Archaeologist. Learn more about Ramsay here, here and see more about him on this page about archaeologists
WORKS
St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen. London: Hodder and Stoughton,
9th edition, 1895. xxviii, 402 pp.; 24 cm. 10th edition, 1907 . Grand Rapids, Mich. xxviii, 402 p. ; 24 cm. The Morgan lectures; 1894; Mansfield College lectures; 1895.
A Historical Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. xi, 478 pp. 2 fold. maps. 23 cm. Contents:
Historical introduction: Society and religion in Central Asia Minor in the time of St. Paul.--Historical commentary.
The whole spirit and tone of modern commentaries on Luke's writings depend on the view which the commentators take on this question. In some cases the commentator holds that no historical statement made by Luke is to be believed, unless it can be proved from authorities independent of him. The commentary on Luke then degenerates into a guerilla warfare against him; the march of the narrative is interrupted at every step by a series of attacks in detail. Hardly any attempt is made to estimate as a whole, or to determine what is the most favourable interpretation that can be placed on any sentence in the work. There is a manifest predilection in favour of the interpretation which is discordant with external facts or with other statements in Luke. If it is possible to read into a sentence a meaning which contradicts another passage in the same author, that is at once assumed to be the one intended by him; and his incapacity and untrustworthiness are illustrated in the commentary.
But no work of literature could stand being treated after this fashion. Imagine the greatest of pagan authors commented on in such a way; any slip of expression exaggerated or distorted; sentences strained into contradiction with other passages of the same or other authors; the commentary directed to magnify every fault, real or imaginary, but remaining silent about every excellence. There have occasionally been such commentaries written about great classical authors; and they have always been condemned by the general consent of scholars. Even where the bias of the commentator was due to a not altogether unhealthy revolt against general over-estimate of the author under discussion, the world of scholarship has always recognised that the criticism which looks only for faults is useless, misleading, unprogressive, and that it defeats itself, when it tries to cure an evil by a much greater evil. Scholarship and learning sacrifice their vitality, and lose all that justifies their existence, when they cease to be fair and condescend to a policy of "malignity."--pp. 8-9.
Letters to the Seven Churches in Asia: and their place in the plan of the Apocalypse.
New York: Hodder & Stoughton: George H. Doran, 1904. xix, 446 pp.: ill., folded map.; 23 cm.
Historian. Learn more about Rawlinson here and here
WORKS
With Thomson, William, 1819-1890. Mansel, Henry Longueville,; 1820-1871.
Fitzgerald, William,; 1814-1883. McCaul, Alexander,; 1799-1863.
Cook, F. C.; 1810-1889. ; (Frederic Charles), Browne, Edward Harold,; 1811-1891. Ellicott, C. J.; 1819-1905.; (Charles John), Aids to faith;
a series of theological essays. New York; D. Appleton and company,
1863. 538 pp. 20 1/2cm.
With Arthur Gilman (1837-1909). Ancient Egypt. 10th edition. London, T.F. Unwin, 1886. 3 p. l., [ix]-xxi, 408 pp. incl. illus., plates. front., 2 double maps. 20 cm.
History of Phoenicia. London, New York, Longmans, Green, 1889. xxii, 583 pp. front., illus., plates, maps (1 fold.) 23 cm.
The political condition of Palestine at the time to which the New Testament narrative properly belongs, was one curiously complicated and anomalous; it underwent frequent changes, but retained through all of them certain peculiarities, which made the position of the country unique among the dependencies of Rome. Not having been conquered in the ordinary way, but having passed under the Roman dominion with the consent and by the assistance of a large party among the inhabitants, it was allowed to maintain for a while a species of semi-independence, not unlike that of various native states in India which are really British dependencies. A mixture, and to some extent an alternation, of Roman with native power resulted from this arrangement, and a consequent complication in the political status, which must have made it very difficult to be thoroughly understood by any one who was not a native and a contemporary. The chief representative of the Roman power in the East?the President of Syria, the local governor, whether a Herod or a Roman Procurator, and the High Priest, had each and all certain rights and a certain authority in the country. A double system of taxation, a double administration of justice, and even in some degree a double military command, were the natural consequence; while Jewish and Roman customs, Jewish and Roman words, were simultaneously in use, and a condition of things existed full of harsh contrasts, strange mixtures, and abrupt transitions. Within the space of fifty years Palestine was a single united kingdom under a native ruler, a set of principalities under native ethnarchs and tetrarchs, a country in part containing such principalities, in part reduced to the condition of a Roman province, a kingdom reunited once more under a native sovereign, and a country reduced wholly under Rome and governed by procurators dependent on the president of Syria, but still subject in certain respects to the Jewish monarch of a neighboring territory. These facts we know from