CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHIES F-H

ABOUT FREDERICK BUECHNER

Frederick Buechner died peacefully in his sleep on August 15, 2022. He was 96. When we were starting out as a young couple, having just founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the use of the arts/media by religious and community groups, Buechner was our inspiration. He was a minister who did not serve a congregation but instead ministered to a broad audience through writing books on religious themes, memoirs about the life of faith, and novels. We named one of our cats Bebb after the rascal of a pastor in a quartet of his novels. We launched one of our publications with his quote on the cover. Stop, look, and listen to your life, he said. And we did. What we have shared with our readers and website visitors over the years was profoundly influenced by Frederick Buechner. We are so grateful for what we learned from him and hope all those reading this profile will make it the start of an exploration of his brilliant words on the faithful life and a life so very well lived.

— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Frederick Buechner was born in New York City and grew up in Bermuda and North Carolina. He was educated at Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary. After being ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1958, he served for nine years as the school chaplain and religion teacher at Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He and his family then moved to Vermont so he could pursue a career as a full-time writer.

Buechner was the author of 39 works of fiction and nonfiction. He was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is especially loved for his devotional writing, including sermons and short meditations on theological terms, biblical characters, and ordinary words with religious dimensions. In his memoirs, he finds signs of God's grace everywhere, especially in his own experiences.

Source: spiritualityandpractice.com/explorations/teachers/view/18/frederick-buechner

DEATH OF FREDERICK BUECHNER

By the time Buechner passed away at 96 years old on August 15, 2022, the New York Times reported that he'd published 39 books translated into 27 languages, with critics comparing him to Mark Twain, Henry James, and Truman Capote. Christianity Today published a memoriam article by Russell Moore and republished a 1997 profile by Philip Yancey. Yancey described meeting Buechner in 1979 and observed, “I have a hunch, in fact, that Buechner has become the most quoted living writer among Christians of influence.”

Source: christianity.com/wiki/people/what-need-to-know-frederick-buechner.html

QUOTES BY FREDERICK BUECHNER

THE PLACE GOD CALLS YOU TO

"The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Presbyterian Minister

JESUS, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," the good thief said from his cross (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well.

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Presbyterian Minister

GRACE CAN ONLY BE GIVEN

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about anymore than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks.

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Presbyterian Minister

IF PREACHERS DECIDE TO PREACH ON HOPE

"If preachers decide to preach about hope, let them preach out of what they themselves hope for."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Presbyterian Minister

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE

"Avarice, greed, concupiscence and so forth are all based on the mathematical truism that the more you get, the more you have. The remark of that it is more blessed to give than to receive is based on the human truth that the more you give away in love, the more you are. It is not just for the sake of other people that tells us to give rather than get, but for our own sakes too."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Presbyterian Minister

TO BE COMMANDED TO LOVE GOD

"To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

MARTIN LUTHER ONCE SAID

Martin Luther said once, 'If I were God, I'd kick the world to pieces.' But Martin Luther wasn't God. God is God, and God has never kicked the world to pieces. He keeps re-entering the world. He keeps offering himself to the world by grace, keeps somehow blessing the world, making possible a kind of life which we all, in our deepest being, hunger for.

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

THE BIRTH OF JESUS MADE POSSIBLE

"It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did ... for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

IF YOU WERE AWARE OF HOW PRECIOUS TODAY IS

"If you were aware of how precious today is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

PROOF OF GOD'S EXISTENCE

“It is not the objective proof of God’s existence that we want but the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think, the miracle that we really get.” 

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

COMMANDED TO LOVE GOD

To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him.

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

YOUR LIFE AND MY LIFE

"Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality--not as we expect it to be but as it is--is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love."

- Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) American Minister and Writer

FREDERICK BUECHNER BOOKS BAND SERMONS 

A Long Day's Dying, 1950 (ISBN 978-0972429542)

The Magnificent Defeat, 1966 (ISBN 9780060611743)

Telling the Truth: the Gospel as tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale, 1977 (ISBN 9780060611569)

The Book of Bebb, 1979 (ISBN 9780062517692)

Godric, 1980 (ISBN 9780060611620)

The Sacred Journey, 1982 (ISBN 9780060611835)

Brendan, 1987 (ISBN 9780060611781)

Telling Secrets, a Memoir, 1991 (ISBN 9780060611811)

Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, 1992 (ISBN 9780060698645)

Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, 2006 (ISBN 978-0-06-084248-2)

Photo Credit: christianitytoday.com/news/2022/august/obit-frederick-buechner-writer-pastor-theologian.html

ABOUT FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON

Frederick W. Robertson (1816-53) was an Anglican minister whose sermons were best sellers when they were published posthumously in 1855. The collections went into multiple editions until the early twentieth century in England as well as every English-speaking country in the world, especially the United States. The definitive biography was written by one of Queen Victoria's chaplains, Stopford Brooke, and published in 1865. It, too, became a best seller. Even though Robertson's memory has faded with time, his ideas, innovative at the time, are now taken for granted in Western culture. He believed, for example, that one of the greatest achievements of a civilization, if not the greatest, is "the rule of law," which says that no man is above the law, not even the king. In Robertson's own words, "law is not the creature of the ruler, but the ruler is the creature of, and owes his continuance to, the law."

He also believed in universal education, starting schools for girls as well as boys. In addition, he supported the Working Man's Institute, founded in 1848, and was a member the committee that re-established that organization as a Mechanics' Institute (though he preferred the former name) for the working classes left without jobs when the Industrial Revolution replaced workers with machines. In this crusade Lady Byron, the widow of the poet, Lord Byron, joined him. In an era governed by social distinctions based solely on rank, title, and wealth, he preached equal opportunity, universal education being the way to achieve it.

As a testimony to his greatness, the whole city of Brighton (almost 100,000 then) shut down for his funeral. Over 3000 marched in the funeral procession that traversed the three-mile distance between his home and his final resting place in the Extra-Mural cemetery outside of the city.

Source: victorianweb.org/religion/robertson/bio.html

QUOTES BY FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON 

IN ALL MATTERS OF ETERNAL TRUTH

"In all matters of eternal truth, the soul is before the intellect; the things of God are spiritually discerned. You know truth by being true; you recognize God by being like Him."

WITH THE FULLNESS OF THY PERFECT PICTURE

"My Saviour! fill up the blurred and blotted sketch which my clumsy hand has drawn of a Divine life, with the fullness of Thy perfect picture. I feel the beauty I cannot realize; robe me in Thine unutterable purity."

