Di Zi Gui (弟子规), in English, means the Standards for being a Good Student and Child. It is an ancient book based on the teaching of the great Confucius that emphasises on the basic requisites for being a good person and guidelines for living in harmony with others. The source for the main outline of it is from Analects of Confucius, Book 1, Chapter 6, where Confucius said: A young man should be a good son at home and an obedient young man abroad, sparing of speech but trustworthy in what he says, and should love the multitude at large but cultivate the friendship of his fellow men. If he has any energy to spare from such action, let him devote it to making himself cultivated. There are altogether seven chapters in Di Zi Gui, with each chapter listing one duty that a good person should follow in life. (From Wikipedia) Chinese summary to follow....

Advice, Instruction, Philosophy

The Epistle to Galatians is a book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia. It is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding Gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law within Early Christianity. Along with the Epistle to the Romans, it is the most theologically significant of the Pauline epistles, and has been particularly influential in Protestant thought....

Religion

An intensely personal account of the immigration experience as related by a young Jewish girl from Plotzk (a town in the government of Vitebsk, Russia). Mary Antin, with her mother, sisters, and brother, set out from Plotzk in 1894 to join their father, who had journeyed to the Promised Land of America three years before. Fourth class railroad cars packed to suffocation, corrupt crossing guards, luggage and persons crudely disinfected by German officials who feared the cholera, locked quarantine portside, and, finally, the steamer voyage and a famiily reunited. For anyone who has ever wondered what it was like for their grandparents or great grandparents to emmigrate from Europe to the United States last century, this is a fascinating narrative. Mary Antin went on to become an immigration rights activist. She also wrote an autobiography, The Promised Land, published in 1912, which detailed her assimilation into American culture. (Summary by Sue Anderson)...

Memoirs

While in prison, Paul writes this letter to another Christian, Philemon. Paul has met with and converted a man named Onesimus, probably a runaway slave, and he writes to Philemon, Onesimus's legal owner, to tell him that he is sending him back. Appealing to Philemon's personal debt to him, Paul urges him to welcome Onesimus as though he were Paul himself, and to accept him as a fellow brother in Christ. (Summary by Leon Mire)...

Religion

Ignatius of Antioch penned these letters to churches (Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, and Smyrnaeans) and Polycarp on his way to martyrdom. Ignatius was an apologist for the Episcopal style of church government (as opposed to sole rule by a council of presbyters) which developed in the late first or early second century. Eager to die in imitation of his Savior, it was Ignatius who wrote this to the Roman church: I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread [of Christ]. (Summary by Sam Stinson)...

Religion

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (October 4, 1787 -September 12, 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government service to the citizen king Louis Philippe, as the Minister of Education, 1832-1837, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840-1847, and finally Prime Minister of France from September 19, 1847 to February 23, 1848. His Popular History of France is an attractive and engrossing narrative, here presented in an easily readable English translation by Robert Black, first published in 1898. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline and repeated for this volume.)...

History

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (October 4, 1787 -September 12, 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government service to the citizen king Louis Philippe, as the Minister of Education, 1832-1837, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840-1847, and finally Prime Minister of France from September 19, 1847 to February 23, 1848. His Popular History of France is an attractive and engrossing narravative, here presented in an easily readable English translation by Robert Black, first published in 1898. (Summary from Wikipedia with additions by Karen Merline)...

History

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) was an orator, statesman, philosopher and prolific correspondent, who rose as a ‘new man’ in Rome in the turbulent last years of its republican government. Anthony Trollope, best known as a novelist, admired Cicero greatly and wrote this biography late in life in order to argue his virtues against authors who had granted him literary greatness but questioned his strength as a politician and as a man. He takes a personal approach, affording us an insight into his own mind and times as well as those of his subject. This second volume of two covers his last years, BC 57-43 and the personal and political upheavals that surrounded them: the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, the death of his daughter Tullia, Caesar's dictatorship and assassination, Cicero's antagonism against Antony in the Philippics and his final struggle for the republic. Having used Cicero's letters and speeches to guide his biography, Trollope treats his other works (what he terms 'moral essays', and works on philosophy and rhetoric), and his religious beliefs, in separate chapters at the end of this volume, to which is also appende...