Josephus and other writers, who, though less accurate, on the whole confirm his statements; they render the civil history of Judaea during the period one very difficult to master and remember; the frequent changes, supervening upon the original complication, are a fertile source of confusion, and seem to have bewildered even the sagacious and painstaking Tacitus. The New Testament narrative, however, falls into no error in treating of the period; it marks, incidentally and without effort or pretension, the various changes in the civil government--the sole kingdom of Herod the Great,--the partition of his dominions among his sons,--the reduction of Judaea to the condition of a Roman province, while Galilee, Ituraea, and Trachonitis continued under native princes,--the restoration of the old kingdom of Palestine in the person of Agrippa the First, and the final reduction of the whole under Roman rule, and reestablishment of Procurators as the civil heads, while a species of ecclesiastical superintendence was exercised by Agrippa the Second. Again, the New Testament narrative exhibits in the most remarkable way the mixture in the government?the occasional power of the president of Syria, as shown in Cyrenius's 'taxing'?; the ordinary division of authority between the High Priest and the Procurator; the existence of two separate taxation--the civil and the ecclesiastical, the 'census'?and the 'didrachm;' of two tribunals, two modes of capital punishment, two military forces, two methods of marking time; at every turn it shows, even in such little measures as verbal expressions, the coexistence of Jewish with Roman ideas and practices in the country--a coexistence which (it must be remembered) came to an end within forty years of our Lord's crucifixion. -- pp. 185-188, 1860 edition.
See commentary with annotations by Lydia McGrew, "The Annotated Rawlinson," here. Posted April 29, 2015.
Profane writers are not infallible; and Josephus, our chief profane authority for the time, has been shown, in matters where he does not come into any collision with the Christian Scriptures, to "teem with inaccuracies." 129 If in any case it should be thought that we must choose between Josephus and an Evangelist, sound criticism requires that we should prefer the latter to the former. Josephus is not entirely honest: he has his Roman masters to please, and he is prejudiced in favor of his own sect, the Pharisees. He has also been convicted of error, 130 which is not the case with any Evangelist. His authority therefore is, in the eyes of an historical critic, inferior to that of the Gospel writers, and in any instance of contradiction, it would be necessary to disregard it. In fact, however, we are not reduced to this necessity. The Jewish writer nowhere actually contradicts our Scriptures, and in hundreds of instances he confirms them. It is evident that the entire historical framework, in which the Gospel picture is set, is real; that the facts of the civil history, small and great, are true, and the personages correctly depicted. To suppose that there is this minute historical accuracy in all the accessories of the story, and that the story itself is mythic, is absurd; unless we will declare the Apostles and their companions to have sought to palm upon mankind a tale which they knew to be false, and to have aimed at obtaining credit for their fiction by elaborate attention to these minutiae. From such an avowal even Rationalism itself would shrink; but the only alternative is to accept the entire history as authentic -- as, what the Church has always believed it to be, The Truth. -- pp. 204-205. 129 Alford, Greek Testament, vol. ii. p. 53.
130 See an article "on the Bible and Josephus," in the Journal of Sacred Literature for October, 1850. [See here.]
The 1860 edition, Boston, New York: Gould and Lincoln, Sheldon and company. University of Michigan Library. 1862 edition, Boston, New York: Gould and Lincoln, Sheldon and company. Also online here. 1866 edition. Boston, Gould and Lincoln; New York: Sheldon and company; 1866.
Universality of the Love of God asserted in a testimony to his free grace in Jesus Christ. By William Rawlinson. Newcastle upon Tyne: printed for Isaac Thompson and Company, by John Gooding, 1748. 72 pp.; 80.
Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981. "I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer."
Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress Reporting on the State of the Union. January 26, 1982. "We have made pledges of a new frankness in our public statements and worldwide broadcasts. In the face of a climate of falsehood and misinformation, we've promised the world a season of truth?the truth of our great civilized ideas: individual liberty, representative government, the rule of law under God. We've never needed walls or minefields or barbed wire to keep our people in. Nor do we declare martial law to keep our people from voting for the kind of government they want."
Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the United States Chamber of Commerce. April 26, 1982. "I believe standing up for America also means standing up for the God who has so blessed this land. We've strayed so far, it may be later than we think. There's a hunger in our land to see traditional values reflected in public policy again. "To those who cite the first amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just point out, the first amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values?it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny."
Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. January 31, 1983. "Malcolm Muggeridge, the brilliant English commentator, has written, ?The most important happening in the world today is the resurgence of Christianity in the Soviet Union, demonstrating that the whole effort sustained over 60 years to brainwash the Russian people into accepting materialism has been a fiasco.? "Think of it: the most awesome military machine in history, but it is no match for that one, single man, hero, strong yet tender, Prince of Peace. His name alone, Jesus, can lift our hearts, soothe our sorrows, heal our wounds, and drive away our fears. He gave us love and forgiveness. He taught us truth and left us hope. In the Book of John is the promise that we all go by -- tells us that ``For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.''
Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida. March 8, 1983. "We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin. There is sin and evil in the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might."
Remarks at a Spirit of America Rally in Atlanta, Georgia. January 26, 1984. "We are a nation under God. I've always believed that this blessed land was set apart in a special way, that some divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the Earth who had a special love for freedom and the courage to uproot themselves, leave homeland and friends, to come to a strange land. And coming here they created something new in all the history of mankind?a land where man is not beholden to government, government is beholden to man."
Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. January 30, 1984. "God's most blessed gift to His family is the gift of life. He sent us the Prince of Peace as a babe in a manger. I've said that we must be cautious in claiming God is on our side. I think the real question we must answer is, are we on His side?"
Message on the Observance of Independence Day, 1986. July 3, 1986. "In order to give that new nation shape and direction they [The Founding Fathers] drew freely on the riches of the Judeo-Christian tradition with its central affirmation that God, not chance, rules in the affairs of men, and that each of us has an inviolable dignity because we have been fashioned in the image and likeness of our Creator. The Founding Fathers established a nation under God, ruled not by arbitrary decrees of kings or the whims of entrenched elites but by the consent of the governed."
Holy Scripture verified, or, The Divine authority of the Bible confirmed by an appeal to the facts of science, history, and human consciousness. London, Jackson and Walford, 1837. viii, 608 pp. 23 cm.
In Memoriam: William H. Rehnquist. Harvard Law Review, Volume 119 November 2005 Number 1. The editors of the Harvard Law Review respectfully dedicate this issue to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Tributes from Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, R. Ted Cruz, James C. Duff, David G. Leitch, Maureen E. Mahoney,
The Rise and Dissolution of the infidel societies in this metropolis: including, the origin of modern deism and atheism; the genius and conduct of those associations; their lecture-rooms, field-meetings, and deputations; from the publication of Paine's Age of reason till the present period. By William Hamilton Reid. Second edition. London: printed for J. Hatchard. 1800. vii,[1],117,[3] pp. ; 80.
The Religious Intelligencer
(1816-1837)
New Haven, Connecticut. Published by Nathan Whiting. Vol. 1, no. 1 (June 1, 1816)-v. 22, no. 19 (Oct. 7, 1837).; 22 v.: ill.; 22 cm. 833 pp.
WORKS
The Religious Intelligencer. Volume 10, n. 1, June 4, 1825. The 9th annual report of the American Bible Society. Addresses by
Governor De Witt Clinton: "That Christianity has elevated the character of man and blessed him in his domestic connexions and in his social relations, cannot be denied by the most obdurate scepticism. We must indeed shut our eyes against the light of truth, if we do not yield implicit faith to the exalting and ameliorating virtues of our divine religion. We can perhaps form a striking estimate of its blessings, by supposing that it had never shed its effulgence upon the nations. What then would have been the state of the world? In all probability, the Gothic darkness which benighted mankind on the breaking up of the Roman Empire, would have been perpetuated. Man would have lost his recuperative energies, and the revolutions of ages would have witnessed his torpid inactivity and hopeless debasement."
Isaac C. Bates: "Let the Bible be universally read and understood, and it would emancipate the human family. There is not a throne of despotism upon the earth that would not tremble to its foundations. The principles of the Bible, are those of civil as well as of religious liberty, and they must precede and prepare the way, and lay the cornerstone of every edifce of human happiness, or it never will be laid."
James Kent: "The Bible is equally adapted to the wants and infirmities of every human being. It is the vehicle of the most awful truths, and which are at the same time of universal application, and accompanied by the most efficacious sanctions. No other book every addressed itself so authoritatively, and so pathetically, to the judgment and moral sense of mankind. It contains the most sublime and fearful displays of the attributes of that perfect Being who inhabeth eternity, and pervades and governs the universe. It brings life and immortality to light, and which until the publication of the Gospel, were hidden from the scrutiny of ages. ...
"The Bible also unfolds the origin and the deep foundations of depravity and guilt, and the means and the hopes of salvation through the mediation of the Redeemer. Its doctrines, its discoveries, its code of morals and its means of grace, are not only overwhelming evidence of its divine origin, but they confound the pretensions of all other systems, by showing the narrow range and the feeble efforts of human reason, even when under the sway of the most exalted understanding, and enlightened by the accumulated treasures of science and learning.
