Henry Drummond

"The Greatest Thing in the World" is the enduring sermon on love and kindness by Henry Drummond, a respected and popular nineteenth-century Scottish evangelist, scientist, speaker, and writer. Drummond was well-known during his lifetime for his efforts to bridge the gap between the scientific world and the religious world, most notably in his 1883 work "Natural Law in the Spiritual World". He was also a popular and inspiring public speaker and his 1890 sermon "The Greatest Thing in the World" remains widely read and quoted the world over. The sermon is a powerful sermon exploring the Biblical verse 1 Corinthians 13 and Paul's writings on love which remains as relevant and meaningful as when it was first given. It is considered by many to be one of the most extraordinary and moving descriptions of the importance and power that love has in everyone's daily life and spiritual practice. Drummond also provides practical and useful guidance for every Christian to live a gentler, kinder, and more compassionate life." The Greatest Thing in the World" will touch the heart of everyone who reads its timeless message and is an important addition to the libraries of the devout and nonreligious alike. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Suurin kaikista on rakkaus on skotlantilaisen evankelistan ja luonnontieteiden professorin Henry Drummondin vuonna 1890 kirjoittama ainutlaatuinen ja upea tulkinta kuolemattomasta Raamatun tekstistä, Paavalin 1. korinttilaiskirjeen 13. luvusta. Drummond oli aikansa suuri vaikuttaja, jokauskoi tieteen ja uskonnon väliseen vuoropuheluun ja avarakatseiseen kristinuskon ja Raamatun tulkintaan. Tämä henkisen kirjallisuuden suuri klassikko valottaa erittäin kauniisti rakkauden syvintä olemusta ja antaa paljon ajattomia ohjeita menestyksekkään ja onnellisen elämän elämiseen sekä itsensä kehittämiseen.

Natural Law in the Spiritual World is a collection of essays not originally intended for publication but rather to help the writer get things clear in his own mind. Although written from the point of view of someone in the pay of a Scottish Presbyterian Church which still clings to a belief in the absolute authority of the King James Authorised Version of the Christian Bible, Dr. Drummond's words can be read with benefit by anyone, regardless of race or religion, because they stimulate discussion about matters which remain contentious and afford the unconstrained modern scientific mystic plenty of opportunity for further clarification.

Natural Law in the Spiritual World is a collection of essays not originally intended for publication but rather to help the writer get things clear in his own mind. Although written from the point of view of someone in the pay of a Scottish Presbyterian Church which still clings to a belief in the absolute authority of the King James Authorised Version of the Christian Bible, Dr. Drummond's words can be read with benefit by anyone, regardless of race or religion, because they stimulate discussion about matters which remain contentious and afford the unconstrained modern scientific mystic plenty of opportunity for further clarification.

Henry Drummond was a Scottish evangelical writer and lecturer. This volume contains, in addition to the address "Love: The Greatest Thing in the World," a number of other addresses which will bring help and blessing to many. In the words of D. L. Moody, "I was staying with a party of friends in a country house during my visit to England in 1884. On Sunday evening as we sat around the fire, they asked me to read and expound some portion of Scripture. Being tired after the services of the day, I told them to ask Henry Drummond, who was one of the party. After some urging he drew a small Testament from his hip pocket, opened it at the 13th chapter of I Corinthians, and began to speak on the subject of Love. It seemed to me that I had never heard anything so beautiful, and I determined not to rest until I brought Henry Drummond to Northfield to deliver that address. Since then I have requested the principals of my schools to have it read before the students every year. The one great need in our Christian life is love, more love to God and to each other. Would that we could all move into that Love chapter, and live there."

Henry Drummond was a Scottish evangelical writer and lecturer. This volume contains, in addition to the address "Love: The Greatest Thing in the World," a number of other addresses which will bring help and blessing to many. In the words of D. L. Moody, "I was staying with a party of friends in a country house during my visit to England in 1884. On Sunday evening as we sat around the fire, they asked me to read and expound some portion of Scripture. Being tired after the services of the day, I told them to ask Henry Drummond, who was one of the party. After some urging he drew a small Testament from his hip pocket, opened it at the 13th chapter of I Corinthians, and began to speak on the subject of Love. It seemed to me that I had never heard anything so beautiful, and I determined not to rest until I brought Henry Drummond to Northfield to deliver that address. Since then I have requested the principals of my schools to have it read before the students every year. The one great need in our Christian life is love, more love to God and to each other. Would that we could all move into that Love chapter, and live there."

