Hannah Trager published Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago in 1926, so the book is a portrait of day to day life for a Jewish family in Jerusalem around 1876. In each chapter, Mr. Jacobs reads a letter from his cousins living in Jerusalem many years earlier, each one teaching his family and friends about a different holiday or tradition of their people. (Introduction by wildemoose)

This book is written to Christians who profess to believe the Bible as God's revelation, but whose "lives are filled with discomfort and unrest." Smith aims to show that the Bible's claim that God is the "the God of all comfort" is not an over-advertisement or misunderstanding, but that it is possible to avail ourselves of the doubts and heavy anxieties that plague so many Christians.By explaining God's part and man's part, Smith aims to show her readers that it is possible to overcome feelings of defeat and despair and find rest and peace in Christ...

This Christian book is written in a easy and understandable way, where the strong biblical points are clear and and applicable. The richness of the truths explained, will make one want to listen to it over and over again. The book writes about our part and God's part in the Christian life. It also reveal many secrets to the Christian life. "Today it is your happy privilege to prove, as never before, your loyal confidence in the Lord by starting out with Him on a life and walk of faith, lived moment by moment in absolute and childlike trust in Him." quote from the book. It is a must listen to Christian classic.

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.

Best known for having written "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriet Beecher Stowe also wrote several religious works, including the works in this book. The first section (Religious Studies) was originally published as "Footsteps of the Master," and was included in this compilation along with a selection of works from her book "The May Flower." The poetry included was published at irregular intervals and have been included in this compilation as well as others.

Helen Ekin Starrett, journalist, mother of two daughters, grandmother of seven granddaughters and teacher to many young girls at the Starrett School for Girls offers lessons in life and religion to girls about to "pass out from the guardianship of home into life with its duties and trials".

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

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.

The first volume of Lea’s monumental work on the Inquisition of Spain, covering its origin and establishment and its relations with the state. Also included are appendices listing Tribunals, Inquisitors-General, and Spanish coinage.

The 3rd volume of Lea's monumental work on the Spanish Inquisition. This volume covers torture practices; the trial process; punishments; Jews, Moriscos, and Protestants; and censorship. - Summary by Sienna

The fourth and final volume of Lea's monumental work on the Spanish Inquisition. This volume discusses how the Inquisition dealt with mysticism, solicitation of illicit relationships, bigamy, theological propositions, witchcraft and sorcery, political activity, and almost every other facet of daily life. It concludes with an overarching history of the Inquisition and retrospective.

The spiritual classic The Greatest Thing In the World is a trenchant and tender analysis of Christian love as set forth in the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians. The other addresses speak to other aspects of Christian life and thought.

Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) was an Oxford-educated Anglican clergyman who converted to Roman Catholicism after the Privy Council ordered the Church of England in 1850 to reinstate an heretical vicar. Manning was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1851, appointed archbishop of Westminster in 1865, and made a cardinal in 1875 by Pope Pius IX.In The Love of Jesus to Penitents, Manning enumerates the many benefits that the Sacrament of Penance affords the penitent: it reveals to the...

This is the story of Miriam, an orphan Christian woman living in Rome in the first century. She falls in love with a Roman officer, but knows that her Jewish childhood playmate loves her too and will do anything in order to get her love in return.

Henry Scougal was born in Scotland in 1650. The son of the Bishop of Aberdeen, he flourished under rigorous teaching to become Professor of Philosophy at King's College, Aberdeen. In 1672, Scougal was ordained minister in Auchterless and, after a year, returned to King's College as Professor of Divinity. He continued in this office until his death in 1678.The Life of God in the Soul of Man is, in reality, a letter of doctrine and encouragement to a friend wavering in the faith, and was never intended for publication...

“In many ways we are still living in the spiritual momentum that was created during the Great Awakening…and in the midst of the Great Awakening there was one man that was most singularly used by God…that man was the great evangelist, George Whitefield.” Published in 1677, The Life of God in the Soul of Man was originally penned in 1676 as a private letter to a friend by 26 year-old Henry Scougal, professor of divinity at King’s College, University of Aberdeen. Less than a century later,...

