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Cranky Beautiful Faith
Church & Leadership, Culture & Mission, Re-imagining ChurchFormer stand-up comic and unlikely pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber weaves personal narrative, hilarious rants and powerful spiritual insight as she relates her unusual journey of faith, offering a fresh and uncompromising look at the transformative power of grace. As one of today's most provocative Christian leaders, she blends sardonic irreverence and brilliant theology to offer a new portrait of faith - one that is edgy, outrageous and, above all, real. Smart-mouthed and heavily tattooed, Nadia Bolz-Weber didn't consider herself ‘religious leader material’ and didn't expect to find her vocation leading a funeral in a smoky, downtown comedy club. But surrounded by recovering alcoholics, depressives, and comedians, she realized these were her people and maybe she was meant to be their pastor. This compassionate book portrays both church and seekers as deeply flawed yet deeply faithful.£12.99 -


Contemplation in a World of Action
The Inner JourneyThe spiritual and psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Thomas Merton lays a foundation for personal growth and transformation through fidelity to "our own truth and inner being". Our desire and need to attain "a fully human and personal identity" is the focus of Merton's concern.£24.99 -


Merton’s Palace of Nowhere
Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneySpiritual identity is the quest to know who we are, to find meaning in life and to overcome that sense of "is that all there is?" At the heart of this quest are found Thomas Meron's illuminating insights leading from an awareness of the false and illusory self as the way to a realization of the true self. For twenty-five years, Merton's Palace of Nowhere has been the standard for exploring, reflecting on, and understanding this rich vein of Merton's thought.£14.00 -


A Retreat with Thomas Merton
The Inner JourneyThe celebrated spiritual writer Thomas Merton remains one of the most influential voices of our day. His many books have become modern spiritual classics and he opened up the riches of the monastic tradition for many. Here, Esther de Waal devises a seven day personal or group retreat programme using extracts from Thomas Merton's writings and a selection of the photography for which he was also renowned. She creates a retreat that can be made at home, at a centre or on holiday, over a week or a period of weeks. The focus of each of the seven days is: The Call; Response; The Solitary Within; Encounter With Christ; The Demands of Love; Common and Natural and Ordinary; Integration.£14.00 -


Help me to journey beyond the familiar: Greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual Growth£2.20Greetings card, supplied with envelope, featuring an original design by Lynda Owen-Hussey that reflects the story of St Brendan's journey of faith. Blank inside. The title is taken from Brendan - an exploration of a vision, a call to risky living from Celtic Daily Prayer Book 1: The Journey Begins. -


From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on male spirituality
Influences & Suggested Reading, Seasons of Life, The Inner JourneyFrom Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality is a revised and updated edition of Richard Rohr's earlier best-seller, The Wild Man's Journey: Reflections on Male Spirituality. For this new work, Rohr added three chapters that discuss John the Baptist, Saint Paul and grief. An appendix provides a structure for a men's group, based on Rohr's work with M.A.L.E.S (Men as Learners and Elders), a program of the Center for Action and Contemplation, which Richard founded and now directs in Albuquerque, New Mexico.£14.50 -
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Following The Celtic Way : A New Assessment of Celtic Christianity
Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityA quarter-century after writing the acclaimed The Celtic Way, Ian Bradley, one of the foremost experts on the spiritual beliefs and practices of the indigenous Christian communities in the British Isles in the early Middle Ages, revisits the original sources and makes a substantial reappraisal of Celtic spirituality. Following the Celtic Way challenges many of the myths and romanticised portrayals of Celtic Christianity and shows evidence of the harder edge and demanding austerity of the lives and spirituality of believers from this time. This book sits among the most insightful and up-to-date introductions to this distinctive and evocative expression of faith, and draws out its themes that are most relevant to us today. It also offers practical spiritual guidance on how to follow the Celtic Way in the contemporary world.£12.99 -


Holy Envy. Finding God in the Faith of Others.
Spiritual GrowthIn this hardback book, Barbara Brown Taylor tackles the questions, worries and concerns that arise when we encounter "difference" and "others" and explores what is opened and what is revealed when we accept the invitations to investigate all the wonder before us. Here we learn not only that God's preferred language is driven by curiosity and specialises in questions, but we also discover the spiritual riches God can teach us from the faith of others.£16.99 -


The Creative Pilgrimage Activity Book
CreativityThis little book has been created to inspire the would-be pilgrim, as a companion for the travelling pilgrim and as an introduction to making a pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Included are prayers and activities to help you focus on your journey whether your pilgrimage is part of your inward journey or a physical journey to a sacred place.£3.99 -