THE SACRAFICE ALL-SUFFICIENT IN The FATHER'S SIGHT

"He in whose heart the law was, and who alone of all mankind was content to do it, His sacrifice alone can be the sacrifice all-sufficient in the Father's sight as the proper sacrifice of humanity; He who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, He alone can give the Spirit which enables us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. He is the only High-Priest of the universe."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher

LET A MAN BEGIN WITH AN EARNEST "I OUGHT"

"Let a man begin with an earnest "I ought," and if he perseveres, by God's grace he will end in the free blessedness of "I will." Let him force himself to abound in small acts of duty, and he will, by and by, find them the joyous habit of his soul."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher

LOVE GOD AND HE WILL DWELL WITH YOU

"Love God, and he will dwell with you. Obey God, and he will reveal to you the truth of his deepest teachings."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher

HE WHO LIVES TO GOD RESTS IN HIS REDEEMERS LOVE

"He who lives to God rests in his Redeemer's love, and is trying to get rid of his old nature — to him every sorrow, every bereavement, every pain, will come charged with blessings, and death itself will be no longer the " king of terrors," but the messenger of grace."

I WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO HATE 

“I will tell you what to hate. Hate hypocrisy; hate cant; hate intolerance, oppression, injustice, Pharisaism; hate them as Christ hated them – with a deep, abiding, God-like hatred.” 

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English  Preacher

THE BODY BECOMES A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST

"If there be anything common to us by nature, it is the members of our corporeal frame; yet the apostle taught that these, guided by the spirit as its instruments, and obeying a holy will, become transfigured, so that, in his language, the body becomes a temple of the Holy Ghost, and the meanest faculties, the lowest appetites, the humblest organs are ennobled by the spirit mind which guides them."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English  Preacher

AS A MEANS WHERBY WE ESCAPE EVIL

"The Divine wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher

THIS IS THE DESCRET OF CHRIST'S KINGSHIP

"This is the secret of Christ's kingship— "He became obedient — wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him." And this is the secret of all obedience and all command. Obedience to a law above you subjugates minds to you who never would have yielded to mere will."

THE FOUNDATION OF ALL HUMAN EXCELLENCE

"What the world calls virtue is a name and a dream without Christ. The foundation of all human excellence must be laid deep in the blood of the Redeemer's cross and in the power of his resurrection."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher 

TRUER STILL OF THE WORLD TO COME

"This world is given as a prize for the men in earnest; and that which is true of this world is truer still of the world to come."

HE IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE BODY

"Christ's miracles were vivid manifestations to the senses that He is the Saviour of the body — and now as then the issues of life and death are in His hands — that our daily existence is a perpetual miracle. The extraordinary was simply a manifestation of God's power in the ordinary."

CHILD OF GOD, HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT?

"Child of God, if you would have your thought of God something beyond a cold feeling of His presence, let faith appropriate Christ."

THERE IS A GRAND FEARLESSNESS IN FAITH

"There is a grand fearlessness in faith. He who in his heart of hearts reverences the good, the true, the holy — that is, reverences God — does not tremble at the apparent success of attacks upon the outworks of faith. They may shake those who rest on those outworks — they do not move him whose soul reposes on the truth itself. He needs no prop or crutches to support his faith. Founded on a Rock, Faith can afford to gaze undismayed at the approaches of Infidelity."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher 

THIS IS TRUE LIBERTY IN CHRIST

"This is the true liberty of Christ, when a free man binds himself in love to duty. Not in shrinking from our distasteful occupations, but in fulfilling them, do we realize our high origin."

- Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853) English Preacher 

FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON BOOKS AND SERMONS

Vol. 1, Sermon 1 - God's Revelation of Heaven    

Preached April 29, 1849 "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." - I Cor. 2:9,10. The preaching of the Apostle Paul was rejected by numbers in the cultivated town of Corinth. It was not wise enough.

Vol. 1, Sermon 2 - Parable of the Sower
Preached June 6, 1849 "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea-side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold. a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds.

Vol. 1, Sermon 3 - Jacob's Wrestling
Preached June 10, 1849 "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and best prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there." - Genesis 32:28, 29.

Vol. 1, Sermon 4 - Christian Progress by Oblivion of the Past
Preached August 12, 1849 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." - Phil. 3:13,14 

Vol. 1, Sermon 5 - Triumph Over Hindrances - Zaccheus
Preached October 21, 1849 "And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." - Luke 19:8. There are persons to whom a religious life seems smooth and easy. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 6 - The Shadow and Substance of the Sabbath
Preached October 28, 1849 "Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." - Col. 2:16,17. No sophistry of criticism can explain away the obvious meaning of these words.

Vol. 1, Sermon 7 - The Sympathy of Christ
Preached November 4, 1849 "For we have not a high-priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Vol. 1, Sermon 8 - The Pharisees and Sadducees at John's Baptism
Preached November 11, 1849 "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" - Matthew 3:7. It seems that the Baptist's ministry had been attended with almost incredible success, as if the population of the country had been...

Vol. 1, Sermon 9 - Caiaphas's View of Vicarious Sacrifice
Preached November 5, 1849 "And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high-priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 10 - Realizing the Second Advent
Preached December 2, 1849 "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." - Job 19:25-27. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 11 - First Advent Lecture - The Grecian

Vol. 1, Sermon 12 - Second Advent Lecture: The Roman
Preached December 6, 1849 "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first,

Vol. 1, Sermon 13 - Third Advent Lecture: The Barbarian
Preached December 20, 1849 "And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire."

Vol. 1, Sermon 14 - The Principle of Spiritual Harvest
Preached December 15, 1849 "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 6:7,8. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 15 - The Loneliness of Christ
Preached December 31, 1849 "Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." 

Vol. 1, Sermon 16 - The New Commandment of Love to One Another
Preached October 20, 1950 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." - John 13:34. These words derive impressiveness from having been spoken immediately before the last Supper, and on the eve of the great Sacrifice: 

Vol. 1, Sermon 17 - The Message of the Church to Men of Wealth
Preached June 15, 1851 "And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?" - I Samuel 2

Vol. 1, Sermon 18 - Christ's Judgment Respecting Inheritance
Preached June 22, 1851 [* This Sermon was preached the Sunday after that on which "The Message of the Church to Men of Wealth" was preached, and it was intended as a further illustration of that subject.] "And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 19 - Freedom by the Truth
Preached July 13, 1851 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32. If these words were the only record we possessed of the Saviour's teaching, it may be that they would be insufficient to prove His personal Deity, but they would be enough to demonstrate the Divine character of His mission. 