Excerpt: ETERNAL LIFE "This is Life Eternal-that they might know Thee, the True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." -Jesus Christ. "Perfect correspondence would be perfect life. Were there no changes in the environment but such as the organism had adapted changes to meet, and were it never to fail in the efficiency with which it met them, there would be eternal existence and eternal knowledge." -Herbert Spencer. ONE of the most startling achievements of recent science is a definition of Eternal Life. To the religious mind this is a contribution of immense moment. For eighteen hundred years only one definition of Life Eternal was before the world. Now there are two. Through all these centuries revealed religion had this doctrine to itself. Ethics had a voice, as well as Christianity, on the question of the summum bonum; Philosophy ventured to speculate on the Being of a God. But no source outside Christianity contributed anything to the doctrine of Eternal Life. Apart from Revelation, this great truth was unguaranteed. It was the one thing in the Christian system that most needed verification from without, yet none was forthcoming. And never has any further light been thrown upon the question why in its very nature the Christian Life should be Eternal. Christianity itself even upon this point has been obscure. Its decision upon the bare fact is authoritative and specific. But as to what there is in the Spiritual Life necessarily endowing it with the element of Eternity, the maturest theology is all but silent. It has been reserved for modern biology at once to defend and illuminate this central truth of the Christian faith. And hence in the interests of religion, practical and evidential, this second and scientific definition of Eternal Life is to be hailed as an announcement of commanding interest. Why it should not yet have received the recognition of religious thinkers-for already it has lain some years unnoticed-is not difficult to understand. The belief in Science as an aid to faith is not yet ripe enough to warrant men in searching there for witnesses to the highest Christian truths. The inspiration of Nature, it is thought, extends to the humbler doctrines alone. And yet the reverent inquirer who guides his steps in the right direction may find even now in the still dim twilight of the scientific world much that will illuminate and intensify his sublimest faith. Here, at least, comes, and comes unbidden, the opportunity of testing the most vital point of the Christian system. Hitherto the Christian philosopher has remained content with the scientific evidence against Annihilation. Or, with Butler, he has reasoned from the Metamorphoses of Insects to a future life. Or again, with the authors of "The Unseen Universe," the apologist has constructed elaborate, and certainly impressive, arguments upon the Law of Continuity. But now we may draw nearer. For the first time Science touches Christianity positively on the doctrine of Immortality. It confronts us with an actual definition of an Eternal Life, based on a full and rigidly accurate examination of the necessary conditions. Science does not pretend that it can fulfil these conditions. Its votaries make no claim to possess the Eternal Life. It simply postulates the requisite conditions without concerning itself whether any organism should ever appear, or does now exist, which might fulfil them. The claim of religion, on the other hand, is that there are organisms which possess Eternal Life. And the problem for us to solve is this: Do those who profess to possess Eternal Life fulfil the conditions required by Science, or are they different conditions? In a word, Is the Christian conception of Eternal Life scientific?

Excerpt: EVERY one has asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world: What is the summum bonum -the supreme good? You have life before you. That is the burning question for you to face: What is the supreme object of desire-the supreme gift to covet? We have been accustomed to be told that the greatest thing in the religious world is faith. That has been the key-note for centuries of the evangelical religion; and we have learned to look upon that as the greatest thing in the world. Well; we are wrong. If we have been told that, we have been told wrong. I have taken you in the chapter which I have read tonight (I. Corinthians, xiii) to Christianity at its source; and there we have read, "The greatest of these is love." It is not an oversight. Paul was speaking of faith just a moment before. He says: "If I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." It is not an oversight; and it is not prejudice. A man is apt to recommend to others his own strong point. Love was not Paul's strong point. There is a beautiful tenderness which the observing student can detect as Paul gets old- growing and ripening all through his character; but the hand that wrote "The greatest of these is love," when we meet it first, is stained with blood. Nor is Paul singular in singling out love as the summum bonum. The three masters of Christianity are agreed about it Peter says: "Above all things have fervent love among yourselves." And John goes farther: "God is love." Love Fulfils All "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Did you ever think what Paul meant by that? In those days men were working their passage to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, and the hundred and ten other commandments which they had manufactured out of them. Christ came and said: "I will show you a more excellent way. If you do one thing, you will do these hundred and ten things, without ever thinking about it-unconsciously. If you love, you will fulfil the whole law." And you can readily see for yourselves how that comes to be. Take any of the commandments. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." If a man love God, you will not have to tell him that. Love is the fulfilling of that law. "Take not His name in vain." He would never dream of taking His name in vain if he loved Him. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." He would be too glad to have a day to meditate upon the object of his affection.

n this little devotional book, the charming Scottish evangelist meditates upon what he considers the greatest thing in the world-love. His meditations focus on and draw from I Cor- inthians 13. Drummond finds that godly love has nine ingredi- ents: patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, un- selfishness, a good temper, guilelessness, and sincerity. Just as Drummond's contemporary readers did, clergy and laypersons alike still have a fondness for Drummond's edify- ing words. The Greatest Thing in the World embodies its contents, sharing love's wisdom with warmth and honesty.