"The Scriptures resplendent with these truths, we have good grounds to believe, are to be brought home to the knowledge and acceptance of every people, and to carry with them the inestimable blessings of peace, humanity, purity and happiness over every part of the habitable globe.
"The general diffusion of the Bible is the most effectual way to civilize and humanize mankind; to purify and exalt the general system of public morals; to give efficacy to the just precepts of international and municipal law; to enforce the observance of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude, and to imrove all the relations of social and domestic life."
George Griffin: "A Republic without the Bible will inevitably become the victim of licentiousness; it contains within itself the turbulent and untabeable elements of its own destruction. There is no political Eden for fallen man, save what the Bible protects.
"A republic without the Bible, never did and never can permanently confer national happiness. The renowned commwealths of heathen antiquity form alas no exception. Even classic Greece -- that intellectual garden, that birth place and home of the artist, that fairy land of eloquence and poesy -- was not the abode of wide spread and permanent felicity. Destitute of the 'anchor' of the Bible, 'which is both sure and stedfast,' that brilliant but hapless replic was perpetually tossed, and finally wrecked on the troubled seas of anarchy."
A Dissertation, or, inquiry concerning the canonical autority [sic] of the Gospel according to Mathew; and the reasons upon which it hath been antiently rejected by heretics: occasioned by a late pamphlet, intitled, A third pastoral letter --- to the people of the two great cities of London and Westminster. London: printed for T. Warner, 1732. 80 pp.
Reynolds, John
(1667-1727)
Presbyterian minister.
WORKS
A Practical Discourse of Reconciliation between God and man, ... To which are subjoined, some solemn and awful discourses concerning the glorious appearance of Christ to judge the world. By the late learned and pious Mr. John Reynolds. With a recommendatory preface, by the Reverend Mr. Isaac Watts. London: printed for T. Warren, and sold by J. Darby, A. Bettesworth, J. Hazard, R. Ford, T. Cox, R. Hett, and J. Gray, 1729.
xii, 438, [2] pp.
Three letters to the Deist. I. Demanding his warrant for eating of flesh. II. Representing his want of much useful knowledge. III. Arguing the unexceptionable integrity of the great founder of the Christian institution, and his immediate accomplices. By John Reynolds. London: printed for John Clark and Richard Hett, and Samuel Chandler,
1725. [16], 311, [1] pp.
American man of letters. Read more about Ripley here.
and here. Disclaimer: Ripley was a Unitarian pastor.
WORKS
Defence of "The latest form of infidelity" examined: A second letter to Mr. Andrews Norton: occasioned by his defence of A discourse on "The latest form of infidelity." Boston:; J. Munroe, 1840. 85 pp.; 24 cm.
Roberts, Alfred, M.A.
(19th century)
WORKS
Light shining out of darkness, The Fidelity of the four evangelists evinced by their apparent imperfections. London, 1839.
A Short History of the Persecution of Christians, by Jews, heathens, & Christians.
To which are added, an account of the present state of religion, in the United States of America, and some observations on civil establishments of religion. Carlisle: printed for the author, by F. Jollie, and sold by J. Johnson, London, 1793. xii,150 pp.
Biblical scholar. Read more about Robinson here and here.
WORKS
A Harmony of the Four Gospels in English. According to the common version. Newly arranged, with explanatory notes, Revised ed., with foot-notes from the rev. version of 1881, and additional notes by M.B. Riddle. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin,1886, xix, 205 pp.
A Harmony of the Four Gospels in Greek. Rev. ed., giving the text of Tischendorf, and various readings accepted by Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and in the rev. English version of 1881. With additional notes by M.B. Riddle. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin 1885, xxvi, 273 pp.
The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures: A sermon preached at Salter's-Hall, London; on Wednesday September 11, 1782. in behalf of the Bible Society. By Robert Robinson. London: printed for W. Lepard, and J. Buckland, 1782. 29,[3]pp.
Read more about President Franklin Roosevelt here, here and here.
WORKS
Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible, October 6th, 1935.
"In the formative days of the Republic the directing influence the Bible exercised upon the fathers of the Nation is conspicuously evident. To Washington it contained the sure and certain moral precepts that constituted the basis of his action. That which proceeded from it transcended all other books, however elevating their thought. To his astute mind moral and religious principles were the ?indispensable supports? of political prosperity, the 'essential pillars of civil society.' Learned as Jefferson was in the best of the ancient philosophers, he turned to the Bible as the source of his higher thinking and reasoning. Speaking of the lofty teachings of the Master, he said: 'He pushed His scrutinies into the heart of man; erected His tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head.' Beyond this he held that the Bible contained the noblest ethical system the world has known. His own compilation of the selected portions of this Book, in what is known as 'Jefferson's Bible,' bears evidence of the profound reverence in which he held it."