The Dawn and the Day, or, The Buddha and the Christ, Part 1 is a text similar to the epic poetry of Homer or, more accurately, classic Hindu texts, such as the Baghavad-Gita.

You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of this fourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and the probations of his soul;...

An overview of the religions of China, beginning with Fu Hsi, B.C. 2953-2838, and continuing through the 19th Century.

A very wise physician has said that “every illness has two parts—what it is, and what the patient thinks about it.” What the patient thinks about it is often more important and more troublesome than the real disease. What the patient thinks of life, what life means to him is also of great importance and may be the bar that shuts out all real health and happiness. The following pages are devoted to certain ideals of life which I would like to give to my patients, the long-time patients who have especially fallen to my lot.

The Legends of Genesis is the English translation of the introduction to Gunkel’s massive commentary, Genesis. Gunkel uses form critical analysis on the text of Genesis to determine the various genres of the biblical legends and their significance to the authors. Gunkel also uses form criticism to uncover buried clues as to the constituent sources of the text. Gunkel offers his hypothesis to explain how the various sources came to be combined and redacted, and how the text later came to be attributed to Moses.

The Antinomian-Neonomian controversy of the 17th century was initiated by the republication of a set of sermons by Tobias Crisp entitled "Christ alone exalted" which were accused of antinomianism by Richard Baxter who in turn was accused of 'neonomianism', "the idea that Christ has, by his atonement, so lowered the requirements of the law that mere endeavor is accepted in room of perfect obedience." "The name antinomianism is a comparatively modern designation of several types of ethical thought in which hostility to the Mosaic law and to the principles therein embodied has led to immoral teaching and practise...

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.

This is the touching and endearing story of Little Meg and her trials and difficulties as she does her best to look after 'her children' after their mother dies. Father is away at sea and is expected every day, but when father's ship comes in he is not aboard! With the help of her new friend and neighbour Kitty, she finds out that he was 'took bad' on the other side of the world, who knows when or if he will ever make it back. Meanwhile, Little Meg must take care of Robby and baby. There are better days and worse days...

Jessica is a little girl who used to be an actress till she grew too big. Now she lives on the streets, mostly starving until she meets Mr. Dan'el. Mr. Dan'el gives Jessica his cast-off crusts and warmed-over coffee. Jessica follows Mr. Dan'el to a building where a bunch of people sing and then listen to a man tell them about someone named God. Jessica wants to know who God is so she sneaks into listen every Sunday, hoping she won't be found out.

Hester Dowden, who wrote under the name Hester Travers Smith, was an Irish spiritualist medium. She claimed to have communicated with the spirits of various celebrities. In Oscar Wilde from Purgatory, she reproduces the text of her "conversations" with the Irish poet and playwright, conducted via a Ouija board and automatic writing. Wilde proves just as talkative after death as he was in life. His spirit revels in the complements paid to his work by Travers Smith and her colleagues, describes how it feels to exist without a body, and pronounces James Joyce's recently published novel Ulysses a "great bulk of filth"...

The Catholic brings to history (when I say "history" in these pages I mean the history of Christendom) self-knowledge. As a man in the confessional accuses himself of what he knows to be true and what other people cannot judge, so a Catholic, talking of the united European civilization, when he blames it, blames it for motives and for acts which are his own. He himself could have done those things in person. He is not relatively right in his blame, he is absolutely right. As a man can testify to his own motive so can the Catholic testify to unjust, irrelevant, or ignorant conceptions of the European story; for he knows why and how it proceeded...

“Bahaism is not a new religion,” writes Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, “It is religion renewed… it does not pretend to represent the whole Truth; on the contrary, it recognises Truth in fundamental principles which are the basis of all former dispensations, and which for that very reason form the standpoint of concord too long lost sight of. And it requires people to renounce ancient superstitions, to abandon the dead letter in order to be penetrated by the living and vivifying spirit, then by...

