It is no easy matter to write a book for the family of God. Yet it is for them that these thoughts on chastisement are written. They may be found not unsuitable for the younger brethren of the man of sorrows. For the way is rough, and the desert-blast is keen. Who of them can say aught regarding their prospects here, save that tribulation awaiteth them in every place as they pass along. This they must know and prepare for, grasping more firmly at every step the gracious hand that is leading them...

Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona in the Pyrenees, of chastened eloquence, eminent for his life as for his writings, wrote various works, of which is the Cervus and against the Novatians. He died lately in the reign of Theodosius, in extreme old age; i.e. before A. 392. He was born then probably about 30 years after the martyrdom of St. Cyprian, was a younger contemporary of Hosius, and through him joined on to the Council of Eliberis, and the restoration of discipline in the Spanish Church. His memory was kept with great affection at Barcelona on May 9, on which he is commemorated in the Martyrologium Romanum, in words taken from St...

The Catena Aurea presents the commentaries of the greatest theologians of the Church as if they were having a discussion on each verse of the Bible. St. Thomas Aquinas put this work together from sermons and commentaries on the Gospels composed by over eighty early Church Fathers, providing their insights into each passage. The work shows his intimate acquaintance with the Early Fathers. The work was commissioned by Pope Urban IV, so that everyone could understand the established meaning of the Gospels from the teaching of the early Fathers. - Summary by ancientchristian

This volume of the Reformation collection begins with a summary of Protestant belief in the form of the Belgic Confession and John Calvin's 'cover letter' to Francis I of France requesting that he read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to understand the Protestant doctrine from its source rather than secondhand. 100 aphorisms summarising the contents of the Institutes follow as well as some instructions given by Thomas Cranmer showing the effect of the Reformation for clergy and parishes, as does a short protestation from the reformer William Tyndale expressing the Reformation methodology privileging the Bible as the source of doctrine and practice...

The Mystical City of God is a book written in the 17th-century by the Franciscan nun, Venerable Mary of Jesus of Ágreda. According to María de Ágreda, the book was to a considerable extent dictated to her by the Blessed Virgin Mary and regarded the life of the Virgin Mary and the divine plan for creation and the salvation of souls. The work alternates between descriptions of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary's life, and the spiritual guidance she provides to the author, by whom her words were reproduced for the spiritual benefit and growth of the reader...

Walter Waddington Shirley was made Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford in 1863. This short work comprises the text of a lecture he gave at Oxford University in January, 1866. In it, he describes the historical setting in which scholasticism flourished and then summarizes its features. - Summary by Barry Ganong

The Dhammapada collects sayings of the Buddha, offering advice on how to live a full and thoughtful life. The translation used for this recording is by Friedrich Max Müller and was first published in the 19th century. - Summary by Newgatenovelist

M. Schele de Vere was born in Sweden in 1820 and studied language in Germany before eventually becoming a professor of modern language at the University of Virginia in 1844 where he would teach for more than 50 years. During his time as a professor, he would write many books, mostly focusing on language. One of his last works, being first published in 1873, "Modern Magic" instead focuses on the occult. From the preface: "The main purpose of our existence on earth—aside from the sacred and paramount...

The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth is a set of ninety essays published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company of Chicago. According to its foreword, the publication was designed to be "a new statement of the fundamentals of Christianity." However, its contents reflect a concern with certain theological innovations related to liberal Christianity, especially biblical higher criticism. It is widely considered to be the foundation of modern Christian fundamentalism. The essays were written by sixty-four different authors, representing most of the major Protestant Christian denominations...

This Bible version tries to stay as close to the original Hebrew and Greek texts as possible. As stated in the preface to the second edition, "If a translation gives a present tense when the original gives a past, or a past when it has a present; a perfect for a future, or a future for a perfect; an a for a the, or a the for an a; an imperative for a subjunctive, or a subjunctive for an imperative; a verb for a noun, or a noun for a verb, it is clear that verbal inspiration is as much overlooked as if it had no existence...