The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyThe Inner Experience is the first complete, authorised edition of Thomas Merton's final work. It was a manuscript he always intended to revise, but did not until 1968 when he incorporated brief but important 'corrections and additions' to the text. Drawing on his own Christian experience, as well as the Eastern writings and traditions that so significantly influenced him in the last decade of his life, Merton shows the expansive nature of contemplation; that contemplation is not simply a part of life, but the entirety of it. This, his last major work to be published, is vintage and vital Merton.£12.99 -


Acquainted with the Night: An Exploration of Spirituality and Depression
Everyday Life, Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyDepression is pandemic today; as the demands of modern life prove too much for many adults, it has also clawed its way into the minds and souls of our young people, so that it is not unusual to hear that teenagers, or even children, are taking anti-depressants, sometimes committing suicide. The aim of this book is to illustrate that depression is often a spiritual malaise that can be "treated" by spiritual measures. Award-winning author, Robert Waldron explores the common causes and symptoms of depression, and in so doing underscores the Socratic ideal of "the unexamined life is not worth living." When depressives take their depression seriously, they see that they are living superficially and understand that there is a deeper kind of living available: it is this realization that leads them into a spiritual dimension. Indeed the cure for much depression lies within the Christian message of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, acceptance and love. Using Jungian theory on spirituality as a foundation, Acquainted With The Night goes on to explore the scrutiny and expression famous Christians have given to their individual acquaintance and struggle with darkness, these include: Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, Henri Nouwen, Philip Toynbee, Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Loran Hurnscot.£12.99 -


Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearAdvent and Christmas are special times for all Christians. The spiritual longing of the Advent season can only be satisfied by the joy and celebration of a Christmas focused on Jesus' birth in our hearts. Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton give readers the opportunity to experience Advent and Christmas in a way that unwraps the spiritual joy, allowing it to shine brighter that all the tinsel and trappings that can blind our eyes to the deeper meaning of the season. This book is arranged for use on every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Each day's reflection begins with a scriptural quotation, continues with a thought from the writings of Thomas Merton, and concludes with a prayer for the day. Merton's writing capture the familiar themes of the season: the Incarnation, anticipation, angels, giving, and many others - each drawing us closer to the joy of welcoming the Saviour into our lives. An appendix includes a suggested plan for using each day's meditation as part of a morning or evening prayer.£11.99 -


Contemplative Prayer
Influences & Suggested Reading, Scripture & PrayerThomas Merton's classic study of monastic prayer and contemplation brings a tradition of spirituality alive for the present day. But, as A M Allchin points out in his Introduction to this new edition, Contemplative Prayer also shows us the present day in a new perspective, because we see it in the light of a long and living tradition. Merton stresses that in meditation we should not look for a 'method' or 'system' but cultivate an 'attitude' or 'outlook': faith, openness, attention, reverence, expectation, trust, joy. God is found in the desert of surrender, in giving up any expectation of a particular message and 'waiting on the Word of God in silence'. Merton insists on the humility of faith, which he argues 'will do far more to launch us into the full current of historical reality than the pompous rationalisation of politicians who think they are somehow the directors and manipulators of history'.£11.99 -


Ancient Paths CD
Celtic Prayer, Creativity, Music & Creativity, Spiritual GrowthAnna's first solo album includes some of her 'signature' pieces as well as some songs of her own. Some of you will recognise familiar words from the Complines in Celtic Daily Prayer drawn from Carmina Gadelica and other traditional sources. Here they are set to Anna's own music which has emerged over the years of saying and singing these night-time prayers with her children, Joel and Martha. Anna says, 'I hope you will want to play this album often and that it will capture something of the rhythm of the tides, the sounds of the island and also its stillness.'£12.00 -
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An Altar in the World
Church & Leadership, Everyday Life, Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyIn this highly acclaimed and lyrical book, the best-selling author Barbara Brown Taylor reveals the countless ways we can discover divine depths in the small things we do and see every day. People go to extraordinary lenghts, she writes, to discover this treasure. 'They will spend hours launching prayers into the heavens. They will travel half way around the world to visit a monastery in India...The last place most people will look is right under their feet, in the everyday activities, accidents and encounters of their lives...the reason so many of us cannot see the red X marks the spot is because we're standing on it.' An Altar in the the World shows us how heaven and earth meet in such ordinary occurrences as hanging out the wahing, doing the supermarket shop, feeding an animal, losing our way. It will transfrom our understanding of ourselves and the word we live in and renew our sense of wonder at the extraordinary gift of life.£12.99 -


Multicoloured Life
CreativityA pocket collection of designs to colour in. Used Multicoloured Life for relaxation, prayer or meditation, on holiday or retreat.£3.49 -


