening the wish for mere
stimulants and excitements of mind and interest. Aye, let me not shrink from saying it, it
sometimes[Pg 10] quickens a wish for “stimulants” in the most literal sense of the word.
Exhausting and multifarious parochial work, and the lonely bachelor quarters at the day’s end,
have brought to many a young man sore temptations of that sort, and sometimes they have
won the battle, to the wreck and ruin of the work and of the worker.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

HINDRANCES ARE OCCASIONS.

Well, all these facts or possibilities are just so many reminders that the new Curate’s life will
not, of itself, greatly help him to maintain and quicken his Secret Walk with God, that vital
necessity for his work. It certainly will not do so directly; it will, directly, be a problem, not an aid.
But on that very account, dear Brother and reader, your new conditions of life may prove
indirectly a most powerful aid, by being a constant and urgent occasion. As you are a Minister
of Christ, your life and work will, in the Lord’s sight, be a failure, yes, I repeat it, a failure, be the
outside and the reputation what they may, if you do not walk with God in secret. But therefore
your life and work are a daily and hourly occasion for the positive resolve, in His Name, that
walk with Him you will. Recognize the risks, right[Pg 11] and left, the risks brought by pastoral
activities and interests, and those brought by pastoral loneliness and uncheerfulness.
Remember the vital necessity amidst those risks. And then you will the more deliberately
purpose and plan how to guard your secret devotions, and how to order your secret hours
even when devotion is not your direct duty, so that your Lord shall be indeed there, at the
centre, “a living, bright Reality” to you.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

SECRET DEVOTION.

Let me plunge into the midst at once, with a few simple suggestions on Secret Devotion.

LET IT BE DELIBERATE.

I ask my younger Brother, then, to keep sacred, with all his heart and will, an unhurried time
alone with the Lord, night and morning at the least. I do not intrusively prescribe a length of
time. But I do most earnestly say that the time, shorter or longer, must be deliberately spent;
and even ten minutes can be spent deliberately, while mismanagement may give a feeling of
haste to a much longer season. Do not, I beseech you, minimize the minutes; seek for such a
fulness of “the Spirit of grace and of supplications,” [Zech. xii. 10.] as shall draw quite the other
way. But if the time, any given night or morning, must be short, let it nevertheless be a time of
quiet, reverent, collected worship and confession and petition. One thing assuredly you can
do: you can, if you will, secure a real “Morning Watch” before your day’s work begins. I do not
say it is easy. Young men very commonly sleep sounder and longer than we seniors do; they
are not always easy to rouse in a moment. But they can direct some of their energy to contrive
against themselves, or rather for themselves, how to secure a regular early rising to meet their
Lord. Most ingenious, not to say amusing, are some of the devices which friends of mine have
confided to me; schemes and stratagems to get themselves well awake in good time. But after
all, in most lodging-houses surely it must be possible to be called early, and to instruct the
caller to show no mercy at the chamber door. Anyhow, I do say that the fresh first interview with
the all-blessed Master must at all costs be secured. Do not be beguiled into thinking it can be
arranged by a half-slumbering prayer in bed. Rise up–if but in loving deference to Him. Appear
in the presence chamber as the servant should who is now ready for the day’s bondservice in
all things but in this, that he has yet to take the day’s oath of obedience, and to ask the day’s
“grace sufficient,” and to read the day’s promises and commands, at the Master’s holy feet.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. Let me know what you think of this E-Book. – JMS.

A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION.

I do not recommend an unpractical physical mortification as the rule for such early hours with
God. Fully believing that there is a place for definite “abstinence” in the Christian (and certainly
in the ministerial) life, I do not think that that place is, as a rule, the early morning hour. Very many
men only procure a bad headache for the day by beginning any sort of earnest mental effort
without food. Such men should take care accordingly to eat a chotee házaree (as old Indians
say), “a little breakfast,” however little, before they pray and read. There are appliances, simple
and inexpensive, by which the man in lodgings can, without giving any one trouble, provide
himself with his cup of cocoa or coffee as soon as he is up; and he will be wise to do something
of this sort, if he is a man whose work by day is heavy for both body and spirit, and who is thus
specially apt to find the truth of what doctors tell us, that “sleep is, in itself, an exhausting
process.”

But at any cost, my dear friend and Brother in the Ministry, we must have our Morning Watch with
God, in prayer and in His Word, before all the day’s action. Not even the earliest possible
Church service can rightly take the place of that.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

PRAY AS A PRIVATE CHRISTIAN.

In such acts of worship, morning and night, thought for others, for dear ones, for parishioners, for
colleagues, will have its full place of course. Let it be so, with an ever-growing sense of the
preciousness of the work of intercession. But I do meanwhile say to my Brother in Christ, take
care that no pre-occupation with things pastoral allows you to forget the supreme need of
drawing out of Christ’s fulness, and out of the treasures of His Word, for your own soul and life, as
if that were the one and solitary soul and life in existence. We Clergy are in danger of becoming
too official, too clerical, even in our prayers. We are the Lord’s Ministers; we have a cure and
charge of souls as the unordained Christian has not; and let us daily remember it, humbly and
reverently. But also we are, all the while, sheep of the flock, absolutely dependent on the
Shepherd, men who for their own souls’ acceptance, and holiness, and heaven, must for
themselves “live at the Fountain.” We have to serve others, and “lay ourselves out” for them,
daily and hourly. But on that very account, that “our selves” may be, if I may say so, worth the
laying out, we must see that “our selves” are, in their own innermost life and experience, filled
with the Spirit of God, filled with the presence of an indwelling Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit. And
so we must worship Him, and draw on Him, and abide in Him, and acquaint ourselves with Him,
just as if there were no flock at all, that we may the better be of use to the flock.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

LIVE BEHIND YOUR MINISTRY.

I am sure that this is an important point for the thought and practice of the young Clergyman.
While never really forgetting his ordained character, let him, for the very purposes of his
ordained work, continually “live behind” not only the work but the character; living in the
presence, in the love, in the life, of his Lord and Head, simply in the character of the redeemed
sinner, the personal believer, the glad younger Brother of the glorious Firstborn, the living
Christian with the living Christ; “knowing whom he has believed,” [2 Tim. i. 12.] and walking by
faith in Him.

FOR THE MINISTRY’S SAKE.

Do you so live, by His grace and mercy? Is the sitting-room and the bedroom of your
curacy-lodging the place where you habitually hold intercourse (discussion) in this holy
simplicity with Him who has loved you and given Himself for you? Then I venture to say that all
the more for this, by that same grace and mercy, you shall be enabled to “lay yourself out” for
others, in your pastoral charge. You shall understand other men better, by thus securing for your
own soul a deeper understanding of the Lord Jesus and a fuller sympathy (if the word is
reverent) with Him. I hardly care to analyze how, but somehow, you shall more readily and
closely “get at” men through this direct, simple, unofficial, unclerical drawing very near indeed to
God in Christ. The more you know Him thus at first-hand the more shall you understand alike the
needs of the human heart (of which all individual hearts are but various instances), and the
supplies that are laid up for all its needs in Him. And so you shall go out among your people
armed, equipped, with a truly heaven-given sympathy and tact. True personal intercourse with
the Lord, the very closest and deepest, is the very thing to open the whole man out for others,
and to teach him how, with a loving intuition, to look into them and “upon their things.” [Phil. ii. 4.]

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“TELL HIM ALL.”

“When thou wakest in the morning,
Ere thou tread the untried way
Of the lot that lies before thee
Through the coming busy day;
Whether sunbeams promise brightness,
Whether dim forebodings fall,
Be thy dawning glad or gloomy,
Go to Jesus–tell Him all!

“In the calm of sweet communion
Let thy daily work be done;
In the peace of soul out-pouring
Care be banish’d, patience won
And if earth with its enchantments
Seek thy spirit to enthral,
Ere thou listen, ere thou answer–
Turn to Jesus–tell Him all!

“Then, as hour by hour glides by thee,
Thou wilt blessed guidance know;
Thine own burthens being lighten’d,
Thou canst bear another’s woe;
Thou canst help the weak ones onward;
Thou canst raise up those that fall;
But, remember, while thou servest,
Still tell Jesus–tell Him all!

“And if weariness creep o’er thee
As the day wears to its close,
Or if sudden fierce temptation
Bring thee face to face with foes–
In thy weakness, in thy peril,
Raise to heaven a truthful call;
Strength and calm for every crisis
Come–in telling Jesus all.”

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD (ii).

He that would to others give
Let him take from Jesus still;
They who deepest in Him live
Flow furthest at His will.

I resume the rich subject of Secret Devotion, Secret Communion with God. Not that I wish to enter
in detail on either the theory or the practice of prayer in secret; as I have attempted to do already
in a little book which I may venture here to mention, Secret Prayer. My aim at present, as I talk to
my younger Brethren in the Ministry, is far rather to lay all possible stress on the vital importance
of the habit, however it may prove best in individual experience to order it in practice. “As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he”; [Prov. xxiii. 7.] and as a life worketh in its heart, so is it. And the
heart of a Christian Minister’s life is the man’s Secret Communion with God.

Let us Clergymen take as one of our mottoes that deeply suggestive word of the Lord by
Malachi, where the ideal Levi is depicted: “He walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn
many away from iniquity.” [Mal. ii. 6.]

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

THE LORD’S EXAMPLE.

Remember with what a heavenly brightness that principle was glorified in the recorded life on
earth of “the great Shepherd of the sheep,” [Heb. xiii. 20.] who in this also “left us an example,
that we should follow His steps.” [1 Pet. ii. 22.] Never did man walk more genuinely with men than
the Son of Man, whether it was among the needy and wistful crowds in streets or on hill-sides, or
at the dinner-table of the Pharisee, or in the homes of Nazareth, Cana, and Bethany. No Christian
was ever so “practical” as Jesus Christ. No disciple ever so directly and sympathetically
“served his own generation by the will of God” [Acts xiii. 36.] as did the blessed Master. But all
the while “His soul dwelt apart” in the Father’s presence, and there continually rested and was
refreshed, [John iv. 32, 34.] and there found the “meat” in the strength of which He travelled that
great pilgrimage by way of the Cross to the Throne.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

BIBLE STUDY.

And with this view, I now say specially, cultivate such intercourse laying His holy Word[Pg 36]
open before you. I spoke in the previous Chapter of the Bible spread open by the evening lamp,
the Bible marked with signs of diligent search. With all my heart I mean to press that thought. It
will be best to reserve for another Chapter certain suggestions on methods of Bible study. But I
may, and I will at once, offer a few words on the subject in general. It is a subject which lies near
my heart, and of the urgent importance of which I am very sure.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Take note today of all the
opportunities you have to offer a
helping hand to another
person. You can notice too
many times a friend, or
even a stranger reaches
out to us in a helpful way.
The opportunities to contribute
to life’s flow are unending.
Think of the wonderful
collection of invitations
that await you today.
– Unknown
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
St Barnabas:
a member of the first Christian brotherhood, a companion of St. Paul’s, and characterised in
the Acts as “a good man”;… …an epistle extant bears his name, but is not believed to be his
work; the Epistle to the Hebrews has by some been ascribed to him; he is usually represented
in art as a venerable man of majestic mien, with the Gospel of St. Matthew in his hand. Festival,
June 11.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

TESTIMONY OF LUCIUS VON MACHTHOLF.

From a leaflet which came long ago into my hands, I quote the experience of a German
Christian, eminently successful in spiritual work; a passage which will illustrate and bring home
my appeal in this whole matter:–

“When Lucius von Machtholf was asked how he carried on religious intercourse with individuals,
he wrote:–’I know no other tactics than first of all to be heartily satisfied with my God, even if He
should favour me with no sensible visible blessing in my vocation. Also to remember that
preaching and conversation are not so much my work as the outcome of the love and joy of the
Holy Ghost in my heart, and, afterwards, on my lips. Further, that I must never depend upon any
previous fervour or prayers of mine, but upon God’s mercy and Christ’s dearly-purchased rights
and holy intercession; and cherishing a burning love to Christ and to souls, I must constantly
seek for wisdom and gentleness…. Finally, I would guard myself from imagining that I know
beforehand what I should say, but go to Christ for every good word I have to speak, even to a
child, and submit myself to the Holy Spirit, as the Searcher of hearts, who, knowing the
individuals I have to do with, will guide and teach me when, where, and how to speak.

“‘Be always following, never going before. It were better to be sick in a tent under a burning sun,
and Jesus sitting at the tent door, than to be enchanting a thousand listeners where Jesus was
not. Be as a day-labourer only in God’s harvest-field, ready to be first among the reapers in the
tall corn, or just to sit and sharpen another’s sickle. Have an eye to God’s honour, and have no
honour of your own to have an eye to. Lay it in the dust and leave it there. Never let your inner life
get low in your search for the lives of others.'”

I dare to say that this quotation contains no mere “counsels of perfection,” but principles which
are indispensable for the Minister of Jesus Christ who would be not only reputable, popular, and
in the superficial sense of the word successful, but–what his dear Master would have him be for
His work. And the blessed spirit it suggests and exemplifies is a thing which cometh not in “but
by prayer” and by at least such fasting as takes the shape of a most watchful secret
self-discipline. When von Machtholf speaks of “never depending on previous prayers” it is
obvious what he means; not that prayer should not precede work, but that nothing should satisfy
the worker short of a living and present trust in a living and present Lord. But that trust is the very
thing which is developed, and prepared, and matured, in the life of genuine secret intercourse, in
which the Lord is dealt with as man dealeth with his friend, and gazed upon and (I may reverently
say) studied in His revealed Character, till the disciple does indeed “know whom he has
believed,” “who He is that he should believe on Him.” “My soul shall be satisfied … when I
remember Thee, when I meditate on Thee, in the night watches,” [2 Tim. i. 12; John ix. 36; Ps. lxiii.
5, 6.] aye, and in the Morning Watch also.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

CURRENT NEGLECT OF SCRIPTURE.

For the Protestant thinker too, within a Church which has now for centuries, in every possible
official way, pressed home the reading of the Bible upon her every member, and of course upon
her every Minister, there is material for similar anxieties, mutatis mutandis. Bible study, such as
our Lord and the Apostles enjoined and encouraged, is not on the increase amongst us, to say
the least of it; certainly the ignorance of the blessed Book even among candidates for holy
Orders is sometimes, is not seldom, very great indeed. Nay more, there is sometimes, however
rarely as yet, an ominous disposition even in clerical circles to shelve the Bible. Quite lately I
heard, on excellent authority, that a certain[Pg 41] large Clerical Society, revising its rules,
deliberately decided that the meetings shall not in future be begun with the reading of Scripture.
My friend and Brother, do not swim even on the edges of such a current. Swim with all your might,
in your Master’s might, against it.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READ IT FOR YOUR OWN NEEDS.

Then lastly I put in my plea, as I sought to do when we were considering the matter of secret
prayer, for such a secret study of the Word of God as shall be unprofessional, unclerical, and
simply Christian. Resolve to “read, mark, and inwardly digest” so that not now the flock but the
shepherd, that is to say you, “may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting
life.” It will be all the better for the flock. Forget sometimes, in the name of Jesus Christ, the pulpit,
the mission-room, the Bible-class; open the Bible as simply as if you were on Crusoe’s island,
and were destined to live and die there, alone with God. You will be all the fresher, all the more
sympathetic and to the point, when you do come to speak to the listening people about the
Book. The discoveries which we make in it for our own souls are just the things which we cannot
help reporting so as to interest and attract our brethren; as least, that is the sure tendency of
things.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

BRIDGES AND WITSIUS ON BIBLE STUDY.

Let me write out a slightly abbreviated extract from a golden book, unhappily no longer in print,
The Christian Ministry, by that diligent student, loving and laborious Pastor, and
heavenly-minded man, the remembrance of whom shines on me like a ray reflected from the
Chief Shepherd’s face, the late Rev. Charles Bridges.

He died at Hinton Martell, in Dorset, 1869.

“The maxim, Bonus textuarius est bonus theologus, marks a grand ministerial
qualification–’mighty in the Scriptures.’ The importance of this is beautifully expressed by
Witsius: ‘Let the theologian ascend from the lower school of natural study to the higher
department of Scripture, and sitting at the feet of God as his teacher, learn from His mouth the
hidden mysteries of salvation, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, which none of the princes
of this world knew; which the most accurate reason cannot search out; which the heavenly
chorus of angels, though always beholding the face of God, desire to look into. In the hidden
book of Scripture, and nowhere else, are opened the secrets of the most sacred wisdom. Let
the theologian delight in these sacred Oracles; let him exercise himself in them day and night; let
him meditate in them; let him live in them; let him draw all his wisdom from them; let him compare
all his thoughts with them; let him embrace nothing in religion which he does not find there. The
attentive study of the Scriptures has a sort of constraining power. It fills the mind with the most
splendid form of heavenly truth. It soothes the mind with an inexpressible sweetness; it satisfies
the sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge; … it imprints its own testimony so firmly on the mind,
that the believing soul rests on it with the same security as if it had been carried up into the third
heaven and heard it from God’s own mouth; it touches all the affections, and breathes the
sweetest fragrance of holiness upon the pious reader, even though he may not perhaps
comprehend the full extent of his reading…. We ought to draw our views of divine truths
immediately from the Scriptures themselves, and to make no other use of human writings than
as indices marking those chief points of theology from which we may be instructed in the mind of
the Lord'” (pp. 79, 80, ed. 1830).

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

How then shall I read my Bible so as at once spiritually and mentally to know it, or rather, to be
always getting to know it? The answer must be–”at sundry times and in divers manners.” I must
make time to read often, however brief each time may be. And I must use methods of study,
more than one, in parallel lines.

As a sort of ground-work to all other methods I venture first to say, be always reading the Bible
through, however slowly, or rapidly. For certain purposes, for instance in order to grasp the
scope of a book, as perhaps an Epistle, or the Revelation, or St John’s Gospel, or the latter half
of Isaiah, or the Book of Genesis, rapid reading may be quite reverently done. In any case, get
as soon as you may, and as often as is practicable and practical, over the whole surface. Lord
Hatherley, amidst the heavy occupations of a barrister’s and judge’s life, used to read the whole
Book through carefully every year, and this for more than thirty years. I cannot say that I do the
same. But I aim to read the Bible over carefully within every few years.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Then, practise what I would call the plough-husbandry of the Book. “Make long furrows.”
Investigate what the Scriptures have to say by topics, by doctrines, by leading words, over great
breadths of their surface; keeping that subject, that word, all along in view. Bring all your mind to
work that way, in the light of the Presence sought by prayer…
…I was thankful in my first days of ministry to be led to put in practice its examples and
suggestions by ploughing in the field of the New Testament for the coincidences between the
Gospel narrative and the allusions to our blessed Lord’s life scattered over the Epistles.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Then, practise also a diligent spade-husbandry in your Bible study. Dig as well as plough. In
each narrow plot of the great field there are treasures hid. Dig a verse sometimes, using
perhaps the spade of parallel references. Dig a paragraph at other times; a chapter; a short
book. You are quite sure, under the blessing of the Master of the Field, to bring up rich results,
more or less.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

When the watcher in the dark
Turns his lenses to the skies,
Suddenly the starry spark
Grows a world upon his eyes:
Be my life a lens, that I
So my Lord may magnify

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

On that last point I must dilate a little; on the point of Considerateness. I remember a
conversation a few years ago with one of our college servants, an excellent Christian woman,
truly exemplary in every duty. She was speaking of one of my dear student friends now
labouring for the Lord in a distant and difficult mission-field, and giving him–after his departure
from us–a tribute of most disinterested praise: “Ah, Sir, he was a consistent gentleman!” And then
she instanced some of my friend’s consistencies; and I observed that they all reduced
themselves to one word–Considerateness. He was always taking trouble, and always saving
trouble. He was always finding out how a little thought for others can save them much needless
labour. The things in question were not heroic. The thoughtfulness for others concerned only
such matters as the bath, and the shoes, and the clothes, and some small details of hospitality.
But they meant a very great deal for the hard-worked caretaker, and they were to her a means of
quite distinct “edification,” upbuilding, in the assurance that Christ and the Gospel are indeed
practical realities. I break no confidence when I add, by the way, that my friend had not always
been thus “a consistent gentleman.” But the Lord had found him, and he had found the Lord, in
the midst of his University life; and he had learnt most deeply and effectually, at the feet of
Jesus, the consistency of Considerateness.

I do press this aspect of our daily walk with all earnestness on my younger Brethren. I press it on
them at least to think about it with painstaking attention. No Christian man, as such, means for
one moment to be selfish. But lack of attention does in very many cases indeed allow the real
Christian to contract, or to continue, selfish habits. Many good men quite fail to realize how
selfish, practically, it is to be unpunctual. You have your understood mealtimes in your lodging. It
may not be always possible to keep strictly to them; the exigencies of work may make it
honestly necessary now and again to be out of time. But let nothing less than duty do so for you.
The breakfast kept standing because you are not up when you should be may very likely mean
much needless trouble and much domestic disarrangement. Guests often brought in without any
notice may mean the same.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

And indeed we have need to ponder Consistency when we come to “the unruly member.” It is
not often, perhaps, that the risks of the tongue are specially present in a bachelor’s life in
lodgings. But they are not absent there. Friends come in, and we will suppose that you and they
are waited upon at your meal. What does the servant hear? Much talk about other and absent
persons? Unkind or flippant criticisms? Idle, frivolous words? Very likely not, thank God; for we
do want to remember our Lord. But let us take heed. Nothing is more conspicuously inconsistent
in the Christian than needless, unloving discussion of the characters and lives of others; nothing
is more keenly noticed when overheard; nothing more breaks the spell of influence for God.

“Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam, Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi.”
Possidonius: De Vitâ Augustini, c. 22.

Such was the memento which St Augustine had inscribed upon his dining-table. He found it
necessary to remind the Bishops (coëpiscopi) whom he entertained not to misuse their
ordained tongues. And the Pastors of the nineteenth century need it still, quite as much as it was
needed in the fifth.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

It is impossible, of course, to lay down exhaustive rules for the Christian guidance of
conversation in detail. It is quite certain that the Gospel does not prescribe, or intend, that we
should never speak except about things spiritual, or even except about our special duties in the
Ministry. But it is quite certain too that the Gospel does prescribe inexorably the utmost
watchfulness and self-discipline in the matter of the tongue, for all who name the Name of Christ.
“For every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account” [Matt. xii. 36.]; “Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good to the use of edifying, that it may
minister grace unto the hearers” [Eph. iv. 29.]; “If any man among you seem to be devout , and
bridleth not his tongue, that man’s devoutness is vain” [Jas. i. 26.]; “Set a watch, O Lord, before
my lips.” [Ps. cxli. 3.]

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Obviously this takes for granted the Clergyman’s recognition of the call to “rule his spirit.” [Prov.
xvi. 32.] The temptation not to do so is very different for different men. One man finds temper and
patience sorely tried by things which do not even attract the attention of another. But very few
men indeed, in the actual experiences of pastoral life, whether in town or country, quite escape
for long together the stings which irritate and inflame. But they must learn how to meet them in
peace and patience, unless they would take one of the most certain ways to dishonour their
Master and discredit their message. The world has some very true instincts about the power of
the Gospel, as it ought to be, as it claims to be. And one of them is that a Christian as such is a
man who ought always to keep his temper. The Christian Clergyman is most certainly, at least in
an ironical sense, “expected” never to be personally vexed and hot. Will it be so? Will he take
ignorant rudeness pleasantly, should it cross his way? Will he meet opposition patiently,
however firmly? Will he show that he remembers the text, “The bondservant of the Lord must not
strive”? [2 Tim. ii. 24.]

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

POWER OF A CONSISTENT LIFE.

I have inevitably touched only some parts of the great subject of personal ministerial
Consistency. More will be said later. But the treatment on paper, at almost any length, must be
incomplete at the best; many an important side of the subject will need to be omitted. My aim
has been, and will be, to speak of those sides most, if not only, which are in special danger of
neglect at the present day; and this means of course the passing by of some large topics.

PAINS AND MEANS.

But contributions, however fragmentary, to the study of Consistency will not be in vain. “A
Minister’s life is the life of his ministry,” says some one of other days with pithy force. “Happy
those labourers of the Church,” says blessed Quesnel, the Jansenist (on Mark vi. 33), “the sweet
odour of whose lives draws the people to Jesus Christ.” We all recognize the beauty and truth of
such sayings. We all admit the fitness and duty of Consistency. But we must also recollect that in
order to our consistency there is needed more than an abstract approbation; we must attend, we
must reflect, we must examine ourselves, we must discipline ourselves, as those who aim at an
object at once lovely and necessary. Above all, we must order our steps in our Lord’s Word,”
[Ps. cxix. 133.] and we must maintain a living communion of spirit with our Lord Himself, who is
not only our Exemplar, our Law, and our King, but also our Secret, our Strength, our Life.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

If Jesus Christ thou serve, take heed,
Whate’er the hour may be;
His brethren are obliged indeed
By their nobility.

In the present chapter I follow the general principles of the last into some further details. And I
place before me as a sort of motto those twice-repeated words of the Apostle, Take Heed unto
Thyself.

These words, it will be remembered, are addressed in both places to the Christian Minister
[Acts xx. 28; 1 Tim. iv. 6.]. At Miletus St Paul gathers round him the Presbyters of Ephesus, and
implores them to take heed to themselves, and to the flock. A few years later he writes to
Timothy, commissioned (whether permanently or not) to be Pastor of Pastors in that same
Ephesus, and lays it on his soul to take heed to himself, and to the doctrine. In each case the
appeal to attend to “self” comes first, as the vital preliminary to the other. And in each case it
takes the form of a solemn warning; not only “remember” but “take heed.”

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Master, to the flock I speed,
In Thy presence, in Thy name;
Show me how to guide, to feed,
How aright to cheer and blame;
With me knock at every door;
Enter with me, I implore.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRAY FOR SPIRITUAL READINESS AND SPIRITUAL FULNESS.

Ask that you may go out well furnished with the peace, and patience, and wisdom laid up for you
in your Lord; that you may have “by the Holy Spirit a right judgment in all things”; that you may
have “the tongue of the taught, to speak a word in season to them that are weary”; whatever sort
of weariness it is. Pray for that secret skill of discernment which can see the difference of spiritual
states, and allot warning or comfort not at random but “in due season.” Pray for that readiness
for the unexpected which is best secured and best maintained in a close and conscious
intimacy with your Saviour. The man “found in Him” will be found ready in spirit (and that is after
all the essential in spiritual work) for the sudden question, whether anxious or captious, for the
sudden rudeness of ignorance or opposition, and again for the chronic and so to speak
passive difficulty of indifference. “The tongue of the taught,” while the “taught” man is found in
Christ, will ever be sweet, wise, and truthful, as the owner of it goes his round. But we must seek
for it; “He will be enquired of for this thing.” [Ezek. xxxvi. 37.]

Isai. l. 4. Obviously the word “learned” in our Version is there used in its old English sense,
“instructed, taught.” No slight on “book-learning” is ever conveyed in the Scriptures. But the man
in view here is not the highly-educated person, but the believer who has listened with the ear “of
the taught” (see the end of the verse), as a disciple at the Master’s feet; and so goes forth to
speak with “the tongue of the taught,” as a messenger who has learned sympathy, insight, holy
tact and truthfulness, from the Master’s heart. The whole passage is full of the blessed Messiah
Himself, I know. But it has its reflected reference for all His true followers, and above all for all
His true Ministers. May He give us, in His mercy, for every act of our messenger-work, both the
ear and the tongue of His “taught” ones.