In this late second century treatise, Hippolytus gives an excellent summary of Early Christian thinking on the subject of the antichrist. Familiar texts from Daniel and Revelation are treated together with his own current events to give a unique perspective. (Summary by Jonathan Lange)

... or How Shall Man Be Just with God?How does salvation work? How does a righteous God declare an unrighteous person to be righteous in His sight? In this comprehensive and devotional study of justification by faith alone in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Horatius Bonar answers these questions in a clear and wonderful way. Bonar has been called the prince of Scottish hymn writers. Quoting one of the 600 hymns he wrote, here is "righteous peace securely made" Additional proof-listening by Kimberly Krause.

Both a work of theology and psychology, Calvinist revivalist Horatius Bonar guides readers from the universal human need for repentance and faith to the "peace that passes all understanding" that comes from communion with Christ. - Summary by Loren Eaton

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...

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 idea, so common in the ancient writers, is not all a poetic conceit, that the soul of a man is only a fragment of a larger whole, and goes out in search of other souls in which it will find its true completion. We walk among worlds unrealized, until we have learned the secret of love. We know this, and in our sincerest moments admit this, even though we are seeking to fill up our lives with other ambitions and other hopes. In spite of the vulgar materialism of our day, we do feel that the spiritual side of life is the most important, and brings the only true joy...

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the time of Henry VIII, a significant part of the buildings of Torre Abbey, particularly the church area, lay in ruins. Then, during the 17th century and subsequently, surviving parts of the abbey were incorporated into the creation of a grand private residence, the owner of which in the early part of the 20th century was Colonel Lucius Cary. With the permission of the colonel, Hugh Watkin, who at that time was living in the Chelston district of Torquay, fairly close to the abbey, undertook certain excavations of the remaining ruins between the years of 1906 and 1911...

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE (1884 – 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among those who encouraged him were the authors Henry James and Arnold Bennett. His skill at scene-setting, vivid plots, and high profile as a lecturer brought him a large readership in the United Kingdom and North America. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s, but has been largely neglected since his death...

At the age of twenty-six (at the height of the Great War in Europe), the religious pilgrim and maverick Kurata Hyakuzō wrote a profoundly philosophical play called "The Priest & His Disciples" ("Shukke to sono deshi"). This stage play is based on the life and teachings of the 13th century Buddhist priest Shinran (1173-1263) and quickly became immensely popular. Shinran, the historical founder of the True Pure Land School of Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū), encounters the poor family of Hino Saemon and his wife Okane, and converses with them about how to live in circumstances of change and turmoil and hardship...

"Atlantis: The Antediluvian World is a book published during 1882 by Minnesota populist politician Ignatius L. Donnelly, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during 1831. Donnelly considered Plato's account of Atlantis as largely factual and attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from this supposed lost land. Many of its theories are the source of many modern-day concepts we have about Atlantis, like the civilization and technology beyond its time, the origins of all present races and civilizations, a civil war between good and evil, etc."

St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, describes several schools of Gnosticism which were prevalent among pre-Nicene Christianity. He then refutes these beliefs as heresies by contrasting them with what he describes as catholic, orthodox Christianity. Against Heresies demonstrates that earliest Christianity was a fascinating and diverse plethora of beliefs, debates, and schisms.

Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History tells us that in addition to his great work Against Heresies, St Irenaeus wrote A Discourse in Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching. This work was entirely lost sight of: no one seems ever to have quoted a word of it. But it has quite recently reappeared in an Armenian manuscript together with Books IV and V of the greater work. The Armenian translation proves to be a fairly close rendering of the original Greek… What Irenaeus undertakes in the present...

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...

Dell Bronson has been reared in Boston by her refined uncle and aunt until, at age 18, she is called home by her father, a coarse tavern owner in Lewiston. As a daughter of the heavenly King, she strives to honor her heavenly Father by wooing her earthly father to Christ and away from rum. Set in the era of the temperance movement of the 1800’s. Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” Third in the Ester Ried series.

Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” Ester Ried’s life is a dull monotony of toiling at her family’s boardinghouse. She’s overworked, jealous and cranky, a poor example of a Christian to her family and associates. She awakens to a new attitude and commitment due to an extended visit with her cousin.