"Your Government has in its possession another document, made in Germany by Hitler's Government. It is a detailed plan, which, for obvious reasons, the Nazis did not wish and do not wish to publicize just yet, but which they are ready to impose, a little later, on a dominated world?if Hitler wins. It is a plan 'to abolish all existing religions- Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish alike. The property of all churches will be seized by the Reich and its puppets. The cross and all other symbols of religion are to be forbidden. The clergy are to be forever liquidated, silenced under penalty of the concentration camps, where even now so many fearless men are being tortured because they have placed God above Hitler.
"In the place of the churches of our civilization, there is to be set up an International Nazi Church- a church which will be served by orators sent out by the Nazi Government. And in the place of the Bible, the words of Mein Kampf will be imposed and enforced as Holy Writ. And in the place of the cross of Christ will be put two symbols?the swastika and the naked sword.
"The god of Blood and Iron will take the place of the God of Love and Mercy. Let us well ponder that statement which I have made tonight."
I can not understand any American citizen who has the faintest feeling of patriotism and devotion to his country failing to appreciate what Dr. Geer
put so well - the absolutely essential need of religion, using it in its broadest and deepest sense, to the welfare of this country. If it were not that in our villages and towns as they have grown up the churches have grown up in them, symbolizing the fact that there were among their foremost
workers men whose work was not for the things of the body but for the things of the soul, this would not be a nation to-day; because this country would
not be an abode fit for civilized men if it were not true that we put our material civilization, our material prosperity, as the base only (a necessary
foundation, a necessary base, but only as the base, as the foundation) upon which to build the super-structure of the higher spiritual life.
The Works of Theodore Roosevelt Memorial ed. Extracts from Volume 15. [New York: C. Scribner's sons, 1923-26] 24 volumes. fronts., plates, ports. 25 cm.
William Allen White. "Saith the Preacher!"
Editor's Note.
Author's Preface.
American Ideals.
True Americanism.
Religion and the Public Schools.
Reform Through Social Work.
Washington's Forgotten Maxim.
The Strenuous Life.
The Ideals of Washington.
Civic Helpfulness.
Co-operation and the Simple Life.
The Eighth and Ninth Commandments in Politics.
"God Save the State."
Christian Citizenship.
The Decalogue and the Golden Rule must stand as the
foundation of every successful effort to better either our
social or our political life. "Fear the Lord and walk in
his ways" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself" --when
we practise these two precepts, the reign of social and
civic righteousness will be close at hand. Christianity
teaches not only that each of us must so live as to save
his own soul, but that each must also strive to do his
whole duty by his neighbor. We cannot live up to
these teachings as we should; for in the presence of
infinite might and infinite wisdom, the strength of the
strongest man is but weakness, and the keenest of mortal
eyes see but dimly. But each of us can at least
strive, as light and strength are given him, toward the
ideal. Effort along anyone line will not suffice. We
must not only be good, but strong. We must not only
be high-minded, but brave-hearted. We must think
loftily, and we must also work hard. It is not written
in the Holy Book that we must merely be harmless as
doves. It is also written that we must be wise as serpents. Craft unaccompanied by conscience makes the
crafty man a social wild beast who preys on the communitv
and must be hunted out of it. Gentleness and
sweetness unbacked by strength and high resolve are
almost impotent for good.
The true Christian is the true citizen, lofty of purpose,
resolute in endeavor, ready for a hero's deeds, but never
looking down on his task because it is cast in the day
of small things; scornful of baseness, awake to his own
duties as well as to his rights, following the higher law
with reverence, and in this world doing all that in him
lies so that when death comes he may feel that mankind
is in some degree better because he has lived.
Brotherhood and Heroic Virtues.
William Frederic Bade. Preface, Realizable Ideals.
The Bible and the People.
I enter a most earnest plea that in our hurried and
rather bustling life of to-day we do not lose the hold
that our forefathers had on the Bible. I wish to see
Bible study as much a matter of course in the secular
college as in the seminary. No educated man can afford
to be ignorant of the Bible; and no uneducated
man can afford to be ignorant of the Bible. Occasional
critics, taking sections of the Old Testament, are able
to point out that the teachings therein are not in accordance
with our own convictions and views of morality,
and they ignore the prime truth that these deeds
recorded in the Old Testament are not in accordance
with our theories of morality because of the very fact
that these theories are based upon the New Testament,
because the New Testament represents not only in one
sense the fulfilment of the Old but in another sense
the substitution of the New Testament for the Old
in certain vital points of ethics. If critics of this kind
would study the morality inculcated by the Old Testament
among the chosen people, and compare it, not
with the morality of today, not wIth the morality
created by the New Testament, but with the morality
of the surrounding nations of antiquity, who had no
Bible, they would appreciate the enormous advances
that the Old Testament even in its most primitive form
worked for the Jewish people. The Old Testament did
not carry Israel as far as the New Testament has carried
us; but it advanced Israel far beyond the point any
neighboring nation had then reached.