Then, as you pray for yourself, you will pray also for the people you are about to visit. Perhaps
they are as yet strange to you, and you can ask for them only in general. But if you know
anything at all about them it will be worth while to individualize your prayer, however briefly.
Special, detailed prayer is a power with God. And it is a power with man too. To be dealing with
one for whom you know you have prayed is already to have a foothold there. Perhaps you may
have an opportunity to say, quite naturally, that you have been praying for him; and this may
very possibly be a direct vehicle of blessing.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“Fresh airs and heavenly odours breathe around The throne of grace;”

and those airs can quicken the young Pastor’s spirit for the heaviest hours of a sultry afternoon
or evening, till he comes back weary to his rooms, “tired in the Lord’s work, but not tired of it,” as
dying Whitefield said.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

A duty which you will carefully remember throughout your round is that of quiet Christian courtesy;
impartially shown to rich, to middling, and to poor. I say impartially, with a view to both ends of
the scale. Some men (perhaps not many, but some) seem to think that ministerial courage and
fidelity in dealing with well-to-do parishioners demand a certain dropping of the courtesies of
life; a very great mistake. Many more men are tempted to forget that their visits to the poorest
should be, in the essence of the matter, as courteous as when they go to the portal which
carries a brass knocker. At the door of the dingiest cottage, or dingier lodging, never forget that
you ask for entrance; it is your neighbour’s castle-door; and you are not a sanitary inspector. If
you happen to come in at the meal-time of the roughest and dirtiest, apologize as naturally and
honestly as you would if you intruded on the wealthy churchwarden’s well-set luncheon. Among
the very lowest, do all you can to honour parents before their children (I know it is nearly
impossible in some sad cases); and always honour old age.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Surely one good maxim on manner with our poorer neighbours is to aim to address them very
much as we would address our neighbours of our own class. A patronizing manner is most
certainly a very great pity, and almost sure to be resented. But so, too, is the ostentatious
“hail-and-well-met” manner which is sometimes assumed; an over-drawn imitation, perhaps, of
the workman’s manner with his fellows. This is a mistake, because it is almost always unnatural.
Few gentlemen get better at others by ceasing to act and speak as gentlemen. Let us talk quite
quietly and pleasantly, as just what we are, and as those who most unaffectedly “honour all
men,” [1 Pet. ii. 17.] and we shall not go far astray; always supposing that the matter of our talk is
sensible, true, and to the purpose.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Of punctuality generally I can (and surely need) speak only in passing. It is a primary duty of the
busy but patient work of the pastorate. To be neglectful of it is to set up and keep up a needless
and mischievous friction in our intercourse with others, and indefinitely to injure our influence in
many ways. “No man ever waited five minutes for me in my life, unless for reasons quite beyond
my power;” such was a remark of Charles Simeon’s in his last days. We may be for ever unable
to say this of our own past. But if so, shall it not be true for us also from this day forward?

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Thus prepared by secret and special intercourse with God, and recollecting some simple
maxims about practical points, you go out into the parish. But no; let me suggest one other
preliminary, which, before most rounds of pastoral visiting, cannot be out of place. You will take
in your pocket two books, if not more; one, your visiting register and diary, the other–your Bible.
Of the use to be made of the note-book I need not speak. About that to be made of the Book of
God let me say a very few words.

I do not mean at all that you will make the reading of the Holy Scriptures a matter of form or
routine; a thing which must be done, as an opus operandum, wherever there is a chance. But I
do mean that you should have the Book always ready for use, and be prompt to sow the
“incorruptible seed” [1 Pet. i. 23.] from house to house as God gives opportunity. Remember, it
is a Book sadly little known by the very large majority of your people; so that every natural and
naturally-taken occasion to “let it speak,” in private as well as in public, is a contribution to that
urgent need of our modern world, Bible-knowledge. Remember again that, despite all the
wretched unsettlements of belief amongst us, the Bible is still the Bible, for untold multitudes; it is
owned by them, whether or no it is used, as the Oracle of God. Let us let the Book speak at the
open ear of such a conviction, however dimly the conviction is entertained. And then remember
that the Bible, whatever be the state of current opinion about it, is as a fact the Oracle of God,
and its immortal and life-conveying words have a mysterious fitness all their own to be the
vehicle of the Spirit’s voice to the human heart. Offer it, as often as you can, to be that vehicle.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Two simple expedients for effective use of the Scriptures in a parish round are presented to me
by my own past experience, gathered from several years of regular parochial work. One is, the
choice of some short pregnant passage which shall be, for that round, the passage to be read
not once only but in house after house, unless, of course, there is special reason to the contrary.
Such a reiteration, so I have often found, is a great help to the visitor, who probably feels on
each new occasion that a new power and point appear in the passage, and that it seems each
time easier to speak from it, however briefly, to the soul. The other expedient which my
experience recommends is to be prepared, whenever a hopeful opportunity occurs, to leave a
Scripture message visibly behind you as you go. I used to carry with me a little sheaf of slips of
paper, on each of which was printed the request, Please read this passage, and think about it. A
short message from the heavenly Word would be written on the slip in pencil as I was about to
go; and this visible and personal invitation to “read and think” proved often a real remembrance
from the Lord.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Work on in hope; the plough, the sickle wield;
Thy Master is the harvest’s Master too;
He gives the golden seed, He owns the field,
And does Himself what His true servants do.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“I would not leave His service,
It is so sweet and blest,
And in the weariest moments
He gives the truest rest.”

– Miss F.R. Havergal.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Whene’er in worship’s blissful hour
The Pastor lends your heart a voice,
Let his own spirit feel your power,
And answer, and rejoice.

– Miss F.R. Havergal.

Quoted from:
To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“Being of beings, may our praise
Thy courts with grateful fragrance fill;
Still may we stand before Thy face,
Still hear and do Thy sovereign will;
To Thee may all our thoughts arise,
Ceaseless, accepted sacrifice.”
– J. Wesley, from Tersteegen

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To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

For Thy sake, beloved Lord,
I will labour in Thy Word;
On the knees, in patient prayer;
At the desk, with studious care;
In the pulpit, seeking still
There to utter all Thy will.

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To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

But if all this is true of the desk and of the blessed Table, it is true also, and in a high degree, of
the pulpit. Singularly independent, up to a certain point, is the position of the preacher. He
chooses his own text; he assigns himself (at least in theory) his own length of discourse; he is
entitled, under the ægis of the law of the land, to speak on to the end without interruption; he is
bound, within the limits of a sanctified common-sense, to speak with the authority of his
commission. Here are powerful temptations to an inconsiderate man, perhaps especially to an
inconsiderate young man, to show much inconsideration. And therefore, here is a pre-eminent
occasion for the true Pastor, who thinks, prays, loves, and is humble, to practise the beautiful
opposite. Shall you and I seek grace to do so?

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To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

Yes, this is what we are to be as preachers. We are to seek “mercy of the Lord to be faithful.” [1
Cor. vii. 25.] We are not popular leaders, looking for a cry, or passing one on. We are not
speculative thinkers, feeling out a philosophy, communicating our guesses at truth to a
company of friends who happen to be interested in the investigation. We are “messengers,
watchmen, and stewards of the Lord.” We are in commissioned charge of a divine, authentic,
and unalterable message. We are the expounders of a “Word which liveth and abideth for
ever,” [1 Pet. i. 23.] a Word which man is always trying to judge and to disparage, but which will
judge man at the last day [Joh. xii. 48.]. We are the bondservants of an absolute Master, who is
at once our Sender and our Message, and who overhears our every word in its delivery.

It is a grave mistake, as we saw in our last chapter, to think that faithfulness means a repellent
utterance of “the faithful Word.” [Tit. i. 9.] But it is at least an equal mistake to think that
attractiveness means a modification of that Word, which to the end of our world’s day will still be
a “folly” and a “stumbling-block,” [1 Cor. i. 23.] in some respects, to the unconverted soul, and
will always have its searching point and edge for the converted soul also.

But this consideration here is only by the way. I return from it to the matter of a right and faithful
attractiveness and some of its higher conditions.

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To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
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This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

“Then let us adore and give Him His right,
All glory and power, all wisdom and might,
All honour and blessing with angels above,
And thanks never ceasing, and infinite love.”

– C. Wesley.

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To My Younger Brethren by H. C. G. Moule
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23113

This is another book that I have not read fully, but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19420

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Greek original of canon means primarily a straight rod or pole; and metaphorically, what
serves to keep a thing upright or straight, a rule. In the New Testament it occurs in Gal. vi. 16 and
2 Cor. x. 13, 15, 16, signifying in the former, a measure; in the latter, what is measured, a district.
But we have now to do with its ecclesiastical use. There are three opinions as to the origin of its
application to the writings used by the church. According to Toland, Whiston, Semler, Baur, and
others, the word had originally the sense of list or catalogue of books publicly read in Christian
assemblies. Others, as Steiner, suppose that since the Alexandrian grammarians applied it to
collections of Old Greek authors as models of excellence or classics, it meant classical
(canonical) writings. According to a third opinion, the term included from the first the idea of a
regulating principle. This is the more probable, because the same idea lies in the New
Testament use of the noun, and pervades its applications in the language of the early Fathers
down to the time of Constantine, as Credner has shown.2 The “canon of the church” in the
Clementine homilies;3 the “ecclesiastical canon,”4 and “the canon of the truth,” in Clement and
Irenæus;5 the “canon” of the faith in Polycrates,6 the regula fidei of Tertullian,7 and the libri
regulares of Origen,8 imply a normative principle. But we cannot assent to Credner’s view of the
Greek word for canon being an abbreviation of “Scriptures of canon,”9 equivalent to Scripturæ
legis in Diocletian’s Act10–a view too artificial, and unsanctioned by usage.

The earliest example of its application to a catalogue of the Old or New Testament books
occurs in the Latin translation of Origen’s homily on Joshua, where the original seems to have
been “canon.”11 The word itself is certainly [pg 011] in Amphilochius,12 as well as in Jerome,13
and Rufinus.14 As the Latin translation of Origen has canonicus and canonizatus, we infer that he
used “canonical,”15 opposed as it is to apocryphus or secretus. The first occurrence of
“canonical” is in the fifty-ninth canon of the Council of Laodicea, where it is contrasted with two
other Greek words.16 “Canonized books,”17 is first used in Athanasius’s 39th festal epistle. The
kind of rule which the earliest fathers attributed to the Scriptures can only be conjectured; it is
certain that they believed the Old Testament books to be a divine and infallible guide. But the
New Testament was not so considered till towards the close of the second century when the
conception of a Catholic Church was realized. The latter collection was not called Scripture, or
put on a par with the Old Testament as sacred and inspired, till the time of Theophilus of Antioch
(about 180 a.d.) Hence, Irenæus applies the epithets divine and perfect to the Scriptures; and
Clement of Alexandria calls them inspired.

When distinctions were made among the Biblical writings other words18 were employed,
synonymous with “canonized.”19 The canon was thus a catalogue of writings forming a rule of
truth, sacred, divine, revealed by God for the instruction of men. The rule was perfect for its
purpose.

The word apocryphal20 is used in various senses, which it is difficult to trace chronologically.
Apocryphal books are,–

1st, Such as contain secret or mysterious things, books of the higher wisdom. It is thus applied to
the Apocalypse by Gregory of Nyssa.21 Akin to this is the second meaning.

2nd, Such as were kept secret or withdrawn from public use. In this sense the word corresponds
to the Hebrew ganuz.22 So Origen speaking of the story of Susanna. The opposite of this is
read in public,23 a word employed by Eusebius.24

3rd, It was used of the secret books of the heretics by Clement25 and Origen,26 with the
accessory idea of spurious, pseudepigraphical,27 in opposition to the canonical writings of the
Catholic Church. The book of Enoch and similar productions were so characterized.28

4th, Jerome applied it to the books in the Septuagint which are absent from the Hebrew canon,
i.e., to the books which were read in the church, the ecclesiastical ones29 occupying a rank next
to the canonical. In doing so he had respect to the corresponding Hebrew epithet. This was a
misuse of the word apocryphal, which had a prejudicial effect on the character of the books in
after-times.30 The word, which he did not employ in an injurious sense, was adopted from him
by Protestants after the Reformation, who gave it perhaps a sharper distinction than he
intended, so as to imply a contrast somewhat disparaging to writings which were publicly read in
many churches and put beside the canonical ones by distinguished fathers. The Lutherans
have adhered to Jerome’s meaning longer than the Reformed; but the decree of the Council of
Trent had some effect on both. The contrast between the canonical and apocryphal writings
was carried to its utmost length by the Westminster divines, who asserted that the former are
inspired, the latter not.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

(a) In relation to the Old Testament, the prevailing tendency in the Greek Church was to follow
the Palestinian canon. Different lists appeared from time to time in which the endeavor there to
exclude apocryphal, i.e., spurious works, was apparent. In addition to the canonical, a class of
ecclesiastical books was judged fit for reading in the Church,–a class intermediate between the
canonical and apocryphal. The distinction between the canonical and ecclesiastical writings
appears in Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, Epiphanius, &c. The Latin Church showed a
disposition to elevate the ecclesiastical books of the Greek Church to the rank of the canonical,
making the line between the two indistinct; as we see from the acts of the councils at Hippo and
Carthage, in the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century, where Augustine’s, influence
was predominant. But notwithstanding this deviation from the stricter method of the Greeks,
learned men like Jerome adhered to the Palestinian canon, and even styled the ecclesiastical
books apocryphal, transferring the epithet from one class to another. Hilary and Rufinus also
followed the Greek usage.

During the sixth and following centuries, it cannot be said that the canon of the Greek Church was
definitely closed, notwithstanding the decrees of councils and references to older authorities.
Opinions still varied about certain books, such as Esther; though the Palestinian list was
commonly followed. During the same period, the enlarged canon of the Alexandrian Jews,
which went far to abolish the distinction between the canonical and deutero-canonical books,
prevailed in the West, at least in practice; though some followed the shorter one, sanctioned as
it had been by Jerome. As both lists existed, no complete or final settlement of the question was
reached in the Latin Church. Neither in the East nor in the West was the canon of the Old
Testament really closed; for though the stricter principle of separation prevailed in theory, it was
not carried out in practice consistently or universally. The two men most influential about the
canon were Jerome and Augustine; the one representing its Palestinian, the other its
Alexandrian type. After them no legal or commanding voice fixed either, to the absolute
exclusion of its rival.

(b) The charge of Constantine to Eusebius to make out a list of writings for the use of the Church
and its performance may be considered as that which first put the subject on a broad and
permanent basis. Its consequences were important. If it cannot be called the completion or
close of the New Testament canon, it determined it largely. Eusebius made a Greek Bible
containing the usual books, except the Revelation. Though the historian of the church was not
well fitted for the task, being deficient in critical ability and trammeled by tradition, he doubtless
used his best judgment. Hence, about the year 337, the Constantinian Church received a Bible
which had an influential origin. No binding authority indeed attached to the list of the Christian
books it presented; but it had weight in the Greek Church. It did not prevent different opinions, nor
deter individuals from dissent. Thus Athanasius, who disliked Eusebius and his party, issued a
list of the sacred writings which included the Revelation. The canon of the Laodicean Council
(a.d. 363) agreed with the Constantine one.

That variations still existed in the Eastern Church is shown by the lists which vied with one
apostolic constitutions excluded them. The Alexandrian MS. added to the ordinary books of the
New Testament, Clement’s two epistles; and Cosmas Indicopleustes omitted the general
epistles as well as the Apocalypse. At length the Council of Constantinople, usually called the
Trullan (a.d. 692), laid down positions that fixed the canon for the Greek Church. The endeavor in
it was to attain to a conclusion which should unite East and West. This council did not enumerate
the separate books, but referred to older authorities, to the eighty-five canons of the apostles,
the decrees of the synods of Laodicea, Ephesus, Carthage, and others; to Athanasius, Gregory
of Nazianzus, Amphliochius of Iconium, Cyril of Alexandria, Gennadius, &c. After the fourth
century there was a general desire to fall back on apostolic times, to appeal to the Church, to
ascertain the opinion of synods or assemblies; in a word, to rely on authority.
Less discrepancy and activity were manifested about the canon in the Western Church. Here
the chief doubts were directed to the epistle to the Hebrews and the seven general ones. The
former was early excluded, and continued to be so even in the time of Jerome. The latter were
adopted much sooner. The impulse given by Constantine to determine the books of Scripture
re-acted on the West, where the Church considered it its own privilege. Augustine’s influence
contributed much to the settlement of the question. The synods of Hippo (a.d. 393) and of
Carthage (a.d. 397) received the epistle to the Hebrews and the seven general ones, thus fixing
the New Testament canon as it now is. In 419 the African bishops, in the presence of a Papal
delegate, repeated their former decision. After the West Goths joined the Catholic Church in the
sixth century, the Romish and Spanish Churches gave prominence to the fact of accepting both
the Apocalypse and the epistle to the Hebrews. The canon of the West was now virtually
closed; the fourth Council of Toledo (a.d. 632) at which Isidore was present, agreeing with the
Augustinian list, ratified as that list had been by Innocent the First. The reception of the epistle to
the Hebrews was facilitated by the objections of the Arians and Semiarians; while opposition to
the Priscillianists in Spain strengthened adherence to the traditional canon. Augustine and the
Trullan Council fixed the number of the New Testament books as they are now.

With regard to the Bible canon in general, we see that councils had weight when they
enumerated the sacred books; that prominent teachers delivered their opinion on the subject
with effect, and that tradition contributed to one result; but no general council closed the canon
once for all, till that of Trent promulgated its decrees. This body, however, could only settle the
subject for Romanists, since, while the right of private judgment is exercised, no corporation can
declare some books inspired and others not, some authoritative in matters of faith, others not,
without presumption. Though the present Bible canon rests upon the judgment of good and
learned men of different times, it can never be finally or infallibly settled, because the critical
powers of readers differ, and all do not accept church authority with unhesitating assent.

It is the way of men to defer unduly to the opinions expressed by synods and councils,
especially if they be propounded dogmatically; to acquiesce in their decisions with facility rather
than institute independent inquiry. This is exemplified in the history of the canon, where the
fallibility of such bodies in determining canonicity is conspicuous. It is so in the general
reception of the book of Esther, while the old poem, the Song of Songs, was called in question
at the synod of Jamnia; in the omission of the Revelation from the canonical list by many
belonging to the Greek Church, while the epistles to Timothy and Titus were received as St.
Paul’s from the beginning almost universally.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

I. The arrangement of the various parts comprising the New Testament was fluctuating in the
second century; less so in the third. In the fourth century the order which the books had
commonly assumed in Greek MSS. and writers was; the Gospels, the Acts, the Catholic
Epistles, the Pauline, and the Apocalypse. This sequence appears in the Vatican, Sinaitic,
Alexandrian and Ephrem (C) MSS.; Cyril of Jerusalem, in the 60th Canon of the Laodicean
Council, Athanasius, Leontius of Byzantium, &c.

II. Another order prevailed in the Latin Church, viz., the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles of Paul, the
Catholic Epistles, and the Apocalypse. This appears in Melito, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria,
Origen, Augustine, Jerome, the Vulgate, the Councils of Carthage, held in a.d. 397 and 419; and
is now the usual arrangement.

Within the limits of the two general arrangements just mentioned, there were many variations.
Thus we find in relation to the gospels.

III. (a) Matthew, John, Luke, Mark; in the MSS. of the old Italic marked a, b, d, e, ff, and in the cod.
argenteus of Ulfila’s Gothic version.

(b) Matthew, John, Mark, Luke; in the council of Ephesus a.d. 431, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret,
the stichometry of the Clermont MS. Such was the usual order in the Greek Church of the fifth
century.

(d) Matthew, Mark, John, Luke; in the Curetonian Syriac gospels. They are mentioned in the
same order in Origen’s I. Homily on Luke.

The reason of the order in, (a) and (b) lies in apostleship. The works of apostles precede those
of evangelists. The established sequence, which is already sanctioned by Irenæus and Origen,
has respect to the supposed dates of the gospels. Clement of Alexandria says that ancient
tradition supposed those gospels having the genealogies to have been written before the
others.

IV. As to the Acts of the Apostles, not only is this work put immediately after the gospels, which is
the order in the Muratorian canon, but we find it in other positions.

(a) Gospels, Pauline Epistles, Acts; in the Sinaitic MS., the Peshito,368 Jerome,369 and
Epiphanius.

(b) Gospels, Pauline Epistles, Catholic Epistles, Acts; in Augustine, the third council of Toledo,
Isidore, Innocent I., Eugenius IV., and the Spanish Church generally.
(c) Gospels, Pauline, Catholic Epistles, Apocalypse, Acts; in the stichometry of the Clermont MS.

V. As to the Epistles of Paul, besides the place they now occupy in our Bibles, they sometimes
follow the gospels immediately.

(a) Gospels, Pauline Epistles; the Sinaitic MS., Jerome, Epiphanius, Augustine, the third council
of Toledo, Isidore, Innocent I., Eugenius IV., the stichometry of the Clermont MS.

(b) The usual order of the Greek Church is, Gospels, Acts, Catholic Epistles, Pauline, &c., as in
Cyril of Jerusalem, the Laodicean Council (60), Athanasius, Leontius of Byzantium, the MSS. A.
B., but not ?. The critical Greek Testaments of Lachmann and Tischendorf adopt this order.

(c) They are placed last of all in a homily attributed to Origen, but this does not necessarily show
that father’s opinion.370

(d) They stand first of all in a Gallican Sacramentarium cited by Hody.371

VI. With respect to the order of the individual epistles, the current one has been thought as old
as Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. But the proof of this is precarious. It appears in the
fourth century, and may have been prior to that. It is in Epiphanius, who supposes that the
arrangement was the apostle’s own. Not only was it the prevalent one in the Greek Church, but
also in the Latin as we see from the codex Amiatinus, and the Vulgate MSS. generally. It rests
upon the extent of the epistles and the relative importance of the localities in which the believers
addressed resided.

(a) Marcion had but ten Pauline epistles in the following order: Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, the Laodiceans, (Ephesians), Colossians, Philemon,
Philippians.

(b) 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians,
Romans, Philemon, Titus, 1 and 2 Timothy, to the Laodiceans, the Alexandrians (the Epistle to
the Hebrews); in the Muratorian canon.

(c) Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Thessalonians, Colossians,
Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews; in Augustine, and several MSS. of the Vulgate in
England.372

(d) Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews; in the so-called decree of Gelasius in the name of
Hormisdas, in Labbe’s text. But here different MSS. vary in regard to the position of the
Thessalonian epistles.

VII. The Laodicean letter was inserted either before the pastoral epistles, as in several MSS. of
the Vulgate in England; or before the Thessalonian epistles preceding them; or at the end of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, as in a MS. of the Latin Bible at Lembeth. Its insertion in copies of the
Vulgate was owing to the authority of Gregory the Great, who looked upon it as authentic.

VIII. The position of the Epistle to the Hebrews usually was either before the pastoral epistles,
i.e., immediately after those to the Thessalonians; or after the pastoral ones and Philemon. The
former method was generally adopted in the Greek Church from the fourth century. The latter
prevailed in the Latin Church from Augustine onward.

(a) Pauline epistles to churches (the last being the second to the Thessalonians), Hebrews,
Timothy, Titus, Philemon; in the MSS. ?, A. B. C. H., Athanasius, Epiphanius; Euthalius,373
Theodoret. Jerome mentions it after the epistles of Paul to the seven churches as an eighth
excluded by the majority, and proceeds to specify the pastoral ones. But Amphilochius and

(b) Pauline Epistles, Hebrews (following immediately that to Philemon); in Augustine and the
Vulgate version generally. It is so in the canons of the councils at Hippo and Carthage (a.d. 393
and 397), and in the MSS. D. and G., in Isidore of Spain, and the council of Trent.

IX. With respect to the order of the Catholic Epistles, which were not all adopted into the canon till
the end of the fourth century; Eusebius putting all except 1 John and 1 Peter among the
antilegomena; while Jerome, and the council of Carthage (a.d. 397) admit them unreservedly;
the usual order, viz., James, 1 and 2 Peter, John, Jude, prevailed in the Eastern Church. It is in
the Peshito or old Syriac version, Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, the 60th of the
Laodicean canons, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Amphilochius, the stichometry of
Nicephorus, the MSS. ?. A. B. C., and most Greek MS. But the 76th of the Apostolic canons has
Peter, John, James and Jude. The canon, however, is comparatively late.
(a) Peter, John, Jude, James; in Philastrius of Brescia. If we may rely on Cassiodorus’s account
of Augustine, the African father followed the same arrangement.

(b) Peter, James, Jude, John; in Rufinus.

(c) Peter, John, James, Jude; in the councils of Carthage, a.d. 397, 419, Cassiodorus, and a
Gallican Sacramentarium. The Vulgate and council of Trent follow this arrangement.

(d) John, Peter, Jude, James; in the list given by Innocent I., and the third council of Toledo.

The Eastern church naturally set the Epistle of James, who was Bishop of Jerusalem, at the
head of the others; while the Western put Peter, the Bishop of Rome, in the same place.

X. The Revelation varied little in position.

(a) In the decree of Galasius, according to its three recensions, the Revelation follows Paul’s
epistles, preceding those of John and the other Catholic ones.

(b) In D or the Clermont MS. it follows the Catholic epistles, and precedes the Acts; which last is
thrown to the end of all the books, as if it were an appendix to the writings of the apostles.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The second Helvetic Confession (a.d. 1566) speaks of the apocryphal books of the Old
Testament as those which the ancients wished to be read in the churches, but not as
authoritative in matters of faith.

The Gallic Confession (a.d. 1559) makes a distinction between canonical and other books, the
former being the rule and norm of faith, not only by the consent of the Church, but much more by
the testimony and intrinsic persuasion of the Spirit, by whose suggestions we are taught to
distinguish them from other ecclesiastical books, which, though useful, are not of the kind that
any article of faith can be constituted by them.

The Belgic Confession (a.d. 1561) makes a distinction between the sacred and apocryphal
books. The latter may be read by the Church, but no doctrine can be derived from them. In the
list of New Testament books given there are fourteen epistles of Paul.

The canon of the Waldenses must have coincided at first with that of the Roman Church; for the
Dublin MS. containing the New Testament has attached to it the Book of Wisdom and the first
twenty-three chapters of Sirach; while the Zurich codex of the New Testament has marginal
references to the Apocrypha; to Judith, Tobit, 4 Esdras, Wisdom, Sirach, and Susanna. The
Nobla Leyczon containing a brief narration of the contents of the Old and New Testaments
confirms this opinion. It opposes, however, the old law to the new, making them antagonistic.
The historical document containing the articles of “The Union of the Valleys,” a.d. 1571,
separates indeed the canonical and apocryphal books, purporting to be founded on a
Confession of Faith as old as a.d. 1120; but the latter is mythical, as appears from a comparison
of it with the epistle which the legates of the Waldensians gave to ?colampadius. The articles of
that “Union” are copied from Morel’s account of his transactions with Œcolampadius and Bucer in
1530. The literature of this people was altered by Hussite influences and the Reformation; so
that though differing little from the Romanists at first except in ecclesiastical discipline, they
diverged widely afterwards by adopting the Protestant canon and doctrines. Hence, the
Confession issued in 1655 enumerates as Holy Scripture nothing but the Jewish Palestinian
canon, and the usual books of the New Testament.