Biography

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (October 4, 1787 -September 12, 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government service to the citizen king Louis Philippe, as the Minister of Education, 1832-1837, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840-1847, and finally Prime Minister of France from September 19, 1847 to February 23, 1848. His Popular History of France is an attractive and engrossing narravative, here presented in an easily readable English translation by Robert Black. (Summary from Wikipedia with additions by Karen Merline)...

History

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (October 4, 1787 -September 12, 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government service to the citizen king Louis Philippe, as the Minister of Education, 1832-1837, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840-1847, and finally Prime Minister of France from September 19, 1847 to February 23, 1848. His Popular History of France is an attractive and engrossing narravative, here presented in an easily readable English translation by Robert Black, first published in 1898. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)...

History

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (October 4, 1787 -September 12, 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government service to the citizen king Louis Philippe, as the Minister of Education, 1832-1837, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840-1847, and finally Prime Minister of France from September 19, 1847 to February 23, 1848. His Popular History of France is an attractive and engrossing narravative, here presented in an easily readable English translation. (Summary from Wikipedia with additions by Karen Merline)...

History

Fortress-walled Saint Catherine's monastery on the Sinai peninsula has been a pilgrimage site since its founding by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. According to tradition, the monastery sits at the base of the mountain where Moses received the Tablets of the Law. Set in rugged country, accessible in times past only by a many days journey by camel across barren desert, the monastery survived intact through the centuries, and, as a result, became a rich repository of religious history—told through its icons, mosaics, and the books and manuscripts in the monastery library. Our Journey to Sinai by Agnes Bensly is the story of a visit to Saint Catherine's by a group of British scholars in the 1890's, who were drawn there in quest of manuscripts from early Christian times. The group had one particular prize in their sights. It was a second century translation of the Gospels from Greek into an Aramaic dialect called Syriac. This was a rare find indeed. One of the group, Agnes Smith Lewis, an accomplished linguist, had been to the monastery once before. On that visit, she had spotted a “palimpsest of most venerable appea...

Memoirs, History, Travel

The Book of Psalms, commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. Taken together, its 150 poems express virtually the full range of Israel's religious faith. They each have a poetic character with frequent use of parallelism. In addition to the title of the collection, which translates as song or hymns from both Hebrew and Greek, superscriptions (or headings) in many of the Psalms provide musical references and some direction, in some cases even references to melodies that would have been well known by early congregations. Songs that can be identified as such in the Psalms include songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 30), hymns of praise (e.g., Ps 117) and royal psalms, which may have been used in coronations and weddings. Identification of some psalms as prayers is also seen within the text, for example in the conclusion to Psalm 72, The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended. The largest category of Psalms, though not grouped as such in the text, is that of lament (expressions of complaint and pleas for help from God). There appears to also have been an instructional function of the psal...

Poetry, Religion

Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch. The Hebrew title, [spoken] words, is taken from the opening phrase, These are the words...; the English title is from the Greek and Latin, both meaning second law, a mistranslation of the Hebrew phrase mishneh ha-torah ha-zoth, a copy of this law, in Deuteronomy 17:18. The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recapitulates the forty years of wilderness wanderings which have led to this moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings); the second reminds the Israelites of the need for exclusive allegiance to one God and observance of the laws he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the ...

Religion, History

The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765-1769.The Commentaries were long regarded as the leading work on the development of English law and played a role in the development of the American legal system. They were in fact the first methodical treatise on the common law suitable for a lay readership since at least the Middle Ages. The common law of England has relied on precedent more than statute and codifications and has been far less amenable than the civil law, developed from the Roman law, to the needs of a treatise. The Commentaries were influential largely because they were in fact readable, and because they met a need. The work is as much an apologia for the legal system of the time as it is an explanation; even when the law was obscure, Blackstone sought to make it seem rational, just, and inevitable that things should be how they were. (Summary from Wikipedia.)...