Putting Joy Into Practice : Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church
Spiritual Exercises, The Inner JourneyPutting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church is an invitation to a life of joy. Phoebe Farag Mikhail explains what joy is and how to experience it through seven spiritual practices that cultivate our inner lives and connect us to our communities. These seven practices, which include giving thanks, hospitality, praise, and more, take us on a journey that leads to joy through the giving and receiving of sacrificial love. She describes her own experiences and struggles with joy and offers practical ways to implement these practices to increase joy in our own lives and in the lives of all those around us.£13.00 -


Multicoloured Seasons
Advent & Christmas, Creativity, Lent & Easter, Resources for the Christian YearA collection of sixteen images to colour based around the Church Year, two images for each season starting at Advent, then Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Harvest with mediations on the reverse of each image.£4.49 -


The Christmas Creative Retreat Activity Book
Advent & Christmas, Creativity, Resources for the Christian YearThis book has been designed to be used from Christmas Day to Epiphany. It has been created to help you find moments of meaning amidst the mince pies and re-runs of old sit-coms. Be inspired by the stories of Saints and find peace with the activities. The Christmas Creative Retreat Activity Book offers a combination of meditations, prayers and activities. Some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice'.£3.99 -


The Making Of Us: who we can become when life doesn’t go as planned
Everyday Life, Seasons of Life, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyBeautiful Things Can Emerge from Life Not Going as Planned. When life takes one too many unexpected turns, do you find yourself saying, "I don't know who I am anymore"? In the wake of shattered dreams, do you wonder how you will keep going-and if you'll ever find purpose or joy again? After infertility, an international move, and a professional change shook Sheridan Voysey's world, he realized that he couldn't reconcile his expectations with the life he was living. Feeling lost, he decided to pair his spiritual journey with a literal one: a hundred-mile pilgrimage along the northeast coast of England. Inspired by the life and influence of the seventh-century monk Cuthbert, Sheridan travelled on foot from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to Durham. Taking his friend DJ along for the journey, and keeping a journal by his side, Sheridan discovered not resolution but peace. Not ambition but purpose. Not shouts of convictions but whispers of the presence of God. In The Making of Us, Sheridan invites us to join him as he walks along England's shores and we trace the borders of our own hearts. Part pilgrim's journal, part call to reflection, The Making of Us eloquently reminds us of the beauty of journeying into uncertainty, the freedom of letting go, and the wonder of losing our identity only to discover who we really are.£12.99 -


Hermits of the Inner Farne
Celtic Daily Prayer & Liturgy, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingThis booklet has been compiled by Andy Raine, a Companion with the Northumbria Community, as a way of retelling the story of the hermits who lived and prayed on the little island of Inner Farne, just off the north Northumberland coast. It begins with a reprinting of Kathleen Parbury’s manuscript of The Hermits of the House of Farne, which she self-published in 1983, and which is contained here with the permission and blessing of her surviving relatives. It also includes relevant liturgical material taken from Celtic Daily Prayer, and other articles about the hermits.£6.00 -
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Church After Christendom
Culture & MissionChristianity must be understood not as a religion of private salvation, but as a gospel movement of universal compassion, which transforms the world in the power of God's truth. Amid several major global crises, including the rise of terrorism and religious fundamentalism and a sudden resurgence of political extremism, Christians must now face up fearlessly to the challenges of living in a "post-truth" age in which deceitful politicians present their media-spun fabrications as "alternative facts." This book is an attempt to enact a transformative theology for these changing times that will equip the global Christian community to take a stand for the gospel in an age of cultural despair and moral fragmentation. The emerging post-Christendom era calls for a new vision of Christianity that has come of age and connects with the spiritual crisis of our times. In helping to make this vision a reality, Searle insists that theology is not merely an academic discipline, but a transformative enterprise that changes the world. Theology is to be experienced not just behind a desk, in an armchair, or in a church, but also in hospitals, in foodbanks, in workplaces, and on the streets. Theology is to be lived as well as read£9.99Original price was: £9.99.£7.99Current price is: £7.99. -