The canon of the Anglican Church (1562), given in the sixth article of religion, defines holy
Scripture to be “those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was
never any doubt in the Church.” After giving the names and number of the canonical books, the
article prefaces the apocryphal ones with, “And the other books (as Hierome saith) the Church
doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to
establish any doctrine? Such are these following,” &c., &c. At the end it is stated that “all the
books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive and account them
canonical.” The article is ambiguous. If the canonical books enumerated are those meant in the
phrase “of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church,” the statement is incorrect. If a
distinction is implied between the canonical books and such canonical ones as have never
been doubted in the Church, the meaning is obscure. In either case the language is not explicit.

The Scottish or Westminster Confession of Faith gives a list of all the books of the Old and New
Testaments as the Word of God written; adding that those called the apocrypha are not of
divine inspiration, and no part of the canon,–of no authority in the Church, nor to be approved or
made use of otherwise than human writings.

The Roman Catholic canon was finally determined at the Council of Trent (1546), which adopted
all the books in the Vulgate as sacred and canonical, without distinction. Third and fourth
Esdras, third Maccabees, and the prayer of Manasseh were not included; though the first and
last appeared in the original Clementine edition of 1592, but apart from the canonical books.
They are not in the Sixtine edition of 1590.380 A council at Florence in 1441 had set the example
which was followed at Trent. But this stringent decree did not prevent individual Catholics from
making a distinction between the books, in assuming a first and second canon or
proto-canonical and deutero-canonical books; as did Sixtis Senensis, B. Lamy, Anton a matre
Dei, Jahn, and others; though it is hardly consistent with orthodox Catholicism or the view of
those who passed the decree. When the writings are said to be of different authority–some more,
others less–the intent of the council is violated. The Vatican council (1870) confirmed the
Tridentine decree respecting the canon.

The Greek Church, after several ineffectual attempts to uphold the old distinction between the
canonical and ecclesiastical books by Metrophanes Critopulus patriarch of Alexandria in 1625,
and Cyril Lucaris patriarch of Constantinople (1638 a.d.),381 came to the same decision with the
Romish, and canonized all the apocrypha. This was done at a Jerusalem synod under
Dositheus in 1672.

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am only one.
But Still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can still do something, and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
– Edward E Hales pledge to the Lend-a-Hand Society.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kindness is Christianity with its working clothes on.
– Anonymous.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The great acts of love ar edone by those who are
habitually performing small acts of kindness.
– Anonymous.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Let us not be satisfied with just giving money.
Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need you heart to love them.
So, spread your love everywhere you go; first of all in your own home.
Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbour.
– Mother Teresa.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is kindness in a person, not beauty, which wins our love.
– Anonymous.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Give what you have. To some one,
it may be better than you dare to think.
– Henry Longfellow.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others
cannot keep it from themselves.
– James Barrie.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Included in the original King James Bible of 1611 as reference material:

Additions to Daniel
Judith
1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Additions to Esther
Susanna
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
4 Ezra
Prayer of Manassheh
Sirach
Wisdom of Solomon
Baruch (including the Epistle of Jeremiah)
Tobit
Bel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You will find, as you look back upon your life,
that the moments that stand out are the moments
when you have done things for others.
– Henry Drummond.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ASSURANCE.

Napoleon and the Private.

It is said of Napoleon that while he was reviewing his army one day, his horse became
frightened at something, and the Emperor lost his rein, and the horse went away at full speed,
and the Emperor’s life was in danger. He could not get hold of the rein, and a private in the ranks
saw it, and sprang out of the ranks towards the horse, and was successful in getting hold of the
horse’s head at the peril of his own life. The Emperor was very much pleased. Touching his hat,
he said to him, “I make you Captain of my Guard.” The soldier didn’t take his gun, and walk up
there. He threw it away, stepped out of the ranks of the soldiers, and went up to where the
body-guard stood. The captain of the body-guard ordered him back into the ranks, but he said
“No! I won’t go!” “Why not?”

“Because I am Captain of the Guard.” “You Captain of the Guard?” “Yes;” replied the soldier.
“Who said it?” and the man, pointing to the Emperor; said, “He said it.” That was enough.
Nothing more could be said. He took the Emperor at his word. My friends, if God says anything,
let us take Him at His word. “He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have
everlasting life.”

Don’t you believe it? Don’t you believe you have got everlasting life? It can be the privilege
of every child of God to believe and then know that you have got it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Atheism:
Atheism, disbelief in the existence of God, which may be either theoretical, in the intellect, or
practical, in the life, the latter the more common and the more fatal form of it.

Atheism, Modern, ascribed by Ruskin to “the unfortunate persistence of the clergy in teaching
children what they cannot understand, and in employing young consecrate persons to assert
in pulpits what they do not know.”

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Covet, Covetousness:

Avarice – Greediness or wanting gain in a greedy manner. A clear understanding of the words
“greed” and “need” are needed to understand the word “covet”.

Exodus chapter 20, verse 17
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 21
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his
field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Romans chapter 7, verse 7
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I
had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Romans chapter 13, verse 9
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not
bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Clearly we get the message from the Bible that to covet is to do wrong. That is a strong
message but a message worth thinking about. To covet is to take for your own personal gain –
to take unfairly – to steal – or just to want for things that you don’t need, even to want something for
just the sake of having it.

To accumulate money to the love of it – for the joy of gathering (acquire wealth) money and
hoarding it which is denying others of its benefits that they “need” but you “want”. To get gain for
your own sake.

In Exodus chapter 20, verse 17 and Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 21 we see a list of items that
we should not covet. A neighbour meaning many people, those all around, or everyone.
Remember many lived in tents which meant that their neighbours probably changed sometimes
daily, weekly and even monthly as they moved on to another area to camp.

Money is a good servant, but a bad master – Proverb.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

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Three books constituted the home library: a large family Bible, in
which were written the family records; a catechism, and a book of
devotions, comprising contemplations and written prayers. From the latter
a portion was read each morning, and also a prayer before the family
entered upon the work of the day.

Quoted from:
The Life of Dwight L. Moody
By William R. Moody
(His Son)
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The Edict of Milan
Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus

The persecution of Christians ended in 313 when Constantine of the West and Licinius of the
East proclaimed the Edict of Milan, which established a policy of religious freedom for all.
This is an English translation of the edict:

When I, Constantine Augustus, as well as I, Licinius Augustus, fortunately met near Mediolanurn
(Milan), and were considering everything that pertained to the public welfare and security, we
thought, among other things which we saw would be for the good of many, those regulations
pertaining to the reverence of the Divinity ought certainly to be made first, so that we might
grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred;
whence any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious and kindly
disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule. And thus by this wholesome counsel
and most upright provision we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied
the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion…

Read the rest here:
http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/Bible/milan.stm
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A life of faith… enables us to see God in everything and it holds
the mind in a state of readiness for whatever may be His will.
– Francois Fenelon.
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The heart is the reason which reason cannot understand.
– Blaise Pascal.
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Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume II/Socrates/Book II by Philip Schaff et al.
Chapter 21 – Historical writings.

Such words Eusebius uses in his work against Marcellus; we have quoted them on account
of those who have slanderously attempted to traduce and criminate him. Neither can they prove
that Eusebius attributes a beginning of subsistence to the Son of God, although they may find
him often using the expressions by accommodation; and especially so, because he was an
emulator and admirer of the works of Origen, in which those who are able to comprehend the
depth of Origen’s writings, will perceive it to be everywhere stated that the Son was begotten
of the Father. These remarks have been made in passing, in order to refute those who have
misrepresented Eusebius.

Read the rest of this text here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_II/Volume_II/Socrates/
Book_II/Chapter_21
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IRA D. SANKEY.

Ira David Sankey, known throughout the world as the companion of Mr. Moody, was born in
Edenburg, Pa., August 28, 1840. His musical talents were early developed. Political glee
clubs at first monopolized his genius, but after his conversion in 1857, the Sunday School
and Church opened wider fields, in which he has since labored with increasing usefulness.
In June, 1870, at a Christian Convention in Indianapolis, after a morning service, where Mr.
Sankey led the singing, he met, for the first time, Mr. Moody. “Where do you live! Are you
married? What business are you in?” at once inquired the Evangelist; “I want you.” “What
for?” “To help me in my work in Chicago.” “I cannot leave my business,” replied the now
astonished singer. “You must,” said Moody. “I have been looking for you for the last eight
years.” And thus was Mr. Sankey “called” to be the companion and helper of the great
Evangelist. They have been laboring together, for about a score of years.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19830/19830-h/19830-h.htm
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Faith is to believe what we do not see,
and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.
– Saint Augustine.
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Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.
– Mark Twain.
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Where there is great love there is always miricles.
– Willa Cather.
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Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves
for they shall never cease to be amused.
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Here are the definitions of some unfamiliar (to me) terms.

Antediluvian – Person who lived before the Biblical Flood. Very old or old-fashioned.
Cavil – Raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault unnecessarily.
Conies – Rabbits.
Chromo (chromolithograph) – Colored print
Livery (clothing) – Distinctive uniform.
Tares – Weedy plants of the genus Vicia, especially the common vetch.
Several weedy plants that grow in grain fields.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19830/19830-h/19830-h.htm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

GOLD.

— Christ never preached any funeral sermons.

— His is a loving, tender hand, full of sympathy and compassion.

— Take your stand on the Rock of Ages. Let death, let the judgment come: the victory is Christ’s
and yours through Him.

— The only man who ever suffered before Christ was that servant who had his ear cut off. But
most likely in a moment afterward he had it on, and very likely it was a better ear than ever,
because whatever the Lord does He does it well No man ever lost his life with Him.

— A great many people wonder why it was that Christ did not come at once to Martha and Mary,
whom He loved, whenever He heard of their affliction. It was to try them, and it is the same with
His dealings toward us. If He seems not to come to us in our afflictions, it is only to test us.

— When the Spirit came to Moses, the plagues came upon Egypt, and he had power to destroy
men’s lives; when the Spirit came upon Elijah, fire came down from heaven; when the Spirit
came upon Gideon, no man could stand before him; and when it came upon Joshua, he moved
around the city of Jericho and the whole city fell into his, hands; but when the Spirit came upon
the Son of Man, He gave His life; He healed the broken-hearted.

— No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in
your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with
corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak comforting
words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak
tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once. He is a faithful
friend–a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19830/19830-h/19830-h.htm
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Our work brings people face to face with love.
To us what matters is an individual.
To get to love the person we must come in close contact with him.
– Mother Teresa.
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P. P. BLISS

Philip Paul Bliss, the “Sweet Singer,” was born in Clearfield County, Pa., in 1837. It was not until
after he had reached the period of manhood that he “felt the stirrings of his musical gift.” And
then, under the inspiration of his wife, he entered upon the study of musical science, and laid the
basis of his immortal “hymns,” now sung around the world. In 1864 he removed to Chicago,
where his musical talent and Christian character soon placed him in charge of the choir and
Sunday School of the First Congregational Church, and where he made the acquaintance of D.
W. Whittle, with whom, for the last five years of his life he labored in the great Gospel work. Deep
spirituality and persuasiveness pervade all of Mr. Bliss’ musical compositions. It is doubtful if the
world ever heard sweeter hymns. Had he lived longer we should have heard more, but God,
who raised him up for the work, called him:

For those who sleep, And those who weep, Above the portals narrow The mansions rise
Beyond the skies– We’re going home to-morrow.

Moody’s Anecdotes And Illustrations, by Dwight L. Moody:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19830/19830-h/19830-h.htm
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Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most
favorable light at all times, in all circumstances.
– St Vincent de Paul.
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Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to
recognize a mistake when you make it again.
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AFFECTION:
Love, not the Rattan, Conquers Little Moody.

I remember when a boy, I used to go to a certain school in New England, where we had a
quick-tempered master, who always kept a rattan. It was, “If you don’t do this, and don’t do
that, I’ll punish you.” I remember many a time of this rattan being laid upon my back. I think
I can almost feel it now. He used to rule that school by the law. But after a while there was
somebody who began to get up a movement in favor of controlling the school by love. A
great many said you can never do that with those unruly boys, but after some talk it was at
last decided to try it. I remember how we thought of the good time we would have that winter
when the rattan would be out of the school. We thought we would then have all the fun we
wanted. I remember who the teacher was–it was a lady–and she opened the school with
prayer. We hadn’t seen it done before and we were impressed, especially when she prayed
that she might have grace and strength to rule the school with love. Well, the school went on for
several weeks and we saw no rattan, but at last the rules were broken, and I think I was the first
boy to break them. She told me to wait till after school and then she would see me. I thought the
rattan was coming out sure, and stretched myself up in warlike attitude. After school, however,
I didn’t see the rattan, but she sat down by me and told me how she loved me, and how she had
prayed to be able to rule that school by love, and concluded by saying, “I want to ask you one
favor–that is; if you love me, try and be a good boy;” and I never gave her trouble again. She
just put me under grace. And that is what the Lord does. God is love, and He wants us all to love
Him.

Quoted from:

D. L. MOODY’S Anecdotes and Illustrations:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19830
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Live in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God will come to know God through
knowing you and the way that you live and the way that you handle yourself – giving the full
impression that you have faith in God so there is confidence in your life. That confidence in God
will rub off onto non-believers, until they to, believe!

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

True Love.

One day when I was in Brooklyn, I saw a young man going along the street without any arms.
A friend who was with me, pointed him out, and told me his story. When the war broke out he
felt it to be his duty to enlist and go to the front. He was engaged to be married, and while in
the army letters passed frequently between him and his intended wife. After the battle of the
Wilderness the young lady looked anxiously for the accustomed letter. For a little while no
letter was received. At last one came in a strange hand. She opened it with trembling fingers,
and read these words: “We have fought a terrible battle. I have been wounded so awfully
that I shall never be able to support you. A friend writes this for me. I love you more tenderly
than ever, but I release you from your promise. I will not ask you to join your life with the
maimed life of mine:” That letter was never answered. The next train that left, the young lady
was on it. She went to the hospital. She found out the number of his cot, and she went down
the aisle, between the long rows of the wounded men. At last she saw the number, and,
hurrying to his side, she threw her arms around his neck and said: “I’ll not desert you. I’ll take
care of you.” He did not resist her love. They were married, and there is no happier couple than
this one. We are dependent on one another. Christ says, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll take you to this
bosom of mine.” That young man could have spurned her love; he could, but he didn’t. Surely
you can be saved if you will accept the Saviour’s love. If God loves us, my friends, He loves us
unto the end. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
– D L Moody.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19830/19830-h/19830-h.htm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.
– Samuel Johnson.
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If you judge people, then you have no time to love them.
– Mother Teresa.
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An incident in the life of Pilate, narrated by a secular historian, may best explain. Some years
before the trial of Jesus, Pilate, newly settled in the position of governor of Judaea, resolved to
remove the headquarters of the Roman army from Caesarea to Jerusalem; and the soldiers
entered the Holy City with their standards, each of which bore the image of the emperor. To the
Jewish mind these images were idolatrous, and their presence in Jerusalem was looked upon
as a gross insult and desecration. The foremost men of the city poured down to Caesarea,
where Pilate was staying, and besought him to remove them. He refused, and for five days the
discussion went on. At length he was so irritated that he ordered them to be surrounded by
soldiers, and threatened to have them put to death unless they became silent and dispersed.
They, however, in no way dismayed, threw themselves on the ground and laid bare their necks,
crying that they would rather die than have their city defiled. And the upshot was that Pilate had
to yield, and the army was withdrawn from Jerusalem.

Quoted from:
The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ, by James Stalker
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/21814/pg21814.html.utf8
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Do what you can,
with what you have,
where you are.
– Theodore Roosevelt.
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Mrs. Dudley told Eddie God taught the birds where to build their nests, and that he took care of
them, and provided food for them.

Is it not wonderful that God, who has built the world in which we live, and all the bright worlds we
can see in the sky, should attend to the wants of the robins and sparrows, and other birds which
he has made? We should forget them, if we had much of importance to attend to, or we should
be weary of providing for their wants; but our heavenly Father never forgets, and never grows
weary. He hears the ravens when they cry, and not even a sparrow falls to the ground without his
knowledge. “Are ye not much better than they?” our Saviour said to his disciples, when
endeavouring to teach them to trust in the love and parental care of God, and not to be anxious
in regard to their temporal welfare.

If God so cares for the birds, whose lives are short, and who have no souls to live in another
world, will he not much more care for those who are made in his image, and for whom the
Saviour died?

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly, who try to obey his
commandments, and look to Christ for salvation from sin. I hope, my dear children, when you
see the birds, you will remember God’s love to them and to you.
Quoted from:
The Nest in the Honeysuckles, and other Stories, by Various
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16185/16185-h/16185-h.htm
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Let us contemplate him with our understanding.
– Clement of Rome.
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Chapter V. Use Of The Old Testament By The First Christian Writers, And By The Fathers Till
The Time Of Origen.

The writings of the New Testament show the authors’ acquaintance with the apocryphal books.
They have expressions and ideas derived from them. Stier collected one hundred and two
passages which bear some resemblance to others in the Apocrypha; but they needed
sifting, and were cut down to a much smaller number by Bleek. They are James i. 19, from
Sirach v. 11 and iv. 29; 1 Peter i. 6, 7, from Wisdom iii. 3-7; Hebrews xi. 34, 35, from 2 Maccabees
vi. 18-vii. 42; Hebrews i. 3, from Wisdom vii. 26, &c.; Romans i. 20-32, from Wisdom xiii.-xv.;
Romans ix. 21, from Wisdom xv. 7; Eph. vi. 13-17, from Wisdom v. 18-20; 1 Cor. ii. 10, &c., from
Judith viii. 14. Others are less probable. When Bishop Cosin says, that “in all the New
Testament we find not any one passage of the apocryphal books to have been alleged either
by Christ or His apostles for the confirmation of their doctrine,” the argument, though based on
fact, is scarcely conclusive; else Esther, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, and other works might be
equally discredited. Yet it is probable that the New Testament writers, though quoting the
Septuagint much more than the original, were disinclined to the additional parts of the
Alexandrian canon. They were Palestinian themselves, or had in view Judaisers of a narrow
creed. Prudential motives, no less than a predisposition in favor of the old national canon, may
have hindered them from expressly citing any apocryphal production. The apostle Paul and
probably the other writers of the New Testament, believed in the literal inspiration of the Biblical
books, for he uses an argument in the Galatian epistle which turns upon the singular or plural of
a noun. And as the inspiration of the Septuagint translation was commonly held by the
Christians of the early centuries, it may be that the apostles and evangelists made no
distinction between its parts. Jude quotes Enoch, an apocryphal work not in the Alexandrian
canon; so that he at least had no rigid notions about the difference of canonical and
uncanonical writings. Still we know that the compass of the Old Testament canon was
somewhat unsettled to the Christians of the first century, as it was to the Hellenist Jews
themselves. It is true that the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms were universally recognized as
authoritative; but the extent of the third division was indefinite, so that the non-citation of the 3
books respecting which there was a difference of opinion among the Jews may not have been
accidental. Inasmuch, however, as the Greek-speaking Jews received more books than their
Palestinian brethren, the apostles and their immediate successors were not wholly disinclined
to the use of the apocryphal productions. The undefined boundary of the canon facilitated also
the recognition of all primitive records of the new Revelation.

The early fathers, who wrote in Greek, used the Greek Bible, as almost all of them were
ignorant of Hebrew. Thus restricted; they naturally considered its parts alike, citing apocryphal
and canonical in the same way. Accordingly, Irenæus quotes Baruch under the name of
“Jeremiah the prophet;” and the additions to Daniel as “Daniel the prophet.” Clement of
Alexandria uses the apocryphal books like the canonical ones, for explanation and proof
indiscriminately. He is fond of referring to Baruch, which he cites upwards of twenty-four times in
the second book of his Pædagogus, and in a manner to show that he esteemed it as highly as
many other parts of the Old Testament. A passage from Baruch is introduced by the phrase,
“the divine Scripture says;” and another from Tobit by “Scripture has briefly signified this,
designating it divine. Judith he cites with other books of the Old Testament; and the Song of the
three children in the furnace is used as Scripture. Ecclesiasticus also is so treated. Dionysius of
Alexandria cites Ecclesiasticus (xvi. 26), introducing the passage with “hear divine oracles.”
The same book is elsewhere cited, chapters xliii. 29, 30106 and i. 8. 9. So is Wisdom, vii. 15108
and 25.109 Baruch (iii. 12-15) is also quoted. The fathers who wrote in Latin used some of the
old Latin versions of which Augustine speaks; one of them, and that the oldest probably dating
soon after the middle of the second century, being known to us as the Itala. As this was made
from the Septuagint, it had the usual apocryphal books. Jerome’s critical revision or new
version did not supplant the old Latin till some time after his death. Tertullian quotes the
Wisdom of Solomon expressly as Solomon’s; and introduces Sirach by “as it is written.” He
cites Baruch as Jeremiah. He also believes in the authenticity of the book of Enoch, and
defends it as Scripture at some length. Cyprian often cites the Greek additions to the
Palestinian canon. He introduces Tobit with the words “as it is written,” or “divine Scripture
teaches, saying;” and Wisdom with, “the Holy Spirit shows by Solomon.” Ecclesiasticus is
introduced with, “it is written;” and Baruch with, “the Holy Spirit teaches by Jeremiah.” 1 and 2
Maccabees are used as Scripture; as are the additions to Daniel. The African fathers follow the
Alexandrian canon without scruple. Hippolytus of Rome (about a.d. 220), who wrote in Greek,
quotes Baruch as Scripture; and interprets the additions to Daniel, such as Susanna, as
Scripture likewise.

Melito of Sardis made it his special business to inquire among the Palestinian Jews about the
number and names of their canonical books; and the result was the following list:–the five books
of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Chronicles, the Psalms of David,
the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the twelve in
one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra. Here Ezra includes Nehemiah; and Esther is absent, because
the Jews whom he consulted did not consider it canonical.

Origen’s list does not differ much from the Palestinian one. After the Pentateuch, Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, Kings first and second, Samuel, Chronicles, come Ezra first and second, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations and the epistle, Daniel,
Ezekiel, Job, Esther. Besides these there are the Maccabees, which are inscribed Sarbeth
Sarbane el. The twelve prophets are omitted in the Greek; but the mistake is rectified in
Rufinus’s Latin version, where they follow Canticles, as in Hilary and Cyril of Jerusalem. It is
remarkable that Baruch is given, and why? Because Origen took it from the MSS. of the
Septuagint he had before him, in which the epistle is attributed to Jeremiah. But the catalogue
had no influence upon his practice. He followed the prevailing view of the extended canon.
Sirach is introduced by “for this also is written”; the book of Wisdom is cited as a divine
word; the writer is called a prophet; Christ is represented as speaking in it through Solomon;
and Wisdom vii. 17 is adduced as the word of Christ himself. Tobit is cited as Scripture. His
view of the additions to the books of Daniel and Esther, as well as his opinion about Tobit, are
sufficiently expressed in the epistle to Africanus, so that scattered quotations from these parts
of Scripture can be properly estimated. Of the history of Susanna he ventures to say that the
Jews withdrew it on purpose from the people. He seems to argue in favor of books used and
read in the churches, though they may be put out of the canon by the Jews. As divine
Providence had preserved the sacred Scriptures, no alteration should be made in the
ecclesiastical tradition respecting books sanctioned by the churches though they be external
to the Hebrew canon.

Most of the writings of Methodius, Bishop of Tyre are lost, so that we know little of his
opinions respecting the books of Scripture. But it is certain that he employed the Apocrypha
like the other writings of the Old Testament. Thus Sirach (xviii. 30 and xix. 2) is quoted in the
same way as the Proverbs. Wisdom (iv. 1-3) is cited,138 and Baruch (iii. 14).

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or
rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which
one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably
the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten
commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we
have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist not the Elohist; but that is no valid
objection against the antiquity of the nucleus, out of which it arose. It is also probable that
several legal and ceremonial enactments belong, if not to Moses himself, at least to his time;
as also the Elohistic list of stations in Numbers xxxiii. To the same time belongs the song of
Miriam in Exodus xv., probably consisting of a few lines at first, and subsequently enlarged;
with a triumphal ode over the fall of Heshbon (Numbers xxi. 27-30). The little poetical piece in
Numbers xxi. 17, 18, afterwards misunderstood and so taken literally, is post-Mosaic.

During the unsettled times of Joshua and the Judges there could have been comparatively
little writing. The song of Deborah appeared, full of poetic force and fire. The period of the
early kings was characterized not only by a remarkable development of the Hebrew people
and their consolidation into a national state, but by fresh literary activity. Laws were written out
for the guidance of priests and people; and the political organization of the rapidly growing
nation was promoted by poetical productions in which spiritual life expressed its aspirations.
Schools of prophets were instituted by Samuel, whose literary efforts tended to purify the
worship. David was an accomplished poet, whose psalms are composed in lofty strains; and
Solomon may have written a few odes. The building of the temple, and the arrangements
connected with its worship, contributed materially to a written legislation.

During this early and flourishing period appeared the book of the Wars of Jehovah, a heroic
anthology, celebrating warlike deeds; and the book of Jashar, also poetical. Jehoshaphat is
mentioned as court-annalist to David and Solomon. Above all, the Elohists now appeared,
the first of whom, in the reign of Saul, was author of annals, beginning at the earliest time which
were distinguished by genealogical and chronological details as well as systematic
minuteness, by archaic simplicity, and by legal prescriptions more theoretical than practical.
The long genealogical registers with an artificial chronology and a statement of the years of
men’s lives, the dry narratives, the precise accounts of the gradual enlargement of divine
laws, the copious description of the tabernacle and the institution of divine worship, are
wearisome, though pervaded by a theoretic interest which looks at everything from a legal
point of view. A second or junior Elohist was less methodical and more fragmentary,
supplying additional information, furnishing new theocratic details, and setting forth the relation
of Israel to heathen nations and to God. In contrast with his predecessor, he has great beauty
of description, which is exemplified in the account of Isaac’s sacrifice and the history of
Joseph; in picturesque and graphic narratives interspersed with few reflections. His parallels
to the later writer commonly called the Jehovist, are numerous. The third author, who lived in
the time of Uzziah, though more mythological than the Elohists, was less formal. His
stand-point is prophetic. The third document incorporated with the Elohistic ones formed an
persons and things from another stand-point. The Jehovist belonged to the northern kingdom;
the Elohists were of Judah.

