The fifth volume and the first of two in the fourth part of Frazer's seminal work on the evolution of belief deals with the semi mythological legends of the Mediterranean and the eastern civilizations. Many analogies are traced between the worship of Osiris and the worship of the dead, especially of dead kings. The conclusion to which these analogies appear to the point is that under the mythical pall of the glorified Osiris, the god who died and rose again from the dead, there once lay the body of a dead man...

Against Celsus, preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writings of Celsus, a pagan philosopher and controversialist who had written a scathing attack on Christianity in his treatise "The True Word". Among a variety of other charges, Celsus had denounced many Christian doctrines as irrational and criticized Christians themselves as uneducated, deluded, unpatriotic, close-minded towards reason, and too accepting of sinners...

Young's Literal Translation of the Bible. Translated according to 'the letter and the idioms of the original languages.' - Summary by KevinS

The Diatessaron is such an impersonal work that we do not need to know very much about its compiler. It will suffice here to say that he tells us himself that he was born "in the land of the Assyrians," and brought up a heathen. After travelling in search of knowledge, he settled at Rome, where he became a pupil of Justin Martyr, professed Christianity, and wrote in Greek his Address to the Greeks, translated in vol. iii. of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library. He was too independent in his attitude to maintain a permanent popularity, and after Justin's death left Rome and returned to Mesopotamia...

“‘Little gal,’ he repeated, ‘air ye all alone in the world?’ This time the sound resolved itself into an unmistakable sob.”With these words we are introduced to young Doris Avery. Newly orphaned, penniless, and without a single friend, Doris is sent to Waverly Ridge where she has been hired to work in a farm household. With her mother’s last words, “Remember, dear, you are God’s little girl,” echoing in her mind still, Doris enters service in a house full of strangers. Many are ambivalent toward her, all are lonely, and some fill the house with hate.

The Old and New Covenants, translated according to the letter and idioms of the original languages. - From the title page

This volume of The Age of the Puritans begins with Theodore Beza's 1575 catechism, brief and simple enough to be learned by children. William Perkins preaches a sermon on a life centred on 'Christ crucified', Pierre du Moulin, the Huguenot, on suffering as a Christian and Richard Sibbes on 1 Peter 4:18. John Owen gives his oppinion on how dissenters should consider their own excommunication. Richard Sibbes preaches sermons on 1 Peter 4:17-19 and Philippians 1:23-24. Thomas Cartwright's preface to...

This is a collection of sermons which were preached in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland, Ohio, during the autumn and winter or 1898 and 1899. They were all delivered during evening services, and therefore, as the author explains, were intended as messages to sinners, not to Christians. - Summary by Devorah Allen

Written after his conversion, G.K. Chesterton explains his understanding of Catholicism, and discusses the nature and the process of conversion to the Catholic faith.

Sermons 126 through 140 cover the Gospel According to Luke 18:35 through 22:6. - Summary by The Reader

The gospel method of sanctification, as well as of justification, lies so far out of the understanding of natural reason, that if all the rationalists in the world, philosophers and divines, had consulted together to lay down a plan, for repairing the lost image of God in man, they had never hit upon that which the divine wisdom had pitched upon, viz., That sinners should be sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 1:2, by faith in him, Acts 26:18. Nay, being laid before them, they would have rejected it with disdain as foolishness, 1 Cor...

Now, my design in this work has been to prepare and qualify students of theology for the reading of the divine word, that they may have an easy introduction to it, and be enabled to proceed in it without any obstruction. For I think I have given such a comprehensive summary, and orderly arrangement of all the branches of religion, that, with proper attention, no person will find any difficulty in determining what ought to be the principal objects of his research in the Scripture, and to what end he ought to refer any thing it contains...

St. Jerome's most famous letter , written to St. Eustochium, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Roman widow St. Paula. St. Jerome exhorts St. Eustochium to embrace virginity and teaches her the proper conduct of a young woman. It contains his: 1. view that God, though omnipotent, cannot restore a fallen virgin 2. vivid description of fasting and temptation 3. view of abortion, that it is murder 4. term superbiam sanctam, virginity a "holy pride" 5. praise of wedlock, that it gives him virgins 6...