Philosophy, Politics

Pantheisticon: or, the Form Of Celebrating the Socratic-Society. Divided into Three Parts. Which Contain, I. The Morals and Axioms of the Pantheists; or the Brotherhood. II. Their Deity and Philosophy. III. Their Liberty, and a Law, neither deceiving, nor to be deceived. To which is prefix'd a Discourse upon the Antient and Modern Societies of the Learned, as also upon the Infinite and Eternal Universe. And subjoined, a short dissertation upon a Two-fold Philosophy of the Pantheists, that is to be followed; together with an Idea of the best and most accomplished Man. Written Originally in Latin, by the Ingenious Mr. John Toland. And now, for the first Time, faithfully rendered into English. (Summary from frontispiece.)...

Philosophy, Religion

“Bahaism is not a new religion,” writes Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, “It is religion renewed… it does not pretend to represent the whole Truth; on the contrary, it recognises Truth in fundamental principles which are the basis of all former dispensations, and which for that very reason form the standpoint of concord too long lost sight of. And it requires people to renounce ancient superstitions, to abandon the dead letter in order to be penetrated by the living and vivifying spirit, then by that very means it confirms the original purity of their religion, whilst helping them to know and love everything profoundly beautiful in the others… it will suffice for me to indicate that the Bahais believe that from all eternity God has raised up among human creatures higher beings who have inculcated mankind with the great moral principles on which societies are founded, and have thus been the supreme guides of its evolution.” Hippolyte Dreyfus earned his doctorate in law in February 1898 and became the first French Bahá’í in 1901. In 1903 he gave up his legal career to devote himself to oriental studies. He enrolled at the École pratique des ...

Religion, Politics

The Two Treatises of Civil Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The First Treatise is an extended attack on Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha , which argued for a divinely-ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy. The more influential Second Treatise outlines a theory of civil society based on natural rights and contract theory. Locke begins by describing the state of nature, and goes on to explain the hypothetical rise of property and civilization, asserting that the only legitimate governments are those which have the consent of the people. Locke's ideas heavily influenced both the American and French Revolutions. His notions of people's rights and the role of civil government provided strong support for the intellectual movements of both revolutions. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)...

Philosophy, Politics, Religion

The Social Contract outlines Rousseau's views on political justice, explaining how a just and legitimate state is to be founded, organized and administered. Rousseau sets forth, in his characteristically brazen and iconoclastic manner, the case for direct democracy, while simultaneously casting every other form of government as illegitimate and tantamount to slavery. Often hailed as a revolutionary document which sparked the French Revolution, The Social Contract serves both to inculcate dissatisfaction with actually-existing governments and to allow its readers to envision and desire a radically different form of political and social organization. (Summary by Eric Jonas)...

Philosophy, Politics

The Nobel Prizes are international awards bestowed once a year by Scandinavian committees for cultural and scientific advances. They were established in 1895 by the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901. The Laureats of 1904 were: in Physics: Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt, 1842 - 1919), for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies; in Chemistry: Sir William Ramsay (1852 - 1916), for his discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system; in Physiology or Medicine: Ivan Petrovich Pawlow (1849 - 1936), in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged; in Literature: Frédéric Mistral (one half, 1830 - 1914), in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his peopl...

Science, Biography

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was a political radical and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He is best known as an early advocate of utilitarianism and animal rights who influenced the development of liberalism. The essay Offences Against One's Self (c. 1785), argued for the liberalisation of laws prohibiting homosexuality. The essay remained unpublished during Bentham's lifetime for fear of offending public morality. It was finally published for the first time in 1931. (Wikipedia) This recording was catalogued on 28th July 2007, the 40th anniversary of the coming into force in the UK of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised male homosexuality for the first time (though with restrictions)....