Vol. 1, Sermon 20 - The Kingdom of the Truth
Preached at the Autumn Assizes, held at Lewes, 1852 "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." - John 18:37. 

Source: articles.ochristian.com/preacher535-1.shtml

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_William_Robertson

ABOUT G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) was born on a farm in Tetbury, England, the son of a Baptist minister. When Campbell was 10 years old, D. L. Moody came to England for the first time, and the effect of his ministry, combined with the dedication of his parents, made such an impression on young Morgan, that at the age of 13, he preached his first sermon. Two years later, he was preaching regularly in country chapels during his Sundays and holidays.

In 1886, at the age of 23, he left the teaching profession, for which he had been trained, and devoted himself to preaching and Bible exposition. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1890. He had no formal training for the ministry, but his devotion to studying of the Bible made him one of the leading Bible teachers in his day. His reputation as preacher and Bible expositor grew throughout England and spread to the United States.

In 1896, D. L. Moody invited him to lecture to the students at the Moody Bible Institute. This was the first of his 54 crossings of the Atlantic to preach and teach. After the death of Moody in 1899, Morgan assumed the position of director of the Northfield Bible Conference. After five successful years in this capacity, he returned to England (in 1904) and became pastor of Westminster Chapel of London. His preaching and weekly Friday night Bible classes were attended by thousands. Leaving Westminster Chapel in 1919, he once again returned to the United States, where he conducted an itinerant preaching/teaching ministry for 14 years. Finally, in 1933, he returned to England, where he again became pastor of Westminster Chapel and remained there until his retirement in 1943. He was instrumental in bringing Martyn Lloyd-Jones to Westminster in 1939 to share the pulpit and become his successor. Morgan died on May 16, 1945, at the age of 81.

Source: theopedia.com/g-campbell-morgan

QUOTES BY G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

GOD HAS FOREORDAINED THE WORKS TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED YOU

"God has foreordained the works to which He has called you. He has been ahead of you preparing the place to which you are coming and manipulating all the resources of the universe in order that the work you do may be a part of His whole great and gracious work."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

TO THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

"To the individual believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit there is granted the direct impression of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man, imparting the knowledge of His will in matters of the smallest and greatest importance. This has to be sought and waited for."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher  

ACCOMMODATING OF HIS STRENGHTH TO MY WEAKNESS

"Ah, I have kept Him waiting when I ought not, but He has waited even then. Always waiting - so patient with my foolishness, my weakness, my fear. Our fellowship is with God, and fellowship is friendship, and friendship means that partnership which, on His part, is the accommodating of His strength to my weakness."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

ALWAYS WAITING, SO PATIENT WITH MY FOOLISHNESS

"Ah, I have kept Him waiting when I ought not, but He has waited even then. Always waiting - so patient with my foolishness, my weakness, my fear. Our fellowship is with God, and fellowship is friendship, and friendship means that partnership which, on His part, is the accommodating of His strength to my weakness."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

IN DIRECT PORTION TO THE MEASUREMENT

"The Scripture can only be read intelligently by inspired men and women. The value we get from our reading is in direct proportion to the measure in which we are filled with God's Spirit."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

THE SUPREME NEED IN EVERY HOUR OF DIFFICULTY

"The supreme need in every hour of difficulty and distress is for a fresh vision of God. Seeing Him, all else takes on proper perspective and proportion."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

WAITING FOR GOD MEANS

"Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given."

- G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Preacher, Bible Teacher 

CONTINUE STEADFASTLY IN PRAYER  

"Nothing is more needed among preachers today than that we should have the courage to shake ourselves free from the thousand and one trivialities in which we are asked to waste our time and strength, and resolutely return to the apostolic ideal which made necessary the office of the pastorate. (We must resolve that) we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the Word."    

– G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) British Evangelist, Bible Teacher   

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN BOOKS AND SERMONS

• Morgan, G. Campbell (George Campbell), 1863-1945: The Analyzed Bible (10 volumes; New York et al.: Fleming Revell Co., c1907-1911)
  • Volume I (Genesis to Esther): multiple formats at archive.org
  • Volume II (Job to Malachi): multiple formats at archive.org
  • Volume III (Matthew to Revelation): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 4th volume (The Gospel According to John): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 5th volume (The Book of Job): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 6th volume (The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 7th volume (The Prophecy of Isaiah, Volume I): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 8th volume (The Prophecy of Isaiah, Volume II): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 9th volume (The Book of Genesis): multiple formats at archive.org
  • 10th volume (The Gospel According to Matthew): multiple formats at archive.org
• Morgan, G. Campbell (George Campbell), 1863-1945: The Crises of the Christ (London: Hodder and Stoughton, ca. 1903) (multiple formats at archive.org)
• Morgan, G. Campbell (George Campbell), 1863-1945: The Morning Message: A Selection for Daily Meditation (E. Northfield, MA: The Bookstore, c1906), ed. by William Ross
• Morgan, G. Campbell (George Campbell), 1863-1945: The Welsh Revival (Boston et al.: The Pilgrim Press, c1905), also by W. T. Stead (multiple formats at archive.org)

Source: onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Morgan%2C%20G%2E%20Campbell%20%28George%20Campbell%29%2C%201863%2D1945

Photo Credit: sermonindex.net/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=3995

ABOUT G. V. WIGRAM

This account is taken from "Songs of Pilgrimage and Glory" by E.E. Cornwall.

G.V. Wigram was born on March 29th. 1805, and died on February 1st. 1879. He was buried in Paddington Cemetery, London, by the side of Sir Edward Denny "Not a cloud above — not a spot within". Mr. Wigram was married twice: first to Fanny, daughter of Thomas Bligh (she died in 1834); secondly to Catharine, only daughter of William Parnell of Avondale. (She died on September 12th. 1867, in Canada).

As his name Vicesimus indicates, George Vicesimus Wigram was the 20th. child of his father, and the 14th of his mother who was the second wife of Sir Robert Wigram — she being the aunt to the late Charles Stewart Parnell. Mr. Wigram's brother James became a Vice-Chancellor and his brother Joseph became Bishop of Rochester.

When quite a young man, Mr. Wigram obtained a commission in the army. At the close of a day spent in exploring the field of the battle of Waterloo, he had a remarkable experience. There came to him such a revelation of the power of an unseen Presence; such light, such holiness, yet with it the overwhelming love and tenderness of Christ, so revealed as to remove all fear. This was his conversion at the age of nineteen. In writing afterwards he says, "Suddenly there came to my soul a something I had never known before. It was as if some One Infinite and Almighty, knowing everything, full of the deepest, tenderest interest in myself, though utterly and entirely abhorring everything in, and connected with me, made known to me that He pitied and loved myself". It was a remarkable conversion, probably indicating the special character of his testimony.