Movement of Animals begins with a discussion of the physics of motion and asks whether God, the Unmoved Mover, exists outside of our Universe. Progression of Animals asks why animals have the parts they do and to what end these parts are possessed. - Summary by Geoffrey Edwards

Luther's 1521 exposition of the Magnificat was written for John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony , at that time a teenager. It was written in two parts, being interrupted by Luther's appearance at the Diet of Worms. It is sermonic in form but written to be read rather than heard. - Summary by InTheDesert

This book is no other than a perfect map of man and anatomy of all ages; A "nosce te ipsum", which is the highest pitch and hardest lesson of all human learning; An universal dial which yet serves for all meridians, and shows how the minutes of man's life pass away from the first rising to the last setting thereof, and even from Solomon upon his golden throne, to Job scraping himself with potsherds upon the ash-heap; for what man is he that shall not see death? and after that comes judgment to heaven or hell for ever.

This volume contains a prevalence of items relating to Warfield's interests in Christology and in the thought of John Calvin. It also contains his take on questions that many would not dare tackle like "Should one repent of original sin?" and several items of a more personal nature relating to his colleagues, friends and teachers. - Summary by InTheDesert The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 1 The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 2 The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 3

This book is intended principally to remind those whose hearts the European War has stricken of the hope and comfort which lie ready for their wounds in our Lord Jesus Christ. I shall be glad indeed if anything in my pages may bring help to other sorrowing souls; for grief and death do not suspend their normal visitation among us, the infliction of the sore pains and losses of common life, because of their tremendous activities today on the field of battle, in the war-hospital, and on the deep. But I have written with these latter troubles more directly in view...

I beg to present this my humble work to the English reader. It is the history of the Universe from its birth to its dissolution. I have explained the science of creation, its making and its mechanism. In doing so I have drawn my information from the recorded facts in the Sacred Books of the Root Race of mankind. Some facts and explanations are herein furnished for the first time in any modern language. This book embodies true Hinduism.

The Counter-Reformation, also called the Catholic Reformation, and remembered for its infamous Inquisition, was the period of Catholic resurgence which was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. Adolphus Ward writes, that it was "a movement pursuing two objects...the regeneration of the Church of Rome, and the recovery of the losses inflicted upon her by the early successes of Protestantism...The onset of the combat is marked by the formal establishment of the Jesuit Order as a militant...

Against Celsus, preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writings of Celsus, a pagan philosopher and controversialist who had written a scathing attack on Christianity in his treatise "The True Word". Among a variety of other charges, Celsus had denounced many Christian doctrines as irrational and criticized Christians themselves as uneducated, deluded, unpatriotic, close-minded towards reason, and too accepting of sinners...

Joseph Butler's great work is the Analogy, published in 1736, and from that day read and admired by every highly-cultivated mind. He was induced to write by a state of things very remarkable in the history of religion. Debauchery and infidelity were almost universal, not in any one class of society but in all. England had reached the culminating point of irreligion, and the firm re-establishment of Episcopacy had as yet done nothing to mend the nation’s morals. Piety was deemed a mark of ignorance and vulgarity, and multitudes of those who professed it were persecuted to dungeons and death...

The Faithful Covenanter in two sermons upon Genesis 17:7 by the late learned and reverend divine, Richard Sibbs, Doctor in divinity, master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes preacher to the honourable society of Grayes-Inne. Nehemiah 1:5 O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him. - Summary from the Title Page

The reading-over of these present sermons will sufficiently declare what commodity and profit they may bring with them: As in very deed the author of them right well showeth throughout all his work, in what sort the Lord God hath heretofore been served and also how ordinarily he is served by him. And therefore, for a full recommendation as well of the author as also of the work itself, I intend through God his assistance to set forth none other thing than the same fruit and profit, which they have already gotten that have read them and that fruit which they may make report of, that shall hereafter read them...