The state of the nation after Rehoboam was unfavorable to literature. When the people were
threatened and attacked by other nations, divided among themselves in worship and all
higher interests, rent by conflicting parties, the theocratic principle which was the true bond of
union could not assert itself with effect. The people were corrupt; their religious life debased.
The example of the kings was usually prejudicial to political healthiness. Contact with
foreigners as well as with the older inhabitants of the land, hindered progress. In these
circumstances the prophets were the true reformers, the advocates of political liberty,
expositors of the principles that give life and stability to a nation. In Judah, Joel wrote
prophetic discourses; in Israel, Amos and Hosea. Now, too, a redactor put together the
Elohistic and Jehovistic documents, making various changes in them, adding throughout
sentences or words that seemed desirable, and suppressing what was unsuited to his taste.
Several psalm-writers enriched the national literature after David. Learned men at the court of
Hezekiah recast and enlarged (Proverbs xxv.-xxix.) the national proverbs, which bore
Solomon’s name because the nucleus of an older collection belonged to that monarch.
These literary courtiers were not prophets, but rather scribes. The book of Job was written,
with the exception of Elihu’s later discourses, which were not inserted in it till after the return
from Babylon; and Deuteronomy, with Joshua, was added to the preceding collection in the
reign of Manasseh. The gifted author of Deuteronomy, who was evidently imbued with the
prophetic spirit, completed the Pentateuch, i.e., the five books of Moses and Joshua, revising
the Elohist-Jehovistic work, and making various additions and alterations. He did the same
thing to the historical books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings; which received from him their
present form. Immediately before and during the exile there were numerous authors and
compilers. New psalms appeared, more or less national in spirit. Ezekiel, Jeremiah and
others prophesied; especially an unknown seer who described the present condition of the
people, predicting their coming glories and renovated worship in strains of far-reaching
import. This great prophet expected the regeneration of the nation from the pious portion of it,
the prophets in particular, not from a kingly Messiah as Isaiah did; for the hopes resting on
rulers out of David’s house had been disappointed. His aspirations turned to spiritual means.
He was not merely an enthusiastic seer with comprehensive glance, but also a practical
philosopher who set forth the doctrine of the innocent suffering for the guilty; differing therein
from Ezekiel’s theory of individual reward and punishment in the present world–a theory out of
harmony with the circumstances of actual life. The very misfortunes of the nation, and the signs
of their return, excited within the nobler spirits hopes of a brighter future, in which the flourishing
reign of David should be surpassed by the universal worship of Jehovah. In consequence of
their outward condition, the prophets of the exile were usually writers, like Ezekiel, not public
speakers; and their announcement of glad tidings could only be transmitted privately from
person to person. This explains in part the oblivion into which their names fell; so that the
author or redactor of Jeremiah l., li.; the author of chapters xiii.-xiv. 23, xxi. 1-10, xxiv.-xxvii.,
xxxiv., xxxv., inserted in Isaiah; and, above all, the Babylonian Isaiah, whom Hitzig improbably
identifies with the high-priest Joshua, are unknown. After the return from Babylon the literary
spirit manifested itself in the prophets of the restoration–Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi–who
wrote to recall their countrymen to a sense of religious duties; though their ideas were
borrowed in part from older prophets of more original genius. The book of Esther appeared,
to make the observance of the purim feast, which was of Persian origin, more general in
Palestine. The large historical work comprising the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles,
was compiled partly out of materials written by Ezra and Nehemiah, partly out of older
historical records which formed a portion of the national literature. Several temple-psalms
were also composed; a part of the present book of Proverbs; Ecclesiastes, whose tone and
language betray its late origin; and Jonah, whose diction puts its date after the Babylonian
captivity. The Maccabean age called forth the book of Daniel and various psalms. In addition
to new productions there was an inclination to collect former documents. To Zechariah’s
authentic prophecies were added the earlier ones contained in chapters ix.-xiv.; and the
Psalms were gradually brought together, being made up into divisions at different times; the
first and second divisions proceeding from one redactor, the third from another, the fourth and
fifth from a still later. Various writings besides their own were grouped around the names of
earlier prophets, as was the case with Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The literature is more indebted for its best constituents to the prophetic than to the priestly
order, because the prophets were preachers of repentance and righteousness whose great
aim was to make Israel a Jehovah-worshipping nation to the exclusion of other gods. Their
utterances were essentially ethical and religious; their pictures of the future subjective and
ideal. There was silently elaborated in their schools a spiritual monotheism, over against the
crude polytheism of the people generally–a theocratic ideal inadequately [pg 018]
apprehended by gross and sensuous Israel–Jehovism simple and sublime amid a
sacerdotal worship which left the heart impure while cleansing the hands. Instead of taking
their stand upon the law, with its rules of worship, its ceremonial precepts and penalties
against transgressors, the prophets set themselves above it, speaking slightingly of the forms
and customs which the people took for the whole of religion. To the view of such as were
prepared to receive a faith that looked for its realization to the future, they helped to create a
millennium, in which the worship of Jehovah alone should become the basis of a universal
religion for humanity. In addition to the prophetic literature proper, they wrote historical works
also. How superior this literature is to the priestly, appears from a comparison of the Kings
and Chronicles. The subjective underlies the one; the objective distinguishes the other. Faith
in Jehovah, clothed, it may be in sensible or historical forms, characterizes the one; reference
of an outward order to a divine source, the other. The sanctity of a people under the
government of a righteous God, is the object of the one; the sanctity of institutions, that of the
other. Even when the prophets wrote history, the facts are subordinate to the belief. Subjective
purposes colored their representation of real events.

To them we are indebted for the Messianic idea, the hope of a better time in which their high
ideal of the theocracy should be realized. With such belief in the future, with pious aspirations
enlivening their patriotism, did they comfort and encourage their countrymen. The hope,
general or indefinite at first, was afterwards attached to the house of David, out of which a
restorer of the theocracy was expected, a king pre-eminent in righteousness, and
marvelously gifted. It was not merely a political but a religious hope, implying the thorough
purification of the nation, the extinction of idolatry, the general spread and triumph of true
religion. The pious wishes of the prophets, often repeated, became a sort of doctrine, and
contributed to sustain the failing spirit of the people. The indefinite idea of a golden age was
commoner than that of a personal prince who should reign in equity and peace. Neither was
part of the national faith, like the law, or the doctrine of sacrifice; and but a few of the prophets
portrayed a king, in their description of the period of ideal prosperity.

The man who first gave public sanction to a portion of the national literature was Ezra, who laid
the foundation of a canon. He was the leader in restoring the theocracy after the exile, “a
ready scribe in the law of Moses, who had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and
to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” As we are told that he brought the book of the law of
final redactor of the Pentateuch, separating it from the historical work consisting of Joshua and
the subsequent writings, of which it formed the commencement. Such was the first canon given
to the Jewish Church after its reconstruction–ready for temple service as well as synagogue
use. Henceforward the Mosaic book became an authoritative guide in spiritual,
ecclesiastical, and civil matters, as we infer from various passages in Ezra and Nehemiah
and from the chronicler’s own statements in the book bearing his name. The doings of Ezra
with regard to the Scriptures are deduced not only from what we read of him in the Biblical
book that bears his name, but also from the legend in the fourth book of Ezdras, where it is
related that he dictated by inspiration to five ready writers ninety-four books; the first
twenty-four of which he was ordered to publish openly that the worthy and unworthy might read,
but reserved the last seventy for the wise. Though the twenty-four books of the Old Testament
cannot be attributed to him, the fact that he copied and wrote portions need not be questioned.
He edited the law, making the first canon or collection of books, and giving it an authority
which it had not before. Talmudic accounts associate with him the men of the great
synagogue. It is true that they are legendary, but there is a foundation of fact beneath the
fanciful superstructure. As to Ezra’s treatment of the Pentateuch, or his specific mode of
redaction, we are left for the most part to conjecture. Yet it is safe to affirm that he
added;–making new precepts and practices either in place of or beside older ones. Some
things he removed as unsuited to the altered circumstances of the people; others he
modified. He threw back later enactments into earlier times. It is difficult to discover all the
parts that betray his hand. Some elaborate priestly details show his authorship most clearly. If
his hand be not visible in Leviticus, chap. xvii.-xxvi.; a writer not far removed from his time is
observable; Ezekiel or some other. It is clear that some of the portion (xxv. 19-22; xxvi. 3-45) is
much later than the Elohists, and belongs to the exile or post-exile period. But great difficulty
attaches to the separation of the sources here used; even after Kayser’s acute handling of
them. It is also perceptible from Ezekiel xx. 25, 26, that the clause in Exodus xiii. 15, “but all the
first-born of my children I redeem,” was added after the exile, since the prophet shows his
unacquaintance with it. The statute that all which openeth the womb should be burnt in
sacrifice to Jehovah, appeared inhuman not only to Ezekiel, but to Ezra or his associates in
re-editing the law; and therefore the clause about the redemption of every first-born male was
subjoined. Ezra, a second Moses in the eyes of the later Jews, did not scruple to refer to
Moses what was of recent origin, and to deal freely with the national literature. Such was the
first canon–that of Ezra the priest and scribe.

The origin of the great synagogue is noticed in Ezra x. 16, and described more particularly in
Nehemiah viii.-x., the members being apparently enumerated in x. 1-27; at least the Megila
Jer. (i. 5) and Midrash Ruth (§ 3) speak of an assembly of eighty-five elders, who are probably
found in the last passage. One name, however, is wanting, for only eighty-four are given; and
as Ezra is not mentioned among them, the conjecture of Krochmal that it has dropped out of x.
9, may be allowed. Another tradition gives the number as one hundred and twenty, which may
be got by adding the “chief of the fathers” enumerated in Ezra viii. 1-14 to the hundred and two
heads of families in Ezra ii. 2-58. Whether the number was the same at the commencement as
afterwards is uncertain. Late Jewish writers, however, such as Abarbanel, Abraham ben
David, Ben Maimun, &c., speak as if it consisted of the larger number at the beginning; and
have no scruple in pronouncing Ezra president, rather than Nehemiah.

The oldest extra-biblical mention of the synagogue, is in the Mishnic treatise Pirke Aboth,
where it is said, “Moses received the laws from Mount Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua,
Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, and the prophets delivered it to the men of
the great synagogue. These last spake these words: ‘Be slow in judgment; appoint many
disciples; make a hedge for the law.’ ” In the Talmudic Baba Bathra, their biblical doings are
described: “Moses wrote his book, the section about Balaam and job. Joshua wrote his book
and eight verses of the law. Samuel wrote his book and judges and Ruth. David wrote the
book of Psalms by (?) ten elders, by Adam the first man, by Melchizedek, by Abraham, by
Moses, by Heman, by Jeduthun, by Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. Jeremiah wrote his
book, the books of Kings and Lamentations. Hezekiah and his friends wrote Isaiah, Proverbs,
Canticles, and Coheleth; the men of the great synagogue, Ezekiel, the twelve prophets, Daniel
and Esther. Ezra wrote his own book and the genealogies of Chronicles down to himself.” This
passage has its obscurities. What is meant by the verb write! Does it mean composition and
then something else; the former in the first part of the passage, and editing in the second?
Rashi explains it of composition throughout, which introduces absurdity. The most obvious
interpretation is that which understands the verb of writing in one place, and editing in the
second. But it is improbable that the author should have used the same word in different
senses, in one and the same passage. Bloch understands it of copying or writing out, a sense
that suits the procedure of the men of the great synagogue in regard to Ezekiel, the twelve
prophets, &c., but is inapplicable to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, &c. It is
probable enough that the synagogue scribes put into their present form and made the first
authorized copies of the works specified. The Boraitha, however, is not clear, and may only
express the opinion of a private individual in a confused way. Simon the Just is said to have
belonged to the remnants of the synagogue. As Ezra is called “a ready scribe,” and his labors
in connection with the law were important, he may have organized a body of literary men who
should work in harmony, attending, among other things, to the collection and preservation of
the national literature; or they may have been an association of patriotic men who voluntarily
rallied round the heads of the new state, to support them in their fundamental reforms. The
company of scribes mentioned in 1 Maccabees does not probably relate to it. A succession
of priests and scribes, excited at first by the reforming zeal of one whom later Jews looked
upon as a second Moses, labored in one department of literary work till the corporation
ceased to exist soon after, if not in the [pg 023] time of Simon, i.e., from about 445 b.c. till about
200; for we identify the Simon celebrated in Sirach l. 1-26 with Simon II., son of the high-priest
Onias II., b.c. 221-202; not with Simon I., son and successor of the high-priest Onias I., b.c.
310-291. Josephus’s opinion, indeed, is contrary; but leading Jewish scholars, such as Zunz,
Herzfeld, Krochmal, Derenbourg, Jost, and Bloch differ from him.

To the great synagogue must be referred the compilation of the second canon, containing
Joshua, Judges with Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations, Ezekiel and
the twelve minor prophets. It was not completed prior to 300 b.c., because the book of Jonah
was not written before. This work may be called a historical parable composed for a didactic
purpose, giving a milder, larger view of Jehovah’s favor than the orthodox one, that excluded
glorify the house of David, and presenting a kindred spirit towards a people uniformly hated,
was appended to Judges; but was subsequently transferred to the third canon. It was written
immediately after the return from the Babylonian captivity; for the Chaldaising language points
to this date, notwithstanding the supposed archaisms discovered in it by some. In like
manner, the Lamentations, originally added to Jeremiah, were afterwards put into the later or
third canon. Joshua, which had been separated from the five books of Moses with which it was
closely joined at first, formed, with the other historical portion (Judges, Samuel, Kings), the
proper continuation of Ezra’s canon. The prophets included the three greater and twelve
minor. With Isaiah’s authentic oracles were incorporated the last twenty-seven chapters,
belonging for the most part to an anonymous prophet of the exile, besides several late pieces
inserted in the first thirty-nine chapters. Men of prophetic gifts wrote in the name of
distinguished prophets, and put their productions with those of the latter, or adapted and wrote
them over after their own fashion. The fiftieth and fifty-first chapters of Jeremiah show such
over-writing. To Zechariah’s authentic oracles were attached chapters ix.-xiv., themselves
made up of two parts (ix.-xi., xii.-xiv.) belonging to different times and authors prior to the
destruction of the Jewish state by the Babylonians.
The character of the synagogue’s proceedings in regard to the books of Scripture can only
be deduced from the conduct of Ezra himself, as well as the prevailing views and wants of the
times. The scribes who began with Ezra, seeing how he acted, would naturally follow his
example, not hesitating to revise the text in substance as well as form. They did not refrain
from changing what had been written, or from inserting fresh matter. Some of their novelties
can be discerned even in the Pentateuch. Their chief work, however, related to the form of the
text. They put into a proper form and state the text of the writings they studied, perceiving less
need for revising the matter. What they did was in good faith, with honest intention.

The prophetic canon ended with Malachi’s oracles. And it was made sometime after he
prophesied, because the general consciousness that the function ceased with him required a
considerable period for its growth. The fact that it included Jonah and Ruth brings the
completion after 300 b.c., as already stated. There are no definite allusions to it till the second
century b.c. Daniel speaks of a passage in Jeremiah being in “the books” or “writings;” and
the prologue of Jesus Sirach presupposes its formation. Such was the second canon, which
had been made up gradually (444-290 b.c.)

Another view of the collection in question has been taken by various scholars. According to a
passage in the second book of Maccabees, the second canon originated with Nehemiah,
who “gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and (psalms) of David, and the
epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.” These words are obscure. They occur in a
letter purporting to be sent by the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem to the Jews in Egypt, which
contains apocryphal things; a letter which assigns to Nehemiah the merit of various
arrangements rather belonging to Ezra. It is difficult to understand the meaning of “the epistles
of the kings concerning the offerings.” If they were the documents of heathen or Persian kings
favorable to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple, would they not have been rejected
from a collection of sacred books belonging to the chosen people? They might perhaps
have been adopted had they been interwoven with the holy books themselves, like portions
of Ezra and Nehemiah; but they could not have formed a distinct part of the national literature,
because they were foreign and heathen. Again, “the psalms of David” cannot have existed in
the time of Nehemiah, if the phrase includes the whole collection. It may perhaps refer to the
first three divisions of the book, as Herzfeld thinks; but these contain many odes which are not
David’s; while earlier ones belong to the last two divisions of the Psalm-book. In like manner,
“the prophets” could not all have belonged to this canon; neither Malachi, who was later, nor
Jonah. The account will not bear strict examination, and must be pronounced apocryphal.
Nehemiah was a statesman, not a priest or scribe; a politician, not a literary man. It is true that
he may have had assistants, or committed the work to competent hands; but this is
conjectural. The account of his supposed canon hardly commends itself by inherent
truthfulness or probability, though it is accepted by Ewald and Bleek.

When the great synagogue ceased, there was an interval during which it is not clear whether
the sacred books were neglected, except by private individuals; or whether they were
studied, copied, and collected by a body of scribes. Perhaps the scribes and elders of the
Hasmonæan time were active at intervals in this department. The institution of a senate by
passage furnishes poor evidence of the thing. Judas is there made to write to Egypt in the
year of the Seleucidae, though he died thirty-six years before, i.e.,. Other places have been
added as corroborative, viz., 2 Maccab. iv. 44, xi. 27; 1 Maccab. vii. 33. Some go so far as to
state that Jose ben Joeser was appointed its first president at that time. The Midrash in
Bereshith Rabba (§ 65) makes him one of the sixty Hassidim who were treacherously
murdered by Alcimus; but this is neither in the first book of the Maccabees (chapter vii.) nor in
Josephus,46 and must be pronounced conjectural. It is impossible to fix the exact date of
Jose ben Joeser in the Hasmonean period. Pirke Aboth leaves it indefinite. Jonathan, Judas
Maccabaeus’s successor, when writing to the Lacedaemonians, speaks of the gerusia or
senate as well as the people of the Jews; whence we learn that the body existed as early as
the time of Judas. Again, Demetrius writes to Simon, as also to the elders and nation of the
Jews. After Jonathan and Simon, it may have been suspended for a while, in consequence of
the persecution and anarchy prevailing in Judea; till the great Sanhedrim at Jerusalem
succeeded it, under Hyrcanus I. Though the traces of a senate in the Maccabaean epoch are
slight, the Talmud countenances its existence. We believe that it was earlier than Judas
Maccabaeus. Of its constitution nothing is known; but it was probably aristocratic. The
Hasmonean prince would naturally exert a commanding influence over it. The great
synagogue had been a kind of democratic council, consisting of scribes, doctors or teachers,
and priests. Like their predecessors of the great synagogue, the Hasmonæan elders revised
the text freely, putting into it explanatory or corrective additions, which were not always
improvements. The way in which they used the book of Esther, employing it as a medium of
Halachite prescription, shows a treatment involving little idea of sacredness attaching to the
Hagiographa.

We are aware that the existence of this body is liable to doubt, and that the expressions
belonging to it in Jewish books, whether elders or gerusia, have been applied to the great
synagogue or to the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, or even to the elders of any little town or hamlet;
but it is difficult to explain all on that hypothesis, without attributing confusion to the places
where they occur. If the body in question be not allowed, an interval of about sixty years
elapsed between the great synagogue and the Sanhedrim, during which the hagiographical
writings were comparatively neglected, though literary activity did not cease. No authoritative
association, at least, dealt with them. This is improbable. It is true that we read of no
distinguished teachers in the interval, except Antigonus of Socho, disciple of Simon the Just;
but the silence can hardly weigh against a reasonable presumption. One thing is clear, viz.,
that Antigonus did not reach down to the time of the first pair that presided over the Sanhedrim.

The contents of the third canon, i.e., Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, Esther,
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, the formation of which we assign to the Hasmonæan
gerusia, were multifarious, differing widely from one another in age, character, and
value–poetical, prophetic, didactic, historical. Such as seemed worthy of preservation, though
they had not been included in the second canon, were gathered together during the space of
an hundred and fifty years. The oldest part consisted of psalms supposed to belong to David.
The first psalm, which contains within itself traces of late authorship, was prefixed as an
introduction to the whole collection now put into the third canon. Next to the Psalms were
Proverbs, Job, Canticles, which, though non-prophetic and probably excluded on that account
from the second canon, must have existed before the exile. Enriched with the latest additions,
they survived the national disasters, and claimed a place next to the Psalms. They were but a
portion of the literature current in and after the 5th century b.c., as may be inferred from the
epilogue to Ecclesiastes, and the Wisdom of Sirach. The historical work compiled by the
chronicle-writer was separated, Ezra being put first as the most important part, and referring
also to the church of the 6th and 5th centuries whose history had not been written. The
Chronicles themselves were placed last, being considered of less value than the first part, as
they contained the summary of a period already described, though with numerous
adaptations to post-exile times. The youngest portion consisted of the book of Daniel, not
written till the Maccabean period (between 170 and 160 b.c.); and probably of several Psalms
(44, 60, 74, 75, 76, 79, 80, 83, 89, 110, 118) which were inserted in different places of the
collection to make the whole number 150. These late odes savor of the Maccabean time; and
are fitly illustrated by the history given in the first book of Maccabees. The list continued open;
dominated by no stringent principle of selection, and with a character somewhat indefinite. It
was called c’tubim, i.e., writings a general epithet suited to the contents.

Several books put into the third canon,–as Job, Proverbs, the greater number of the Psalms,
&c.,–existed when the second was made. But the latter collection was pre-eminently prophetic;
and it was that idea of the origin and contents of the books in it which regulated its extent.
Bloch’s supposition that the parts of the third collection then existing were not looked upon as
holy, but merely as productions embodying human wisdom, and were therefore excluded, is
improbable. We do not think that an alteration of opinion about them in the course of a century
or more, by which they became divine and holy instead of human, is a satisfactory
explanation. The Psalms of David and the book of Job must have been as highly esteemed
in the period of the great synagogue’s existence as they were at a later time. Other
considerations besides the divinity and holiness of books contributed to their introduction into
a canon. Ecclesiastes was taken into the third collection because it was attributed to
Solomon. The Song of Songs was understood allegorically,–a fact which, in addition to its
supposed Solomonic authorship, determined its adoption. And even after their canonical
reception, whether by the great synagogue or another body, the character of books was
canvassed. It was so with Ecclesiastes, in spite of the supposed sanction it got from the great
synagogue contained in the epilogue, added, as some think, by that body to attest the
sacredness of the book.

While the third canon was being made, the soferim, as the successors of the prophets, were
active as before; and though interpretation was their chief duty, they must have revised and
corrected the sacred books to some extent. We need not hesitate to allow that they
sometimes arranged parts, and even added matter of their own. In the time of the canon’s
entire preparation, they and the priests, with writers and scholars generally, redacted the
national literature, excluding or sanctioning such portions of it as they thought fit.

At this time appeared the present five-fold partition of the Psalms, preceded as it had been by
other divisions, the last of which was very similar to the one that became final. Several
inscriptions and historical notices were prefixed. The inscriptions, however, belong to very
different times, their historical parts being usually older than the musical; and date from the first
collection to the period of the Hasmonean college, when the final redaction of the entire
Psalter took place. Those in the first three books existed at the time when the latter were
made up; those in the last two were prefixed partly at the time when the collections themselves
were made, and partly in the Maccabean age. How often they are out of harmony with the
poems themselves, needs no remark. They are both traditional and conjectural.

The earliest attestation of the third canon is that of the prologue to Jesus Sirach (130 b.c.),
where not only the law and the prophets are specified, but “the other books of the fathers,” or
“the rest of the books.” No information is given as to its extent, or the particular books included.
They may have been for the most part the same as the present ones. The passage does not
show that the third list was closed. The better writings of the fathers, such as tended to learning
and wisdom, are not excluded by the definite article. In like manner, neither Philo nor the New
Testament gives exact information as to the contents of the division in question. Indeed,
several books, Canticles, Esther, Ecclesiastes, are unnoticed in the latter. The argument
drawn from Matthew xxiii. 35, that the Chronicles were then the last book of the canon, is
inconclusive; as the Zechariah there named was probably different from the Zechariah in 2
Chronicles xxiv. None of these witnesses proves that the third canon was finally closed.

A more definite testimony respecting the canon is given by Josephus towards the end of the
first century a.d. “For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, … but only
twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to
be divine. And of them five belong to Moses…. But as to the time from the death of Moses till
the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the prophets who were after Moses wrote down what
was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God and
precepts for the conduct of human life. It is true our history has been written since Artaxerxes
very particularly, but has not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our
forefathers, because there has not been an exact succession of prophets since that time: and
how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for
during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add
anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them; but it has
become natural to all Jews immediately and from their very birth, to esteem these books to
contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and if occasion be, willingly to die for them.”
This list agrees with our present canon, showing that the Palestinian Jews were tolerably
and moral books are Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticles.

It is not likely that the Hasmonæan senate had a long existence. It was replaced by the
Sanhedrim, a more definite and state institution, intended as a counter-balance to the
influence of the Hasmonæan princes. The notices of the latter reach no further back than
Hyrcanus I., i.e., about 135 b.c. Josephus speaks of it under Hyrcanus II. It cannot be referred
to an earlier period than Hyrcanus I. Frankel58 indeed, finds a notice of it in 2 Chronicles xix. 8,
11; but the account there is indistinct, and refers to the great synagogue. The compiler having
no certain information about what was long past, transfers the origin of the court he speaks of
to Jehoshaphat, in order to glorify the house of David. It is impossible to date the Sanhedrim,
with Frankel, in the Grecian era, in which case it must have been dissolved during the
Maccabean insurrection, and afterwards reconstructed; it was not constituted till about 130 b.c.
Whether it was modeled after the great synagogue or the Hasmonæan senate, is uncertain.
The idea of it may have been suggested by the latter rather than the former, for its basis was
aristocratic. The Hasmonæan gerusia must have been less formal and definite than the
Sanhedrim; though the latter arose before the family ceased to be in power, and differed
materially from its predecessor. It continued from 130 b.c. till a.d. 180, surviving the terrible
disasters of the nation.

The closing of the third canon cannot be assigned, with Bloch, to the great synagogue. If the
college ceased with or before Simon, i.e., about 200-192, and the work of Daniel did not
appear till about 170 b.c., twenty years at least intervened between the extinction of the great
synagogue and Daniel’s book. This holds good, whether we assume, with Krochmal, the
synagogue’s redaction of the work,–more correctly the putting together of the independent
parts of which it is said to be composed; or equally so, if the taking of it into the canon as a
book already completed, be attributed to the same body. But we are unable to see that
Krochmal’s reasoning about the synagogue putting Daniel’s work together and one of the
members writing the book of Esther is probable.

In like manner, Maccabean psalms are adverse to the hypothesis that the great synagogue
completed the third canon. In consequence of these late productions, it is impossible to
assert that the men of the synagogue were the redactors of the Psalter as it is. It is true that the
collection was made before the Chronicles and many other books of the hagiographical
canon; but the complete Psalter did not appear till the Maccabean period. The canon,
however, was not considered to be finally closed in the first century before and the next after
Christ. There were doubts about some portions. The book of Ezekiel gave offence, because
some of its statements seemed to contradict the law. Doubts about others were of a more
serious nature; about Ecclesiastes, the Canticles, Esther, and the Proverbs. The first was
impugned because it had contradictory passages and a heretical tendency; the second,
because of its worldly and sensual tone; Esther for its want of religiousness; and Proverbs on
account of inconsistencies. This scepticism went far to procure the exclusion of the suspected
works from the canon, and their relegation to the class of the genuzim. But it did not prevail.
Hananiah, son of Hezekiah, son of Garon, about 32 b.c., is said to have reconciled the
contradictions and quieted the doubts. But these traces of resistance to the fixity of the canon
were not the last. They reappeared about a.d. , as we learn from the Talmud, when the
controversy turned mainly upon the canonicity of Ecclesiastes, which the school of Shammai,
who had the majority, opposed; so that the book was probably excluded. The question
emerged again at a later synod at Jabneh or Jamnia, when R. Eleasar ben Asaria was
chosen patriarch, and Gamaliel the second, deposed. Here it was decided, not unanimously
however, but by a majority of Hillelites, that Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs “pollute the
hands,” i.e., belong properly to the Hagiographa. This was about 90 a.d. Thus the question of
the canonicity of certain books was discussed at two synods.

Passages in the Talmud have been adduced to show that the Shammaite objections to the
canonicity of Ecclesiastes “were overruled by the positive declaration from the 72 elders,
being a testimony anterior to the Christian era that Coheleth is canonical; but they do not
support the opinion.”