Immature Mr. Tresevant (from “The King’s Daughter”) comes to Newton with his spoiled wife to be the new pastor of the church attended by Dr. and Mrs. Douglass, Mr. and Mrs. Sayles, and Mr. and Mrs. Tyndall (from “Ester Ried” and “Julia Ried”), boarding with Jerome and Abbie Sayles. Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” Fourth in the Ester Ried series.

Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” Sequel to “Ester Ried.” Julia Ried must take a job as a bookkeeper in a factory to earn a living. The mistress of her boardinghouse influences her in a negative way, drawing her into a life and attitude displeasing to God. Will her family and friends be able to convince her stand up for what’s right?

Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” First in the Chautauqua Girls series. Four friends – spoiled, quirky Ruth; fun-loving and mischievous Eurie; poor, independent and brainy Marion; and meek, approval-seeking Flossy – attend Chautauqua on a lark, and their lives are changed forever. (Chautauqua is an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day.)

Sequel to Four Girls at Chautauqua. Ruth, Flossy, Eurie, and Ruth return home as new Christians, eager to begin working. Their new faith clashes with their old lives, which they must overcome, as well as the prejudices of friends and acquaintances.

Ester Ried Randall tries to live up to her parents’ expectations and the name she’s been given, but her religion is a chore. Will she learn the lesson of faith that Ester did? Fifth and final book in the Ester Ried series. Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.”

Fifth in the Chautauqua Girls series. Ruth Erskine Burnham has helped raise her husband’s two daughters, but all have rejected her faith and values. The constant pressure to compromise has weakened her walk and made her life miserable. Her one comfort is her somewhat sickly 5 year old son. Will she return to the strong faith of her young womanhood, and will her family finally follow?

Third book in the Chautauqua Girls series. Written by Isabella Alden under the pseudonym “Pansy.” Ruth’s father brings home a wife and daughter, after 18 years, that Ruth had never known about. Suddenly she is no longer the queen of her home. And what’s worse, the new mother and sister are rude and antagonistic. How will Ruth bear this cross?

Death is the Gate of Life. There was deep insight in those old words. For man's natural thought of death is that of a dreary ending in decay and dissolution. And from his standpoint he is right: death as the punishment of sin is an ending.But far other is God's thought in the redemption of the world. He takes the very thing that came in with the curse, and makes it the path of glory. Death becomes a beginning instead of an ending, for it becomes the means of liberating a fresh life.And so the hope that lies in these parable lessons of death and life is meant for those only who are turning to Him for redemption...

Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name “Pansy.” Fourth in the Chautauqua Girls series. Alfred Ried (brother of Ester Ried from that series) wants to help the hundreds of poor street boys in his city to come to faith and improve their conditions, but is discouraged and overwhelmed with the task. Enter Flossy (Shipley) Roberts, a willing worker who focuses on 7 such boys and especially on one.

Manasseh da Costa is a schnorrer (beggar) who lives on the charitable contributions of the Jews of late 18th-century London. But Manasseh is far from being a humble panhandler for, as every schnorrer knows, supporting the poor is a commandment from God (a mitzvah) not just a favour. And as the descendant of Portuguese Jews who had lived in England for many generations, Manasseh is the social superior of those newly arrived from Eastern Europe (called ‘Tedesco’), even his wealthy patron Joseph Grobstock...

In this 1892 novel of London's Jewish East End, Israel Zangwill sets the apparently irrational and decidedly indecorous religious practices of transplanted eastern European Jews against the forces of assimilation. Zangwill's knowledge of Yiddishkeit and skill in melodrama created a series of unforgettable vignettes that had a significant effect on the public perception of this much stigmatized immigrant group. Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) was born in London of Russian and Polish parents. He coined the term cultural "melting pot".

This little book, whose design is to lead the devout Bible student into the Green Pastures of the Good Shepherd, thence to the Banqueting House of the King, and thence to the service of the Vineyard, is one of the abiding legacies of Mr. Hudson Taylor to the Church. In the power of an evident unction from the Holy One, he has been enabled herein to unfold in simplest language the deep truth of the believer's personal union with the Lord, which under symbol and imagery is the subject of The Song of Songs. (From the Foreword by J Stuart Holden).

