In this collection of essays, Frank Boreham shares with us his musings on how everyday items such as boots and linoleum, or a cozy fire, or even Nothing at all, can enrich our spiritual lives and draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. Summary by Devorah Allen.
26 episodes
Samuel Logan Brengle was a commissioner in the Salvation Army. His books are known for the practicality, joyfulness and authenticity. His life was spent working with people on the streets, so his insights into the work of the Holy Spirit are relevant to everyday life. His holiness was that of the street, the kitchen, and everyday life. His stories are of men and women living their daily lives. This is the third book in his "Holiness" series, which focuses on becoming like Jesus. - Summary by Beth Thomas
14 episodes
Samuel Logan Brengle was a commissioner in the Salvation Army. His books are known for the practicality, joyfulness and authenticity. His life was spent working with people on the streets, so his insights into the work of the Holy Spirit are relevant to everyday life. His holiness was that of the street, the kitchen, and everyday life. His stories are of men and women living their daily lives. In this book, Brengle explores how to live the Christian life so that we are full of contagious joy; how to walk with Our Saviour in such close fellowship that our heart for others is as a flame of fire to flood the world with joy!
From the Preface by Commissioner Frederick Booth-Tucker: Many will be inspired by these pages to rise up and make a new start. There is not a piece of advice in the whole book that will tempt the weakest saint to despair, no fancied heights which will be beyond their reach. Certainly none can read the book without getting a new impetus to do and dare for God and souls, and none who carry out these instructions can fail to become in the highest, noblest and most lasting sense, successful soul-winners. (Summary by Beth Thomas and the Preface)
20 episodes
Asa Gray was a highly-regarded botanist at Harvard University and a friend and collaborator of Charles Darwin. As a Christian, Gray was concerned with the disconnect developing through the nineteenth century between the growing understanding of the natural world and the traditional worldview assumed by orthodox Christianity. This book presents two lectures he gave to theology students at Yale College in which he argues that a disconnect is not inevitable, but that a Christian perspective can and should incorporate current understanding of the world provided by natural science. - Summary by BarryGanong
4 episodes
Catherine Booth and William Booth were a ministry team founding the Salvation Army, which has spread from its humble beginnings in England to a global church with a presence in 131 countries and a membership of 1.7 million. Although best known to many people for its relief and charitable work, the Salvation Army is at its core a church from the Wesleyan tradition. Partly due the strong leadership from Catherine Booth, women are encouraged to participate fully in the ministry to the highest levels.
In this book Catherine Booth’s writing touches on the basics of faith – repentance, faith, charity and prayer. The book concludes with a series of addresses on holiness, the cardinal doctrine of Holiness churches.
- Summary by Larry Wilson
16 episodes
The young Grace Livingston compiled this book using quotes from her aunt's works; Isabella Macdonald Alden (who wrote under the pen name "Pansy"). It is a quote for each day of the year from one of the "Pansy Books" plus a bit of related scripture or verse. - Summary by LikeManyWaters
13 episodes
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
104 episodes
"Angels of the Battlefield: A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War" chronicles the compassionate services of these dedicated women during the bitter and bloody U.S. Civil War. These accounts also offer some important historical details, giving some important insights into the people and events of the war. This is the Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. - Summary by Larry Wilson
60 episodes
Samuel Logan Brengle was a commissioner in the Salvation Army. His books are known for the practicality, joyfulness and authenticity. His life was spent working with people on the streets, so his insights into the work of the Holy Spirit are relevant to everyday life. His holiness was that of the street, the kitchen, and everyday life. His stories are of men and women living their daily lives. This book is the first in his "Holiness" trilogy, explaining what Holiness is and how to get it. - Summary by Beth Thomas
29 episodes
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. Until he made his excavations the ruins had not been thoroughly investigated. This book sets forth his findings and conclusions, and is the last of the three editions published, being dated July, 1912. Much more archaeological work has been carried out since the author's day, and further important discoveries made relating to the abbey's history. Torre Abbey passed into the ownership of the local council in 1930. Today, the house, which is now an art gallery and museum, ruins and beautiful gardens are open to the public, and many events, including weddings and exhibitions, take place in the house and grounds every year. It is a Grade 1 listed building. - Summary by Garth Burton
10 episodes
This collection contains 32 essays by the respected Baptist preacher Frank Boreham. Writing on topics that range from falling in love to eating sandwiches at a church meeting, Boreham seeks to encourage and inspire Christian believers around the world. Summary by Devorah Allen
33 episodes
