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Mushrooms on the Moor
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117 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1915
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About the author
F.W. Boreham
204 books57 followersRev. Dr. Frank W. Boreham
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 12, 2018
I am rapidly falling in love with F.W. Boreham. I was led to his works in a powerful way and so I knew that, without a doubt, I needed to read his stuff and I am currently working through three of his offerings and I am enamored. He sees the natural world in such a perfect and beautiful way and he is high on the list of the most well read people that I have ever encountered. I feel a true kinship with him. If you already appreciate Chesterton, MacDonald, or Lewis, you really need to sink your teeth into Boreham. There are so many quotes that I marked in this book and I won't share all of them, but I have to give you a taste. (Yes, I really did narrow it down!)
"People are too apt to suppose that character is determined by the main business of life. It is a fallacy. It is, as I have said, the margin that really matters. There is a section of time that remains to a man after the main business of life has been dealt with. It is the use to which that margin is put that reveals the true propensities of the individual and that, in the long run, determine the destiny of the nation."
"Jenny Lind was asked why she renounced the stage. She was sitting at the moment on the sands by the seaside, with her Bible on her knee. She pointed her questioner to the setting sun, transforming the ocean into a sea of glory. 'I found,' she said, 'that I was losing my taste for that, and' - holding up her Bible - 'my taste for this; so I gave it up!'" (I LOVE the movie The Greatest Showman, but I also HATE the far from the truth smearing of Jenny Lind's character...)
"If I let my soul absorb itself in the sensational novel, the hair-raising drama, and the blood-curdling film, I find myself losing appreciation for the finer and gentler things in life."
"Life is full of delightful things that are a transport to the should if we take them as they are, but that become a torment and an abomination if we water them down."
"Many fine things grow in the night. Indeed, Sir James Crichton-Browne, the great doctor, in his lecture on 'Sleep,' argues that all things that grow at all grow in the night. Night is Nature's growing time."
"If anyone had asked him that morning concerning his idea of heaven, he would never have dreamed of describing gold-paved streets, crystal pillars, jewelled gates, and thrones of ivory. He would have told you that the woods on a damp sunny May morning was heaven."
"Is there anything in the wide world more beautiful than the confidence of a good woman in the salvation of her children?"
"It would be a fatal mistake to suppose that the contribution to the republic of letters begins and ends with the works that bear feminine names upon their title-pages."
"It puts iron into the blood to spend an hour with men to whom the claim of conscience is supreme, and who love truth with so deathless an affection that the purest and noblest of other loves cannot dethrone it."
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but the wisdom that gets no farther is like music that rumbles and reverberates in one everlasting bass."
"What the wise man said was that fear is the BEGINNING of wisdom. And as the beginning of wisdom it has a certain and preparatory value. The soon that the beginning is developed and brought to a climax, the better of course it will be. But meanwhile a beginning is something. It is a step in the right direction. It is the learning of the alphabet. It is the earnest and promise of much that is to come."
"The children in the congregation are my salvation."
"It is a pity that we teach our children that the sublimest thing about them - their simplicity - is a thing of which they need to be ashamed."
"There can be no doubt about it; handicaps were designed, not as the pitiful excuses of the indolent, but as the magnificent inspirations of the brave."
"I was lately looking out of my window,' Martin Luther wrote from Coburg to a friend, 'and I saw the stars in the heavens, and God's great beautiful arch over my head, but I could not see any pillars on which the great Builder had fixed this arch; and yet the heavens fell not, and the great arch stood firmly. There are some who are always feeling for the pillars, and longing to touch them. And, because they cannot touch them, they stand trembling, and fearing lest the heavens should fall. If they could only grasp the pillars, then the heavens would stand fast."
"Emerson tells us of two American senators who spent a quarter of a century searching for conclusive evidence of the immortality of the soul. And Emerson finishes the story by saying that the impulse which prompted their long search was itself the strongest proof that they could have had."
"The heart has reasons which the reason does not know. It is the heart that feels God, not the reason." -Pascal
"The inward witness, son, the inward witness! That is the proof, the strongest proof of Christianity!" -Samuel Wesley to his son John as he lay dying.
"'He was with the wild beasts,' says Mark, 'and the angels ministered uno Him.' Life always hovers between the beasts and the angels; and however wolfish may be the eyes that affright us in the day of our temptation, we may be sure that our solitary struggle is watched by invisible spectators, and that, after the baying of the beasts, we shall hear the angels sing."
"Our capacity of great inward strife and for great inward suffering is the one proof we have that we were made in the image of God."
"He did not find what he sought, but who shall say that his search was unsuccessful? He that seeketh, findeth. There is no case on record of a really fruitless search."
"We are too prone to scorn the simple and the obvious. We forsake the fountain of living water, and hew out to ourselves clumsy cisterns. We neglect the majestic simplicities of the gospel, and involve our tired brains and hungry hearts in tortuous systems that lead us a long, long way from home. The landlord is right. The simplest course is almost always the safest."