The Holiday Creative Retreat Activity Book
CreativityThis book has been designed to help you make the most of your holiday whether you have a long weekend or two weeks away. It offers a combination of prayers and activities. Some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice'.£3.99 -
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£12.99Original price was: £12.99.£8.99Current price is: £8.99.Into the depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyIn January 1984, Sr Mary Margaret Funk, a Benedictine nun from Indiana, paid a visit to Maryknoll missionary nuns working in Bolivia. On what should have been a routine trip to the local town for a convocation ceremony, a flash flood swept away the jeep in which she, three nuns, a priest, and a disabled boy they had adopted were travelling. Only she and the priest survived What happened that night catapulted Sr Meg into twenty-five years of prayer and self-examination. She relentlessly explored her relationship with the transcendent and immanent God, the profundities of her religious tradition, her commitment to spiritual practice, and her very human failings. It was a journey that left her spiritually naked before the terrible love of God; a journey to keep one's heart open to the transforming wounds of suffering. In the great tradition of spiritual confessions from Augustine to Thomas Merton's The Seven-Story Mountain, Into the Depths is a fearlessly honest and simply told account of one woman's struggle to engage at the deeper levels with the most profound questions of faith.£12.99Original price was: £12.99.£8.99Current price is: £8.99.£12.99Original price was: £12.99.£8.99Current price is: £8.99. -


Accidental Saints. Finding God in All the Wrong People
Culture & Mission, The Inner JourneyWhat if the annoying person you try to avoid is actually seconds away from becoming an accidental saint in your life? What if, even in our persistent failings, holy moments are waiting to happen? In Accidental Saints, New York Times bestselling author Nadia Bolz-Weber invites readers into a surprising encounter with what she calls 'a religious but not-so-spiritual life.' Tattooed, angry, and profane, this unlikely priest stubbornly, sometimes hilariously, resists the God she feels called to serve. But God keeps showing up in the least likely of people―a church-loving agnostic, a drag queen, and a gun-toting member of the NRA. As she lives and worships alongside these 'accidental saints,' Nadia is swept into first-hand encounters with grace―a gift that often feels less like being wrapped in a warm blanket and more like being hit by a blunt instrument. But by this grace, people are transformed in ways they couldn't have been on their own. In a time when many have become disillusioned with Christianity, Accidental Saints demonstrates what happens when ordinary people share bread and wine, struggle with scripture together, and tell each other the truth about their real lives. This unforgettable account of their faltering steps toward wholeness will ring true for believer and sceptic alike. Told in Nadia’s trademark confessional style, Accidental Saints is the stunning next work from one of today’s most important religious voices.£12.99 -


The Seven Storey Mountain
Influences & Suggested Reading, Traditional MonasticismThe complete and unedited edition of Thomas Merton's famous autobiography, one of the greatest works of spiritual pilgrimage ever written. Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) was a Trappist monk, writer, peace and civil rights activist.£21.00 -


A Silent Action: engagements with Thomas Merton
Spiritual GrowthThomas Merton's life, especially once he had become a writer, was to a great extent one of dialogue with people who were distant, both geographically and historically. In these probing and perceptive studies, Rowan Williams looks closely at the key intellectual and spiritual relationships that emerge in Merton's writings, exploring the impact on him of thinkers as diverse as Hannah Arendt, Karl Barth, William Blake, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Olivier Clement, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Paul Evdokimov, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vladimir Lossky, John Henry Newman, Boris Pasternak and St John of the Cross.£11.99 -
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£14.99Original price was: £14.99.£7.99Current price is: £7.99.Building Utopia: seeking the authentic church for new communities
Culture & Mission, Re-imagining ChurchThe new urban areas are reshaping much of Britain. Those who live, work or minister within them are not only at the cutting edge of new forms of built environment, they must also discover new ways of being community and contemplate new expressions of Church. All this demands careful and bold analysis and creative theological reflection. While powerful global economic forces are changing our landscapes, human beings have to wrestle with themes of belonging and identity. The gospel engages with these human narratives, driving and shaping a Christian search for alternative perspectives and practices. What are the appropriate building projects, mission programmes and lifestyles that will be effective in meeting the challenges of the urban settlements? How should other areas respond? The writers of this book have worked together as a group, mapping the new situation, analysing their findings and drawing out those themes which demand attention – making it possible to reflect theologically about the challenges of our newly built urban developments.£14.99Original price was: £14.99.£7.99Current price is: £7.99.£14.99Original price was: £14.99.£7.99Current price is: £7.99. -
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One Day Creative Retreat Activity Book
Creativity, Spiritual Exercises, The Inner JourneyThis book has been designed to guide you through a day long creative retreat or quiet day whether it be at home or away. It offers a combination of prayers and activities, some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice.'£3.99 -