“The sages” referred to in the treatise Sabbat and elsewhere is a vague expression, resting
apparently on no historic tradition–a mere opinion of comparatively late date. If it refer to the
Jerusalem synod a.d. 65, the Hillelites were simply outnumbered there by the Shammaites.
The matter was debated hastily, and determined for the time by a majority. But the synod at
Jamnia consisted of 72 persons; and a passage in the treatise Yadayim refers to it.67 The
testimony of the 72 elders to whom R. Simeon ben Asai here alludes, so far from belonging to
an anti-christian era, belongs to a date about 90 a.d. And the fact that the synod at Jamnia
took up again a question already debated at Jerusalem a.d. 65, proves that no final
settlement of the canon had taken place before. The canon was virtually settled at Jamnia,
where was confirmed what R. Akiba said of the Canticles in his usual extravagant way: “No
day in the whole history of the world is of so much worth as the one in which the Song of Songs
was given to Israel; for all the Scriptures are holy; but the Song of Songs is most holy.” As the
Hagiographa were not read in public, with the exception of Esther, opinions of the Jewish
rabbins might still differ about Canticles and Ecclesiastes, even after the synod of Jamnia.

In opposition to these remarks, it is strenuously argued by Bloch that neither the passage in
the Mishnic treatise Yadayim, nor any other, refers to the canonical character of the books to
which Jewish elders raised several objections. But his arguments are more vehement than
valid. Anxious to assign the final settlement of the entire canon to an [pg 036] authoritative
body like the great synagogue, he affirms that all parties were united in opinion about the time
of Christ,–Assiim, Perushim, and Zeddukim; Shammaites and Hillelites. But it requires more
than his ingenuity to explain away the meaning of Yadayim 3, 5, Adoyot v. 3, Sabbat 1. To
what did such diversity of opinion relate, if not to the canonical character of the books? A
specific answer to the question is not given by the learned writer, who is too eager in his
endeavor to attribute the settlement of the third canon to the great synagogue, and to smooth
away all diversities of opinion about several books, after that time, as if none could afterwards
question the authoritative settlement by that body. He will not even allow a wider canon to the
Alexandrian Jews than that of their Palestinian brethren, though he cannot but admit that the
former read and highly esteemed various apocryphal books because of their theocratic
character. Surely the practical use of writings is an evidence of their canonicity as strong as
theoretical opinions…

Read the rest at the link below!

Quoted from:
The Canon of the Bible by Samuel Davidson
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30132

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader. If you have copyright free information that we could use e-mail me
and I will use it in the next update of this software.

(Deitas = God. Deus = God)
A Divinity. Godhead.

People worship or honour the deity – the god of their choice or religion.

Am`mon, was an Egyptian deity.

A deist is a person who acknowledges the existence of a god, but considered a freethinker who
denies revealed religion. The doctrine of the diest is deism.

According to:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Deism, belief on purely rational grounds in the existence of God, and distinguished from theism
as denying His providence.

Deists, a set of free-thinkers of various shades, who in England, in the 17th and 18th centuries,
discarded revelation and the supernatural generally, and sought to found religion on a purely
rational basis.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Evangelist:

One of the four authors of the Gospels. To announce the good tidings

Evangelist = a preacher of the Gospel.

Evangelists could be seen as free wandering preachers who announced the Good Word and
Jesus the Christ to those who were ignorant of these things. They wandered from church to
church preaching, spreading the Gospel to all that would listen.

You could say that an evangelist had a “need” to do God’s work. Obviously with the preaching
came the “fruit” of the preaching which were converts who would learn to believe in God and
become Christians.

The apostles evangelized.

All people that spread the Word of God could be seen as a form of evangelist because they
spread the Good Word to those who do not know of God, or do not understand God and what
life is all about, or what life is all about. So the evangelist is an educator, a teacher of the Gospel.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Evangelist, a name given in the early Church to one whose office it was to persuade the ignorant
and unbelieving into the fold of the Church.

Evangelical, a term applied to all those forms of Christianity which regard the atonement of
Christ, or His sacrifice on the Cross for sin, as the ground and central principle of the Christian
faith.

Evangelical Alliance, an alliance of Christians of all countries and denominations holding what
are called evangelical principles, and founded in 1845.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

True faith is the incorruptible belief in God and His love for you. True belief, a firm solid belief.
Belief built on a solid base such as a rock. Doubtless belief.

One of the greatest struggles for the believer in God is that of having faith in God and all about
God, including believing that you are worthy of being a person who God could love and want
to help. It is this lack of faith which keeps us distant from God. But true faith is learnt over time.
With faith comes trust – as your faith in God grows, then your trust in God grows.

As your faith and trust grow so does your ability to learn and have faith and trust in the Holy
Scriptures.

Christians who follow God are considered to the “the faithful”, those who follow the faith by the
teachings of the Lord Jesus the Christ. Christians follow the “Christian Faith”.

A “creed”, a formula for belief was used by those proclaiming to be followers of the Christian
Faith. Examples are the Nicene Creed, or the Apostles Creed.

Genesis chapter 15, verse 6
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Faith opens a way for understanding, unbelief closes it – S Augustine.

Hebrew chapter 11, verse 1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We must have faith in the Redeemer. Faith in Jesus the Christ, who the sinner rests upon for
true Salvation.

The art of science has faith a in the physical world in which it can prove with physical
experiments. The Christian Faith cannot be so proved – faith is between you and God alone,
and your personal faith can only be known internally by you and God.

True faith in God must be volunteered and not forced. A mistake of the past was for people to
try to force people to have faith in God. Some people were badly mistreated if they didn’t
believe in God or believed in God in a different way than what was termed the “official church”.
People must be nurtured into a new Belief System, force achieves nothing good.

Martin Luther spoke of “Justification by faith alone.

Psalm 89, verse 2
For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very
heavens.
Faith is taking God at His word – Evans.

The proper power of faith is to trust without evidence, not with evidence – Ruskin.

The text below is quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Faith, in its proper spiritual sense and meaning is a deep-rooted belief affecting the whole life,
that the visible universe in every section of it, particularly here and now, rests on and is the
manifestation of an eternal and an unchangeable Unseen Power, whose name is Good, or
God.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

The person who feigns what he or she believes. The act of “stage playing”.

“Do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do. The word hypocrite is taken from
stage-players, who act the part of others, or speak not their own sentiments, but the sentiments
of others. It means here, and in the New Testament generally, those who dissemble or hide
their real sentiments, and assume or express other feelings than their own; those who, for
purposes of ostentation, or gain, or applause, put on the appearance of religion. It is probable
that such persons, when they were about to bestow alms, caused a trumpet to be sounded,
professedly to call the poor together to receive it, but really to call the people to attend to it, or
perhaps it may mean that they should not make a great noise about it, like sounding a trumpet.
” – Barnes’ Notes On The New Testament by Albert Barnes.

The hypocrite pretends that he is someone that he is not. A pretender. Part of the work that
Jesus did was show the public who the false teachers were. Sadly we can see that many
hypocrites do not even realise that they are teaching false doctrines and traditions. Some
believe that they are who they pretend to be, at least of the surface.

The actor “plays” his or her part. A “part” in a play is not real and those whoa re hypocrites are
sometimes compared with actors, meaning people who pretend. The hypocrite is not sincere
in his or her ways or thoughts. Hypocrite is one of the harshest words that Jesus used, and it
was used in a definite manner with meaning.

In the Greek theater the actor wore a face mask imitating the ways and character of the person
that he is playing, but an actor is obviously not being their true self. The hypocrites that Jesus
spoke of were like actors of the Greek theater, actors who paraded their charitable deeds in
the full view of the public giving a “view” of themselves. But this was not the real person, it was
just acting for the public.

The above verses would be text that we should meditate on as they are a good example of
the true Christian and how we should behave. The hypocrite is two-persons, the one that is the
true person is hidden from the public view. The other person is just the acting for the public to
see.

One of the greatest claims of evil against the church is that of the people within being
hypocrites. Often from the “outside” of the church it may look that way even if the church
members are all good people. But sadly there is much testimony of church hypocrites. They
hypocrites in the church. A preacher (Pastor, priest etc) who is a hypocrite is a bad example.

Hypocrites seem to judge others but cannot see well due to the plank in their own eye.

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

Did this software help you? E-mail me to let me know: TwoPlayerKnowledge@xtra.co.nz
To donate “FREE” Christian material to this software, see the “About” menu item.
All articles in this software are not to be sold or charged for, they were written
to help you become a more knowledgeable Chrisitan, to help you believe in God & Love.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Biblicist – One skilled of biblical knowledge.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A.D. (Anno Domini)

Refered to as either C.E. (Common ra) or A.D. (Anno Domini).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Biblical:

Pertaining to the Bible.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Idolatry:

The worship of an idol. An idol is generally an image of some sort, possibly of a pagan god
which would be made for worship, image worship. The idol can be a representation or a
symbol of something and then people have an unhealthy deep liking to that symbol – people
adoring a car company is a good example of a symbol being adored.

Some believed that if they prayed and bowed to an idol the god associated with that idle will
bring them good crops for the year. Some had idols (gods) for all sorts of things. These
people would put their hopes in the idol. They hoped and even believed that the idol would
give them what they wanted.

In Bible times a carved or molten image was often used for idol worship. Baal the pagan god
of war and fertility is an example of this. It has been said that within us all is the room for God in
our hearts – to idolize something is to fill the gap that was intended for God with a false idol.
Idols were made of wood, metals, gold and silver – and some were even made with clay. A
sculpture. The making of the golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai is an example of the
people wanting to worship a god. When they seemed to lose faith in one they switched to
another. The Old Testament has many examples of idols in those times.

Some were household idols, some were the size of humans and some were much bigger.

Around 300 A.D some images were introduced into Christian churches for instruction and as
ornaments only. But this was to change. Eastern Emperor Leo issued edicts against them. But
Empress Irene introduced idol worship into the Eastern church. Then the Second Council of
Nicaea gave them ecclesiastical sanction. It is not odd to see people praying to statues of
people from the past such as the mother of Jesus, Mary and other people that are now
classified as Christian saints.

The Romans had emperor worship, and some were even worshipped when they were alive.
They were to be treated as living deities.

In modern day terms idolatry is rampant with people adoring movie actors, people involved in
the local or international music scene, or even a company because of the products that it
makes, baseball teams, television people, even a news reporter can be idolized, people can
idolize the human body or even parts of it. People wear hats and clothes proudly that have the
company name on it to show that they support that company over other companies of the
same type – this is a form of adoration – idolization. People can idolize their own self. In modern
times people often have trouble realizing that they have personal idols.

People sometimes become violant when they feel that the item that they idolize has been
shamed or somebody speaks bad of it. Some sports fans become very upset when the team
that they idolize fails and as a result the fans becomes violent.

Exodus chapter 20, verse 4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

When people adore idols they put Gods ways aside for the belief in the idol. When the laws
allow idols the follower of God must be educated not to follow idols. In Bible times people
thought that having idols was harmless and that there could even be advantages to idolizing
something – today we have the same situation but with different idols and the same relaxed
laws and attitudes. Just because a person is not idolizing another god does not make other
types of idols alright to like or adore.

[Bel and the Dragon, History of, one of the books of the Apocrypha, a spurious addition to the
book of Daniel, relates how Daniel persuaded Cyrus of the vanity of idol-worship, and is
intended to show its absurdity.]

[Idolatry, worship paid to a mere symbol of the divine while the heart is dead to all sense of
that which it symbolises; a species of offence against the Most High, of which many are
flagrantly guilty who affect to regard with pity the worshipper of idols of wood or stone.
“Idolatry,” says Buskin, apropos of Carlyle’s well-known doctrine, “is summed up in the one
broad wickedness of refusing to worship Force and resolving to worship No-Force; denying
the Almighty, and bowing down to four-and-twopence with a stamp on it.”]

==========================================================================
Written by the author of this software – JMS
Copyright © 1999 – 2009 Two Player Knowledge Software

The above text in Square Brackets is quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Abbot, head of an abbey. There were two classes of abbots: Abbots Regular, as being such
in fact, and Abbots Commendatory, as guardians and drawing the revenues.

Abbot, George, archbishop of Canterbury in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., and one of
the translators of King James’s Bible; an enemy of Laud’s, who succeeded him (1562-1633).

Abbot of Misrule, a person elected to superintend the Christmas revelries.

Abbott, Edwin, a learned Broad Church theologian and man of letters; wrote, besides other
works, a volume of sermons “Through Nature to Christ”; esteemed insistence on miracles
injurious to faith; b. 1838.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Abel, Sir F. A., a chemist who has made a special study of explosives; b. 1827.

Abel, Henry, an able Norwegian mathematician, who died young (1802-1828).

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Acta Sanctorum, the lives of the saints in 62 vols. folio, begun in the 17th century by the Jesuits,
and carried on by the Bollandists.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Adam, Alex., a distinguished Latin scholar, rector for 40 years of the Edinburgh High School,
Scott having been one of his pupils (1741-1809).

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ag`ape, love-feasts among the primitive Christians in commemoration of the Last Supper, and
in which they gave each other the kiss of peace as token of Christian brotherhood.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Albero`ni, an Italian of humble birth, became a Cardinal of the Church and Prime Minister to
Philip V. of Spain, wrought hard to restore Spain to its ancient grandeur, was defeated in his
project by the quadruple alliance of England, France, Austria, and Holland, and obliged to
retire (1664-1752).

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Alexander:
Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, son of Philip by Olympias, daughter of
Neoptolemus, king of Epirus; born at Pella, 356 B.C.; had the philosopher Aristotle for tutor,
and being instructed by him in all kinds of serviceable knowledge, ascended the throne on the
death of his father, at the age of 20; after subduing Greece, had himself proclaimed
generalissimo of the Greeks against the Persians, and in 2 years after his accession crossed
the Hellespont, followed by 30,000 foot and 5000 horse; with these conquered the army of
Darius the Persian at Granicus in 334 and at Issus in 333; subdued the principal cities of Syria,
overran Egypt, and crossing the Euphrates and Tigris, routed the Persians at Arbela; hurrying
on farther, he swept everything before him, till the Macedonians refusing to advance, he
returned to Babylon, when he suddenly fell ill of fever, and in eleven days died at the early
age of 32. He is said to have slept every night with his Homer and his sword under his pillow,
and the inspiring idea of his life, all unconsciously to himself belike, is defined to have been
the right of Greek intelligence to override and rule the merely glittering barbarity of the East.

Alexander, St., patriarch of Alexandria from 311 to 326, contributed to bring about the
condemnation of Arius at the Council of Nice; festival, Feb 26.

Alexander, Solomon, first Protestant bishop of Jerusalem, of Jewish birth, cut off during a
journey to Cairo (1799-1845).

Alexander III., pope, successor to Adrian IV., an able man, whose election Barbarossa at first
opposed, but finally assented to; took the part of Thomas à Becket against Henry II. and
canonised him, as also St. Bernard. Pope from 1159 to 1181.

Alexander VI., called Borgia from his mother, a Spaniard by birth, obtained the popehood by
bribery in 1492 in succession to Innocent VIII., lived a licentious life and had several children,
among others the celebrated Lucretia and the infamous Cæsar Borgia; d. in 1503, after a
career of crime, not without suspicion of poison. In addition to Alexanders III. and VI., six of the
name were popes: Alexander I., pope from 108 to 117; Alexander II., pope from 1061 to 1073;
Alexander IV., pope from 1254 to 1261; Alexander V., pope from 1409 to 1410; Alexander VII.,
pope from 1653 to 1667, who was forced to kiss his hand to Louis XIV.; Alexander VIII., pope
from 1689 to 1691.

Alexander I., king of Scotland, son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret, sister of Edgar
Atheling, a vigorous prince, surnamed on that account The Fierce; subdued a rising in the
North, and stood stoutly in defence of the independent rights of both Crown and Church
against the claim of supremacy over both on the part of England; d. 1124.

Alexander II., of Scotland, successor of William the Lion, his father, a just and wise ruler, aided
the English barons against John, and married Joan, the sister of Henry III.; d. 1249.

Alexander III., son of the preceding, married a daughter of Henry III., sided with him against the
barons, successfully resisted the invasion of Haco, king of Norway, and on the conclusion of
over a cliff near Kinghorn when hunting in 1285.

Alexander I., emperor of Russia, son and successor of Paul I., took part in the European strife
against the encroachments of Napoleon, was present at the battle of Austerlitz, fought the
French at Pultusk and Eylau, was defeated at Friedland, had an interview with Napoleon at
Tilsit in 1813, entered into a coalition with the other Powers against France, which ended in the
capture of Paris and the abdication of Napoleon in 1814. Under his reign Russia rose into
political importance in Europe (1777-1825).

Alexander II., emperor of Russia, son and successor of Nicholas I., fell heir to the throne while
the siege of Sebastopol was going on; on the conclusion of a peace applied himself to
reforms in the state and the consolidation and extension of the empire. His reign is
distinguished by a ukase decreeing in 1861 the emancipation of the serfs numbering 23
millions, by the extension of the empire in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and by the war with
Turkey in the interest of the Slavs in 1877-78, which was ended by the peace of San Stephano,
revised by the treaty of Berlin. His later years were clouded with great anxiety, owing to the
spread of Nihilism, and he was killed by a bomb thrown at him by a Nihilist (1818-1881).

Alexander III., emperor of Russia, son of the preceding, followed in the footsteps of his father,
and showed a marked disposition to live on terms of peace with the other Powers; his reign
not distinguished by any very remarkable event. The present Czar is his son and successor
(1845-1894).

Alexander I., king of Servia, b. 1876.

Alexander Nevsky, grand-duke of Russia, conquered the Swedes, the Danes, and the
Teutonic Knights on the banks of the Neva, freed Russia from tribute to the Mongols, is one of
the saints of the Russian Church.

Alexander of Hales, the Doctor irrefragabilis of the Schools, an English ecclesiastic, a
member of the Franciscan order, who in his “Summa Universæ Theologiæ” formulated, by
severe rigour of Aristotelian logic, the theological principles and ecclesiastical rites of the
Romish Church; d. in 1222.

Alexander of Paris, a Norman poet of the 16th century, who wrote a poem on Alexander the
Great in twelve-syllabled lines, called after him Alexandrines.

Alexander of the North, Charles XII. of Sweden.

Alexander Seve`rus, a Roman emperor, a wise, virtuous, and pious prince, conquered
Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in an expedition against him, but setting out against the Germans,
who were causing trouble on the frontiers of the empire, fell a victim, along with his mother, to
an insurrection among his troops not far from Mainz (205-235).

Alexan`dria (230), a world-famous city, the chief port of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great
in 332 B.C., at one time a great centre of learning, and in possession of the largest library of
antique literature in the world, which was burned by the Caliph Omar in 640; at one time a place
of great commerce, but that has very materially decayed since the opening of the Suez Canal.
Alexandria, from its intimate connection with both East and West, gave birth in early times to a
speculative philosophy which drew its principles from eastern as well as western sources,
which was at its height on the first encounter of these elements.

Alexandria (14), a town on the Potomac, 7 m. S. of Washington, accessible to vessels of the
largest size; also a thriving town (7) on the river Leven, 3 m. N. of Dumbarton.

Alexandrian Codex, an MS. on parchment of the Septuagint Scriptures in Greek in uncial
letters, which belonged to the library of the patriarchs of Alexandra.

Alexandrian Library, the library burned by the Caliph Omar in 642, said to have contained
700,000 volumes.

Alexandri`na Lake, a lake in Australia into which the river Murray flows.

Alexandrine Philosophy, a Gnostic philosophy, combining eastern with western forms of
thought.

Alexandrines. See Alexander of Paris.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

England owes much to him both as a man and a ruler, and it was he who in the creation of a
fleet laid the first foundation of her greatness as monarch of the deep. His literary works were
translations of the “General History” of Orosius, the “Ecclesiastical History” of Bede,
Boëthius’s “Consolations of Philosophy,” and the “Cura Pastoralis” of Pope Gregory, all
executed for the edification of his subjects (849-901).

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Algeria:
Alge`ria, in the N. of Africa, belongs to France, stretches between Morocco on the W. and
Tripoli and Tunis on the E., the country being divided into the Tell along the sea-coast, which
is fertile, the Atlas Highlands overlooking it on the S., on the southern slopes of which are
marshy lakes called “shotts,” on which alfa grows wild, and the Sahara beyond, rendered
habitable here and there by the creation of artesian wells; its extent nearly equal in area to that
of France, and the population numbers about four millions, of which only a quarter of a million
is French. The country is divided into Departments, of which Algiers, Oran, and Constantine
are the respective capitals. It has been successively under the sway of the Carthaginians, the
Romans, the Vandals, the Arabs, the Byzantines, and the Berbers, which last were in the 16th
century supplanted by the Turks. At the end of this period it became a nest of pirates, against
whom a succession of expeditions were sent from several countries of Europe, but it was only
with the conquest of it by the French in 1830 that this state of things was brought to an end.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342
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Ammo`nius Saccas, a philosopher of Alexandria, and founder of Neo-Platonism; Longinus,
Origen, and Plotinus were among his pupils; d. 243, at a great age.

Quoted from:
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, by Edited by Rev. James Wood at this Internet link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12342

Antioch:

Antioch, which is in Syria, was named after the father of Seleucus Nicator, Antiochus.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cardinal Antonelli:
Antonelli, Cardinal, the chief adviser and Prime Minister of Pope Pius IX., accompanied the
Pope to Gaeta, came back with him to Rome, acting as his foreign minister there, and offered
a determined opposition to the Revolution; left immense wealth (1806-1876).

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Archangels:
Archangels, of these, according to the Korân, there are four: Gabriel, the angel who reveals;
Michael, the angel who fights; Azrael, the angel of death; Azrafil, the angel of the resurrection.

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Psalms 119:40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
Psalms 119:41 Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
Psalms 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
Psalms 119:43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
Psalms 119:44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
Psalms 119:45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
Psalms 119:46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
Psalms 119:47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
Psalms 119:48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

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Aristotle:
Ar`istotle, a native of Stagira, in Thrace, and hence named the Stagirite; deprived of his
parents while yet a youth; came in his 17th year to Athens, remained in Plato’s society there for
20 years; after the death of Plato, at the request of Philip, king of Macedon, who held him in
high honour, became the preceptor of Alexander the Great, then only 13 years old; on
Alexander’s expedition into Asia, returned to Athens and began to teach in the Lyceum, where
it was his habit to walk up and down as he taught, from which circumstance his school got the
name of Peripatetic; after 13 years he left the city and went to Chalcis, in Euboea, where he
died. He was the oracle of the scholastic philosophers and theologians in the Middle Ages; is
the author of a great number of writings which covered a vast field of speculation, of which the
progress of modern science goes to establish the value; is often referred to as the incarnation
of the philosophic spirit (385-322 B.C.).

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Arius:
A`rius, a presbyter of Alexandria in the 4th century, and founder of Arianism, which denied the
consubstantiality of the Son with the Father in the so-called Trinity, a doctrine which hovered
for a time between acceptance and rejection throughout the Catholic Church; was condemned
first by a local synod which met at Alexandria in 321, and then by a General Council at Nice in
325, which the Emperor Constantine attended in person; the author was banished to Illyricum,
his writings burned, and the possession of them voted to be a crime; after three years he was
recalled by Constantine, who ordered him to be restored; was about to be readmitted into the
Church when he died suddenly, by poison, alleged his friends–by the judgment of God, said
his enemies (280-336).

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Armauld:
Arnauld, Antoine, the “great Arnauld,” a French theologian, doctor of the Sorbonne, an
inveterate enemy of the Jesuits, defended Jansenism against the Bull of the Pope, became
religious director of the nuns of Port Royal des Champs, associated here with a circle of
kindred spirits, among others Pascal; expelled from the Sorbonne and banished the country,
died at Brussels (1612-1694).
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The Thirty-Nine Articles:
Articles, The Thirty-Nine, originally Forty-Two, a creed framed in 1562, which every clergyman
of the Church of England is bound by law to subscribe to at his ordination, as the accepted
faith of the Church.

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General Assembly:
Assembly, General, the chief court of the Presbyterian Church, a representative body, half
clergymen and half laymen, which sits in Edinburgh for ten days in May, disposes of the
general business of the Church, and determines appeals.

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John Asser:
Asser, John, monk of St. David’s, in Wales, tutor, friend, and biographer of Alfred the Great; is
said to have suggested the founding of Oxford University; d. 909.

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Athanasius:
Athanasius, Christian theologian, a native of Alexandria, and a deacon of the Church; took a
prominent part against Arius in the Council at Nice, and was his most uncompromising
antagonist; was chosen bishop of Alexandria; driven forth again and again from his bishopric
under persecution of the Arians; retired into the Thebaïd for a time; spent the last 10 years of
his life as bishop at Alexandria, where he died; his works consist of treatises and orations
bearing on the Arian controversy, and in vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity viewed in the
most absolute sense (296-373).

The belief that a deity does not exist, the rejection of Theism.
Atheism is the opposite to Theism. The word was used in Greece for those who disbelieved the
gods of the state.

The disbelief in the existence of God. A sceptic, or a person who is skeptical about God or
religion. A person who doubts the sovereignty of Jesus or God.

Sceptism means, not intellectual doubt alone, but moral doubt; all sorts of infedity, insecurity,
and actual paralysis – Carlyle.

A person who doesn’t believe in God would be called an atheist. This is a person who believes
that it is impossible to prove that God exists. Atheists have been known to challenge those who
follow a religion.

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Francis Atterbury:
Atterbury, Francis, an English prelate, in succession dean of Christ Church, bishop of
Rochester, and dean of Westminster; a zealous Churchman and Jacobite, which last brought
him into trouble on the accession of the House of Hanover and led to his banishment; died in
Paris. He was a scholarly man, an eloquent preacher, and wrote an eloquent style
(1662-1731).

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Authorised Version:
Authorised Version of the Bible was executed between the years 1604 and 1610 at the
instance of James I., so that it is not undeservedly called King James’s Bible, and was the
work of 47 men selected with marked fairness and discretion, divided into three groups of two
sections each, who held their sittings for three years severally at Westminster, Cambridge,
and Oxford, the whole being thereafter revised by a committee of six, who met for nine months
in Stationers’ Hall, London, and received thirty pounds each, the rest being done for nothing.
The result was a translation that at length superseded every other, and that has since woven
itself into the affectionate regard of the whole English-speaking people. The men who
executed it evidently felt something of the inspiration that breathes in the original, and they
have produced a version that will remain to all time a monument of the simplicity, dignity,
grace, and melody of the English language; its very style has had a nobly educative effect on
the national literature, and has contributed more than anything else to prevent it from
degenerating into the merely frivolous and formal.

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Avignon:
Avign`on (37), capital of the dep. of Vaucluse, France; an ancient city beautifully situated on
the left bank of the Rhône, near the confluence of the Durance, of various fortune from its
foundation by the Phocæans in 539 B.C.; was the seat of the Papacy from 1305 to 1377,
purchased by Pope Clement VI. at that period, and belonged to the Papacy from that time till
1797, when it was appropriated to France; it contains a number of interesting buildings, and
carries on a large trade in wine, oil, and fruits; grows and manufactures silk in large quantities.l.

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Baal`bek (i. e. City of Baal, or the Sun), an ancient city of Syria, 35 m. NW. of Damascus; called
by the Greeks, Heliopolis; once a place of great size, wealth, and splendour; now in ruins, the
most conspicuous of which is the Great Temple to Baal, one of the most magnificent ruins of
the East, covering an area of four acres.

Baalism, the name given to the worship of natural causes, tending to the obscuration and
denial of the worship of God as Spirit.