Mr. Wigram was "not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" and, resigning from the army in 1826, he entered Queens College, Oxford, with the intention of becoming a clergyman, but meeting earnest brethren in Christ, he abandoned his studies and commenced labouring for the Lord in London and elsewhere. It has been said that he all but joined Mr. A.N. Groves and his missionary band to Baghdad in June 1829. Two years later the plague broke up the little party, and eventually Mr. Groves became a missionary at Tinnevelly (South India). Shortly after this Mr. Wigram married Miss Fanny Bligh (known when a girl in Ireland) but she was called home in 1834.

While comparatively young, Mr. Wigram had the great satisfaction of seeing completed two works of great value to Bible students, which, with the aid of others, and by his own financial help, were published. They were: "The Englishman's Greek and English Concordance to the New Testament (1839)" and "The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance to the Old Testament (1843)". It was a little previous to this that Mr. Wigram completed his compilation of hymns entitled "Hymns for the Poor of the Flock (1837-38)". It contained hymns by Watts, Wesley, Cowper, T. Kelly and others; and an appendix was added, chiefly to include a number of hymns by Sir Edward Denny that had just been written. The four earliest of Mr. Darby's were also inserted, two of them being pasted in at the end of the book. Then some 18 years later (1856) Mr. Wigram compiled another hymn book entitled "A Few Hymns and some Spiritual Songs for the Little Flock", to replace the other collection. In his preface he tells us that he decided to "retouch as little as possible, and with as light a hand as possible, but allow to remain no false, no faulty, no defective doctrine — cost what it might." This valuable hymn book was revised by Mr. Darby in 1881, and again by Mr. T.H. Reynolds in 1903. In this first edition, many of the older hymns were omitted in order to make room for new ones by Denny, Deck, Darby and Miss Bowly.

Another labour undertaken by Mr. Wigram was to edit the magazine entitled "The Present Testimony", a periodical that superseded another called "The Christian Witness". This literary work, however, did not impair the freshness of his oral ministry. This (says a writer) "Like his conversion was of no ordinary kind. Like the precious stones of Aaron's breastplate, it sparkled with the various beauties and glories of the Person of the living, glorified Christ". His very face became radiant as he spoke (II Cor.3:18). Many of his addresses have been preserved and published in the two following volumes: "Memorials of the Ministry of G.V. Wigram" and "Gleanings from the Teaching of G.V. Wigram".

It was at the close of his fairly long married life that Mr. Wigram visited Canada in 1867. His wife Catherine, joined him there two months later. She, however, became ill, and was called home after a short illness, dying in Canada. Mr. Wigram was now 62, and in less than four years suffered another sorrowful bereavement in the departure of his daughter Fanny, child of his first wife. Doubly bereaved and lonely, he went abroad to minister to others in self-forgetfulness. Writing in November 1871, from Demerara, British Guiana, he said, "I came out in my old age, none save Himself with me". This led to further travel, visiting New Zealand in 1875 and Australia in 1877. Two years later he died at the age of 74 and was laid to rest with his daughter in Paddington Cemetery. It has been said that the large concourse of people there, sang a hymn in deference to his wish expressed in his lifetime, so that all might understand that he owed all to the sovereign mercy of God. "Not of Works that any man should boast". The hymn sung was:

"Nothing but mercy'll do for me,
Nothing but mercy — full and free,
Of sinners chief — what but the blood
Could calm my soul, before my God"

- Source: stempublishing.com/hymns/biographies/wigram.html

QUOTES BY G. V. WIGRAM

SOON WE SHALL BE UP THERE WITH CHRIST

"Soon we shall be up there with Christ. God did not mean us to be happy without Him; but God would first have us to be witnesses for Him down here, to hold out as much light as we can."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

IF I EXPECT THE DOOR OF HEAVEN OPEN

"Strange that I am not ever looking up, if I expect to see the door of heaven open, and the One I love coming out. Oh! what a scene, when He comes forth to change these vile bodies, fashioning them like to His own glorious body!"

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

BEING LIKE HIM AND WITH HIM FOR EVERMORE

"Do you want comfort? Nothing can give it so much as the thought of His coming. There may be sorrow in the night, but joy enough--fulness of joy--in that morning when we shall see Him as He is: fulness of joy in being like Him and with Him for evermore."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

ARE YOU READY TO GO AT ONCE STRAIGHT INTO HEAVEN?

"Are you ready to go at once straight into heaven, if the gates were thrown open? What manner of persons ought we to be to say it! Are we walking in a way perfectly consistent with stepping tonight at once into the glory, to be at home in the Father's house?"

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

HE IS A LIVING CHRIST FOR TODAY

"Christ's yesterday was the accomplishment of redemption,--His tomorrow is the having His Church with Himself in glory. But He is a living Christ for today."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

GOD WOULD FIRST HAVE US BE WITNESSES FOR HIM DOWN HERE

"Soon we shall be up there with Christ. God did not mean us to be happy without Him; but God would first have us to be witnesses for Him down here, to hold out as much light as we can." 

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

GOD RECOGNIZES EVERY EXPRESSION OF PRAISE

"Let us ever remember that God recognizes every expression of praise and of His people's love. He knows so well what His love and grace are to us that He must expect us to praise Him."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English biblical Scholar and Theologian

A GREAT THING TO THE SERVANT OF GOD

"No one can get above circumstances unless he knows that he has the ear of God. The power of intercession is a great thing to the servant of God."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

WHEN HE SEPARATES ANYONE TO HIMSELF  

"When He separates any one to Himself, He plants the blood of Christ right behind them."  

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

WE MUST MAKE QUITE SURE 

 "If you and I are to meet Christ with joy when He comes, we must make quite sure that our consciences are up to the mark with Him where He is in God's presence; able to be in identification with Him up there in the light: if not, you will not be able to meet His face with joy."  

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

YOU AND I GET WEARY IN OUR EXPERIENCE

"The freshness of heart in Christ was always the same. You and I get so weary in our experience of the wilderness, but Christ's heart is never wearied, it is as freshly set on the bride as when God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

IF I EXPECT TO SEE THE DOOR OF HEAVEN OPEN

"Strange that I am not ever looking up, if I expect to see the door of heaven open, and the One I love coming out. Oh! what a scene, when He comes forth to change these vile bodies, fashioning them like to His own glorious body!"