The Advent Creative Retreat Activity Book
Advent & Christmas, Creativity, Resources for the Christian YearThe Advent Creative Retreat Activity Book is one of a series of Retreat books written and illustrated by Mary & Mark Fleeson. It's an A6 format, 20 page book with readings, prayers and activities split into sections to help you to take time out with God. This book gives an opportunity to discover some of the things that the approach to Christmas can teach us. It includes excerpts from Henry Van Dyke’s short story ‘The Other Wise Man’, come and join him as he seeks the King! The Advent Creative Retreat Activity Book offers a combination of meditations, prayers and activities. Some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the ‘still, small voice’.£3.99 -


Precious Thoughts: daily readings from Thomas Merton
Daily Readings, Influences & Suggested Reading, Traditional MonasticismThomas Merton wrote to people of all faiths and none; he wrote to people who were searching, and those who were firmly established in religious orders; he wrote to students, peace activists and `ordinary' people who had read about him and were curious. Some are letters of spiritual direction, a sharing of spiritual insights and social concerns, some more personal. In this carefully selected collection, Merton scholar, Fiona Gardner, has focused on extracts that seem to speak to all who are searching. They have been chosen because they offer an opening into something other - to provide a way into both silence and contemplative prayer.£10.99 -


Celtic Christian Spirituality
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThe Celtic Christians beheld the world around them and perceived the divine life of God upholding every aspect of the material universe. Their prayers and poems, their liturgies and their theological texts give Christians a sense of faith that is confident in a merciful and infinitely creative, healing God. In this introduction to Celtic Christian spirituality, Mary C. Earle presents the primary texts from the Celtic Christian tradition - selections from the writings of Pelagius, Eriugena and St Patrick, as well as prayers and poems from Wales, the Outer Hebrides and Ireland. These essential texts direct humanity to read the 'book of creation' as well as the book of scripture, and call us to remember that 'matter matters'. The author's engaging facing-page commentary explores how faithful Christians and spiritual seekers use the writings of this lively tradition as ways of embodying and living the gospel.£10.99 -


The Lent Creative Retreat Activity Book
Creativity, Lent & EasterThe Lent Creative Retreat Activity book is the newest of a series of Retreat books written and illustrated by Mary & Mark Fleeson with readings, prayers and activities split into sections to help you Take time out with God. This book gives an opportunity to discover some of the things that the approach to Easter can teach us. Some of the meditations, prayers and activities are intended to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind. All encourage you to hear the ‘still, small voice’. It is recommended that the activities are spread over the weeks of Lent and cover 'Sharing Together', 'Prophecy Fulfilled', 'Forgiveness', 'Behold' and 'Father into Your hands'£3.99 -
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The Wisdom of the Desert
Desert Monasticism, Influences & Suggested ReadingThe Wisdom of the Desert was one of Thomas Merton's favourites among his own books - surely because he had hoped to spend his last years as a hermit. The personal tone of the translations, the blend of reverence and humour so characteristic of him, show how deeply Merton identified with the legendary authors of these sayings and parables, the fourth century Christian Fathers who sought solitude and contempation in the deserts of the Near East. The hermits of Scete who turned their backs on a corrupt society remarkably like our own had much in common with the Zen Masters of China and Japan, and Father Merton made his selection from them with an eye to the kind of impact produced by the Zen mondo.£13.00 -


Help me to journey beyond the familiar 210mm square print
Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Creativity, Spiritual GrowthLynda Owen-Hussey, a companion with the Northumbria Community, is a mixed media artist living on the shores of the West Coast of Ireland in County Kerry, close to the birthplace of St Brendan. These days, her work is inspired by the many gifts of the sea she encounters on walks along the shore, often pondering the life of St Brendan and the many monks of old who inhabited this land. In describing this original artwork Lynda says:£12.00Painted whilst on retreat at Nether Springs, the Mother House of the Northumbria Community, this artwork is inspired by a verse in the Northumbria Community’s Brendan Liturgy:
Lord, I will trust You, help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Brendan’s journey begins as his heart is stirred by a vision that takes him beyond his present circumstances and surroundings. In Genesis 12 we find Abram, who like Brendan, followed the call of God to leave the familiar comforts of home and venture towards the land of promise. Sometimes we hear that call ourselves, but oftentimes it is discomfort or the unexpected which proves to be the catalyst that opens us afresh to seeking out new ways as we journey in trust.
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The Love Is Activity Book
CreativityThis little book contains meditations, prayers and activities about Love, inspired by the verses in the book of Corinthians. In Paul's first letter to the Christians of Corinth in Greece, he spends a long time instructing, advising, challenging and encouraging the young church there. He hasn't visited for a few years and he knows of the immorality in the wealthy pagan city and the divisions that have emerged within the church. Although he aims not to diminish the message of the cross with 'wisdom and eloquence', he gave us, in chapter thirteen, some of the most powerful and well-known verses of the New Testament.£3.99