A collection of essays written by the renowned lecturer and author during the First World War, when he was quite depressed. The general themes of the collection are persevering in faith, guidance by the Holy Spirit and standing for the "Test of Courage". - Summary by Beth Thomas
56 episodes
"People will worry, they do worry. What they want to know and need to learn is how to quit worrying. This I have attempted herein to show, with the full knowledge, however, that no one person's recipe can infallibly be used by any other person—so that, in reality, all I have tried to do is to set forth the means I have followed to teach myself the delightful lesson of serenity, of freedom from worry, and thereby to suggest to receptive minds a way by which they may possibly attain the same desirable end." - Summary by George Wharton James
26 episodes
Samuel Logan Brengle was a commissioner in the Salvation Army. His books are known for the practicality, joyfulness and authenticity. His life was spent working with people on the streets, so his insights into the work of the Holy Spirit are relevant to everyday life. His holiness was that of the street, the kitchen, and everyday life. His stories are of men and women living their daily lives. In this book, Brengle explores how to live the Christian life so that we are walking in the centre of God's Will and daily showing His Love to the world around us. From the Preface by General Bramwell Booth: Here are words to clear the thought, as well as to guide the Will and strengthen the Heart. (Summary by Beth Thomas and the Preface)
19 episodes
This is a collection of nineteen sermons given by the Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, using illustrations from rural settings. (Summary by Lauren Randall)
19 episodes
As one of the first two bishops of the Methodist church in America and one of the most well-known circuit riders during the spread of Methodism, Francis Asbury kept a journal of his travels and activities. His journal begins with his prayerful decision to come to America in 1771 and continues to December of 1815, a few months before his death. In the meantime, we travel with Rev. Asbury across the ocean, over mountains, through rivers, and up and down the whole length of the fledgling United States of America. Summary by Devorah Allen
49 episodes
Catherine Booth worked hand-in-hand with her husband William Booth to establish a fledgling mission in London, that eventually grew into a global ministry, The Salvation Army. Here she delves into the Biblical and theological foundation of their work and mission. In many ways she was the heart and soul of the Salvation Army and challenges the readers and listeners to a deeper commitment to Christ and his calling. - Summary by Larry Wilson
16 episodes
As a rule, when Cardinal Newman's poetry is mentioned, people think of "The Pillar of the Cloud," better known as "Lead, Kindly Light." This lyric is only one of the many beautiful poems written by an author whose fame as a writer of the finest modern prose in the English language has eclipsed his reputation as a poet. Nevertheless, he wrote a very great poem, "The Dream of Gerontius"—a poem which the intellectual world admires more and more every year, and which yields its best only after careful study and consideration. It has been described as a metrical meditation on death. It is more than that; it is the realization by means of a loving heart and a poetic imagination of the state of a just soul after death,—Gerontius typifying not the soul of a particular person imagined by Cardinal Newman, but your soul, my soul, any soul which may be fortunate enough to satisfy the judging and merciful God. No poet has ever presented the condition of the soul, as made known by the theology of the Catholic Church, so forcibly and appealingly as Cardinal Newman. - Summary by Maurice Francis Egan
2 episodes
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 characterizes each chapter as neither sermons nor essays, but simply, as he calls them, "outbursts" or "wayward notions," and he presents them to us as if we were all gathered around a comfortable fire together. - Summary by Devorah Allen
22 episodes
Andrew Murray wrote this volume as a sequel to his well-known devotional book "Abide in Christ". It is sub-titled "Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Conformity to the Son of God". In his preface, Murray states two objects he had in mind in writing the book. The first was to portray the Son of God as a pattern of what God the Father wants believers to be, in such a way that we can see that being like Jesus is immensely attractive in awakening love, inspiring hope and strengthening faith. The second was to show how likeness to Christ is not a mere ideal, but something very real in life of believers as we reflect His image amid the trials and duties of daily life. - Summary by Christopher Smith
33 episodes
For above forty years I have been a diligent collector of history, tradition, legend, custom, or folklore, whether from familiar or unfamiliar sources, relating to the festival of the Holy Nativity. Moreover, I have gathered copiously from scarce pamphlets of the 17th and 18th centuries, from old chapbooks, newspaper paragraphs, and magazine articles old and new, and from contact with rustics in several counties. The fruits of my gathering are briefly summarized in the following pages, in the hope that they may conduce to that "joy and pious mirth" wherewith we ought, all of us, to commemorate the best and greatest Gift of God to man. - Summary by from the Preface
56 episodes
During his eleven year pontificate (1903-1914) Pope St. Pius X wrote 16 encyclicals. The subjects ranged from saints, The Immaculate Conception, The Restoration of All Things in Christ, Catholic Social Action, and more. This is collection of 14 out of the 16 encyclicals that he authored.