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

"The freshness of heart in Christ was always the same. You and I get so weary in our experience of the wilderness, but Christ's heart is never wearied, it is as freshly set on the bride as when God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

PLANS IN CONNECTION WITH THIS WORLD  

"As believers, we are cut off from all thought of futures, from making plans in connection with this world. I shall not be ready for Christ to come if I am settled down in Sodom and trying to heap up its dross. Whatever duty the Lord has meant us to be doing, each one should be found at when He comes."  

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

FOR THE LIVING WATER TO DESCEND

"It is one thing for the living water to descend from Christ into the heart, and another thing how--when it has descended--it moves the heart to worship. All power of worship in the soul, is the result of the waters flowing into it, and their flowing back again to God."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

A SPRING OF LIVING WATER FROM GOD'S SON

"If a spring has not been opened in a soul, a spring of living water from God's own Son, no waters can flow and there is no life in you."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

A HEART FRESHLY SET ON THE BRIDE

"The freshness of heart in Christ was always the same. You and I get so weary in our experience of the wilderness, but Christ's heart is never wearied, it is as freshly set on the bride as when God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

FULNESS OF JOY IS BEING LIKE HIM  

"Do you want comfort? Nothing can give it so much as the thought of His coming. There may be sorrow in the night, but joy enough--fulness of joy--in that morning when we shall see Him as He is: fulness of joy in being like Him and with Him for evermore."  

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

DO I WALK AS A HEAVENLY MAN

"Do I walk as a heavenly man--my ways, my conversation, the ways and conversation of a man whom Christ has stooped to wash in His blood?"

- G. V. Wigram (1805-1879) English Biblical Scholar

G. V. WIGRAM BOOKS AND SERMONS 

Beauty of Going Down to the Very Bottom, The

Bethesda Related Papers 1: Volume 1

Bethesda Related Papers 2: Volume 2

Christ and the Church

Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Church of God, Simple Papers on the

Collectania

Coming Kingdom, The: An Outline of the Revelation

Cross, the Blood and the Death of Jesus Christ, The

Gleanings from the Teaching of G.V. Wigram

God's System of a Church

Heresy, On

J.G. Deck and New Zealand Letters

Lecture on Philippians

Ministry of G.V. Wigram 1, Memorials of the: Volume 1

Ministry of G.V. Wigram 2 & 3, Memorials of the: Volume 2 & 3

On the Death of His Daughter: Poem.

Plymouth Related Papers

Present Testimony Articles 1: Volume 1

Present Testimony Articles 11: Volume 11

Present Testimony Articles 15: Volume 15

Psalms, A Few Leading Thoughts as to the Book of: An Article from The Present Testimony

Psalms, A Study of the

Remarks and Notes on John's Writings

Upward Look, The

Various Pamphlets

Words of Truth Articles 3: Volume 3

Writings About G.V. Wigram: From Volume 1 on Darby

Photo Credit: geni.com/people/George-Wigram/6000000066981023853

ABOUT GEORGE HERBERT

George Herbert was born in Powys, Wales, in 1593, into a wealthy and artistically gifted family. He studied at Westminster School, being taught by Lancelot Andrewes, influential bishop and one of the masterminds on the committee which translated the King James Version of the Bible. Herbert also became an accomplished musician, learning to play the lute among other instruments. At age sixteen, Herbert sent his mother, who was named Magdalen (and who was friends with John Donne; he would preach her funeral sermon in 1627), a letter announcing his calling as a poet; enclosed were two devotional sonnets, his first known poetic efforts.

George Herbert intended to go into the Church – he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge on a fellowship to train as a priest – but the secular life caught his attention. He became Public Orator at Cambridge in 1620. Three years later he became an MP, but seems to have gone off the idea of a life in politics, for he later became a deacon, canon of Lincoln Cathedral, and then, in 1630, rector of Bemerton in Wiltshire. In the same year he married Jane Danvers, after a courtship of just three days. This much constitutes a brief but reasonably full summary of George Herbert’s biography in terms of his official work and his married life. What of his poetry?

Well, that only appeared posthumously, following his death in 1633, aged just 39, from consumption. Fearing that his days were numbered, Herbert had sent a manuscript containing his poems to a friend, the clergyman Nicholas Ferrar, who led the religious community at Little Gidding (which would later be written about by T. S. Eliot in his Four Quartets). Herbert left it up to Ferrar to determine whether the poems were worth publishing at all; if Ferrar didn’t like them, Herbert instructed, then he should consign them to the fire.

Thankfully for posterity, Ferrar chose to publish them and they appeared, as The Temple, in 1633, shortly after Herbert’s death. The volume contains the now rather unfortunate subtitle Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, but it’s a succinct description of Herbert’s curious mixture – like the poetry of his contemporary, John Donne – of complex metaphors combined with plain-speaking. We feel, when reading a George Herbert poem, as though we are being personally addressed – even though, in many of his greatest poems, Herbert addresses himself not to us, but to God. The wild and unpredictable nature of some of his best verse – ‘The Collar’, for instance, or ‘Love (III)’ – is offset by the poems lovingly and carefully carved into the shapes of birds’ wings, or crosses, or altars.

- interestingliterature.com/2016/10/a-very-short-biography-of-george-herbert/

QUOTES BY GEORGE HERBERT

 "Here was a man who seemed to me to excel all the authors
I had read in conveying the very quality of life as we live it
from moment to moment, but the wretched fellow, instead
of doing it all directly, insisted on mediating it through
what I still would have called the "Christian mythology."
The upshot of it all could nearly be expressed, "Christians
are wrong, but all the rest are bores."
-C. S. Lewis 

THE BRIDGE HE MUST PASS HIMSELF  

"He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven"  

- George Herbert (1592-1633) Church of England Priest

THE DEVIL DIVIDES THE WORLD

"The devil divides the world between atheism and superstition."

- George Herbert (1592-1633) Church of England Priest

PRAYER IS THE KEY TO THE DAY

"Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night."

- George Herbert (1592-1633) Church of England Priest

A YOUNG MAN WHO WISHES TO REMAIN AN ATHIEST

"A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere--'Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,' as Herbert says, 'fine nets and stratagems.' God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous."