A book of sermons on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Given at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, New York City, on Good Friday, 1916.

Spoken hymns and readings for a shorter form of the Easter Vigil liturgy.

The collection begins with two short works on the Trinity by Gregory of Nyssa, followed by two works on Christology by Theodoret and Pope Leo I. Victorinus interprets Genesis 1 allegorically to justify certain early church practices and traces the number 7 through the whole Bible. Hippolytus lists various liturgical practices of the Roman church at the start of the 3rd century with potentially much earlier origins. In "On the Faith", Gregory of Nyssa defends the divinity of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit...

The Catena Aurea presents the commentaries of the greatest theologians of the Church as if they were having a discussion on each verse of the Bible. St. Thomas Aquinas put this opus together from sermons and commentaries on the Gospels composed by over eighty early Church Fathers, providing their insights into each passage. The work shows his intimate acquaintance with the Early Fathers. The work was commissioned by Pope Urban IV, so that everyone could understand the established meaning of the Gospels from the teaching of the early Fathers. - Summary by ancientchristian

The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian work likely from the late first half of the second century. It was considered inspired scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Origen, but not Tertullian. The Shepherd was very popular amongst Christians in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and is found in some Bibles after the Acts of the Apostles. The book is made up of five allegorical visions granted to Hermas, a former slave. This is followed by twelve mandates or commandments, and ten similitudes, or parables.

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...

The Summa Contra Gentiles was composed by Thomas Aquinas between 1259 and 1265, in four books broadly covering teachings on God, on Creation, on Providence, and on tenets specific to Christianity. This Summa is not to be confused with his final Summa, the Summa Theologiae. The latter is specifically "theological" and directed to a Christian audience , whereas the former, as the "Contra Gentiles" indicates, is directed toward "non-Christian" thinkers. Implicitly a defence of the Catholic Christian...

Doddridge defines 'inspiration' and explains in what sense the New Testament writers are self-aware in their claim to it and the logical incoherence of their various statements if they were uninspired.

This recording comprises chapters from two different works: How To Visit The English Cathedrals by Esther Singleton, and The Cathedral Churches Of England by Helen Marshall Pratt. Each book devotes a chapter to each cathedral, but this recording includes only the introductory chapters of general information. - Summary by David Wales

Twenty-three sermons where the truth to be taught is appended to a story as a Moral. Some of these sermons reflect the doctrines of infant baptism and transubstantiation.

Warfield wrote many articles for Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias on diverse subjects and managed to condense dense subjects into the limitations of a short article. This collection contains several articles on the resurrection of Jesus and Warfield's reflections on theological education from his experience as professor of theology and later principal of Princeton Seminary. The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 1 The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 3 The B. B. Warfield Collection, Volume 4

The evils of the times are many. and it is the ever recurring duty of the Church to combat them relentlessly. Especially during Lent the attack is particularly vigorous and deliberate. The Rev H. Nagelschmitt, in a course of Lenten sermons, outlines a very effective campaign against these stubborn evils. It will prove of great service, as it deals with such omnipresent corruptive influences as frivolity, contempt for authority, love of pleasure, human respect, and other well known human frailties.

"The obedience of a Christian man" begins by contrasting the life of a true Christian to those holding high positions within the Romish Church. A scathing attack against the Popes, Cardinals and Bishops living in luxury, who also refrain from teaching Scripture and would rather attach themselves to "Doctors" who often contradict themselves. Tyndale compares these men to the statements set forth in Scripture which teach that all men will be persecuted for their faith in Christ. He then shares his treatise on how Christians of all walks ought to conduct themselves, from servants to rulers, and all members of the household...

In 1841 and 1842, Fr. Pierre-Jean DeSmet traversed the wide and wild American West to bring the gospel to the Flatheads, who had sent multiple delegations from Montana to St. Louis, repeatedly requesting a Blackgown priest to instruct them in Christianity. Fr. DeSmet’s letters to his Jesuit Superiors show his heroic religious dedication and selflessness, as he recounts fatigues, hunger, thirst, and dangers that rival those of the apostle St. Paul. He also makes intelligent observations of geography, geology, weather , and the interesting customs of the different tribes he meets...