“Expository Thoughts” divides the Gospels into sections of about twelve verses each, from which J. C. Ryle selects two or three prominent points to dwell on and bring to the reader’s attention. In Ryle’s day, there were many detailed commentaries and expositions on scripture. In writing these “Expository Thoughts”, Ryle aimed to offer a resource to the laity for use in family prayers, as an aid to those who visit the sick and desire a proper book to read on such occasions, and for private devotions for those whose callings and engagements make it impossible for them to read large commentaries...

“Expository Thoughts” divides the Gospels into sections of about twelve verses each, from which J. C. Ryle selects two or three prominent points to dwell on and bring to the reader’s attention. In Ryle’s day, there were many detailed commentaries and expositions on scripture. In writing these “Expository Thoughts”, Ryle aimed to offer a resource to the laity for use in family prayers, as an aid to those who visit the sick and desire a proper book to read on such occasions, and for private devotions for those whose callings and engagements make it impossible for them to read large commentaries...

“Expository Thoughts” divides the Gospels into sections of about twelve verses each, from which J. C. Ryle selects two or three prominent points to dwell on and bring to the reader’s attention. In Ryle’s day, there were many detailed commentaries and expositions on scripture. In writing these “Expository Thoughts”, Ryle aimed to offer a resource to the laity for use in family prayers, as an aid to those who visit the sick and desire a proper book to read on such occasions, and for private devotions for those whose callings and engagements make it impossible for them to read large commentaries...

This New Testament was translated from the Greek by a Christian Universalist evangelist who later fell out of the faith. He was the last person jailed for the charge of blasphemy in the United States, and had many radical views that forced him to question his further involvement in the American Universalist movement. (Introduction by Mark Penfold)

Ryle became the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool during a volatile time for the Church of England. Ryle was a strong supporter of the evangelical school and a critic of Ritualism. He was a writer, pastor and an evangelical preacher. Among his longer works are Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century (1869), Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (7 vols, 1856–69), Principles for Churchmen (1884). Ryle was described as having a commanding presence and vigorous in advocating his principles albeit with a warm disposition.

“Expository Thoughts” divides the Gospels into sections of about twelve verses each, from which J. C. Ryle selects two or three prominent points to dwell on and bring to the reader’s attention. In Ryle’s day, there were many detailed commentaries and expositions on scripture. In writing these “Expository Thoughts”, Ryle aimed to offer a resource to the laity for use in family prayers, as an aid to those who visit the sick and desire a proper book to read on such occasions, and for private devotions for those whose callings and engagements make it impossible for them to read large commentaries...

I send forth the volume now in the reader's hands, with much diffidence, and a very deep sense of responsibility. It is a peculiarly serious undertaking to attempt a Commentary on the Gospel of St. John. This "Commentary" is so extensive that it occupies far more space than the "Expository Thoughts," and is, I must honestly confess, the principal part of the work. To some it may appear far too long and full. But the circumstances of the times are mu justification. We live in a day of abounding vagueness and indistinctness on doctrinal subjects in religion...

Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in Religion, from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman.The volume now in the reader's hands requires a few words of explanation. It contains nineteen papers on subjects which are matters of dispute among English Churchmen in the present day, systematically arranged. A moment's glance at the table of contents will show that there is hardly any point of theological controversy belonging to this era, which is not discussed, with more or less fulness, in these papers...

”Let no one make you think that you are too young to serve God. That is not true. As soon as you know right from wrong, you are old enough to begin taking the right way. As soon as you are old enough to be punished for doing wrong, you are old enough to give your heart to God, and to follow Christ.” So Rev. Ryle speaks to children of all ages. He does not speak down to children, for even the littlest ones can understand great spiritual truths. Instead, he teaches them in simple language what it means to be a true follower of Jesus and challenges them to live a better life whatever their age by following Jesus’ example – messages we adults could profit from as well...

In sending forth a new collection of Hymns, I feel it necessary to preface the work by a few words of explanation. The volume now in the reader's hands does not profess to be a complete collection of all the best English hymns. The comfort of invalids and the edification of Christians in private have been the two principal objects I have had in view in preparing this collection. I hold strongly, that holy thoughts often abide for ever in men's memories under the form of poetry, which pass away and are forgotten under the form of prose...