In studying the writings of the average critic who
has assailed the Bible the most salient point is usually
his peculiar shallowness in failing to understand, not
merely the lofty ethical teachings of the Bible as we
now know it, but the elemental fact that even the most
primitive ethical system taught in the primitive portions
of the Bible, the earliest of the sacred writings,
marks a giant stride in moral advance when compared
with the contemporary ethical conceptions of the other
peoples of the day.
Moreover, I appeal for a study of the Bible on many
different accounts, even aside from its ethical and moral
teachings, even aside from the fact that all serious
people, all men who think deeply, even among nonChristians,
have come to agree that the life of Christ, as set forth in the four Gospels, represents an infinitely
higher and purer morality than is preached in any other
book of the world. Aside from this, I ask that the Bible
be studied for the sake of the breadth it must give to
every man who studies it.
...It is of that book, and as testimony to its incalculable
influence for good from the educational and moral standpoint,
that the great scientist Huxley wrote in the following
words:
"Consider the great historical fact that for three
centuries this book has been woven into the life of all
that is noblest and best in English history; that it has
become the national epic of Britain; that it is written
in the noblest and purest English and abounds in exquisite
beauties of mere literary form; and, finally, that
it forbids the veriest hind, who never left his village,
to be ignorant of the existence of other countries and
other civilizations of a great past stretching back to
the farthest limits of the oldest nations in the world.
By the study of what other book could children be so
much humanized and made to feel that each figure in
that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but
a momentary space in the interval between the Eternities?"
I ask your attention to this when I plead for the
training of children in the Bible. I am quoting, not a
professed Christian, but a scientific man whose scientific
judgment is thus expressed as to the value of Biblical
training for the young.
And again listen to what Huxley says as to the bear-
ing of the Bible upon those who study the ills of our
time with the hope of eventually remedying them:
"The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor
and of the oppressed. Down to modern times no State
has had a constitution in which the interests of the
people are so largely taken into account, in which the
duties so much more than the privileges of rulers are
insisted upon, as that drawn up for Israel in Deuteronomy
and in Leviticus; nowhere is the fundamental
truth that the welfare of the State in the long run depends
upon the righteousness of the citizen so strongly
laid down. . . . The Bible is the most democratic book
in the world."
This is the judgment of Huxley, one of the greatest
scientific thinkers of the last century.
We have a right to demand that every man, native born or foreign born, shall in American public life act merely as an American. To quote a phrase I have used more than once before, we don't wish any hyphenated Americans; we do not wish you to act as Irish-Americans or British-Americans or native Americans, but as Americans pure and simple.
To the man who comes here from abroad in good faith, anxious to make his home with us and to assume the burdens as well as share the privileges of American hospitality, we stretch out promptly the hand of fellowship. We have a right to demand that he shall, in dealing with American affairs, leave his Old World prejudices and antipathies behind and act simply as an American; but if he does this it is an infamy to discriminate in any way against him because of creed or birthplace, and not to treat him simply on his own merits as compared with other American citizens. Indeed I go father than calling it an outrage, I call it a crime against the body politic. It is a crime as thoroughly un-American, when discrimination is made against some man because of his religion or because of his national origin, as when it assumes the shape of action taken by some body of our citizens, because of Old World ties and interests.
It is an outrage for any body of American citizens to vote upon questions of American politics, or upon questions affecting American public and social life, as foreigners, to vote as Irish-americans, as German-Americans, or what not; and it is just as emphatically an outrage; it is, indeed, if anything, a worse outrage to vote against some good American because of considerations of creed or birthplace. It is a matter of humiliation to us that the party platforms should contain planks bidding for the Irish-American, the German-American, or the British-American vote, as the case may be."
Roosevelt on Americanism. Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR) Monday, November 27, 1893; pg. 4; Issue 10,735; col B.
Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt. Saturday, March 4, 1905.
My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent.
Roscoe, Henry
(1800-1836)
Legal writer and biographer.
WORKS
Lives of Eminent British Lawyers.