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Joanna Baillie:
a poetess, born at Bothwell, child of the Presbyterian manse there; joined a brother in London,
stayed afterwards with a sister at Hampstead; produced a series of dramas entitled “Plays of
the Passions,” besides many others, both comedies and tragedies, one of which, the “Family
Legend,” was acted in the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, under the auspices of Sir Walter Scott;
she does not stand high either as a dramatist or a writer (1762-1851).

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Baldwin, the name of several counts of Flanders, eight in all.

Baldwin I., king of Jerusalem; succeeded his brother Godfrey de Bouillon; assuming said title,
made himself master of most of the towns on the coast of Syria; contracted a disease in Egypt;
returned to Jerusalem, and was buried on Mount Calvary; there were five of this name and title,
the last of whom, a child of some eight years old, died in 1186 (1058-1118).

Baldwin I., the first Latin emperor of Constantinople; by birth, count of Hainault and Flanders;
joined the fourth crusade, led the van in the capture of Constantinople, and was made
emperor; was defeated and taken prisoner by the Bulgarians (1171-1206). B. II., nephew of
Baldwin I., last king of the Latin dynasty, which lasted only 57 years (1217-1273).

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Baptistry:
a circular building, sometimes detached from a church, in which the rite of baptism is
administered; the most remarkable, that of Pisa.

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For historical reasons I thought to add the “THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF BARNABAS.”
CHAPTER I.

Preface to the Epistle.

ALL happiness to you my sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved
us, in peace.

2 Having perceived abundance of knowledge of the great and excellent laws of God to be in
you, I exceedingly rejoice in your blessed and admirable souls, because ye have so worthily
received the grace which was grafted in you.

3 For which cause I am full of joy, hoping the rather to be saved; inasmuch as I truly see a spirit
infused into you, from the pure fountain of God:

4 Having this persuasion, and being fully convinced thereof, because that since I have begun to
speak unto you, I have had a more than ordinary good success in the way of the law of the Lord,
which is in Christ,

5 For which cause brethren, I also think verily that I love you above my own soul; because that
therein dwelleth the greatness of faith and charity, as also the hope of that life which is to come.

6 Wherefore considering this, that if I shall take care to communicate to you a part of what I have
received, it shall turn to my reward, that I have served such good souls. I gave diligence to write
in a few words unto you; that together with your faith, your knowledge also may be perfect.

7 There are therefore three things ordained by the Lord; the hope of life, the beginning, and the
completion of it.

8 For the Lord hath both declared unto us, by the prophets, those things that are past; and
opened to us the beginnings of those that are to come.

9 Wherefore, it will behove us, as he has spoken, to come more holily, and nearer to his altar.

10 I therefore, not as a teacher but as one of you, will endeavour to lay before you a few things
by which you may, on many accounts, become the more joyful.
CHAPTER II.

That Clod has abolished the legal sacrifices, to introduce the spiritual righteousness of the
Gospel.

SEEING then the days are exceedingly evil, and the adversary has got the power of this present
world we ought to give the more diligence to inquire into the righteous judgments of the Lord.
2 Now the assistants of our faith are fear and patience; our fellow-combatants, long suffering and
continence.

3 Whilst these remain pure in what relates unto the Lord, wisdom, and understanding, and
science, and knowledge, rejoice together with them.

4 For God has manifested to us by all the prophets, that he has no occasion for our sacrifices, or
burnt-offerings, or oblations: saying thus; To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto
me, saith the Lord.

5 I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of he-goats.

6 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hands? Ye shall no more
tread my courts.

7 Bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me your new moons and
sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies I cannot bear with, it is iniquity, even the solemn
meeting; your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth.

8 These things therefore hath God abolished, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is
without the yoke of any such necessity, might have the spiritual offering of, men themselves.

9 For so the Lord saith again to those heretofore; Did I at all command your fathers when they
came out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings of sacrifices?

10 But this I commanded them, saying, Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his
neighbour, and love no false oath.

11 Forasmuch then as we are not without understanding, we ought to apprehend the design of
our merciful Father. For he speaks to us, being willing that we who have been in the same error
about the sacrifices, should seek and find how to approach unto him.

12 And therefore he thus bespeaks us, The sacrifice of God (is a broken spirit,) a broken and
contrite heart–God will not despise.

13 Wherefore brethren, we ought the more diligently to inquire after those things that belong to
our salvation, that the adversary may not have any entrance into us, and deprive us of our
spiritual life.

14 Wherefore he again speaketh to them, concerning these things; Ye shall not fast as ye do
this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

15 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his
head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and
an acceptable day to the Lord?

16 But to us he saith on this wise: Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free: and that ye break
every yoke?

17 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thy
own flesh.

18 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily; and
thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

19 Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I am; if
thou put away from the midst of thee the yoke; the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry; and satisfy the afflicted soul.

20 In this, therefore, brethren, God has manifested his foreknowledge and love for us; because
the people which he has purchased to his beloved Son were to believe in sincerity; and
therefore he has shown these things to all of us, that we should not run as proselytes to the
Jewish Law.

CHAPTER III.

The prophecies of Daniel concerning the ten kings, and the coming of Christ.

WHEREFORE it is necessary that searching diligently into those things which are soon to come
to pass, we should write to you what may serve to keep you whole.

2 To which end, let us flee from every evil work and hate the errors of the present time, that we
may be happy in that which is to come.

3 Let us not give ourselves the liberty of disputing with the wicked and sinners; lest we should
chance in time to become like unto them.

4 For the consummation of sin is come, as it is written, as the prophet Daniel says. And for this
end the Lord hath shortened the times and the days, that his beloved might hasten his corning to
his inheritance.

5 For so the prophet speaks; There shall ten kings reign in the heart, and there shall rise last of
all another little one, and he shall humble three kings.

6 And again Daniel speaks in like manner concerning the kingdoms; and I saw the fourth beast
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and
behold there came up among them another little horn, before which were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots.

7 We ought therefore to understand this also: And I beseech you, as one of your own brethren,
loving you all beyond my own life, that you look well to yourselves, and be not like to those who
add sin to sin, and say; That their covenant is ours also. Nay, but it is ours only: for they have
forever lost that which Moses received.

8 For thus saith the Scripture And Moses continued fasting forty days and forty nights in the
Mount; and he received the covenant from the Lord, even the two tables of stone, written by the
hand of God.

9 But having turned themselves to idols they lost it; as the Lord also said to Moses; Moses, go
down quickly, for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves, and turned aside from the way which I commanded them. And Moses cast the two
tables out of his hands; and their covenant was broken; that the love of Jesus might be sealed in
your hearts, unto the hope of his faith.

10 Wherefore let us give heed unto the last times. For all the time past of our life and our faith, will
profit us nothing; unless we continue to hate what is evil, and to withstand the future temptations.
So the Son of God tells us; Let us resist all iniquity and hate it.
11 Wherefore consider the works of the evil way. Do not withdraw yourselves from others as if
you were already justified; but coming altogether into one place, inquire what is agreeable to
and profitable for the beloved of God. For the Scripture saith; Woe unto them that are wise in
their own eyes; and prudent in their sight.

12 Let us become spiritually a perfect temple to God. As much as in us lies let us meditate upon
the fear of God; and strive to the utmost of our power to keep his commandments; that we may
rejoice in his righteous judgments.

13 For God will judge the world without respect of persons and everyone shall receive
according to his works.

14 If a man shall be good, his
righteousness shall go before him
if wicked, the reward of his
wickedness shall follow him.

15 Take heed therefore lest sitting still now, that when we are called, we fall asleep in our sins;
and the wicked one getting the dominion over us, stir us up, and shut us out of the kingdom of the
Lord.

16 Consider this also: although you have seen so great signs and wonders done among the
people of the Jews, yet this notwithstanding the Lord hath forsaken them.

17 Beware, therefore, lest it happen to us; as it is written There may be many called, but few
chosen.

CHAPTER IV.

That Christ was to suffer is proved from the prophecies concerning him.

For this cause did our Lord vouchsafe to give up his body to destruction, that through the
forgiveness of our sins we might be sanctified; that is, by the sprinkling of his blood.

2 Now for what concerns the things that are written about him, some belong to the people of the
Jews, and some to us.

3 For thus saith the Scripture; He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities, and by his blood we are healed. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

4 Wherefore we ought the more to give thanks unto God, for that he hath both declared unto us
what is passed, and not suffered us to be without understanding of those things that are to come.

5 But to them he saith; The nets are not unjustly spread for the birds.

6 This he spake, because a man will justly perish, if having the knowledge of the way of truth, he
shall nevertheless not refrain himself from the way of darkness.

7 And for this cause the Lord was content to suffer for our souls, although he be the Lord of the
whole earth; to whom God said before the beginning of the world, Let us make man after our own
image and likeness.

8 Now how he suffered for us, seeing it was by men that he underwent it, I will shew you.

9 The prophets having received from him the gifts of prophecy, spake before concerning him:

10 But he, that he might abolish death, and make known the resurrection from the dead, was
content, as it was necessary, to appear in the flesh, that he might make good the promise before
given to our fathers, and preparing himself a new people, might demonstrate to them whilst he
was upon earth, that after the resurrection he would judge the world.

11 And finally, teaching the people of Israel, and doing many wonders and signs among them,
he preached to them, and shewed the exceeding great love which he bare towards them.

12 And when he chose his apostles, which were afterwards to publish his Gospel, he took men
who had been very great sinners; that thereby he might plainly shew That he came not to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance.

13 Then he clearly manifested himself to be the Son of God. For had he not come in the flesh,

14 Seeing that if they beheld only the sun, which was the work of his hands, and shall hereafter
cease to be, they are not able to endure stedfastly to look against the rays of it;

15 Wherefore the Son of God came in the flesh for this cause, that he might fill up the measure of
their iniquity, who have persecuted his prophets unto death. And for the same reason also he
suffered.

16 For God hath said of the stripes of his flesh, that they were from them. And, I will smite the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.

17 Thus he would suffer, because it behoved him to suffer upon the cross.

18 For thus one saith, prophesying concerning him; Spare my soul from the sword. And again,
My flesh trembleth for fear.

19 And again, the congregation of wicked doers rose up against me, (They have pierced my
hands and my feet).

20 And again he saith, I gave my back to the smiters, and my face I set as a hard rock.

CHAPTER V.

The subject continued.

And when he had fulfilled the commandment of God, What says he? Who will contend with me?
Let him stand against me or who is he that will implead me? Let him draw near to the servant of
the Lord. Woe be to you! Because ye shall all wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat you up.

2 And again adds the prophet, He is put for a stone of stumbling. Behold I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a precious stone a choice corner-stone; an honourable stone. And what follows?
And he that hopeth in him shall live for ever.

3 What then? Is our hope built upon a stone? God forbid. But because the Lord hath hardened
his flesh against sufferings, he saith, I have put me as a firm rock.

4 And again the prophet adds; The stone which the builders refused has become the head of
the corner. And again he saith This is the great and wonderful day which the Lord hath made. a I
write these things the more plainly to you that ye may understand: I For indeed I could be content
even to die for your sakes.

5 But what saith the prophet again; The counsel of the wicked encompassed me about. They
came about me, as bees about the honey-comb: and, Upon my vesture they cast lots.

6 Forasmuch then as our Saviour was to appear in the flesh and suffer, his passion was hereby
foretold.

7 For thus saith the prophet against Israel: “Woe be to their soul because they have taken
wicked counsel against themselves, saying; let us lay snares for the righteous, because he is
unprofitable to us.”

8 Moses also in like manner speaketh to them; Behold thus saith the Lord God; Enter ye into the
good land of which the Lord path sworn to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it
you, and possess it; a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 Now what the spiritual meaning of this is, learn; It is as if it had been said, Put your trust in
Jesus, who shall be manifested to you in the flesh. For man is the earth which suffers: forasmuch
as out of the substance of the earth Adam was formed.

10 What therefore does he mean when he says, Into a good land flowing with milk and honey?
Blessed be our Lord, who has given us wisdom, and a heart to understand his secrets. For so
says the prophet, “Who shall understand the hard sayings of the Lord? But he that is wise, and
intelligent, and that loves his Lord.”

frame, that we should have souls like those of children, forming us again himself by the spirit.

12 For thus the Scripture saith concerning us, where it introduceth the Father speaking to the
Son; Let us make man after our likeness and similitude; and let them have dominion over the
beasts of the earth, and over the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea.

13 And when the Lord saw the man which he had formed, that behold he was very good; he said,
Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth. And this he spake to his son.

14 I will now show you, how he made us a new creature, in the latter days.

15 The Lord saith; Behold I will make the last as the first. Wherefore the prophet thus spake,
Enter into the land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.

16 Wherefore ye see how we are again formed anew; as also he speaks by another prophet;
Behold saith the Lord, I will take from them; that is, from those whom the spirit I of the Lord
foresaw, their hearts of stone, and I will put into them hearts of flesh.

17 Because he was about to be made manifest in the flesh and to dwell in us.

18 For, my brethren, the habitation of our heart is a ‘holy temple unto the Lord. For the prophet
saith again, In what place shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?

19 He answers I will confess unto thee in the congregation in the midst of my brethren; and will
sing unto thee in the church of the saints:

20 Wherefore we are they whom he has brought into that good land.

21 But what signifies the milk and honey? Because as the child is nourished first with milk, and
then with honey; so we being kept alive by the belief of his promises and his word, shall live and
have dominion over the land.

22 For he foretold before, saying, increase and multiply, and have dominion over the beasts,
fishes, and birds.

23 But who is there that is now able to have this dominion over the wild beasts, or fishes, or fowls
of the air? For you know that to rule, is to have power; that a man should be set over what he
rules.

24 But forasmuch as this we have not now, he tells us when we shall have it; namely, when we
shall become perfect, that we may be made the inheritors of the covenant of the Lord.

CHAPTER VI.

The sacrifice of Jesus, and of a goat, an evident type of Christ crucified.

UNDERSTAND then my beloved children, that the good God hath before manifested all things
unto us, that we might know to whom we ought always to give thanks and praise.

2 If therefore the Son of God who is the Lord of all, and shall come to judge both the quick and
dead, hath suffered, that by his stripes we might live; let us believe that the Son of God could not
have suffered but for us. But being crucified, they gave him vinegar and gall to drink.

3 Hear therefore how the priests of the temple did foreshow this also: the Lord by his command
which was written, declared that whosoever did not fast the appointed fast he should die the
death: because he also was himself one day to offer up his body for our sins; that so the type of
what was done in Isaac might be fulfilled, who was offered upon the altar.

4 What therefore is it that he says by the prophet? And let them eat of the goat which is offered in
the day of the fast for all their sins. Hearken diligently, (my brethren,) and all the priests, and they
only shall eat the inwards not washed with vinegar.

5 Why so? because I know that when I shall hereafter offer my flesh for the sins of a new people,
ye will give me vinegar to drink mixed with gall; therefore do ye only eat, the people fasting the
while, and lamenting in sackcloth and ashes.

6 And that he might foreshow that he was to suffer for them, hear then how he appointed it.

7 Take, says he, two goats, fair and alike, and offer them; and let the high priest take one of them
for a burnt offering. And what shalt be done with the other? Let it, says he, be accursed.

8 Consider how exactly this appears to have been a type of Jesus. And let all the congregation
spit upon it, and prick it; and put the scarlet wool about its head; and thus let it be carried forth
into the wilderness.

9 And this being done, he that was appointed to convey the goat, led it into the wilderness, and
took away the scarlet wool, and put it upon a thorn bush, whose young sprouts, when we find
them in the field, we are wont to eat: so the fruit of that thorn only is sweet.

10 And to what end was this ceremony? Consider; one was offered upon the altar, the other was
accursed.

11 And why was that which was accursed crowned? Because they shall see Christ on that day
having a scarlet garment about his body; and shall say: Is not this he whom we crucified; having
despised him, pierced him, mocked him? Certainly, this is he, who then said, that he was the Son

12 As therefore he shall be then like to what he was on earth, so were the Jews heretofore
commanded, to take two goats fair and equal; that when they shall see (our Saviour) hereafter
coming (in the clouds of heaven), they may be amazed at the likeness of the goats.

13 Wherefore ye here again see a type of Jesus who was to suffer for us.

14 But what then signifies this, That the wool was to be put into the midst of the thorns?

15 This also is a figure of Jesus, set out to the church. For as he who would take away the scarlet
wool must undergo many difficulties, because that thorn was very sharp, and with difficulty get it:
So, says Christ, they that will see me, and come to my kingdom, must through many afflictions
and troubles attain unto me.

CHAPTER VII.

The red heifer, another type of Christ.

BUT what type do ye suppose it to have been, where it is commanded to the people of Israel,
that grown persons in whom sins are come to perfection, should offer an heifer, and after they
had killed it should burn the same;

2 But then young men should take up the ashes and put them in vessels; and tie a piece of
scarlet wool and hyssop upon a stick, and so the young men should sprinkle every one of the
people, and they should be clear from their sins?

3 Consider how all these are delivered in a figure to us.

4 This heifer is Jesus Christ; the wicked men that were to offer it are those sinners who brought
him to death; who afterwards have no more to do with it: for the sinners have no more the honour
of handling it:

5 But the young men that performed the sprinkling, signified those who preach to us the
forgiveness of sins, and the purification of the heart, to whom the Lord gave authority to preach
his Gospel: being at the beginning twelve, to signify the tribes, because there were twelve tribes
of Israel.

6 But why were there three young men appointed to sprinkle? To denote Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob, because they were great before God.

7 And why was the wool put upon a stick? Because the kingdom of Jesus was founded upon the
cross; and therefore they that put their trust in him, shall live for ever.

8 But why was the wool and hyssop put together? To signify that in the kingdom of Christ there
shall be evil and filthy days, in which however, we shall be saved; and because he that has any
disease in the flesh by some filthy humours, is cured by hyssop.

9 Wherefore these things being thus done, are to us indeed evident, but to the Jews they are
obscure; because they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the circumcision of the ears and how in the first institution of circumcision Abraham mystically
foretold Christ by name.

AND therefore the Scripture again speaks concerning our ears, that God has circumcised them,
together with our hearts. For thus saith the Lord by the holy prophet: By the hearing of the ear
they obeyed me.

2 And again, They who are afar off, shall hear and understand what things I have done. And
again, Circumcise your hearts, saith the Lord.

3 And again be saith, Hear O Israel! For thus saith the Lord thy God. And again the Spirit of God
prophesieth, saying: Who is there that would live for ever, let him hear the voice of my Son.

4 And again, Hear, O Heavens, and give ear O Earth! Because the Lord has spoken these
things for a witness.

5 And again, he saith, Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of the people. And again, Hear O
children! The voice of one crying in the wilderness.

6 Wherefore he has circumcised our ears, that we should hear his word, and believe. But as for
that circumcision, in which the Jews trust, it is abolished: for the circumcision of which God spake,
was not of the flesh.

7 But they have transgressed his commands, because the evil one hath deceived them. For
thus God bespeaks them; Thus saith the Lord your God, (Here I find the new law) Sow not
among thorns; but circumcise yourselves to the Lord your God. And what doth he mean by this
saying? Hearken unto your Lord.

8 And again he saith, Circumcise the hardness of your heart, and harden not your neck. And
again, Behold, saith the Lord, all the nations are uncircumcised, (they have not lost their
fore-skin): but this people is uncircumcised in heart.

9 But you will say the Jews were circumcised for a sign. And so are all the Syrians and Arabians,
and all the idolatrous priests: but are they therefore of the covenant of Israel? And even the
Egyptians themselves are circumcised.

10 Understand therefore, children, these things more fully, that Abraham was the first, that
brought in circumcision, looking forward in the Spirit, to Jesus; circumcised, having received the
mystery of three letters.

11 For the Scripture says that Abraham circumcised three hundred and eighteen men of his
house. But what therefore was the mystery that was made known unto him!
12 Mark, first the eighteen, and next the three hundred. For the numeral letters of ten and eight
are T H. And these denote Jesus.

13 And because the cross was that by which we were to find grace, therefore he adds, three
hundred; the note of which is T (the figure of his cross). Wherefore by two letters he signified
Jesus, and by the third his cross.

14 He who has put the engrafted gift of his doctrine within us, knows that I never taught to anyone
a more certain truth: but I trust that ye are worthy of it.
CHAPTER IX.

That the commands of Moses concerning clean and unclean beasts, were all designed for a
spiritual signification.

BUT why did Moses say Ye shall not eat of the swine, neither the eagle nor the hawk; nor the
crow; nor any fish that has not a scale upon him?–I answer that, in the spiritual sense, he
comprehended three doctrines, that were to be gathered from thence.

2 Besides which he says to them in the book of Deuteronomy, And I will give my statutes unto
this people. Wherefore it is not the command of God that they should not eat these things; but
Moses in the spirit spake unto them.

3 Now the sow he forbad them to eat; meaning thus much: Thou shalt not join thyself to such
persons as are like unto swine, who, whilst they live in pleasure, forget their God; but when any
want pinches them, then they know the Lord: as the sow when she is full knows not her master,
but when she is hungry she makes a noise; and being again fed, is silent.

4 Neither, says he, shalt thou eat the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the kite, nor the crow; that is, thou
shalt not keep company with such kind of men as know not how by their labour and sweat to get
themselves food; but injuriously ravish away the things of others, and watch how to lay snares for
them; when at the same time they appear to live in perfect innocence.

3 So these birds alone (seek not food for themselves,) but sitting idle, seek how they may eat of
the flesh others have provided being destructive through their wickedness.

6 Neither, says he, shalt thou eat the lamprey, nor the polypus, nor the cuttle-fish; that is thou
shalt not be like such men, by seeking to converse with them who are altogether wicked and
adjudged to death. For so those fishes are alone accursed, that wallow in the mire, nor swim as
other fishes, but tumble in the dirt at the bottom of the deep.

7 But, he adds, neither shalt thou eat of the hare. To what end?–To signify this to us; Thou shalt
not be an adulterer, nor liken thyself to such persons. For the hare every year multiplies the
places of its conception; and as many years as it lives, so many it has.

8 Neither shalt thou eat of the hyena: that is, again, be not an adulterer, nor a corrupter of others;
neither be like to such. And wherefore so?–Because that creature every year changes its kind,
which is sometimes male and sometimes female.

9 For which cause also he justly hated the weazel; to the end that they should not be like such
persons who with their mouths commit wickedness by reason of their uncleanness; nor join
themselves with those impure women, who with their mouths commit wickedness. Because that
animal conceives with its mouth.

10 Moses, therefore, speaking as concerning meats, delivered indeed three great precepts to
them in the spiritual signification of those commands. But they according to the desires of the
flesh, understood him as if he had only meant it of meats.

11 And therefore David took aright the knowledge of his three-fold command, saying in like
manner:

12 Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly; as the fishes before
mentioned in the bottom of the deep, in darkness.

13 Nor stood in the way of sinners, as they who seem to fear the Lord, but yet sin, as the sow.

14 And hath not sat in the seat of the scorners; as those birds who sit and watch that they may
devour.

15 Here you have the law concerning meat perfectly set forth and according to the true
knowledge of it.

16 But, says Moses, ye shall eat all that divideth the hoof, and cheweth the cud. Signifying
thereby such an one as having taken his food, knows him that nourisheth him; and resting upon
him, rejoiceth in him.

17 And in this he spake well, having respect to the commandment. What, therefore, is it that he
says?–That we should hold fast to them that fear the Lord; with those who meditate on the
command of the word which they have received, in their heart; with those that declare the
righteous judgments of the Lord, and keep his commandments;

18 In short, with those who know that to meditate is a work of pleasure, and therefore exercise
themselves in the word of the Lord.

19 But why might they eat those that clave the hoof? Because the righteous liveth in this present
world; but his expectation is fixed upon the other. See, brethren, how admirably Moses
commanded these things.
20 But how should we thus know all this, and understand it? We, therefore, understanding aright
the commandments, speak as the Lord would have us. Wherefore he has circumcised our ears
and our hearts, that we might know these things.

Quoted from:

This is another book that I have not read but I felt that this text is interesting, and hopefully
interesting to you, the reader.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Barnabites:
a proselytising order of monks founded at Milan, where Barnabas was reported to have been
bishop, in 1530; bound, as the rest are, by the three monastic vows, and by a vow in addition,
not to sue for preferment in the Church.

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The Emperor Frederick III. supported Eugenius, and the council gradually melted away. At
length, in 1449, the pope died, Felix resigned, and Nicholas V. was recognised by the whole
Church. The decrees of the council were directed against the immorality of the clergy, the
indecorousness of certain festivals, the papal prerogatives and exactions, and dealt with the
election of popes and the procedure of the College of Cardinals. They were all confirmed by
Nicholas V., but are not recognised by modern Roman canonists.

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Thomass A Becket:
archbishop of Canterbury, born in London, of Norman parentage; studied at Oxford and
Bologna; entered the Church; was made Lord Chancellor; had a large and splendid retinue,
but on becoming archbishop, cast all pomp aside and became an ascetic, and devoted
himself to the vigorous discharge of the duties of his high office; declared for the
independence of the Church, and refused to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon (q. v.); King
Henry II. grew restive under his assumption of authority, and got rid of him by the hands of four
knights who, to please the king, shed his blood on the steps of the altar of Canterbury
Cathedral, for which outrage the king did penance four years afterwards at his tomb.

The struggle was one affecting the relative rights of Church and king, and the chief combatants
in the fray were both high-minded men, each inflexible in the assertion of his claims
(1119-1170).

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The History of Bel and the Dragon:
one of the books of the Apocrypha, a spurious addition to the book of Daniel, relates how
Daniel persuaded Cyrus of the vanity of idol-worship, and is intended to show its absurdity.

Quoted from:
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Quoted from:
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Pietro Bembo:
cardinal, an erudite man of letters and patron of literature and the arts, born at Venice;
secretary to Pope Leo X.; historiographer of Venice, and librarian of St. Mark’s; made cardinal
by Paul III., and bishop of Bergamo; a fastidious stylist and a stickler for purity in language
(1470-1547).

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The bank of the river is laid with continuous flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the
city itself is narrow, crocked, crowded, and dirty. Many thousand pilgrims visit it annually.

It is a seat of Hindu learning; there is also a government college. The river is spanned here by
a magnificent railway bridge. There is a large trade in country produce, English goods,
jewellery, and gems; while its brass-work, “Benares ware,” is famous.

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Benedict XIV., a native of Bologna, a man of marked scholarship and ability; a patron of
science and literature, who did much to purify the morals and elevate the character of the
clergy, and reform abuses in the Church.

Benedict, Biscop, an Anglo-Saxon monk, born in Northumbria; made two pilgrimages to
Rome; assumed the tonsure as a Benedictine monk in Provence; returned to England and
founded two monasteries on the Tyne, one at Wearmouth and another at Jarrow, making them
seats of learning; b. 628.

Benedict, St., the founder of Western monachism, born near Spoleto; left home at 14; passed
three years as a hermit, in a cavern near Subiaco, to prepare himself for God’s service;
attracted many to his retreat; appointed to an abbey, but left it; founded 12 monasteries of his
own; though possessed of no scholarship, composed his “Regula Monachorum,” which
formed the rule of his order; represented in art as accompanied by a raven with sometimes a
loaf in his bill, or surrounded by thorns or by howling demons (480-543).