There are some persons who suppose that the freedom of the will is denied whenever God's grace is maintained, and who on their side defend their liberty of will so peremptorily as to deny the grace of God. This grace, as they assert, is bestowed according to our own merits. It is in consequence of their opinions that I wrote the book entitled On Grace and Free Will. This work I addressed to the monks of Adrumetum, in whose monastry first arose the controversy on that subject, and that in such a manner that some of them were obliged to consult me thereon. The work begins with these words: "With reference to those persons who so preach the liberty of the human will."

Four Letters to a Minister of an Independent Church by a Minister of the Church of England Quid me alta silentia cogis rumpere? - Virgil Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love — Rom. xiv.19 Gal. v.6 First printed in 1764 - Summary by Title Page

The conversion of an indifferent father and mother, through the death of an only child, is well told in another story by Fr Finn, S.J. entitled Ada Merton.

In this work of comparative religion, ontology and epistemology, Mme. Blavatsky presents science as a belief system of as much value as others in contributing to human knowledge of the seven secret keys to understanding through mathematics and intuition. A comparative study of ancient texts and their commentators over more than three thousand years.

I suppose thou wilt marvel that I trouble myself with so wild a generation as the people called Quakers are or that I trouble thee with a few hasty lines which I wrote on such an occasion. I'll truly tell thee the cause of both: They sent me five several papers, one of them containing the queries which I answer, and others of them almost nothing but a bundle of filthy railing words. They chose out one day, when it pleased God to confine me to my chamber by sickness to come into our assembly and after...

A fairly scholarly, short survey of religious sexual symbols and practices from ancient times to the near-present, and within various countries and religions. The essay is coloured by liberality and acceptance of common themes between different religions. Note: "phallic" in the context of this work refers to both male and female genitalia.

This collection begins with Augustine's exposition of the Apostles' Creed, a confession of faith attributed to Gregory Thaumaturgus and a series of statements on christology. Then come two works attributed to Hippolytus and a treatise addressed to Tatian arguing, without using Scripture, for the existence of the soul. Dionysius of Alexandria comments on the authorship of the book of Revelation and Alexander, archbishop of Alexandria excommunicates Arius . What remains of "a discourse on the Divine...

This treatise and that which in the editions of Athanasius immediately precedes it, the contra Gentes, were often counted as two parts of a single work. The two books belong to the earlier years of Athanasius: the Arian controversy which broke out about 319 has left no trace upon them. The Contra Gentes leaves the reader face to face with this necessity of restoration by the Divine Word as the remedy for corrupt human nature. How this necessity is met in the Incarnation is shown in the pages which follow...

In this work from 1921, Carpenter analyzes the origin of Christian beliefs, arguing that they are derived from pre-Christian myths and religions, rather than being new revelations to the human race. He believes that “psychologically man has evolved from simple consciousness to self-consciousness, and is now in process of evolution towards another and more extended kind of consciousness,” anticipating a post-Christian era. In the penultimate chapter, “The Exodus of Christianity,” he sets out his belief that for Christianity “to hold the field of Religion in the Western World is neither probable nor desirable...

Wherein the truth of predestination and grace is defended against the semi-Pelagians — those people to wit, who by no means withdraw altogether from the Pelagian heresy, in that they contend that the beginning of salvation and of faith is of ourselves; so that in virtue, as it were, of this precedent merit, the other good gifts of God are attained. Augustine shows that not only the increase, but the very beginning also of faith is in God's gift. On this matter he does not disavow that he once thought differently, and that in some small works, written before his episcopate, he was in error, as in that exposition, which they object to him, of propositions from the epistle to the Romans...

This is a work of theology which addresses a seeming contradiction in Christian thought: that love and forgiveness are freely offered to all, but they cannot be accepted without a major change in the receiver's heart. Along the way, the author explains what he believes justification to be--not a judicial act of God, but rather a description of the state of the believer. He also goes into detail on why our pride makes it difficult to accept God's love. -Summary by Devorah Allen

The Lamentation of a Sinner was written in 1544, the year where Parr took on the role of Regent for a number of months when Henry VIII was fighting wars in France. She writes a general confession of sin and exhortation to holiness. Parr was the first woman to publish a book in English under her own name.