London, 1830. 2 volumes; 19 cm. Minnesota Legal History Project. Contents:
v. 1. Sir Edward Coke. John Selden. Sir Matthew Hale. Lord Guilford. Lord Jefferies. Lord Somers. Lord Mansfield
v. 2. Sir J.E. Wilmot. Sir W. Blackstone. Lord Ashburton. Lord Thurlow. Sir W. Jones. Lord Erskine. Sir Samuel Romilly.
Swiss pastor and theologian. Read about Roustan from the Biographie Universelle. "ROUSTAN (Antoine-Jacques)". Biographie universelle ou Dictionnaire de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes, depuis le commencement du monde jusqu'a ce jour (in French). 17 Ritzon - Scheremetof. Brussels: H. Ode. 1846, p. 140.
British Christian preacher and moral philosopher. Read about Row here.
WORKS
Reasons for Believing in Christianity: Addressed to Busy People; A course of lectures delivered at St. Paul's Cathedral, at the request of the Dean and Chapter New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1881. 162 pp.; 20 cm. Recommended: chapters 5, 7, 10, 12, and 13. Highly recommended: the superb comparison of Jesus and Socrates on pp. 50-51 or the penetrating analysis of the fact that Christianity addresses itself to sinners, pp. 78-79. 1888 edition.
C. A. Row on the Uniqueness of Christ
The attempt to make the founder of a religion a mighty moral and spiritual power is one that is absolutely unique in the history of the human mind. In fact, if it had been attempted in any other person than Jesus Christ, nothing could have saved it from ridicule. An illustration will place this before you in a striking light. Socrates produced among his followers a deep feeling of attachment; but nothing but madness could have induced them to propound him to future ages as the centre of moral and spiritual obligation. Suppose for one moment the following expressions to have been put into the mouth of Socrates:??I, if I drink the cup of hemlock, will draw all men unto me.? Come to Socrates all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and he will give you rest.? Take his yoke upon you and learn of him, for he is meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light.? Or suppose these words to have been the utterance of one of his disciples:??The love of Socrates constrains us.? ?Whether we live we live unto Socrates, and whether we die we die to Socrates; whether, therefore, we live or die we are Socrates's.? ?I drink the hemlock with Socrates, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Socrates lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in Socrates, who loved me and gave himself for me.? Applied to Socrates such expressions are ridiculous; applied to Jesus Christ they are a mighty power. 1881 edition, pp. 50-51.
The Historical Evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; a lecture: published at the request of the Christian Evidence Society, as a supplementary lecture to the course delivered at the Hall of Science, Old Street. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1873. pp. [227]-262. 37 pp.
On Human Responsibility; a lecture delivered in the new Hall of Science, Old Street, City Road, under the auspices of the Christian Evidence Society. pp. [31]-60.
The Principles of Modern Pantheistic and Atheistic Philosophy; as exemplified in the last works of Strauss and others: being a paper read before the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, 13th April, 1874. London: R. Hardwicke, (Wyman and Sons), 1874. 40 pp.
The Supernatural in the New Testament possible, credible and historical: or, An examination of the validity of some recent objections against Christianity as a divine revelation. London: Frederic Norgate, 1875. xiii, 524 pp.; 21 cm. Review by Church Quarterly, Volume 2, here, p. 281.
Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical, by Benjamin Rush, M.D. and professor of the institutes of medicine and clinical practice in the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas & Samuel F. Bradford, no. 8, South Front Street, 1798. 386 pp.; 22 cm. (8vo) "Most of the ... essays were published in the Museum, and Columbian magazine ... soon after the end of the Revolutionary War in the United States. A few of them made their first appearance in pamphlets."
Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical by Benjamin Rush, M.D. and professor of the institutes of medicine and clinical practice in the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 1798. 386 pp. "Thoughts on Common Sense." Extract.
Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical, 2d ed., with additions."A Defence of the Bible as a School Book". Philadelphia, 1806. 370 pp. "We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible. For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism."
American historian and religious studies scholar. Professor of History, the University of California, Santa Barbara. Read about Russell here. See also here.
WORKS
Exposing Myths About Christianity: A Guide to Answering 145 Viral Lies and Legends. IVP Books, May 14, 2012. 361 pp. Abstract: Renowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, turns to the serious questions that confront Christianity in contemporary culture. Russell examines a wide array of common mispercerptions, characterizations, stereotypes, caricatures and outright myths about Christianity that circulate heavily within today's society, and are even believed by many Christians. In a succinct and engaging manner, Russell discusses these errors and provides thoughtful, even-handed, carefully researched and sharp-witted responses. The author sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.