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
George Berkeley:
bishop of Cloyne, born in Kilkenny; a philanthropic man, who conducted in a self-sacrificing
spirit practical schemes for the good of humanity, which failed, but the interest in whom has for
long centred, and still centres, in his philosophic teaching, his own interest in which was that it
contributed to clear up our idea of God and consolidate our faith in Him, and it is known in
philosophy as Idealism; only it must be understood, his idealism is not, as it was absurdly
conceived to be, a denial of the existence of matter, but is an assertion of the doctrine that the
universe, with every particular in it, as man sees it and knows it, is not the creation of matter but
the creation of mind, and a reflex of the Eternal Reason that creates and dwells in both it and
him; for as Dr. Stirling says, “the object can only be known in the subject, and therefore is
subjective, and if subjective, ideal.” The outer, as regards our knowledge of it, is within; such is
Berkeley’s fundamental philosophical principle, and it is a principle radical to the whole recent
philosophy of Europe (1684-1753).

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Bernard of Morlaix, a monk of Cluny, of the 11th century; wrote a poem entitled “De Contemptu
Mundi,” translated by Dr. Neale, including “Jerusalem the Golden.”

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Bethany:

Bethany is a Biblical village that is found in the New Testament. Some say that
the name Bethany originally meant “House of the Poor” or something simular but
this has been debated on for some time.

The name Bethany has also been used as a name for a female.
There are various mentions of this name in the Bible and I have shown some examples
below:

Johh chapter 11, verse 1
Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and
her sister Martha.

Matthew chapter 26, verse 6
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

Mark chapter 11, verse 1
And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount
of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,

Luke chapter 24, verse 50
And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

Jesus spend some time in Bethany and it seems that he was familier with the place and
its people. Of course Jesus had friends there, and He stayed there. And Jesus was
annointed there as well:

Mark chapter 14, verse 3
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came
a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she
brake the box, and poured it on his head.

E-mail me at TwoPlayerKnowledge@xtra.co.nz for any questions.
To donate “FREE” Christian material to this software, see the “About” menu item.
All articles in this software are not to be sold or charged for, they were written
to help you become a more knowledgeable Christian, to help you believe in God & Love.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bhagavad:
Bhagavad Gîtâ, (i. e. Song of Krishna), a poem introduced into the Mahâbhârata, divided into
three sections, and each section into six chapters, called Upanishads; being a series of
mystical lectures addressed by Krishna to his royal pupil Arjuna on the eve of a battle, from
which he shrunk, as it was with his own kindred; the whole conceived from the point of view or
belief, calculated to allay the scruples of Arjuna, which regards the extinction of existence as
absorption in the Deity.

Quoted from:
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The Old Testament was translated into Greek at Alexandria by 72 Jews, 280 B.C., and is
known as the Septuagint; and the whole book, Old and New, was translated into Latin in a
grotto near Bethlehem by St. Jerome, A.D. 385-404, and is known as the Vulgate, after which
the two came to be regarded by the Church as of equal divine authority and as sections of one
book. It may be permitted to note that the Bible is written throughout, not in a speculative or a
scientific, but a spiritual interest, and that its final aim is to guide men in the way of life.

The spirit in which it is composed is the spirit of conviction; its essence, both in the root of it and
the fruit of it, is faith, and that primarily in a moral power above, and ultimately a moral principle
within, both equally divine. The one principle of the book is that loyalty to the divine
commands is the one foundation of all well-being, individual and social.

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jacques Bénigne Bossuet:
bishop of Meaux, born at Dijon, surnamed the “Eagle of Meaux,” of the see of which he
became bishop; one of the greatest of French pulpit orators, and one of the ablest defenders
of the doctrines of the Catholic Church; the great aim of his life the conversion of Protestants
back to the Catholic faith; took a leading part in establishing the rights of the Gallican clergy, or
rather of the Crown, as against the claims of the Pope; proved himself more a time-server than
a bold, outspoken champion of the truth; conceived a violent dislike to Madame Guyon, and to
Fénélon for his defence of her and her Quietists; and he is not clear of the guilt of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; wrote largely; his “Discourse on Universal History” is on
approved lines, and the first attempt at a philosophy of history; his Funeral Orations are
monuments of the most sublime eloquence; while his “Politique founded on Holy Scripture” is
a defence of the divine right of kings. “Bossuet,” says Professor Saintsbury, “was more of a
speaker than a writer. His excellence lies in his wonderful survey and grasp of the subject, in
the contagious enthusiasm and energy with which he attacks his point, and in his inexhaustible
metaphors and comparisons…. Though he is always aiming at the sublime, he scarcely ever
oversteps it, or falls into the bombastic or ridiculous…. The most unfortunate incident of his life
was his controversy with Fénélon” (1627-1704).

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Boyd, Zachary, a Scottish divine; regent of a Protestant college at Samur, in France; returned
to Scotland in consequence of the persecution of the Huguenots; became minister of Barony
Parish, Glasgow, and rector of the University; preached before Cromwell after the battle of
Dunbar; author of the “Last Battell of the Soule in Death” and “Zion’s Flowers,” being mainly
metrical versions of Scripture, called “Boyd’s Bible” (1585-1653).

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whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gautama Buddha:
or Sakya-muni, the founder of Buddhism about the 5th century B.C., born a Hindu, of an
intensely contemplative nature, the son of a king, who did everything in his power to tempt him
from a religious life, from which, however, in his contemplation of the vanity of existence,
nothing could detain him; retired into solitude at the age of 30, as Sakyamuni, i. e. solitary of
the Sakyas, his tribe; consulted religious books, could get no good out of them, till, by-and-by,
he abstracted himself more and more from everything external, when at the end of ten years,
as he sat brooding under the Bo-tree alone with the universe, soul with soul, the light of truth
rose full-orbed upon him, and he called himself henceforth and gave himself out as Buddha, i.
e. the Enlightened; now he said to himself, “I know it all,” as Mahomet in his way did after him,
and became a preacher to others of what had proved salvation to himself, which he continued
to do for 40 years, leaving behind him disciples, who went forth without sword, like Christ’s, to
preach what they, like Christ’s, believed was a gospel to every creature.

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Buddhism:
the religion of Buddha, a religion which, eschewing all speculation about God and the
universe, set itself solely to the work of salvation, the end of which was the merging of the
individual in the unity of being, and the “way” to which was the mortification of all private
passion and desire which mortification, when finished, was the Buddhist Nirvâna. This is the
primary doctrine of the Buddhist faith, which erelong became a formality, as all faiths of the
kind, or of this high order, ever tend to do. Buddha is not answerable for this, but his followers,
who in three successive councils resolved it into a system of formulæ, which Buddha, knowing
belike how the letter killeth and only the spirit giveth life, never attempted to do. Buddha wrote
none himself, but in some 300 years after his death his teachings assumed a canonical form,
under the name of Tripitaka, or triple basket, as it is called. Buddhism from the first was a
proselytising religion; it at one time overran the whole of India, and though it is now in small
favour there, it is, in such form as it has assumed, often a highly beggarly one, understood to
be the religion of 340 millions of the human race.

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John Bunyan:
author of the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” born in Elstow, near Bedford, the son of a tinker, and bred
himself to that humble craft; he was early visited with religious convictions, and brought, after a
time of resistance to them, to an earnest faith in the gospel of Christ, his witness for which to his
poor neighbours led to his imprisonment, an imprisonment which extended first and last over
twelve and a half years, and it was towards the close of it, and in the precincts of Bedford jail,
in the spring of 1676, that he dreamed his world-famous dream; here two-thirds of it were
written, the whole finished the year after, and published at the end of it; extended, it came out
eventually in two parts, but it is the first part that is the Pilgrim’s Progress, and ensures it the
place it holds in the religious literature of the world; encouraged by the success of it-for it leapt
into popularity at a bound-Bunyan wrote some sixty other books, but except this, his
masterpiece, not more than two of these, “Grace Abounding” and the “Holy War,” continue to
be read (1628-1688).

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John Calvin:
or Cauvin, the great Reformer, born at Noyon, in Picardy; devoted for a time to the law, was
sent to study at the university of Orleans, after having mastered Latin as a boy at Paris;
became acquainted with the Scriptures, and acquired a permanently theological bent;
professed the Protestant faith; proceeded to Paris; became the centre of a dangerous
religious excitement; had to flee for his life from France; retired to Basel, where he studied
Hebrew and wrote his great epoch-making book, the “Institutes of the Christian Religion”;
making after this for Strassburg, he chanced to pass through Geneva, was arrested as by the
hand of God to stay and help on God’s work in the place, but proceeded with such rigour that
he was expelled, though recalled after three years; on his return he proposed and established
his system of Church government, which allowed of no license in faith any more than conduct,
as witness the burning of Servetus for denying the doctrine of the Trinity; for twenty years he
held sway in Geneva, and for so long he was regarded as the head of the Reformed
Churches in Scotland, Switzerland, Holland, and France.

Besides his “Institutes,” he found time to write Commentaries on nearly all the books of the
Bible; was a man of masculine intellect and single-hearted devotion to duty, as ever in the
“Great Taskmaster’s” eye. His greatest work was his “Institutes,” published in Basel in
1535-36. It was written in Latin, and four years after translated by himself into French.

“In the translated form,” says Prof. Saintsbury, “it is beyond all question the first serious work of
great literary merit not historical in the history of French prose…. Considering that the whole of it
was written before the author of it was seven-and-twenty, it is perhaps the most remarkable
work of its particular kind to be anywhere found; the merits of it being those of full maturity and
elaborate preparation rather than of youthful exuberance” (1509-1564).

Calvinism, the theological system of Calvin, the chief characteristic of which is that it assigns all
in salvation to the sovereign action and persistent operation of Divine grace.

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The glory of the city is the University, founded in the 12th century, with its colleges housed in
stately buildings, chapels, libraries, museums, &c., which shares with Oxford the academic
prestige of England. It lays emphasis on mathematical, as Oxford on classical, culture. Among
its eminent men have been Bacon, Newton, Cromwell, Pitt, Thackeray, Spenser, Milton,
Dryden, Wordsworth, and Tennyson.

Cambridge University contains 17 colleges: Peterhouse, founded 1257; Clare College, 1326;
Pembroke, 1347; Gonville and Caius, 1348; Trinity Hall, 1350; Corpus Christi, 1352; King’s,
1441; Queens’, 1448; St. Catherine’s, 1473; Jesus, 1496; Christ’s, 1505; St John’s, 1511;
Magdalene, 1519; Trinity, 1546; Emmanuel, 1584; Sidney Sussex, 1598; and Downing, 1800.
Each college is a corporation by itself, governed by statutes sanctioned by the crown, and
capable of holding landed or other property.

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Campanile:
a tower for bells constructed beside a church, but not attached to it; very common in Italian
cities, the leaning tower of Pisa being one, and that of Florence one of the most famous.

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Capuchins:
monks of the Franciscan Order, founded in 1526, so called from a cowl they wear; they were a
mendicant order, and were twice over suppressed by the Pope, though they exist still in
Austria and Switzerland.

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These cardinal and sentinel virtues,” he adds, “are not only the means of protecting and
prolonging life itself, but are the chief guards or sources of the material means of life, and the
governing powers and princes of economy.”

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The refusal of the Pope to sanction this divorce led to the final rupture of the English Church
from the Church of Rome, and the emancipation of the nation from priestly tyranny (1483-1536).

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Catharine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II. of England, of the royal house of Portugal; was
unpopular in the country as a Catholic and neglected by her husband, on whose death,
however, she returned to Portugal, and did the duties ably of regent for her brother Don Pedro
(1638-1705).

Catharine of Sienna, born at Sienna, a sister of the Order of St. Dominic, and patron saint of the
Order; celebrated for her ecstasies and visions, and the marks which by favour of Christ she
bore on her body of His sufferings on the Cross (1347-1380). Festival, April 30. Besides her,
are other saints of the same name.

Catharine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI. of France, and wife of Henry V. of England, who,
on his marriage to her, was declared heir to the throne of France, with the result that their son
was afterwards, while but an infant, crowned king of both countries; becoming a widow, she
married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, whereby a grandson of his succeeded to the
English throne as Henry VII., and the first of the Tudors (1401-1438).

Catharine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. and the daughter of a Westmoreland knight; was of
the Protestant faith and obnoxious to the Catholic faction, who trumped up a charge against
her of heresy and treason, from which, however, she cleared herself to the satisfaction of the
king, over whom she retained her ascendency till his death; d. 1548.

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Cathedral:
the principal church in a diocese, and which contains the throne of the bishop as his seat of
authority; is of a rank corresponding to the dignity of the bishop; the governing body consists
of the dean and chapter.

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Catholic Emancipation, the name given to the emancipation in 1829 of the Roman Catholics of
the United Kingdom from disabilities which precluded their election to office in the State, so
that they are eligible now to any save the Lord Chancellorship of England and offices
representative of royalty.

Catholic Epistles, the name, equivalent to encyclical, given to certain epistles in the New
Testament not addressed to any community in particular, but to several, and given eventually
to all not written by St. Paul.

Catholic Majesty, a title given by the Pope to several Spanish monarchs for their zeal in the
defence of the Catholic faith.

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Thomas Charmers:
a celebrated Scotch ecclesiastic and pulpit orator, born at Anstruther, Fife; studied for the
Church, and entered the ministry; after he did so was for some years more engrossed with
physical studies and material interests than spiritual, but he by-and-by woke up to see and
feel that the spiritual interest was the sovereign one, and to the promotion of that he henceforth
devoted himself body and soul; it was for the sake of the spiritual he took the interest he did in
the ecclesiastical affairs of the nation, and that the Church might have scope and freedom to
discharge its spiritual functions was one chief ruling passion of his life, and it is no wonder he
bent all his energies on a movement in the Church to secure this object; he was not much of a
scholar or even a theologian, but a great man, and a great force in the religious life of his
country; though the first pulpit-orator of his day, and though he wrote largely, as well as
eloquently, he left no writings worthy of him except the “Astronomical Discourses” perhaps, to
perpetuate his memory; he was distinguished for his practical sagacity, and was an expert at
organisation; in his old age he was a most benignant, venerable-looking man: “It is a long
time,” wrote Carlyle to his mother, just after a visit he had paid him a few days before he
died–”it is a long time since I have spoken to so good and really pious-hearted and beautiful
old man” (1780-1847).

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Chivalry, Court of, a court established by Edward III., which took cognisance of questions of
honour and heraldry, as well as military offences.

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Chivalry, Court of, a court established by Edward III., which took cognisance of questions of
honour and heraldry, as well as military offences.

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“The total meaning of it,” he says, “was, and is, that the God who made earth and its creatures,
took, at a certain time upon the earth, the flesh and form of man; in that flesh sustained the pain
and died the death of the creature He had made; rose again after death into glorious human
life, and when the date of the human race is ended, will return in visible human form, and
render to every mail according to his work.

Christianity is the belief in, and love of, God thus manifested. Anything less than this,” he adds,
“the mere acceptance of the sayings of Christ, or assertion of any less than divine power in
His Being, may be, for aught I know, enough for virtue, peace, and safety; but they do not
make people Christians, or enable them to understand the heart of the simplest believer in the
old doctrine.”

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Chronicles i and ii:
two historical books of the Old Testament, the narratives of which, with additions and
omissions, run parallel with those of Samuel and Kings, but written from a priestly standpoint,
give the chief prominence to the history of Judah as the support in Jerusalem of the ritual of
which the priests were the custodians; Ezra and Nehemiah are continuations.

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Clement, the name of 14 Popes:
C. I., Pope from 91 to 100; one of the Apostolic Fathers; wrote an Epistle to the Church of
Corinth, with references to the Canonical books. C. II., Pope from 1046 to 1047. C. III., Pope from
1187 to 1191. C. IV., Pope from 1265 to 1268. C. V., Bertrand de Goth, Pope from 1305 to 1314;
transferred the seat of the Papacy to Avignon, and abolished the Order of the Knights
Templars. C. VI. Pope from 1342 to 1352; resided at Avignon. C. VII., Giulio de Medici, Pope
from 1523 to 1534; celebrated for his quarrels with Charles V. and Henry VIII., was made
prisoner in Rome by the Constable of Bourbon; refused to sanction the divorce of Henry VIII.,
and brought about the schism of England from the Holy See. C. VIII., Pope from 1592 to 1605; a
patron of Tasso’s; readmitted Henry IV. to the Church and the Jesuits to France. C. IX., Pope
from 1667 to 1669. C. X., Pope from 1670 to 1676. C. XI., Pope from 1700 to 1721; as Francesco
Albani opposed the Jansenists; issued the bull Unigenitus against them; supported the
Pretender and the claims of the Stuarts. C. XII., Pope from 1738 to 1740. C. XIII., Pope from 1758
to 1769. C. XIV., Pope from 1769 to 1774, Ganganelli, an able, liberal-minded, kind-hearted,
and upright man; abolished the Order of the Jesuits out of regard to the peace of the Church;
his death occurred not without suspicions of foul-play.

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Confessions of Faith:
are statements of doctrine very similar to Creeds, but usually longer and polemical, as well as
didactic; they are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with Protestantism; the 16th
century produced many, including the Sixty-seven Articles of the Swiss reformers, drawn up by
Zwingli in 1523; the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the work of Luther and Melanchthon, which
marked the breach with Rome; the Tetrapolitan Confession of the German Reformed Church,
1530; the Gallican Confession, 1559; and the Belgic Confession of 1561. In Britain the Scots
Confession, drawn up by John Knox in 1560; the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England in
1562; the Irish Articles in 1615; and the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1647; this last, the
work of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, has by its force of language, logical statement,
comprehensiveness, and dependence on Scripture, commended itself to the Presbyterian
Churches of all English-speaking peoples, and is the most widely recognised Protestant
statement of doctrine; it has as yet been modified only by the United Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, which adopted a Declaratory Statement regarding certain of its doctrines in 1879,
and by the Free Church of Scotland, which adopted a similar statement in 1890.

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But first, wash you, be clean; put away evil from your souls, and from before mine eyes, that
the dry land may appear. Learn to do good, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow, that
the earth may bring forth the green herb for meat, and the tree bearing fruit; and come, let us
reason together, saith the Lord, that there may be lights in the firmament of the heaven, and
they may shine upon the earth. That rich man asked of the good Master, what he should do
to attain eternal life. Let the good Master tell him (whom he thought no more than man; but He
is good because He is God), let Him tell him, if he would enter into life, he must keep the
commandments: let him put away from him the bitterness of malice and wickedness; not kill,
not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness; that the dry land may appear, and bring
forth the honouring of father and mother, and the love of our neighbour. All these (saith he) have
I kept. Whence then so many thorns, if the earth be fruitful? Go, root up the spreading thickets of
covetousness; sell that thou hast, and be filled with fruit, by giving to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven; and follow the Lord if thou wilt be perfect, associated with them,
among whom He speaketh wisdom, Who knoweth what to distribute to the day, and to the night,
that thou also mayest know it, and for thee there may be lights in the firmament of heaven; which
will not be, unless thy heart be there: nor will that either be, unless there thy treasure be; as thou
hast heard of the good Master. But that barren earth was grieved; and the thorns choked the
word.

Quoted from:
The Confessions of Saint Augustine
Translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3296/pg3296.html

The body was called Brownists after him, and Separatists, as well as “Independents.” The
several congregations are now united in what is called “The Congregational Union of England
and Wales.”

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Constantine, the name of 13 emperors who reigned at Rome or Byzantium between 306 and
1453.

Constantine I., called the Great, born in Moesia, son of Constantius Chlorus by Helena; on the
death of his father at York, where he accompanied him, was proclaimed Emperor by the
troops; this title being challenged by Maximian, his father-in-law, and Maxentius, his
brother-in-law, he took up arms against first the one and then the other, and defeated them;
when one day he saw a cross in the sky with the words By this Conquer in Greek, under this
sign, known as the labarum, which he adopted as his standard, he accordingly marched
straight to Rome, where he was acknowledged Emperor by the Senate in 312; and thereafter
an edict was issued named of Milan, granting toleration to the Christians; he had still to extend
his empire over the East, and having done so by the removal of Lucinius, he transferred the
seat of his empire to Byzantium, which hence got the name of Constantinople, i. e.
Constantine’s city; had himself baptized in 337 as a Christian, after having three years before
proclaimed Christianity the State religion (274-337).

Constantine Nicolaievitch, second son of the Czar Nicholas I.; was appointed grand-admiral
while but a boy; had command of the Baltic fleet during the Crimean war; came under
suspicion of sinister intriguing; became insane, and died in seclusion (1827-1892).

Constantine Paulovitch, Grand-duke of Russia, son of Paul I.; distinguished himself at
Austerlitz; was commander-in-chief in Poland, where he ruled as despot; waived his right to the
throne in favour of his brother Nicholas (1779-1831).

Constantine XIII., Palæologus, the last of the Greek emperors; had to defend Constantinople
against a besieging force of 300,000 under Mahomet II., and though he defended it bravely,
the city was taken by storm, and the Eastern empire ended in 1543.

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Corinth:
an ancient city of Greece, and one of the most flourishing, on an isthmus of the name
connecting the Peloponnesus with the mainland; a great centre of trade and of material wealth,
and as a centre of luxury a centre of vice; the seat of the worship of Aphrodité, a very different
goddess from Athene, to whom Athens was dedicated.

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To turn back from you current life, your current thought patterns, to turn away from being a
slave of evil then to go on to being a good decent loving Christian.

Matthew chapter 3, verse 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness
of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

To repent is to change your thinking of your life’s pattern and considering the way that it is
going and what a bleak future one has following the slavery of evil. Then to turn away from that
live of slavery to evil and go to the life of the narrow path of God taught by Jesus the Christ. A
genuine feeling of regret (sorrow) for the life that he or she has been living before they became
a believer in God.

The fact that a person can voluntarily repent and change his or her ways is a sure sign that we
were living a life of “reaction” which led us to evil as we grew up. Once we finally realise what
we were doing wrong we then changed our lifestyle and habits because we were able to see
and know the evil that was in our “old life” and the hold that it had on us. True sorrow and pain
are results of finally seeing the wrong that had been in your life. But that sorrow and pain are
also motavators to show you that you care about your life and want to change it for your own
good and for those who know and love you – all will gain and enjoy the new you – except those
who are still living in the sin that you have left behind as you mature as a Christian.

It is perfectly natural to grieve because of the old life and how you treated others but a solid
realization that God loves you and what Jesus did for you “and” that up until this point you were
a slave of evil without knowing it – with this knowledge and time you can come to forgive
yourself and others.

Psalm 51- Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to
know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
aloud of thy righteousness.
O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise…

By repentance we turn away from the sins of the past, and with faith we turn to God in
accepting Christ.

Luke chapter 13, verse 5
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Luke chapter 15, verse 10
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth.

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An incident in the life of Pilate, narrated by a secular historian, may best explain. Some years
before the trial of Jesus, Pilate, newly settled in the position of governor of Judaea, resolved to
remove the headquarters of the Roman army from Caesarea to Jerusalem; and the soldiers
entered the Holy City with their standards, each of which bore the image of the emperor. To the
Jewish mind these images were idolatrous, and their presence in Jerusalem was looked
upon as a gross insult and desecration. The foremost men of the city poured down to
Caesarea, where Pilate was staying, and besought him to remove them. He refused, and for
five days the discussion went on. At length he was so irritated that he ordered them to be
surrounded by soldiers, and threatened to have them put to death unless they became silent
and dispersed. They, however, in no way dismayed, threw themselves on the ground and laid
bare their necks, crying that they would rather die than have their city defiled. And the upshot
was that Pilate had to yield, and the army was withdrawn from Jerusalem.

Quoted from:
The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ, by James Stalker
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/21814/pg21814.html.utf8
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Mrs. Dudley told Eddie God taught the birds where to build their nests, and that he took care of
them, and provided food for them.

Is it not wonderful that God, who has built the world in which we live, and all the bright worlds we
can see in the sky, should attend to the wants of the robins and sparrows, and other birds
which he has made? We should forget them, if we had much of importance to attend to, or we
should be weary of providing for their wants; but our heavenly Father never forgets, and never
grows weary. He hears the ravens when they cry, and not even a sparrow falls to the ground
without his knowledge. “Are ye not much better than they?” our Saviour said to his disciples,
when endeavouring to teach them to trust in the love and parental care of God, and not to be
anxious in regard to their temporal welfare.

If God so cares for the birds, whose lives are short, and who have no souls to live in another
world, will he not much more care for those who are made in his image, and for whom the
Saviour died?

Seen by many as the word for all believers in God or “a god”.

People who have a truthful belief in God are seen as pious, just, devout and religious.

Christianity is called a religion.

Religion is the bases of civil society – Burke.

Genesis. The Almighty – to create the Earth, universe etc. Beginnings, new beginning. Origin.
The birth of the world. Formed from nothing. To create into being. God is the Creator. God
brought this world and the universe into existence.

The Creation:
Creation of the World
Creation of Man
The Fall of Man

The book of Genesis covers creation in the Bible – beginnings.
Genesis chapter 1, verse 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it
was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said,
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven.
And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under
the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:
and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it
was so.

There has been debate over the time period of the 6 day creation. But most (or many) believe
that it is exact and that the Earth etc was created in 6 days. I have heard and read many
theories about the 6 day creation time period. The main debate probably comes from the
feeling that we humans have of the little amount of work that “we” could do in a day. which
would come no where near what God could do in a day. We find it hard to fathom, or
comprehend what God can do in this limited amount of time compared with our efforts.

Of course with the New Testament we have with the teachings of Jesus a creation of new
things, a new beginning.

The Gospels – They could be called records of Jesus and his works.

The four accepted Gospels are:
Matthew – Mark – Luke – John.

Gospel is the modern form of the Anglo-Saxon word “godspell”.

Some thought that it meant “good story”. Some say it is “the truth”, such as
“the Gospel” or “I speak the gospel.”

To some it is accepted to mean “God story”.

The Gospels are the portrait of the person called the Christ. The person called Jesus and His
ministry, as Servant, as King, as Man, and as God.

Mark chapter 1, verse 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

Mark chapter 1, verse 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

The word gospel is now attached to the preaching of Jesus and said to be “The Good news”
or even the “glad tidings”. The good news to mankind.

The good news told by Jesus of the Kingdom of God, the freedom of God’s love, and the ways
of God that we should follow and the truth of salvation.

The first three gospels are called the “synoptic” Gospels. They are all similar in content
and can be seen as from different peoples eyes and that is said to explain the
differences. Like three people going to a fair and writing three different reports on
what they saw and these reports would all be different even though they all walked
around the fair together, side by side.

There is also a chance that these three Gospels were written at different times in
history, that along with human perception of the events would be another explanation
of the differences.

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The Gospels

The content of the New Testament books Matthew, Mark and Luke are much
the same and give the impression that they were written by the authors who were
giving their view of the events they had seen and wrote as they understood them
to be.

The Oxford Hypothesis
The Gospels were spread through word or mouth and eventually somebody wrote
them down. The written work has been referred to as Q (in German Quelle means
source and that is where Q comes from).

It appears that some people believe that the authors
of these Synoptic Gospels (Books Matthew, Mark and Luke) used the document Q
as a reference for their Gospels and that is why they are similar, yet different.

These are theories.

The Gospels

An example of the differences in the Bible Gospels:

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Luke 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor:
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luke 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that
weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you
from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

But still we have an understanding of what the text means and that is what is important.

The Gospels

Some of the text of the Gospels is unique to each Gospel.

There is also the Griesbach Hypothesis where it is said that Matthew first wrote his
Gospel. Then along came Luke who used Matthew’s Gospel, rearranged some of the
text and then added his own additional Gospel text. And last of all Mark abbreviated
or condensed what Matthew and Luke had written.