The fourteen years which have "passed over" me since I first began writing on the Gospels, I humbly hope have not been thrown away. They have been to me years of many trials, and I may add of much work, much reading, much reflection, and not a little prayer. At the end of these fourteen years, I feel more than ever convinced that what are called "Evangelical" views of Christian truth are thoroughly Scriptural views, and will bear the test of any fair investigation. The longer I live the more firmly I am persuaded that no system of divinity is so entirely in harmony with the Bible, as the system which rightly or wrongly is called "Evangelical...

The present volume contains a series of papers about "practical religion," and treats of the daily duties, dangers, experience, and privileges of all who profess and call themselves true Christians.

This book is subtitled “Being Plain Statements on Some of the Weightier Matters of Christianity". The main title comes from the writings the old testament prophet Jeremiah, who refers to the old paths where the good way is, which if people walk in it they will find rest for their souls . Bishop Ryle wrote this book at a time when many in the church were forsaking the old paths of evangelical Christianity in favour of liberal ideas. In Ryle’s day the old doctrines held by the apostolic Christians and reformers had started to be sneered at in certain quarters as being old-fashioned and worn out, and that something more modern was needed...

The volume now in the reader's hands completes a work which I began sixteen years ago, entitled "Expository Thoughts on the Gospels." By the good hand of God that work is now finished. For this I desire to be deeply thankful. "Better the end of a thing than the beginning of it." I have now only to commend to my gracious God and Father this feeble attempt to explain a most glorious portion of His revealed Scripture. I do it with humble thankfulness, but with a sense of utter weakness before the power of His word, and of inability to sound the depth even of its simplest sentence...

There are prayers of our Lord, the apostles, the martyrs, and the saints covering the period of the Early Church from its beginning through the fifth century. There are some prayers from each of the first five centuries. The treasure house from which to choose is almost unlimited. It is a vast and fruitful field and anyone is amply rewarded who delves into it.The prayers have been selected primarily for their spiritual and devotional content. Many have been laid aside with regret that they could not be included in this book, but its compass in size is set and only so many can be used...

Formula of Concord (1577) is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its two parts (Epitome and Solid Declaration), makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as the Book of Concord. The Epitome is a brief and concise presentation of the Formula's twelve articles.

This appendix to the 1580 edition of the Book of Concord is a compilation of Scripture passages together with citations from the fathers of the ancient Christian Church. They are intended to show that the Christology of the Formula of Concord differs neither in substance nor in terminology from Christian Orthodoxy. (Introduction by Jonathan Lange)

Many of us live with the belief that we can achieve heaven or the ultimate peace and happiness only in an after-life. Many of us believe that heaven is a place that is far removed from earth. However, The Heavenly Life by James Allen seeks to convince us that heaven and hell are both here on earth and they lie within our own selves. A deeply moving, insightful and philosophical book that explores the ideas of living with integrity, in harmony with our fellows and in finding the power of love and integrity, The Heavenly Life was first published in 1903...

The Way of Peace is your guide to the power of meditation; self and truth; the acquirement of spiritual power; the realization of selfless love; entering into the infinite; saints, sages, and saviors; the law of service; and the realization of perfect peace.

The problem of life consists in learning how to live. It is like the problem of addition or subtraction to the schoolboy. When mastered, all difficulty disappears, and the problem has vanished. All the problems of life, whether they be social, political, or religious, subsist in ignorance and wrong-living. As they are solved in the heart of each individual, they will be solved in the mass of men. Humanity at present is in the painful stage of “learning.” It is confronted with the difficulties of its own ignorance...

James Allen (1864 - 1912) was a philosopher and a pioneer of New Thought movement. His works have formed the basis of much of the curriculum used today by many motivational and self-help groups. His first book, which published in 1901, was From Poverty to Power, subtitled The Realization of Prosperity and Peace. Allen described this book as "A Book for all those who are in search of better conditions, wider freedom, and increased usefulness." Orinigally ,the book consisted of two separate volumes, The Path To Prosperity (sometimes rendered as The Path of Prosperity) and The Way of Peace. Each volume was later published separately. This recording is of the second volume.