One named Pollentius having written to him upon the question of separation in case of adultery, engaged him to write the books "On Adulterous Marriages". Pollentius maintained that the wife who separated from her husband, upon account of adultery on his side, might marry again; and what St. Paul says to the contrary he interpreted of her who marries again for any other reason. St. Augustine maintains that this prohibition regards her who has left her husband for the cause of adultery. Pollentius maintained also, that married persons who were believers, could not leave the unbelieving party; and St...

These books are so called, because they contain the history of the people of God under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren: and he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in his ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to thee among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the Hebrew, are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these books. But as to their authority, though they are not received by the Jews, saith St...

A homily by Saint Gregory the Great on the virtues, responsibilities, and shortfalls of the clergy; recommended to the attention of all clergy by Pope Pius X on the occasion of the Saint's thirteenth centenary. -

Sermons 141 through 157 cover the Gospel According to Luke 22:7 through 24:53. - Summary by The Reader

A treatise containing five degrees, five marks, five aids, of the love of God. - Summary from title page

The sixth volume in the Golden Bough. Frazer continues into the second part of the compilation of analogies dealing with the recurring theme of the dying god. the worship of the dead, and dead kings. Extensive evidence is presented from the history of Egypt and what had been learned from archaeology in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The Egyptian calendar and festivals, the identify and personality of Osiris, and the relationship of the mother goddess, are discussed in length. - Summary by Leon Harvey

The papers composing this volume were prepared in response to urgent request as a popular apologetic series in defence of the Bible from the attacks made on it from different quarters. They are now published in the hope that they may do something to steady the minds of those who are in perplexity owing to the multitude and confusion of the opinions that prevail in these times regarding the Sacred Book. - Summary by Preface

Thomas Chalmers had read, when a young man, several infidel productions. Their semblance of logic and learning, and supercilious confidence of style, disposed him to regard all religion as mere superstition. His mind was poisoned. Accustomed as he had been to the positive and precise reasonings of mathematics, he could not find similar proofs for Christianity. But he was induced, by some friends, to study Butler’s Analogy. This, as he expresses it, took Christianity “out of the class of unlikelihoods...

Charles Spurgeon was a British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers". Many Christians hold his writings in exceptionally high regard among devotional literature. This fourth volume of his "original exposition of the book of Psalms" covers Psalms 79 to 103. Spurgeon's introduction and exposition of each psalm will be read, omitting the "Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings" which are by various authors, as well as his "Hints to the Village Preacher".

The Tribune Marcellinus having received the books ''On the Merit of Sins," wrote to St. Augustine that he was surprised at what he had there said, that man could be without sin if he would, with the help of God: and that, nevertheless, none in this world had been, was, or would be for the time to come, so perfect. "How," said he, ''can you say that a thing is possible, of which there is no example?" To answer this question, St. Augustine wrote the book, "On the Spirit and the Letter," where he explains the passage of the Apostle, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life...

It is certain, that from our Saviour's time to the present, there have ever been persons whose dispositions and lives have been formed by the rules of the New Testament; men who have been real, not merely nominal Christians, who believed the doctrines of the gospel, loved them because of their divine excellency, and suffered gladly the loss of all things, that they might win Christ, and be found in him. It is the history of these men which I propose to write. It is of no consequence with respect to my plan, nor of much importance I believe in its own nature, to what external church they belonged...

Hosea, whose prophecy we now enter upon, exercised his sacred office for a great many years: he predicted the captivity of the ten Tribes long before it arrived, yet he probably lived to witness its near approach. He is supposed to have been of the kingdom of Israel, though his prophecies frequently relate to Judah also His style is remarkably concise, sententious, and unconnected, though some parts are peculiarly pathetic, animated, and sublime. His general scope was to convince his people of their exceeding sinfulness, and to warn them by the terror, and lead them by the goodness, of God to repentance. - Summary by Introduction

A sermon, preached after the cessation of the 1625-1626 plague in London, where "from above five thousand a week it is come to three persons". He expresses thankfulness "that there is free commerce and intercourse as before; that we can meet thus peaceably and quietly at God's ordinances, and about our ordinary callings". Sibbes' text is Psalm 107 verse 17: "Fools, because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted" etc. "You know how God hath dealt of late with this city, and with ourselves indeed; for we are all of one body politic, and however God visited them, yet it was our sins also that provoked him...