The Reverend Thomas Guthrie was first introduced to the idea of ragged schools in 1841, while acting as the Parish Minister of St. John's Church in Edinburgh. On a visit to Portsmouth, he saw a picture of John Pounds and felt inspired and humbled by the crippled cobbler's work. Pounds had been injured in a shipbuilding accident at the age of 15. He later became a shoemaker and, in 1818, he began teaching poor children without charging fees. He actively recruited children and young people to his school, spending time on the streets and quays making contact and even bribing them to come with the offer of baked potatoes...

Rufus Matthew Jones was an American religious leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit . One of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century, he was a Quaker historian and theologian as well as a philosopher. In 1917 he helped found the American Friends Service Committee. This work was delivered as a Swarthmore Lecture in August 1920 and was printed by the Swarthmore Press Ltd.

The times, for which God raised up Saint Athanasius, have, in many respects, a counterpart in our own. There is, now too, earnest, ever-enlarging, adherence to the faith, in those who hold it. But there is also a wide-spread dislike of definite doctrine, such as found a vent in the different shades of Arianism. They framed eleven Creeds, to satisfy themselves or others, over-against the one faith, put forth at Nicaea and accepted by the whole Church. They swung to and fro, at times approximating nearer to the truth; but their secret maxim, unknown to themselves, was, "anything but the Truth"...

These are the letters of the Apostle Paul to the fellowship at Thessalonica. Both letters cover a variety of subjects, including proper conduct and wholesome relationships between believers, the impending arrival of Paul's beloved disciple Timothy, and Paul's comments about his own conduct towards his flock. The Thessalonians are mentioned in the book of Acts as having been quite open and receptive the the preaching and teaching of Paul. - Summary by Mark Penfold

An English translation that holds as closely as was possible to the original languages and idioms. - Summary by KevinS

This is based on Philip Schaff's Creeds of Christendom taking only the creeds that he selected, using the translations he supplied where possible but rearranged chronologically but excluding his commentary and notes. "He who wishes to grow strong in his religious life, let him, I say, next to the Bible, feed himself on the great Creeds of the Church. There is a force of religious inspiration in them which you will seek in vain elsewhere. And this for good reasons. First, because it is ever true that it is by the truth that sanctification is wrought...

The Story of Ella Clinton who regardless of her desire to be good is ruled by her passions. Then one day she submits her desires to the only source of good - Almighty God. She is known to be His child by her fruits, for "By Their Fruits Ye shall know them". - Summary by Michelle Hannah

An English translation that holds as closely as was possible to the original languages and idioms. - Summary by KevinS

The Apostolic Constitutions are made up of eight treatises on Early Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, which was intended to act as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and laity. It claims to be composed by the Twelve Apostles who received these instructions from Jesus Christ, although most scholars believe it to be a 4th-century work.The structure of the work is as follows: Books 1 to 6 are a re-writing of the Didascalia Apostolorum. Book 7 is based largely on the Didache, with Chapters 33-45 containing prayers similar to existing Jewish ones. Book 8 has a treatise on charismata, along with, what are known as, the Canons of the Apostles.

Saint Gregory's Commentary on Job, sometimes called "An Extensive Consideration of Moral Questions," was written between 578 and 595. It is Gregory's major work, filling some 35 books or 6 volumes, making perhaps the single largest surviving patristic work. In his work he both comments on the book of Job and draws moral lessons from it. Pope Gregory is considered a saint in both the Eastern Orthodox church and in the West in the Catholic church and some Protestant churches. - Summary by ancientchristian

The Conferences were written by John Cassian at the request of Pope Leo. They document the conversations that Cassian had with the elders living in Scetis , and about principles of the spiritual and ascetic life. The work would go on to be a classic for both the Western and Eastern monastic world, and would frequently be read at mealtimes. - Summary by ancientchristian

An outline of the Government of God as held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as outlined by John Taylor, third President of the Church. Summary by Wayne Cooke.