"Somebody has finely said that we make our decisions, and then our decisions turn round and make us."
"The finest of all the fine arts is the art of putting up with nasty things."
"Faith, like gold, is for use and not for ornament."
"Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent."
"Truth must be born again in the secret silence of each individual life."
"It is better for me to build up my character, very unpretentiously, perhaps, on my own faith, than to erect a much more imposing structure on another man's creed."
"Infinity must be sampled intelligently. But if a man is to keep himself alive in a world like this, infinity must be sampled."
"People are too apt to suppose that character is determined by the main business of life. It is a fallacy. It is, as I have said, the margin that really matters. There is a section of time that remains to a man after the main business of life has been dealt with. It is the use to which that margin is put that reveals the true propensities of the individual and that, in the long run, determine the destiny of the nation."
"Jenny Lind was asked why she renounced the stage. She was sitting at the moment on the sands by the seaside, with her Bible on her knee. She pointed her questioner to the setting sun, transforming the ocean into a sea of glory. 'I found,' she said, 'that I was losing my taste for that, and' - holding up her Bible - 'my taste for this; so I gave it up!'" (I LOVE the movie The Greatest Showman, but I also HATE the far from the truth smearing of Jenny Lind's character...)
"If I let my soul absorb itself in the sensational novel, the hair-raising drama, and the blood-curdling film, I find myself losing appreciation for the finer and gentler things in life."
"Life is full of delightful things that are a transport to the should if we take them as they are, but that become a torment and an abomination if we water them down."
"Many fine things grow in the night. Indeed, Sir James Crichton-Browne, the great doctor, in his lecture on 'Sleep,' argues that all things that grow at all grow in the night. Night is Nature's growing time."
"If anyone had asked him that morning concerning his idea of heaven, he would never have dreamed of describing gold-paved streets, crystal pillars, jewelled gates, and thrones of ivory. He would have told you that the woods on a damp sunny May morning was heaven."
"Is there anything in the wide world more beautiful than the confidence of a good woman in the salvation of her children?"
"It would be a fatal mistake to suppose that the contribution to the republic of letters begins and ends with the works that bear feminine names upon their title-pages."
"It puts iron into the blood to spend an hour with men to whom the claim of conscience is supreme, and who love truth with so deathless an affection that the purest and noblest of other loves cannot dethrone it."
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but the wisdom that gets no farther is like music that rumbles and reverberates in one everlasting bass."
"What the wise man said was that fear is the BEGINNING of wisdom. And as the beginning of wisdom it has a certain and preparatory value. The soon that the beginning is developed and brought to a climax, the better of course it will be. But meanwhile a beginning is something. It is a step in the right direction. It is the learning of the alphabet. It is the earnest and promise of much that is to come."
"The children in the congregation are my salvation."
"It is a pity that we teach our children that the sublimest thing about them - their simplicity - is a thing of which they need to be ashamed."
"There can be no doubt about it; handicaps were designed, not as the pitiful excuses of the indolent, but as the magnificent inspirations of the brave."
"I was lately looking out of my window,' Martin Luther wrote from Coburg to a friend, 'and I saw the stars in the heavens, and God's great beautiful arch over my head, but I could not see any pillars on which the great Builder had fixed this arch; and yet the heavens fell not, and the great arch stood firmly. There are some who are always feeling for the pillars, and longing to touch them. And, because they cannot touch them, they stand trembling, and fearing lest the heavens should fall. If they could only grasp the pillars, then the heavens would stand fast."
"Emerson tells us of two American senators who spent a quarter of a century searching for conclusive evidence of the immortality of the soul. And Emerson finishes the story by saying that the impulse which prompted their long search was itself the strongest proof that they could have had."
"The heart has reasons which the reason does not know. It is the heart that feels God, not the reason." -Pascal
"The inward witness, son, the inward witness! That is the proof, the strongest proof of Christianity!" -Samuel Wesley to his son John as he lay dying.
"'He was with the wild beasts,' says Mark, 'and the angels ministered uno Him.' Life always hovers between the beasts and the angels; and however wolfish may be the eyes that affright us in the day of our temptation, we may be sure that our solitary struggle is watched by invisible spectators, and that, after the baying of the beasts, we shall hear the angels sing."
"Our capacity of great inward strife and for great inward suffering is the one proof we have that we were made in the image of God."
"He did not find what he sought, but who shall say that his search was unsuccessful? He that seeketh, findeth. There is no case on record of a really fruitless search."
"We are too prone to scorn the simple and the obvious. We forsake the fountain of living water, and hew out to ourselves clumsy cisterns. We neglect the majestic simplicities of the gospel, and involve our tired brains and hungry hearts in tortuous systems that lead us a long, long way from home. The landlord is right. The simplest course is almost always the safest."
"Somebody has finely said that we make our decisions, and then our decisions turn round and make us."
"The finest of all the fine arts is the art of putting up with nasty things."