- C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish Writer and Scholar

GEORGE HERBERT BOOKS AND SERMONS 

 The Temple (1633)
Complete - J.R. Arner

A Dialogue-Anthem
A True Hymn
A Wreath
Aaron
Affliction (I)
Affliction (II)
Affliction (III)
Affliction (IV)
Antiphon (I)
Christmas
Church-music
Colossians 3.3
Death
Dialogue
Discipline
Dullness
Easter
Easter Wings
Even-song
Faith
Grief
H. Baptisme (I)
H. Baptisme (II)

Heaven
Jordan (I)
Jordan (II)
Joseph's Coat
Life
Love (I)
Love (II)
Love (III)
Love-Joy
Man
Mary Magdalen
Mortification
Peace
Prayer (I)
Prayer (II)
Redemption
Sepulchre
Sinne (I)
Sinne (II)
Vanity (I)
Virtue
The Agony
The Answer

The British Church
The Call
The Church-floor
The Collar
The Dawning
The Elixir
The Foil
The Glance
The Holdfast
The Holy Scriptures I
The Holy Scriptures II
The Pearl
The Pilgrimage
The Pulley
The Quiddity
The Quip
The Search
The Sinner
The Son
The Storm
The Temper (I)
The Temper (II)
The Windows
Poems not included in The Temple
[Sonnet (I)]
[Sonnet (II)]

A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson  (1652)

Complete - Project Canterbury 

Source: luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/herbbib.htm

Photo Credit: georgeherbert.org.uk/

ABOUT GEORGE MUELLER

George Müller was born in Germany on September 27, 1805. In his early life he was not an honest person. From the time he was ten years old he was stealing money from his father. As time passed he also stole from his friends. He finally was arrested and locked up with other thieves such as he, and even with murderers. In these dire circumstances he began to take stock of his life, but it was still not enough to make him change his ways. 

He attended the University of Halle and had a friend named Beta who invited him to a Bible study. They talked of a loving God and knelt when they prayed. Müller's heart was touched and it was the start of a new life for him. 

He had an opportunity to teach German to some Americans at the University. This paid for his college expenses. He continued to study the Bible and began to preach. He dreamed of becoming a missionary. 

He was spared from going into military service because of his poor health. In 1829 he went to London, but became ill and was sent to Teignmouth to recuperate. There he met Henry Craik, a man who would have a huge impact on him. Henry talked with him about people who sold their possessions and gave to the poor. Müller was intrigued by the teaching. He talked with the members of the missions board who were supporting him about this idea of living by faith and depending on God to provide when you pray. They said they would not support him on this basis. He wanted to preach where God sent him, not where the mission society sent him. 

Craik offered him a job as pastor at Teignmouth, a small congregation of 18 members. During that year he was rebaptized as a believer. 

He fell in love with Mary Groves who also shared his convictions. Within three months they were married. Mary's brother, Anthony Norris Groves, sold all to become a "faith missionary" They sold their possessions and gave the money to the poor. This inspired George and Mary to live a similar life. 

Later George and Mary had four children, two of which were still-born. Their daughter was Lydia, and they also had a son Elijah, but their son died of pneumonia when he was very young. 

In his early ministry he had four objectives. 

1. To assist Sunday Schools, Day Schools, and schools for adults and to start new ones. 

2. To sell Bibles and Testaments to the poor at low prices and even give them away if the person could not pay. 

3. To aid missionaries 

4. To circulate tracts in English and other languages 

(5.) (Caring for the orphans became the fifth and foremost objective.) 

At the church where he preached, the people rented the pews where they sat during the services. Müller thought this was unfair to poor people who could not afford to rent a good seat. He discontinued the pew rents and put a collection box at the rear of the church. More money was collected through free-will offerings than by renting the pews. 

After two years Henry Craik asked Müller to move to Bristol to work with him. In the 1800's orphans had no one to care for them and had to beg for or steal food in order to survive. People did not have pity on them, and the government put the children in work houses where they worked long hours under the harshest of conditions. 

Charles Dickens' story of Oliver Twist brought the plight of these unfortunate children to light. 

In 1835 there were only a dozen orphan homes in all of England and Wales, but they charged fees to care for the children. Poor children who became orphans had to move in with relatives or were sent to work in the workhouses. 

Müller began to pray about starting an orphan house. Money began to come in even though he didn't solicit money from people. His vision was for the orphan home to be for children who were truly orphaned, having lost both parents. None would be turned away due to poverty or race. The children would be educated and trained for a trade. 

"God will provide", he said. He talked with people about the need for caring for these waifs. Gifts of furniture, money, dishes etc. began to come in. Müller kept a detailed record of every gift. People showed up offering to teach and work in the orphanage. He found a place to rent. 

Everything was ready, but they had no orphans to care for. He had forgotten to ask God for the orphans. He prayed again and they started coming. The first house he opened was for 30 girls, then he opened a second and a third house. The first two years went well, but the next seven years were hard. Sometimes mealtime arrived, but there was no food. They would pray and at the last minute food would be brought for the children. 

During Müller's lifetime he gave away $700,000 that had been given to him for his personal needs. He spent hours every day studying the Bible and praying. He felt that God was calling him to care for even more orphans. After five weeks of prayer he determined that God wanted him to build a large facility. It would be expensive, $18,000. That's the equivalent to $1,000,000 in today's money. 

He found seven acres at Ashley Down that seemed to be the perfect place. The landowner reduced the price for him. Müller would not go into debt to build. He had to have the money in hand before he would start building. Economic times were hard, but after 2 1/2 years he had the funding. Two years later in 1849 the first building was completed to house 300 children. Over the next 21 years four more homes were built in which over 2,000 children would be cared for.

Charles Dickens heard a rumor that the children in Müller's care were starving, so he went to Ashley Down to see for himself. He was so impressed with the good care they were getting he wrote the article "Household Words" for the newspaper in November 1857 telling about the work. 

James Wright became Müller's helper and the older man trained him to be his successor. Müller's daughter and James were married. Müller's wife Mary died and he later remarried. Susannah Sangar was 16 years younger than George. She, just as Mary had been, was an excellent helpmate to him. 

With his son-in-law James to run the orphanges, Susannah arranged speaking tours for her husband, who was now 70 years old. She said he needed to tell others his message of depending on God for everything. The couple traveled all over the world. 

On one voyage off the coast of Newfoundland the fog was so thick the ship could not travel. Müller had a speaking engagement to attend in Quebec. The captain started to pray for the fog to lift, but George stopped him because the captain didn't believe. George prayed and the fog lifted and he was on time for his appointment. Later when they visited Washington D.C. they met with President Rutherford Hayes at the White House. They told him about their work in Bristol. Müller spoke in many places in America. 

In 17 years they traveled 200,000 miles, visiting 42 countries urging people to read their Bibles, pray, and rely on God. 