Philosophy, Politics

François-Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803) rose to fame in 1791 during the Haitian struggle for independence. In this revolt, he led thousands of slaves on the island of Hispañola to fight against the colonial European powers of France, Spain and England. The former slaves ultimately established the independent state of Haiti and expelled the Europeans. L’Ouverture eventually became the governor and Commander-In-Chief of Haiti before recognizing and submitting to French rule in 1801. In June of 1802, L’Ouverture was arrested by French forces and taken to France where he was imprisoned at Joux. There he penned his autobiography “. . . to render to the French government an exact account of my conduct.” L’Ouverture died in prison on April 7, 1803 from pneumonia. Although L’Ouverture died a captive of the French, the revolution he led was historically perhaps the most significant world event opposing slavery. It precipitated a re-examination--among the major European powers as well as those in the new world--of the right of all mankind to be free and self-governing. John Relly Beard, an English minister, wrote The Life of Tous...

Adventure, Biography, History, Memoirs, Politics, War stories

Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a book written in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes. It is titled after the biblical Leviathan. The book concerns the structure of society (as represented figuratively by the frontispiece, showing the state giant made up of individuals), as is evidenced by the full title. In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by a sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war - situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes (the war of all against all) - could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract. However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. Since the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the peace and defense of the people, the contract would become void as soon as the government no longer protected its citizens. By virtue of this fact, man would automatically return to the state of nature until a new contract...

Philosophy, Politics

The original document is in Latin so this can only be a fairly rough approximation of the actual content. The text used is the first version in the Gutenberg collection. - Magna Carta is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that has led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta was originally created because of disagreements between the Pope, King John and his English barons over the rights of the King. Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights and respect certain legal procedures and to accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. (Summary by Jim Mowatt/Wikipedia)...

Essay/Short nonfiction, History

The Light of Egypt will be found to be an Occult library in itself, a textbook of esoteric knowledge, setting forth the wisdom Religion of life, as taught by the Adepts of Hermetic Philosophy. It will richly repay all who are seeking the higher life to carefully study this book, as it contains in a nutshell the wisdom of the ages regarding man and his destiny, here and hereafter. The London and American first edition, also the French edition, Vol. I, met with lively criticism from Blavatsky Theosophists, because it annihilates that agreeable delusion of Karma and Reincarnation from the minds of all lovers of truth for truth's sake. The Tablets of Aeth is a great and mighty work, as it contains the very quintessence of Occult and Hermetic philosophy, as revealed by spiritual law. Penetralia is a new revelation, and invaluable to Occult students, as it is the personal experience of a developed soul. (Summary taken from the Publishers Preface)...

Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Science

Edward Granville Browne (1862 – 1926), born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature. His works are respected for their scholarship, uniqueness, and style. He published in areas which few other Western scholars had explored to any sufficient degree. He used a language and style that showed high respect for everybody, even toward those he personally did not view in positive light. In A Year Amongst the Persians (1893) he wrote a sympathetic portrayal of a Persian society which few Westerners had ever seen, including a frank account of the effects of opium. It did not attract the attention it deserved at the time of its initial publication, but after his death in 1926 it was reprinted and became a classic in English travel literature. A Year Amongst the Persians includes moving accounts of the Bahá’í community in Iran. Concerning his meetings with the Bahá’ís of Iran, Browne writes: “The memory of those assemblies can never fade from my mind; the recollection of those faces and those tones no time...

Travel, Religion, Philosophy

After the American Civil War, John R. Lynch, who had been a slave in Mississippi, began his political career in 1869 by first becoming Justice of the Peace, and then Mississippi State Representative. He was only 26 when he was elected to the US Congress in 1873. There, he continued to be an activist, introducing many bills and arguing on their behalf. Perhaps his greatest effort was in the long debate supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to ban discrimination in public accommodations. In 1884 Lynch was the first African American nominated after a moving speech by Theodore Roosevelt to the position of Temporary Chairman of the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, he was appointed Treasury Auditor and then Paymaster under the Republicans. In 1901, he began serving with the Regular Army with tours of duty in the United States, Cuba, and the Philippines. Lynch retired from the Army in 1911, then married Cora Williams. They moved to Chicago, where he practiced law. He also became involved in real estate. After his death in Chicago 1939 at the age of 92, he was buried with milita...

Economics/Political Economy, History, Memoirs, Politics