His most well known encyclical, Pascendi, has been recorded separately, and can be found at this link here:
Pascendi Dominici Gregis
(Summary by Maria Therese)
15 episodes
Johanne Fichte published The Destination of Man (Die Bestimmung des Menschen) in 1799. It was translated into English in 1846 by Jane Sinnett and then again in 1848 by William Smith. Fichte says his book is designed to "raise [the reader] from the sensuous world, to that which is above sense." Francis Bacon said, in The Advancement of Learning, "the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients; the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation; if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." Rene Descartes said "in order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things." Fichte moves from doubt to knowledge and finally to faith in his exploration of the self. (Summary by Craig Campbell)
19 episodes
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 invites us to view spiritual truths as we would look upon beautiful mountains in the distance, with a spirit of wonder and humility, rather than with meticulous reasoning and analysis. Summary by Devorah Allen
29 episodes
In this early nineteenth-century classic, William Paley assesses how our understanding of nature reflects characteristics of its creator. First published in 1802, the book went through more than twenty editions, remains in print, and is still a reference point in the ongoing conversation about evolution or creation as the better explanation for the appearance of order and design in our universe. - Summary by Barry Ganong
32 episodes
Fiction, or fact? The narrator asserts it's fact. The narrator is an author, whom her little nieces call "Auntie Belle". There's also an "Auntie Dule" (proper name Julia), Grandpa and Grandma, Mama and Papa, and eventually an Uncle Ross (Isabella Alden's husband, Gustavus Rossenberg Alden). The book is made up of vignettes of the funny sayings or doings of little Minnie and little Gracie, and how these lead to Grandpa's wise lessons for both the little ones and the adults. - Summary by TriciaG
26 episodes
This short treatise was accounted by some of the Fathers as next to Holy Scripture. It was rediscovered in 1873 by a Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the codex from which, in 1875, he had published the full text of the Epistles of St. Clement. An old Latin translation was found in 1900. For convenience the contents may be divided into three parts: the first is the "Two Ways", the Way of Life and the Way of Death; the second part is a rituale dealing with baptism, fasting, and Holy Communion; the third speaks of the ministry. Doctrinal teaching is presupposed, and none is imparted.
The Didache is mentioned by Eusebius after the books of Scripture (Church History III.25.4): "Let there be placed among the spuria the writing of the Acts of Paul, the so-called Shepherd and the Apocalypse of Peter, and besides these the Epistle known as that of Barnabas, and what are called the Teachings of the Apostles, and also . . . the Apocalypse of John, if this be thought fit . . ." St. Athanasius and Rufinus add the "Teaching" to the sapiential and other deutero-canonical books. It has a similar place in the lists of Nicephorus, Pseudo-Anastasius, and Pseudo-Athanasius (Synopsis). The Pseudo-Cyprianic "Adversus Aleatores" quotes it by name. Unacknowledged citations are very common, if less certain. The "Two Ways" appears in Barnabas, cc. xviii-xx, sometimes word for word, sometimes added to, dislocated, or abridged, and Barn., iv, 9 is from Didache, xvi, 2-3, or vice versa. Hermas, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen seem to use the work.
3 episodes
Jovinianus, had published at Rome a treatise containing the following opinions: (1) "That a virgin is no better as such than a wife in the sight of God. (2) Abstinence is no better than a thankful partaking of food. (3) A person baptized with the Spirit as well as with water cannot sin. (4) All sins are equal. (5) There is but one grade of punishment and one of reward in the future state." Also he held the birth of our Lord to have been natural, rather than that Jesus passed through the walls of the womb as His Resurrection body afterwards did out of the tomb. All these opinions were condemned in synods at that city and at Milan (about A.D. 390). He subsequently sent Jovinian's books to Jerome, who answered them in the present treatise in the year 393. Book I is wholly on (1), marriage and virginity. Chp 4-13 are Jerome's sense, of St. Paul's teaching in 1 Cor. vii. In chp. 14-39 Jerome uses both the Old and the New Testaments. Chp. 40 praises virginity and single marriages from examples in the heathen world. - Summary: A shortened version from the introduction.
18 episodes
John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, delivered these three homilies, most likely at Antioch, about the role of demons in our life. The summary for each one follows: 1) Against those who say that demons govern human affairs, and who are displeased at the chastisement of God, and are offended at the prosperity of the wicked and the hardships of the just. 2) Against those who object because the devil has not been put out of the world: and to prove that his wickedness does no harm to us—if we take heed: and concerning repentance. 3) That evil comes of sloth, and virtue from diligence, and that neither wicked men, nor the devil himself, are able to do the wary man any harm. The proof of this from many passages, and amongst others from those which relate to Adam and to Job. - Summary by Philip Schaff, the translator
3 episodes
The value of this work is not limited to virgins. For although the author, Saint Ambrose of Milan, wrote this for his sister, the nun, Saint Marcellina, my hope is that this recording will prove edifying to all who desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in chastity. (Summary by the Reader)
8 episodes
An exposition of the verse, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians vi: 7, 8. - Summary by Jeremy Sherwood
8 episodes
Amongst the many wonderful truths which are spoken of God in the Bible, one of the most wonderful and beautiful is that He is a "God of comfort." "Comfort" is such a soothing word in itself, that, the moment we hear of it in connection with God we are led to expect great things; some cheering, some lifting up, some refreshment, some ease, some lightening of our trouble, something very good.O Thou most worthy judge eternal, we have no comfort in ourselves, and unless Thou hadst revealed Thyself as a comforting God we could have had none in Thee. Show Thyself to us, as Thou art in Thy word. Comfort us with the kindness that there is in Thyself; and speak peace to all the readers of this book, for the sake of The Great Peacemaker, -- the Prince of peace, Jesus Christ Himself -- Amen. (from the Introduction)
14 episodes