The Bible in Basic English, translated by an American committee led by S.H. Hooke, uses Basic English, a simplified English vernacular developed by linguist Charles Kay Ogden for use in teaching English to non-native speakers and as an international auxiliary language. Basic English utilizes a limited vocabulary of around 850 English words. - Summary by Mark Penfold

The Bible in Basic English, translated by an American committee led by S.H. Hooke, uses Basic English, a simplified English vernacular developed by linguist Charles Kay Ogden for use in teaching English to non-native speakers and as an international auxiliary language. Basic English utilizes a limited vocabulary of around 850 English words. - Summary by Mark Penfold

The astronomical objection against the truth of the Gospel, does not occupy a very prominent place in any of our Treatises of Infidelity. It is often, however, met with in conversation — and we have known it to be the cause of serious perplexity and alarm in minds anxious for the solid establishment of their religious faith. There is an imposing splendour in the science of Astronomy; and it is not to be wondered at, if the light it throws, or appears to throw, over other tracks of speculation than those which are properly its own, should at times dazzle and mislead an inquirer...

Twelve stories, one for each month of the year, which first list a few Bible verses then relate how those verses took effect in a young person's life. The first 10 chapters are letters written by Frank Hudson to his cousin Renie. Frank is a boy who gets into trouble when he doesn't think before acting. He receives Bible verses as a kind of "hedge fence" he has to jump through or climb over to do the wrong things; they scratch him and give him a prick, and remind him of what is the right way to go...

In the Wilbur home, six o'clock on Saturday evening was the children's hour with Grandma. . . . During the season of which I am going to tell you, she and they had planned that the story was always to be about a certain verse in the Bible. . . . I cannot copy all the stories for you; but it has occurred to me that there is no good reason why, once a month, you should not join the Wilbur circle and hear for yourselves. So, without more ceremony, consider yourselves invited. - Summary from the text

Charles Spurgeon was a British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers". Many Christians hold his writings in exceptionally high regard among devotional literature. This fifth volume of his "original exposition of the book of Psalms" covers Psalms 104 to 118. Spurgeon's introduction and exposition of each psalm will be read, omitting the "Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings" which are by various authors, as well as his "Hints to the Village Preacher". - Summary by Gillian Hendrie and Wikipedia

Now that the railroad has come through, Christie Tucker's parents have decided to save enough for her to go to her well-to-do Uncle Daniel for a one-day visit, on Christmas, which is also Christie's birthday. It's her first trip away from home -- and on the cars! Of course, the trip doesn't turn out exactly as expected. That one day, and how Christie lived it, has consequences that keep coming! Addressed by the author to girls, it is still a pleasant story for adults, too.

Hooker resolved to investigate the position of the English Church, and to attempt to answer the question What is the basis upon which Church laws and Church government rest? And his magnum opus ‘The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ was the result. The Puritan system with which Richard Hooker found himself face to face, and which he so resolutely and courageously set himself the task of discrediting, speaking broadly, was based on the assumption that, in all matters affecting religious worship, discipline, and government, an unchangeable rule is laid down in Holy Scripture, and in Holy Scripture alone...

The Bible in Basic English, translated by an American committee led by S.H. Hooke, uses Basic English, a simplified English vernacular developed by linguist Charles Kay Ogden for use in teaching English to non-native speakers and as an international auxiliary language. Basic English utilizes a limited vocabulary of around 850 English words. - Summary by Mark Penfold

The Bible in Basic English, translated by an American committee led by S.H. Hooke, uses Basic English, a simplified English vernacular developed by linguist Charles Kay Ogden for use in teaching English to non-native speakers and as an international auxiliary language. Basic English utilizes a limited vocabulary of around 850 English words. - Summary by Mark Penfold

The Bible in Basic English, translated by an American committee led by S.H. Hooke, uses Basic English, a simplified English vernacular developed by linguist Charles Kay Ogden for use in teaching English to non-native speakers and as an international auxiliary language. Basic English utilizes a limited vocabulary of around 850 English words. - Summary by Mark Penfold