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...

"Translated according to the letter and idioms of the original languages" - Summary by the translator

Frank Boreham was a well known preacher who served in England, Australia, and New Zealand. He published dozens of books and thousands of editorials during his lifetime, with no sign of slowing down, even up until his death at age 88. He wrote with a distinctive style, seeming to be able to draw a spiritual lesson out of any conceivable topic.In this volume, Boreham challenges us to view things from a perspective we may not be accustomed to–from the other side of the hill, as it were–and then to return home with a fresh outlook. - Summary by Devorah Allen

Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide was born in Belgium. He became a priest in 1595 and taught philosophy, and Hebrew, while also preaching and administering the Sacraments. In 1616 he was moved to Rome in the same capacity. Towards the end of his life, he devoted himself exclusively to completing and correcting his commentaries, which covered almost every part of the Bible. The commentaries show a mastery of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac and Arabic, in addition to a familiarity with the church fathers. His Latin commentaries stretched over 30 volumes and were the standard Catholic texts for understanding any part of scripture, until more modern times. - Summary by ancientchristian

Let us then stretch our mind towards Heaven, let us be held fast by that desire, let us clothe ourselves with spiritual fire, let us gird ourselves with its flame. No man who bears flame fears those who meet him; be it wild beast, be it man, be it snares innumerable, so long as he is armed with fire, all things stand out of his way, all things retire. The flame is intolerable, the fire cannot be endured, it consumes all. With this fire let us clothe ourselves, offering up glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, honor, now and ever and world without end. Amen. Thanks be to God.

Sermons 111 through 125 cover the Gospel According to Luke 16:19 through 18:34.

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...

The first volume in a series of Catholic Church history books written for children. Volume 1 covers the time period from after Our Lord's death till the 5th Century.

St. Jerome composed this essay against Helvidius, who stated that because the gospels mentioned Christ as having “sisters” and “brethren” the Virgin Mary must have had more children from Joseph her husband. In response Jerome asserts three propositions against Helvidius: 1) That Joseph was only putatively, not really, the husband of Mary. 2) That the “brethren” of the Lord were his cousins, not his own brethren. 3) That virginity is better than the married state. - Summary from the preface

The third volume of The Golden Bough. The term Taboo is one of the very few words which the English language has borrowed from the speech of savages. This volume examines the underlying moral code of many societies, both primitive and medieval, and with modern analogies. The reader is encouraged to contemplate the contradictions, inconsistencies, and absurdities, not merely between different people of different countries and ages, but also between similar people within the same countries. Frazer presents extensive evidence that the laws of morality slowly, but subtly, are in an ever changing state. - Summary by Leon Harvey

Stories of the Wars of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus is a historical narrative spanning Jewish history from 586 B.C.E to 70 A.D. There is no history more fraught with interest, or conveying more important lessons than that of God’s chosen nation. There are no annals which display instances of more heroic courage, faith, and self-devotion and of darker apostasy and crime,—than those of the descendants of Abraham.

This work is entitled, ABRIDGED SERMONS FOR ALL THE SUNDAYS IN THE YEAR. They are called Abridged Sermons, because, although each contains abundant matter for a sermon, the sentiments are briefly expressed—not, however, so briefly as to render the sense obscure. Hence the work may be used for spiritual lectures. Diffuseness has been purposely avoided, that the preacher may extend the subject treated in the way which may appear best to him. A preacher will scarce ever deliver, with zeal and warmth, sentiments which he has not made in some manner his own...

The present work contains the Coptic versions of ten Greek Homilies on fasting, repentance, the end of the world, the Incarnation, etc., which are attributed to John the Faster, Athanasius of Alexandria, Proclus of Cyzicus, Eusebius and Basil of Caesarea, and Archbishop Theophilus. The texts, written in the dialect of Upper Egypt.Linguistically the texts are of great importance, and they form a mass of material which is of the highest value to Egyptologists generally. From the theological point of...