Historical texts always will gain great interest and especially Holy text due to the belief
that there is something special about this written work and we could gain some mystical
information from it. So there will always be scholars trying to work through old written
works, including the Christian and Hebrews text to try to understand more about them,
whether they hold truth etc.

There are many theories and claims where God’s scriptures are concerned. Ours is to gain
spiritual guidance from a Holy source to help us understand these written works.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Janet and Geoff Benge are a married writing team that have many years of writing
experience. While Geoff holds a degree in history, Janet is a former elementary
school teacher. Both were originally from the country New Zealand.

They both spent 10 years serving with Youth With A Mission.

There home is now in Orlando, Florida.

They write the very good Christian Heroes: Then and Now series of books about many wonderful
God serving people.
Such as Corrie Ten Boom,
William Booth,
Eric Liddell,
George Muller,
Hudson Taylor,
Ida Scudder and many more.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Martin Luther – The Great Reformer. Heroes of the Faith.
by Edwin P. Booth. Edited and abridged by Dan Harmon.

‘ “My conscience is captive to the Word of God….Here I stand, I can do no other.” ‘

Theologian, rebel, Bible translator, preacher, and prolific writer…the life of Martin Luther
defies simple description. Luther was, above all, a man of the people, one whose
greatest desire was to bring God’s Word in clear, concise language to the masses.

The Word of God was indeed all Luther needed to light the fire of the German Reformation.
Recognizing from Romans 1 that God gives believers in Christ a positive righteousness,
Luther posted his ninety-five theses on October 31, 1517, and from then on refused to be silenced.

Luther’s many achievements, including his astounding translation of the entire Bible into an
extremely readable German edition, underscore how profoundly he was used by God. One
man guided solely by the divine, with a real faith expressed with sincerity and force would
pull back the drapes of the oppressive Middle Ages and let in the Light.

ISBN 1-55748-727-8

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One Pastor’s Pilgrimage – Lonnie Houston Webb

“With Dad’s farming I tried to make a hand on the plow and with a hoe. I worked hard
but had a lot of time for hunting and fishing on rainy days and Saturdays.”

“Dan had not been ridden for some time and the new saddle frightened him.
As I started to mount he made a jump and I landed behind the saddle and he took
off running and pitching.”

“I put my dollar watch down on the pulpit as I had seen preachers do. I wanted to make
sure I preached at least twenty minutes. I preached through my first outline and found I
had only used three minutes.”

“Dr. Baines had recently died and Mrs. Baines said just before he died that he motioned
for her to come near … He whispered, ‘Tell the boys, tell the boys, preach the Word.”‘

“Two of the boys led my milk cow down to the camp and we staked her on the Johnson
grass near the camp site. We milked her twice a day so we had plenty of fresh milk for
everyone.”

“I saw the three men who escaped from prison drive in .., I knew they were armed and
would not be taken alive.”

“The big waves were throwing water over into the boat. I had a gallon bucket that I used
to dip water. When we got ashore, Pringle said, ‘Have you been praying?’ My reply was,
‘No, I have been dipping water.'”

“Sinda and I were standing by Mother’s bed and I had hold of her hand when she took
her final breath and slipped away into the other world. I bowed my head and said a little
prayer of thanksgiving that she had finally gone into a land where ‘there shall be no
more death,’ Rev. 21:4.”

“The doctor said, ‘Mr. Webb you can’t live with that infection.’ Dads reply was,
Who said that I have to live? I am almost 98 years old and when 1 die that old
leg will still be in place.'”

“Now we two leisurely walk those same old grounds
Counting our blessings, and following the hounds
Of golden memories, each one a treasure
That gladdens our hearts beyond all measure.”

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Biblicist – One skilled of biblical knowledge.

Laity – The people, as distinguished from the clergy; non-professional people.

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Meanings for righteous (a good person of goodness and lovingkindness):

Being just,
Pious,
True,
Honest,
Virtuous.

Righteousness:
Integrity,
Purity of heart and rectitude of life,
Justice.
Doing right naturally, without regret, and knowing that it is right to live so.

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Theology – study of God, religious truth. Study and thought on religious questions.
Opinions about God, religions, and religious matters. Religious study.

Synagogue – A Jewish place of worship.

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Abba = The Aramaic term for Father.

The Bible
There are many “Bibles” in this world all with claims about them.

Some examples are:

Qumran Bible, Hebrew Bible, Marcionite Bible, Wyclif’s Bible, the German Luther Bible,
King James Bible, Tyndale’s New Testament translation, the Froschauer Bible etc.

In some Bibles there are different books, or at least the Bibles are different in some way.
Each one believed to be the truth due to belief and faith in it’s text. Today millions of people
use the Canon Bible layout, some with variations. The Bible has to be the most translated book
in the world – even today more translations are being attempted.

Translations come from a love of God and a want to know the truth of all, of everything and the hope
that we people can come to understand the best that we can what God had planned for us and
has planned for us in the future. Love for God is the reason for the search for truth.

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The Bible and its many translations

There are many translations of the Christian Bible today which adds greatly
to the confusion about which Bible holds the truth of God and the teachings of Jesus.

Some variations are: American Standard Bible, King James Version,
New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New International Version,
The Living Bible, The Good News Bible, and some children’s Bible versions.

As well as the many different translations there is much controversy about
which Bible is the “true Word of God”. Deep feelings and beliefs are added
to the discussions causing many bad feelings and loss of understanding.

Many church denominations have their own Bibles that they use and expect
their congregations to use when in church services.

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Speaking to some young people…

“You are the future of family life. In that future you can make your life something beautiful for God,
a pure love. That you love a girl and that you love a boy is beautiful but don’t spoil it, don’t destroy it.
Keep it pure. Keep your heart virgin. Keep your love virgin so that on the day of your marriage you can
give something beautiful to each other – the joy of pure love.”

– Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Amazing Grace – Words: John Newton (1779)

Amazing grace!
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Christian theology:

The discussion, thought and ideas of the Christian faith. People use rational analysis
and argument to understand, explain, test, figure the truths of, defend or promote Christianity.

Much has happened since the beginning of time. Much has happened since Jesus made such
a big impact on this world with teaching that still today amazes the world as we try to
understand that teaching and what it means to us as people and to the world and good and evil.

Christians have had many theological disagreements since the time of Jesus causing much
confusion. Many theological disputes have given rise to many schisms and different Christian
denominations, sects and movements. All this thought and discussion from many different people,
from many walks of life greatly increase the discussion but also add to the confusion that we
know today as Christianity.

Creation:

The Creation of the world and mankind – Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 to Chapter 2, verse 25.

Creation of the World – Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 – Chapter 2, verse 3.

The Garden of Eden – Genesis 2.

Creation of Man – Genesis chapter 2, verse 4 to verse 25.
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St Paul

Thirteen books in the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Paul of Tarsus and
they are the Pauline epistles. Over history people have disputed who wrote many of
the books in the Bible, Paul’s works have not escaped the question of authorship
(Pauline authorship).

Paul was a notable Christian of early times and his written works inspire Christians all
around the world today. Followers of St Paul are sometimes called Pauline Christians.
His original name was Saul. Act chapter 23, verse 6 has Paul stating that “I am a Pharisee, the
son of a Pharisee!” He said that he persecuted the church of God, the followers of Jesus.

He has a revelation on the road to Damascus Acts chapter 9, verse 3. He lost his sight
(temporarily blinded):

‘Act 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.’

The Fall:

The Fall – Genesis chapter 3, verse 1 to chapter 5, verse 32.

Beginning of sin – Genesis chapter 3 verses 1 to 7.

The Fall of Man Genesis chapter 3, verse 1 to chapter 24.

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There are 150 Psalms in the Bible. Psalm 119 has 176 verses.

The book of Psalms is the longest with the highest word count and chapters which add
up to one hundred and fifty. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and has a total
of 176 verses. The Psalms also contain the shortest chapter in the Bible which is Psalm 117
and this consists of only two verses.

The middle of the Bible is Psalm 117.

There are 594 chapters before Psalm 117 and 594 chapters after Psalm 117, which
makes it the mid-point of the Bible.

The Psalms can be full of joy for god and cries of pain and anguish. They also hold
many wonderful truths, poetry of old times and secrets and Holy guidance.

The wise turn to the Psalms for enjoyment, help, faith and guidance.

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God asked Jeremiah to write for Him, ‘Jeremiah Chapter 30, verse 2 Thus speaketh the LORD
God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.’ Of course
Jeremiah did as he was asked and wrote the book of Jeremiah.

2 Timothy Chapter 3, verse 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

There are two main parts to the Bible. The first part, the Old Testament was written
before Jesus the Christ was born. The second part, The New Testament was written
after Jesus was born.

There are 39 books in the Old Testament. There are 27 books in the New Testament.

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2 Timothy Chapter 3, verse 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The Christian would tell you that this book shows the way to God’s love and salvation plan
and how you can become saved.

Luke Chapter 11, verse 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God,
and keep it.

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Ask a Christian about the Bible and they are more than likely to tell you that the Bible is
God’s Holy Word, and that it is God’s message to us. This Christian will also tell you that
God wrote the Bible as He is the true author of its contents, although many people wrote it.
You would be told that Adam & Eve disobeyed God, they committed a major transgression
against God and were immediately punished. This is called the “fall” of humanity.

Adam & Eve were rejected from the Garden of Eden.

All have sinned, the punishment for sin is death. Jesus took all the punishments for us.
You would be told to believe that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God, He died in our place.

You can then pray a prayer similar to this:

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I open my heart to you, now, today.
Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and
heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always. In your glorious name,
Amen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ask a Christian about being saved and you would be told that Adam & Eve disobeyed
God, they committed a major transgression against God and were immediately punished.
This is called the “fall” of humanity. Adam & Eve were rejected from the Garden of Eden.

All have sinned, the punishment for sin is death. Jesus took all the punishments for us.
You would be told to believe that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God, He died in our place.

You can then pray a prayer similar to this:

Dear God,
I come to You in the Name of Jesus. I know that I am a sinner. I open my heart
to you, now, today.

Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and
heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always. In your glorious name,
Amen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After you pray to God for the first time and realise that your life must now change, you
have the choice of two paths to travel, and only one is God’s way for you to live.

You could see it this way. There is a fork in the road and you choose the wide path
of Satan’s or the narrow, but correct path of God’s.

Another way of seeing it is like this.

You walk down a wide road. On either side are many tables of temptations and goods
of all sorts in many flavours, colours and designs.

As you walk you can veer off to the left and right being tempted and sinning, or you can
stay in the middle and only taking what you need as you pass it. Doing this you take what
is often called the narrow path.

The narrow path of righteousness is where you go through the life of sin only taking what is
good and avoiding all the evils offered to you, and avoid being greedy and taking more than
you need.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Have your circumstances changed for the worse?
Check your heart to see if you have drifted from Gods ways – Joe Stubbs.

A GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT.

“Dec. 17.–I was rather cast down last evening and this morning about the matter,
questioning whether I ought to be engaged in this way, and was led to ask the Lord
to give me some further encouragement. Soon after were sent by a brother two pieces
of print, the one seven and the other 23¾ yards, 6¾ yards of calico, four pieces of lining,
about four yards altogether, a sheet, and a yard measure. This evening another
brother brought a clothes horse, three frocks, four pinafores, six handkerchiefs, three
counterpanes, one blanket, two pewter salt cellars, six tin cups, and six metal tea spoons;
he also brought 3s. 6d. given to him by three different individuals. At the same time he told
me that it had been put into the heart of an individual to send to-morrow £100.”
– George Müller.
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ONE THOUSAND POUNDS. – George Müller.

“June 15, 1837.–To-day I gave myself once more earnestly to prayer respecting
the remainder of the £1000. This evening £5 was given, so that now the whole
sum is made up. To the Glory of the Lord, whose I am, and whom I serve, I would
state again, that every shilling of this money, and all the articles of clothing and
furniture, which have been mentioned in the foregoing pages, have been given
to me, _without one single individual having been asked by me for anything_.”

ORPHANS FOR THE BUILDING.

In a third statement, containing the announcement of the opening of the Orphan-House,
for destitute female children, and a proposal for the establishment of an Infant Orphan-House,
which was sent to the press on May 18, 1836, Mr. Müller wrote:– “So far as I remember, I
brought even the most minute circumstances concerning the Orphan-House before the
Lord in my petitions, being conscious of my own weakness and ignorance. There was,
however, one point I never had prayed about, namely that the Lord would send children;
for I naturally took it for granted that there would be plenty of applications. The nearer,
however, the day came which had been appointed for receiving applications, the more
I had a secret consciousness, that the Lord might disappoint my natural expectations,
and show me that I could not prosper in one single thing without Him. The appointed time
came, and not even one application was made. I had before this been repeatedly tried,
whether I might not, after all, against the Lord’s mind, have engaged in the work. This
circumstance now led me to lie low before my God in prayer the whole of the evening,
February 3, and to examine my heart once more as to all the motives concerning it; and
being able, as formerly, to say, that His glory was my _chief aim_,_i. e._, that it might be
seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in the living God,–and that my _second aim_ was the
spiritual welfare of the orphan-children,–and the _third_ their bodily welfare; and still continuing
in prayer, I was at last brought to this state, that I could say _from my heart_, that I should
rejoice in God being glorified in this matter, though it were by _bringing the whole to nothing_.
But as still, after all, it seemed to me more tending to the glory of God, to establish and
prosper the Orphan-House, I could then ask Him heartily, to send applications. I enjoyed
now a peaceful state of heart concerning the subject, and was also more assured than
ever that God would establish it. _The very next day_, February 4, the first application
was made, and since then 42 more have been made.”

The Bible

Some translations of the Bible can have changes made to them that are not the
same as other Bibles so here in this software we are trying to remain true to the
main Bible structure or the King James Version.

I have read that some verses have been dropped from some translations for whatever
reason so that confuses the issue greatly if you are using this software try to remember
that we are basing this all on the King James Version which is the Bible I use and is my
main reference.

But whether you use the King James Version or not I do hope that you will get one to use
with this software.

The KJV – The King James Version of the Bible.

Known to many as the Authorized version was first published in 1611.

Said by some to be the Bible of God because of the beauty of the language used.

Over the years there has been (as with much Christian based material and theories)
much controversy about the King James Version itself and other versions of the Bible.
The main claim is that the meanings of the words used in the King James Version
have changed as the English language has progressed since the year 1611 up
to now.

But those who use the King James Version will tell you that it is not that hard to be
able to understand this old text and the meanings of the words. If you go to Bible study
or to a church that uses the King James Version you will find that you will pick up on that
old English in no time at all.

There are many who believe that the KJV is the only true word of God.

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May 18, 1836, Mr. George Müller wrote:–

“So far as I remember, I brought even the most minute circumstances concerning
the Orphan-House before the Lord in my petitions, being conscious of my own
weakness and ignorance. There was, however, one point I never had prayed about,
namely that the Lord would send children; for I naturally took it for granted that there
would be plenty of applications.

The nearer, however, the day came which had been appointed for receiving applications,
the more I had a secret consciousness, that the Lord might disappoint my natural expectations,
and show me that I could not prosper in one single thing without Him. The appointed time
came, and not even one application was made. I had before this been repeatedly tried,
whether I might not, after all, against the Lord’s mind, have engaged in the work. This
circumstance now led me to lie low before my God in prayer the whole of the evening,
February 3, and to examine my heart once more as to all the motives concerning it; and
being able, as formerly, to say, that His glory was my _chief aim_,_i. e._, that it might be
seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in the living God,–and that my _second aim_ was the
spiritual welfare of the orphan-children,–and the _third_ their bodily welfare; and still continuing
in prayer, I was at last brought to this state, that I could say _from my heart_, that I should rejoice
in God being glorified in this matter, though it were by _bringing the whole to nothing_. But as still,
after all, it seemed to me more tending to the glory of God, to establish and prosper the
Orphan-House, I could then ask Him heartily, to send applications. I enjoyed now a peaceful
state of heart concerning the subject, and was also more assured than ever that God would
establish it. _The very next day_, February 4, the first application was made, and since then
42 more have been made.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“JUST FOR TO-DAY.”

Later on, when there were nearly 100 persons to be maintained, and the funds
were reduced to about £20, Mr. Müller writes:–

“July 22 [1838].–This evening I was walking in our little garden, meditating on
Heb. xiii. 8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Whilst
meditating on His unchangeable love, power, wisdom, &c.–and turning all, as I
went on, into prayer respecting myself; and whilst applying likewise His
unchangeable love, and power and wisdom, &c., both to my present spiritual and
temporal circumstances:–all at once the present need of the Orphan-House was
brought to my mind. Immediately I was led to say to myself, Jesus in His love and
power has hitherto supplied me with what I have needed for the Orphans, and in the
same unchangeable love and power He will provide me with what I may need for
the future. A flow of joy came into my soul whilst realising thus the unchangeableness
of our adorable Lord. About one minute after, a letter was brought me, enclosing a
bill for £20. In it was written: “Will you apply the amount of the enclosed bill to the
furtherance of the objects of your Scriptural Knowledge Society, or of your Orphan
Establishment, or in the work and cause of our Master in any way that He Himself,
on your application to Him, may point out to you. It is not a great sum, but it is a
sufficient provision for the exigency of to-day; and it is for _to-day’s_ exigencies,
that, ordinarily, the Lord provides. To-morrow, as it brings its demands, will find its supply, etc.”

“[Of this £20 I took £10 for the Orphan fund, and £10 for trip other objects, and was
thus enabled to meet the expenses of about £34 which, in connection with the
Orphan-Houses, came upon me within four days afterwards, and which I knew
beforehand would come.]”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WAITING FOR HELP. – George Müller.

“Nov. 21, 1838.–Never were we so reduced in funds as to-day. There was not a single halfpenny in hand between the matrons of the three houses. Nevertheless
there was a good dinner, and by managing so as to help one another with bread, etc., there was a prospect of getting over this day also; but for none of the
houses had we the prospect of being able to take in bread. When I left the brethren and sisters at one o’clock, after prayer, I told them that we must wait for help,
and see how the Lord would deliver us this time. I was sure of help, but we were indeed straitened. When I came to Kingsdown, I felt that I needed more exercise,
being very cold; wherefore I went not the nearest way home, but round by Clarence Place. About twenty yards from my house, I met a brother who walked back
with me, and after a little conversation gave me £10 to be handed over to the brethren, the deacons, towards providing the poor saints with coals, blankets and
warm clothing; also £5 for the Orphans, and £5 for the other objects of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. The brother had called twice while I was gone to the
Orphan-Houses, and had I now been _one half minute_ later, I should have missed him. But the Lord knew our need, and therefore allowed me to meet him. I sent
off the £5 immediately to the matrons.”
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The Law Books:

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The History Books:

Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
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The Major Prophets Books:

Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
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The Minor Prophets Books:

Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
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The New Testament::

MATTHEW
MARK
LUKE
JOHN
ACTS
ROMANS
1 CORINTHIANS
2 CORINTHIANS
GALATIANS
EPHESIANS
PHILIPPIANS
COLOSSIANS
1 THESSALONIANS
2 THESSALONIANS
1 TIMOTHY
2 TIMOTHY
TITUS
PHILEMON
HEBREWS
JAMES
1 PETER
2 PETER
1 JOHN
2 JOHN
3 JOHN
JUDE
REVELATION
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The Old Testament:

GENESIS
EXODUS
LEVITICUS
NUMBERS
DEUTERONOMY
JOSHUA
JUDGES
RUTH
1 SAMUEL
2 SAMUEL
1 KINGS
2 KINGS
1 CHRONICLES
2 CHRONICLES
EZRA
NEHEMIAH
ESTHER
JOB
PSALMS
PROVERBS
ECCLESIASTES
SONG OF SOLOMON
ISAIAH
JEREMIAH
LAMENTATIONS
EZEKIEL
DANIEL
HOSEA
JOEL
AMOS
OBADIAH
JONAH
MICAH
NAHUM
HABAKKUK
ZEPHANIAH
HAGGAI
ZECHARIAH
MALACHI
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The Gospel of Mark:

The book of Mark (Mark = Marcus in Latin) tells of Jesus the servant and of the sacrifice
of the humble with love for the weak sinful people. The Hebrew for Mark is John.

With 16 chapters compared with the other four Cannon Gospels the book of Mark
is short but with the story of Jesus walking, serving, healing, teaching and then dying
for sinful people.

Mark chapter 10, verse 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Many scholars believed that the book of Mark was the first Gospel but there is confusion
with the dates of the Gospels so it is hard to prove.

The miracles of Christ are to show the power of God, forgiveness and Christ’s compassion
for the fallen people that have lost their way in lives corrupted by sin and being lost from God.
Christ’s compassion shows that God cares, and Christ cares for you, the lost sinner. Christ’s
compassion shows love for the sinner who either knows or does not realize that their lives are
lost in sin. The sacrifice that Christ had to deal with were from genuine love to people everywhere.

Mark chapter 8, verse 29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

Points to note in the book of Mark:

The beginning of the Gospel:
Mark chapter 1, verse 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

He (Jesus) was tempted by Satan:
Mark chapter 1, verse 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan;
and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

His teaching…
Mark chapter 4, verse 1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was
gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea;
and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

Mark chapter 4, verse 2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, …

Mark chapter 8, verse 27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi:
and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
Mark chapter 8, verse 28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others,
Mark chapter 8, verse 29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

The Last Supper, arrest and crucifixion.

The Gospel of Luke:

This is a long Gospel which has been called the most “historical” of the Gospels
due to the mention of places and people who lived at the time of Christ.

We must realise that the Gospels were first spoken and not written down
as far as we know. The Gospels were written down some years after Jesus left the
scene.

Luke is a Greek name and the ancient title to this Gospel was According to Luke.
(Kata Loukon). He has been reffered to as Luke the beloved physician. Luke
is considered as the only Gentile writer for the New Testament.

Many support Luke as the writer of the Gospel of Luke and Acts. He wrote his Gospel
to Theophilus:
Luke chapter 1, verse 3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

It appears that “Theophilus” was somebody of highstanding as he is called by Luke as
“most excellent” although this could be that Luke just being affectionate to his friend.

In my search for the word “Luke” in the New Testament I found it 3 times:

Colossians chapter 4, verse 14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.
2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee:
for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
The third time is the title to the Gospel of Luke.

Points to note in the book of Luke:

Luke chapter 1, verse 1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a
declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Luke chapter 1, verse 2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning
were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
Luke chapter 1, verse 3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Luke chapter 1, verse 4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein
thou hast been instructed.

Luke chapter 15 saw Jesus speaking of the three parables:

The lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.

Luke chapter 19, verse 10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE:

Fundamental to any first-hand knowledge of the Bible is the reading of the
Holy Book itself, and all the commentaries in the world can not be
substituted for it…

…And it should be done in an orderly and scientific way. One of the greatest
marvels and most convincing evidences of the divinity of the Bible is its
unity. Although composed of sixty-six different books, written by different
authors at widely different times, it has a single plan and purpose in all its
history, prophecy and doctrine both in the Old Testament and the New,
and it is vital to its understanding that this be recognized in our approach
to it.’ – James M Gray. CONCISE BIBLE COMMENTARY by James Gray.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Gospel of John:

According to John (Kata Ioannen).

John and his brother James were called the Sons of Thunder.

Mark chapter 3, verse 17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James;
and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:

James and John were the sons of Zebedee.

The Gospel of John is the odd Gospel out. This is the one that does not match the others
as Sesame Street would put it. The first three Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke are
called the synoptic Gospels and this is because they describe many of the same events.
These events may be written somewhat differently, but they are still the same events.

John mentions events, history and teachings that are not found in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Aaron married Elisheba:

Exodus chapter 6, verse 23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab,
sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Nadab and Abihu are recorded as dying in Leviticus 10.

Numbers chapter 33, verse 38 And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the
commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of
Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.

Numbers chapter 33, verse 39 And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years
old when he died in mount Hor.

Aaron was succeeded by his oldest living son, Eleazar. Eleazar and Ithamar were
good and pious; and from them descended the long line of priests. These priests
were committed the ceremonial law of Israel.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Bible, or the Book of God, is a collection of writings commenced not
later than 1500 B.C., and completed about 100 A.D. It is called by Irenaeus (born 120 A.D.)
“divine writings”, and by Clemens Alexandrinus (died 220 A.D.) “Scriptures, the
God-inspired Scriptures.”

Hence, it has been designated the Canon, or the Canonical Scriptures, because, including all
and only the writings given by inspiration of God, it is the canon or rule of
faith and practice for man. It is divided into the Old and New Testaments.

The former testament is written in Hebrew proper (except Jeremiah 10:11; Ezra 4:8-6:18;
7:12-26; and Daniel 2:4-7:28, which are in Chaldee (Aramaic)); the
latter testament is in Greek.

Quoted from:
THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARY COMMENTARY
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Volume 1 –
Genesis
By James G. Murphy
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Parable:

Parable has been generally defined, “A comparison or similitude, in which
one thing is compared with another; especially spiritual things with natural,
by which means these spiritual things are better understood, and make a
deeper impression on the attentive mind.”

This definition is pretty correct, especially in reference to the parables of our
blessed Lord. Or parable may be more generally defined, “

A representation of any matter accommodated in the way of similitude to the
real subject, in order to delineate its different parts with the greater force and
perspicuity.”

This definition is applicable to parables in their more general and extended sense.

Quoted from:
The Weslyan Heritage Library Commentary

Commentary Ancillary Data by Adam Clarke.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

New Testament:

One author states that Peter wrote two of the books.
Paul wrote thirteen books.
John wrote five.
Luke wrote two – the only full gentile.
Matthew wrote one.
Jude wrote one.
James wrote one.
Mark wrote one.

Clearly the amount of books does not limit the quality of the works.
For example the book of James or Matthew are full of wonderful insights
to Jesus and what he was teaching.

The Vulgate, or the Latin version, was formed by Saint Jerome, at the command
of Pope Damasus, in the year of A.D. 384.

Apocryphal Gospels:

Here are some:

Infancy Gospel of James (Protoevangelium of James)
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
History of Joseph the Carpenter
Life of John the Baptist
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (Infancy Gospel of Matthew or Birth of Mary and Infancy of the Saviour).
Gospel of Marcion
Gospel of Mani
Gospel of Appelles
Gospel of Bardesanes
Gospel of Basilides
Gospel of Cerinthus
Gospel of Peter
Gospel of Nicodemus (also called the “Acts of Pilate”)
Gospel of Bartholomew
Questions of Bartholomew
Arabic Infancy Gospel
Resurrection of Jesus Christ (which claims to be according to Bartholomew)
Gospel of the Hebrews
Gospel of the Nazarenes
Gospel of the Ebionites etc, etc…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Apocryphal = hidden writings.

The collection of the Old Testament books not regarded as canonical (although these were
included with the first Authorized King James Version) and also the rejected New Testament
books that are not in the Canon.

These are Gospels of the Christian church which are not part of the New Testament
and are not divinely inspired.

So these are all Gospels that claimed (due to their content etc) to be Christian Gospels
but are not included in the Cannon of the New Testament.

Some are seen to be far-fetched and untruthful. But they do have some importance as
they show us what the people of the early Christian church were thinking and writing down.
And being old text they are valuable as historical pieces.

Some of these Gospels have had big followings and were read on a regular basis and
seen as important Gospels.

The Church came down on them and a ban was put in by Damascus in 382, Innocent I
in 405, and Gelasius in 496. But even with the pressure from the accepted church, the
unaccepted Apocryphal Gospels just kept coming back in popularity – they refused to
stay away.

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