Susannah died when she was 73 years old. George Müller passed away on March 10, 1898 at the age of 92. Thousands of people lined the streets to honor him. Two thousand orphans were in attendance. 

In addition to caring for orphans George Müller also paid for the printing of Bibles and tracts. He gave away more than 250,000 Bibles. He paid tuition for hundreds of children to go to school. During his lifetime in answer to prayer he raised the equivalent of $129,000,000 which he gave away, and when he died he had only a little money left. The trust he set up continues to support missionaries around the world. It also holds the records for most of the nearly 18,000 children cared for during the 150 year life of the orphanage. 

The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph wrote that Müller "had robbed the cruel streets of the thousands of victims, the gaels (jails) of thousands of felons, and the workhouses of thousands of helpless waifs."

Written by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher.​

Taken from: gardenofpraise.com/ibdmuller.htm

QUOTES BY GEORGE MUELLER

I LIVE IN THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER

"I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming. Thousands and tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded that a thing is right and for the glory of God, I go on praying for it until the answer comes. George Mueller never gives up!"  

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

FAITH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FEELINGS

"Faith has nothing to do with feelings or with impressions, with improbabilities or with outward experiences. If we desire to couple such things with faith, then we are no longer resting on the Word of God, because faith needs nothing of the kind. Faith rests on the naked Word of God. When we take Him at His Word, the heart is at peace."

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

TO LEARN STRONG FAITH IS ENDURE GREAT TRIALS

"To learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings."

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English evangelist and Helper of Orphans

FAITH BEGINS WHERE MAN'S POWER ENDS

"Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends."

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and helper of Orphans

THE SPIRIT AND WORD MUST BE COMBINED

"I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also."

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and helper of Orphans

I HAVE SEEN BEAUTY IN THE LORD JESUS  

"There were few people, perhaps, more passionately fond of travelling, and seeing fresh places, and new scenes, than myself; but now, since, by the grace of God, I have seen beauty in the Lord Jesus, I have lost my taste for these things."  

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

CHRISTIANS DO NOT PRACTICALL REMEMBER

"Christians do not practically remember that while we are saved by grace, altogether by grace, so that in the matter of salvation works are altogether excluded; yet that so far as the rewards of grace are concerned, in the world to come, there is an intimate connection between the life of the Christian here and the enjoyment and the glory in the day of Christ's appearing."

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

IF WE HOLD FAST OUR CONFIDENCE IN HIM

"If we hold fast our confidence in Him, but our faith is also, by the exercise, strengthened: and so it comes, that, if we walk with God in any measure of uprightness of heart, the trials of faith will be greater and greater."  

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

THE LESS WE READ THE WORD OF GOD

"The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray." 

- George Mueller 1805-1898) English Evangelist and Helper of Orphans

GEORGE MUELLER BOOKS AND SERMONS 

Autobiography of George Müller, or, a Million and a Half in Answer to Prayer by George Müller

Answers To Prayer (Moody Classics) by George Müller

The Life of Trust by George Müller

Spiritual Secrets of George Müller by George Müller, Roger Steer, and George Muller

The Dawn of Temperance by George Müller

50,000 Answers to Prayer by George Müller

Admiring God by George Müller

Leben und Wirken des Georg Müller in Bristol by George Müller

Brief narrative of facts relative to the new orphan houses, (for 1,150 children), on Ashley Down, Bristol by George Müller

The Life of Trust: being A narrative of the Lord's dealings with George Müller by George Müller

Autobiography of George Müller by George Müller

A Living Reality by George Müller

The Diary of George Müller by George Müller

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller by George Müller

God Answers Prayer by George Müller

Brief narrative of facts relative to the new orphan houses, (for 1,150 children), on Ashley Down, Bristol by George Müller

Answers to Prayer by George Müller

Brief Narrative of Facts Relative to the New Orphan Houses, on Ashley Down, Bristol, and Other ..by George Müller

Jehovah magnified by George Müller

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M%C3%BCller

ABOUT HANNAH MORE

Hannah More was baptised on the on the 17th of February 1745 in the parish of Stapleton, on the outskirts of Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. She was fourth of the five daughters of Jacob More, (who was originally from Norfolk) and Mary (Lynch) More.

She was born in a four roomed cottage which was attached to the Charity School in Fishponds, (a village on the outskirts of Bristol), where her father had been appointed Headmaster in 1743. It was from her father that she was encouraged to love books and learning. In fact, he gave her an education that not many people receive, even today. It included multiple languages, Latin and Greek Classics as well as Mathematics.

Her eldest sister, Mary More, opened a boarding school in Bristol and when Hannah came of age, she became a teacher at that school. She wrote a pastoral drama expressing her views on women’s education called "The Search after Happiness", which was published in Bristol in 1762 and performed at the school. 

As she matured into adulthood Hannah gained experience through hard work, useful contacts and shrewd investments and became well-known and prosperous. As a religious writer, poet, playwright, and philanthropist, as well as teacher and social reformer, she earnt more than any other woman of her day, reaching a degree of affluence and wealth that was unimaginable to her parents. 

Like her four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah and Martha known as “Patty”, Hannah never married.

However, in 1767, a wealthy gentleman named William Turner, (twenty years older than Hannah) , whose nieces attended the More sisters' school in Park Street, Bristol, made a proposal of marriage which she accepted. They lived at his mansion on his estate at Belmont, Wraxall, Somerset for seven years, until, by mutual agreement, the engagement was broken off.

To compensate Hannah, he offered to pay her an annuity. Although she initially refused, Hannah was eventually persuaded to accept an annuity of £200 . The annuity from Turner was at the time a huge sum (her father's 1743 salary as Headmaster was £ 16 per year, rising to £ 24 by 1770!) and this made her very wealthy and able to freely pursue her interests with no concerns about money or employment.

As a young woman with hopes of literary success, Hannah made the first of her visits to London in 1773–74. She was welcomed into a circle of the “Bluestockings Society”, a prestigious Society of gifted writers and artists, [5] and was befriended by the likes of Elizabeth Montagu, a British social reformer, patron of the arts, hostess, literary critic, and writer, who became a dear and long standing friend of Hannah’s.

Through the recommendation of her friend and theological mentor, Rev. Sir James Stonhouse, BT MD, Hannah's other well known friends in the Bluestockings Society were Dr. Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, an Irish Statesman and Philosopher and her dear friend, David Garrick. He and his wife were Hannah's special friends, and David produced her plays "The Inflexible Captive" (1775) and "Percy" (1777). After David Garrick’s death in 1779 she stopped writing for the stage, (feeling that their entertainment lacked worthwhile purpose and meaning) and concentrated on more moral issues.