Jerry Bergman. The Flat-Earth Myth and Creationism. "University of California at Santa Barbara Professor of History, Jeffrey Burton Russell, has effectively shown the arguments of both Draper and White were totally without merit in his now-classic study of the affair. He carefully documents that the entire Church rejected the flat-earth theory, and Cosmas? writings were almost totally ignored. Russell also examined a large selection of textbooks and found those written before 1870 usually included the correct account, but most textbooks written after 1880 uncritically repeated the erroneous claims in Washington Irving, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. Russell concludes that Irving, Draper and White were the main writers responsible for introducing the erroneous flat-earth myth that is still with us today."
Flattening the Earth. Sep-Oct 2002, Mercury Magazine, pp. 34-38.
Contrary to popular folklore, medieval Europeans knew Earth was a sphere, and, with the notable exception of Christopher Columbus, most had a pretty good idea of its true size.
One of the few things that everybody "knows" about medieval Europe is that people thought Earth was fiat. The cliché that Columbus discovered that Earth is round is taught so frequently in American grade schools that it has become ingrained in our consciousness.
But for nearly 80 years historians have demonstrated that medieval Europeans knew Earth to be spherical. In fact, virtually no educated person in the Middle Ages (roughly defined as 500-1500 AD.) believed Earth was fiat. The evidence is as overwhelming as historical evidence can be. German historian Reinhard Krueger and other modern scholars have identified about 100 medieval writings dealing with Earth's shape. Five seem to assert flatness, and two are ambiguous. The rest take the globe for granted. The Columbus cliché is a Flat Error popularized by the American writer Washington Irving.
Rutherforth, Thomas
(1712-1771)
Moral philosopher.
WORKS
The Credibility of Miracles defended against the author of Philosophical essays in a discourse delivered at the primary visitation of the Right Reverend Thomas Lord Bishop of Ely in St. Michaels Church Cambridge Avg. Cambridge, printed by J. Bentham; for W. Thurlbourn; and sold by W. Innys and J. Beecroft, London, 1751. [8],22,[2]pp.
We may easily judge of the consequences of thus neglecting the religious education of men whose example has great influence on the conduct of others. Strangers to the proofs of religion are soon corrupted by the conversation of men who never examined those proofs, or by some modern works of genius and learning. They are staggered by the most trifling objections; and the little religion they brought with them from school or college is soon destroyed by ignorant and immoral companions, or by books which convey the poison of Deism agreeably, to minds unprepared to combat or refute them.
The source of Deism immediately suggests the means of preventing it; namely, the instruction of youth in the proofs of Christianity, both in schools and colleges, where alone they can be compelled to attend to instruction. Unless they learn those proofs while they are under masters or Tutors, it is probable that nineteen in twenty of them will for ever remain strangers to
those proofs, and to the comforts of religion. In order to render this scheme effectual, the heads of our college should admit
no boy who has not been instructed at school in the evidences of Christianity, and who is not as well acquainted with
those evidences as with Horace or Homer.
... But the heads of colleges should not only require this knowledge from students at admission, but introduce into the college course some anti-deistical author (y), in the
place of some book which they may judge less ufeful. They oblige men to study the classics and instuct them carefully in the
rudiments of the sciences; but shamefully disregard the fundamentals of Christianity. They encourage an emulation in logics, mathematics, &c. by public examinations and praemiums; and why not do so in respect to religion, which is conducive to the temporal and eternal interests of men?
(y) Skelton's Deism Revealed, The Minute Philosopher, Leslie Against the Deists, &c.
Anglican preacher. Read more about Ryle here.
SermonIndex.net: J.C. Ryle was a prolific writer, vigorous preacher, faithful pastor, husband of three wives, [widowed three times: Matilda died in 1847, Jessie died in 1860, Henrietta died in 1889] and the father to five children [1 with Matilta and 4 with Jessie]. He was thoroughly evangelical in his doctrine and uncompromising in his Biblical principles. In 1880, after 38 years in Pastoral ministry in rural England, at age 64, he became the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool. He retired in 1900 at age 83 and died later the same year at the age of 84.
"He [J.C. Ryle] was great through the abounding grace of God. He was great in stature; great in mental power; great in spirituality; great as a preacher and expositor of God's most holy Word; great in hospitality; great as a writer of Gospel tracts; great as a Bishop of the Reformed Evangelical Protestant Church in England, of which he was a noble defender; great as first Bishop of Liverpool. I am bold to say, that perhaps few men in the nineteenth century did as much for God, for truth, and for righteousness, among the English speaking race, and in the world, as our late Bishop." - Rev. Richard Hobson, three days after Ryle's burial in 1900.
WORKS
The J. C. Ryle Directory. Links to Ryle's works on the internet. Preserved webpage courtesy http://web.archive.org/