James Allen was a British philosophical writer known for his inspirational books and poetry and as a pioneer of the self-help movement. Allen wrote about complex subjects such as faith, destiny, love, patience, and religion but had the unique ability of explaining these subjects clearly and in a way that is easy to understand.His best known work, As a Man Thinketh, has been mass-produced since its publication in 1903. Morning and Evening Thoughts was published in 1909 and it provides a thought for each morning and evening of the day for a month. This book, compiled by his wife, Lily Allen, draws on quotes and sayings from Allen’s other works.

The book is a series of independent demonstrations, the results of which accumulate to the final conclusion, that the Christian religion is necessarily the only religion possible to meet the spiritual wants of mankind. In arriving at this conclusion, the different arts and processes of revealed religion are examined, and their adaptedness to perform their several functions in elevating, purifying, and actuating the human soul to benevolent effort, is determined, and, finally, the practical operation of the system is shown, as a matter of undeniable experience, to produce the complete and necessary result required...

The Faith of Our Fathers: A Plain Exposition and Vindication of the Church Founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ is a book published in 1876 by archbishop James Gibbons, which became a best-selling conversion manual in the United States, and by 1980 was in its 111th printing.(From the preface) “The object of this little volume is to present in a plain and practical form an exposition and vindication of the principal tenets of the Catholic Church. It was thought sufficient to devote but a brief space to such Catholic doctrines and practices as are happily admitted by Protestants, while those that are controverted by them are more elaborately elucidated...

This collection is the second volume in a series of New Testament Apocrypha. - Summary by KevinS

A few years before James E. Talmage was called to serve as an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the "Mormon" church), he gave a series of lectures at universities such as the University of Michigan and Cornell, describing the history of the Church. These lectures were later compiled and published as 'The Story of "Mormonism."' It is a concise, yet informative summary for all interested in learning the history and beliefs of the "Mormon" church. (Summary by Nathan Markham)

Elder James E. Talmage, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, makes a survey of the Latter-day Saint view of the Great Apostasy. The book's subtitle states that it is a study "considered in the in the light of scriptural and secular history," and includes a discussion of the establishment of Christ's church in the meridian of time, the predictions and causes of its apostasy, or falling away, and the restoration of Christ's church in the Latter-days by a modern prophet.

This is a story that is set in 16th century Germany. Characters representing the various classes of the remnants of feudalism and the rising bourgeois class struggle against each other. Placed in the light of the very recent and polarizing Protestant Reformation, the characters' tensions increase. - Summary by Joel Kindrick

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). It offered a modernist approach, discussing religion dispassionately as a cultural phenomenon, rather than from a theological perspective. Although most of its theories have subsequently been exploded (the most famous one being that of the relationship between magic, religion and science), its impact on contemporaneous European literature was substantial...

Three diverse essays on souls in animals, a comparison of Buddhism and Christianity, and individualism in religion. Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman Clarke attended the Boston Latin School, graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and Harvard Divinity School in 1833. Ordained into the Unitarian church he… soon threw himself into the national movement for the abolition of slavery. In 1839 he returned to Boston where he and his friends established (1841) the Church of the Disciples which brought together a body of people to apply the Christian religion to social problems of the day…...

This book is addressed to the sorrowful, ... to whom their own or others' pain is a daily burden, upon whose hearts it weighs with an intolerable anguish. I seek to speak to these ; not as a teacher, but as a fellow. Sharing their feeling, and knowing well how vain is the attempt to throw off misery, or to persuade ourselves that life is better than it is, I would fain share with them also some thoughts that have seemed to me capable of casting a bright gleam of light athwart the darkness, and, if they are true, of bringing an immense, an incredible joy out of the very bosom of distress. - Summary by James Hinton

In this book, Father Jean Guibert of the Society of St. Sulpice shows how piety permeates the spiritual life in mental and vocal prayer, in the sacraments, in various devotions, in spiritual reading, in the examination of one's conscience, and in spiritual retreats. This book is the sequel to Father Guibert's On Piety, wherein he explains the nature of piety and its effects. Both books bear an imprimatur.