This search for more meaningful pursuits led her in the late 1780's and 1790's, to become interested in a group of Evangelical Christians known as the Clapham Sect, which particularly opposed slavery.

One of the members of this group was the well-known Politician, William Wilberforce, who tirelessly campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

In 1788, Hannah wrote the poem for William, called simply, “Slavery, a Poem”. Interestingly, she doesn’t address mankind in this poem, but God. It is a long poem and Hannah seems to be addressing God with the Question, "Why does Your light of freedom only shine on some people and not all people?" It ends with the lines “Bring each benighted soul, great God, to Thee, And with thy wide Salvation make them free!”

She also corresponded with Horace Walpole and the ex-slave trader, and writer of the hymn, "Amazing Grace", John Newton, who lived to see the British Empire’s abolition of the African slave trade in 1807, just months before his death.

Whether it was in the halls of a boarding school, or the halls of Parliament, Hannah's influence through her writings were even felt and accepted in the halls of those related to Royalty. Her message spoke to rich and poor alike, and gained her a valued reputation. She was friends with the governesses of the Royal Family, Mrs Delaney and Lady de Clifford and Lady Charlotte Finch. She even visited the Duchess of Gloucester, and her children, Prince William and Princess Sophia, [16] who greatly valued and appreciated her writings.

In 1802, Hannah More moved from her grand residence in 76 Great Pulteney Street, Bath, Somerset, England (value in 2022 about 2.4 million pounds to the home built for her in 1801, at Barley Wood, Wrington, North Somerset, on an estate she had owned since 1784. She established the Cheddar School for the poor, aiming to better educate children and provide a way out of their poverty through that education. Unsurprisingly this was opposed by working farmers in the area, ( and by Thomas Bere, the curate of Blagdon who tried to discredit her efforts, on the premise that an educated workforce would not work on the land.

William Turner in 1804 left her £1000 in his will, written 1800, (worth about £ 90,000 in 2022). A codicil in the Will, added in 1802, changed the £ 1000 to a gift of £ 500 plus release of Hannah from having to pay back a loan of £ 500 which she had borrowed from him in 1801. 

Hannah More outlived all her sisters, none of whom married or had children. In 1828 she moved to Clifton, Bristol, England, where she died on 7 September 1833, aged 88 years.

Hannah More never married and had no children.

Source: wikitree.com/wiki/More-321

Hannah More nearly died in 1818 when flames from her fireplace set her clothes alight. She was saved by the quick thinking of a house guest who rolled her on the floor until the flames were put out. The accident was featured in many newspapers, who highlighted the importance of fireguards to protect against accidents with long skirts.

Source: ageofrevolution.org/200-object/hannah-more-1745-1833/

QUOTES BY HANNAH MORE

THREE REQUISITES FOR THE PROPER ENJOYEMNT OF EARTHLY BLESSING

"There are three requisites to the proper enjoyment of earthly blessings: a thankful reflection, on the goodness of the giver; a deep sense of our own unworthiness; and a recollection of the uncertainty of our long possessing them. The first will make us grateful; the second, humble; and the third, moderate.

- Hannah More (1745-1833) English Religious Writer 

EVERYTHING THAT RELATES TO GOD IS INFINITE

"Everything which relates to God is infinite. We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high. Our highest services are indeed but finite, imperfect. But as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love."

 —Hannah More (1745-1833) English Religious Writer 

THE JOY OF YOUNG IDEAS PAINED ON THE MIND  

"Oh, the joy of young ideas painted on the mind, in the warm, glowing colors fancy spreads on objects not yet known, when all is new and all is lovely!" 

- Hannah More (1745-1833) English Religious Writer

NO MAN EVER REPENTED OF BEING A CHRISTIAN 

"There is one single fact which we may oppose to all the wit and argument of infidelity, namely, that no man ever repented of being a Christian on his death-bed."  

- Hannah More (1745-1833) English Religious Writer

HANNAH MORE BOOKS AND SERMONS

• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Betty Brown, the St. Giles's Orange Girl; With Some Account of Mrs. Sponge the Money Lender (London: Howard and Evans, ca. 1801) 
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Black Giles, the Poacher; With Some Account of a Family Who Had Rather Live by Their Wits Than Their Work (London: Howard and Evans, ca. 1801) (multiple formats at archive.org)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833, contrib.: The Book of Private Devotion: A Series of Prayers and Meditations, With an Introductory Essay on Prayer, Chiefly from the Writings of Hannah More (revised and enlarged; New York: R. Carter and Bros., 1850) 
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833, contrib.: Cheap Repository Tracts: Entertaining, Moral, and Religious, by Hannah More and Others (new revised edition, 8 volumes; New York: American Tract Society, n.d.)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Coelebs in Search of a Wife (New York: Derby and Jackson, 1859) (multiple formats at archive.org)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Essays on Various Subjects, Principally Designed for Young Ladies (London: Printed for J. Wilkie and T. Cadell, 1777) (Gutenberg text)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: A Hymn of Praise For the Abundant Harvest of 1796 (London: J. Marshall, printer to the Cheap Repository for Moral and Religious Tracts, 1796)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833, contrib.: A New Christmas Tract, or, the Right Way of Rejoicing at Christmas: Shewing the Reasons We Have for Joy at the Event of Our Saviour's Birth, In Which Also a Description is Given of the Dreadful State the World Was In Before His Coming, With Some Remarks Suited To the Times in Which We Live (anonymous, but attributed by some to Hannah More; London: Howard and Evans, ca. 1800), illust. by John Lee (multiple formats at archive.org)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Percy: A Tragedy in Five Acts (London: Printed by and for D. S. Maurice, n.d.) (Gutenberg text and illustrated HTML)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Slavery: A Poem (London: T. Cadell, 1788) 
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833, contrib.: The Sorrows of Yamba, or The Negro Woman's Lamentation (London: J. Marshall et al., 1797), also contrib. by Eaglesfield Smith (HTML with commentary at brycchancarey.com)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: 'Tis All for the Best (London: Howard and Evans, ca. 1810)
• More, Hannah, 1745-1833: Turn the Carpet, or, The Two Weavers: A New Song, in a Dialogue Between Dick and John (London: J. Marshall and R. White; Bath, UK: S. Hazard, 1796), illust. by John Lee

Source: onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=More%2C%20Hannah%2C%201745%2D1833

Photo Credit: ageofrevolution.org/200-object/hannah-more-1745-1833/