Little is known of the early history of Thascius Cyprian until the period of his intimacy with the Carthaginian presbyter Cæcilius, which led to his conversion A.D. 246. That he was born of respectable parentage, and highly educated for the profession of a rhetorician, is all that can be said with any degree of certainty. At his baptism he assumed the name of his friend Cæcilius, and devoted him self, with all the energies of an ardent and vigorous mind, to the study and practice of Christianity...

A Pictorial Record of Personal Experiences by Day and Night in the Great Metropolis, with hundreds of thrilling anecdotes and incidents, sketches of life and character, humorous stories, touching home scenes, and tales of tender pathos, drawn from the bright and shady sides of the great under world of New York. By Mrs. Helen Campbell, City Missionary and Philanthropist; Col. Thomas W. Knox, Author and Journalist; and Supt. Thomas Byrnes, Chief of NY Police and Detectives. With highly interesting descriptions of little known phases of New York life; and an account of Detective Byrnes' thirty years' experiences and reminiscences written by himself from his private diary...

Isaac of Nineveh was born in Eastern Arabia, a mixed Syriac and Arabic speaking region in Mesopotamia. When he was young he entered a monastery where he devoted his efforts to asceticism. He studied theology for a time and became involved in religious education. When the Catholicos visited him he decided to ordain Isaac as a bishop of Nineveh. However, Isaac did not like the administrative duties and retired again to the hermetical and monastic life in which struggles he eventually died. He left...

A reflection on the crucifixion of Christ and its theological meanings. - Summary by KevinS

In this volume, which follows the author's popular book "Tom Playfair", a new boy is just arriving at St. Maure's boarding school. Percy Wynn has grown up as the only boy in a family of 10 girls. He has never played with boys before, and no one looking at him for a moment would hesitate to set him down as "Mamma's darling". Tom and his friends befriend Percy, and attempt to repair his formal manners, and "make a boy of him".

I have been asked, once and again, to follow up "The Night of Weeping " with "The Morning of Joy," the words of David, in the 30th Psalm, having suggested the addition. After much thought and some hesitation I have done so. The former work was meant to be complete in itself, presenting not merely the night-side of tribulation, but bringing out also, though less prominently, some of its day-hues. As, however, it has been thought incomplete, having in it so much more of night than of clay; an endeavour has been made to complete it by drawing forward the eye to the scenes of morning, so soon to open upon us, in all their breadth and beauty...

The "Paraphrase on the Epistle to the Galatians" was written in his younger years, while he was minister of Simprin, for his own improvement, and not with any design of printing it; though, it is hoped, the publication of it now may be for the edification of the church of Christ. - Summary adapted from Advertisement

These are the sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, who was an Italian Catholic bishop, and theologian. He is famous for founding the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer , and for his writings, which are among the most widely read in the Catholic world. His best-known works are The Glories of Mary and The Way of the Cross . He was canonized in 1839 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1871. The preface to these sermons : This work is entitled, ABRIDGED SERMONS FOR ALL THE SUNDAYS IN THE YEAR...

Harry Dee, a nervous, sensitive boy, given to somnambulism, arrives at St. Maure's following his experiences involving the murder of his rich uncle. Tom Playfair and Percy Wynn help to restore Harry to his former self, which includes solving "The Mystery of Tower Hill Mansion." This is the last book of the three of Fr. Finn's famous trio.

We are all going to die! Heaven is our ultimate destination. Sadly not all are bound for Glory. Many well intentioned people are of the belief that Heaven and Glory are automatic rewards for living on earth. The author of this book, Father Martin Von Cochem points out the fallacy of such thinking. He pulls no punches stressing the necessity of living our best lives for God. Sufferings on earth are part of the equation, He describes hell in frightening detail for all who think it is a non issue, We have to work to get a Heavenly reward...

John Eliot, a North American missionary, advocates for post-civil-war England to adopt a representative democracy, using the Mosaic Law as a model.