Father Jean Guibert of the Society of St. Sulpice served as superior of the Catholic Institute of Paris. He wrote this short book, which bears an imprimatur, for both those who practice piety and those who disdain it. As noted in the preface to this book, the practice of piety has many advantages. The pious person is drawn into closer contact with God, his heart is purified and made glad, his mind is enlightened, his will is strengthened, and his zeal to love God and neighbor is enkindled. In Part I (Chapters 1-11), Father Guibert discusses the nature of piety, and in Part II (Chapters 12-18), he enumerates its fruits...

The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, by Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigné, is a classic work on the great events that re-opened the Christian gospel to a needy world. It tells of how the twenty-year-old Martin Luther, browsing through books in the library at the University of Erfurt, takes down from the shelf a particular volume that has caught his interest. He has never seen anything like it. It is a Bible! He is astonished to find in this volume so much more than the fragments of gospels and epistles that were selected for public reading in churches...

The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, by Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigné, is a classic work on the great events that re-opened the Christian gospel to a needy world. The author was a Swiss Protestant pastor. He was also a historian with a great understanding of the Bible, along with a broad and deep knowledge of the Reformation.D’Aubigné tells the story of outstanding people who had a love for God and his word, and who dared to present biblical truths which had been obscured for centuries...

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) (April 13, 1648 – June 9, 1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. This translation is by Thomas Taylor Allen was first published in 1897. Allen’s dates are unknown.

Originally published in 1685, Madame Guyon’s A Short and Easy Method of Prayer is considered a classic of Christian mysticism, influencing great writers and speakers such as John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon. In it, Madame Guyon carefully and briefly sets out her ‘unmethodical method’ by which any and all can commune with God at any time and under any circumstances.

Of Earthly-mindedness, Wherein is shewed, 1. What Earthly-mindedness is. 2. The Evils of Earthly-mindedness. 3. Several Convincements of Earthly-mindedness. 4. Several Reasons of Earthly-mindedness. 5. Considerations to take off the heart from Earthly-mindedness. 6. Directions how to get our hearts free from Earthly-mindedness.

Written by a Church of England clergyman in the time of Cromwell, this work is praised for both its style and content. Taylor's work was much admired by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, for its devotional quality; and by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey, and Edmund Gosse for its literary qualities.Holy Dying is meant to instruct the reader in the "means and instruments" of preparing for a blessed death, written in a time when death was a constant companion to life and not to be encountered without being ready for it. It assumes illness and a death-bed, with recommended meditations and prayers for the sick, the family, and the clergyman attending to the dying one.

Jerry McAuley gives a testimony of his transformation from one of the wickedest men to ever live to being saved and a life of helping others do the same.

Hurlbut's Life of Christ For Young and Old is a detailed, chronological presentation of the life of Christ, relying heavily on quoted portions of Scripture/ Rev. Hurlbut makes the gospel story accessible for the reader as each episode and teaching is presented as natural dialog. The Life of Christ is a worthy companion to his larger multi-volume Story of the Bible. These are true classics of Christian literature. - Summary by Larry Wilson

volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Blessings for Chanukah by Jessie E. Sampter. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 9, 2018. ------ Jessie Sampter was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. She was born in New York City and immigrated to Palestine in 1919. In her twenties, she joined the Unitarian Church and began writing poetry. Her poems and short stories emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. - Summary by Wikipedia

Hallel (Hebrew: הלל‎ “Praise [God]“) is part of Judaism’s prayers, a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113-118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays. Summary from WikipediaRead by Délibáb, D.E. Wittkower, Jc Guan, Katie Gibboney, Leon Mire, and Scott Sherris

The first book of the Pentateuch - Genesis. Presented according to weekly parshah.Praised are You, Adonai, Our G-d, ruler of the Universe, who has made us holy with commandments and commanded us to engage in the study of Torah.

The second book of the Pentateuch - Exodus. Presented according to weekly parshah.Praised are You, Adonai, Our G-d, ruler of the Universe, who has made us holy with commandments and commanded us to engage in the study of Torah. (Introduction by Linette Geisel & traditional prayer. Parshat descriptions provided by Wikipedia)