"Faith, like gold, is for use and not for ornament."
"Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent."
"Truth must be born again in the secret silence of each individual life."
"It is better for me to build up my character, very unpretentiously, perhaps, on my own faith, than to erect a much more imposing structure on another man's creed."
"Infinity must be sampled intelligently. But if a man is to keep himself alive in a world like this, infinity must be sampled."
February 13, 2021
Finally finished this book after half a year of being 3/4 of the way completed. This was enjoyable. Boreham became a Baptist missionary to Australia / New Zealand after completing his studies at Spurgeon's Pastor's College. Most of his writings are observational and not theological yet they contain wonderful moral values. He certainly had some unique perspectives on his world and was very proficient in sharing them. Thank you to my friend Tom Fryman for suggesting this author. Most Excellent Read!
August 18, 2016
It's the little things. Boreham doesn't care much for the size of his analogies, whether they involve pigs, our names, or the two trees by his gate, he finds truths, fresh and encouraging, to apply to our daily lives.
His writing will remind you of Lewis, Chesterton, or McDonald. He has a certain carefree cheerfulness and childlike wonder of the world that's infectious. You'll leave with a taste of it, and more than a little jealousy of the joy he finds in the simplest things of life.
Written in essay format, each chapter covers a different topic or analogy--very useful for group discussion, where you can easily cover an entire chapter (or three) in an hour-long session.
A few chapters are less relatable than others, or leave you feeling like the main point was lost on a twenty-first century mind. I occasionally disagreed with his theology, but still learned much from this Baptist pastor.
Give it a read. His stories are small, but many and beautiful when you look more closely: just like the mushrooms on the moor.
His writing will remind you of Lewis, Chesterton, or McDonald. He has a certain carefree cheerfulness and childlike wonder of the world that's infectious. You'll leave with a taste of it, and more than a little jealousy of the joy he finds in the simplest things of life.
Written in essay format, each chapter covers a different topic or analogy--very useful for group discussion, where you can easily cover an entire chapter (or three) in an hour-long session.
A few chapters are less relatable than others, or leave you feeling like the main point was lost on a twenty-first century mind. I occasionally disagreed with his theology, but still learned much from this Baptist pastor.
Give it a read. His stories are small, but many and beautiful when you look more closely: just like the mushrooms on the moor.
November 1, 2015
I've never been much for devotional books. My Utmost for His Highest bored me with esotericism. (Sacrilege I know.) However, after a recommendation by Ravi Zacharias I decided to delve into some of the sermons and writings of Frank Boreham. Starting with this one.
I found the musings of this famous Christian essayist to be rich with wit and wisdom. He balances the being and doing well. Certainly it whets my intellectual appetite enough to ready me for feasting on the Word. My highest praise is this: I shall continue reading his works. :)
I found the musings of this famous Christian essayist to be rich with wit and wisdom. He balances the being and doing well. Certainly it whets my intellectual appetite enough to ready me for feasting on the Word. My highest praise is this: I shall continue reading his works. :)
February 6, 2023
I can't remember where I first came across Frank Boreham, but this is the second of his books I've read. He was an English Baptist minister who took up ministry in Mosgiel, New Zealand, in 1895, then later in Hobart and Melbourne in Australia. He began his writing career in Mosgiel, writing for the local paper.
During his lifetime he published something like 46 books. Mostly, they are composed of edifying little discourses about life and this and that, which take about 15 minutes to read. They have titles like, 'A Slice of Infinity', 'The Corner Cupboard', 'Tuning from the Bass' and 'The Mistress of Margins'. They are dated, but they're not without relevance today, and are full of wit, story, left-field observations, 'sermons in stones', and beautifully written, in a style not dissimilar to GK Chesterton (whom Boreham had definitely read, alongside many, many other authors - he was evidentially a voracious reader). It must have been quite something to hear him preach.
When I say 'dated', one instance in particular is heart-breaking. Mushrooms on the Moor was published during WWI. In an essay from the book, called 'On Getting Over Things', Boreham writes about the War, "...after the thunder-clouds have broken and the storm has spent its strength, so we shall find ourselves living in a kindlier world when the anguish of to-day is over-past... the scars will stay as they always stay; but they will stay to warn us against perpetuating our ancient follies. Empires will never again regard their militarism as their pride."
They thought it would be 'the war to end all wars', but warmongers right up to people like Putin in our current day didn't get the memo.
...Didn't get the edification of little, hopeful, good-spirited discourses or the worldview of a character like Boreham.
Here are a few cunning little quotes as a taster:
"A man might as well try to wear his father's clothes as try to wear his father's faith. It will never really fit him."
"Here is the spirit of a bright young girl decked out in all the contents of her grandmother's spiritual wardrobe. The clothes fitted the grandmother perfectly; the old lady looked charming in them; but the grand-daughter looks ridiculous. I was once at a testimony meeting. The thing that most impressed me was the continual repetition of certain phrases. Speaker after speaker rang the changes on the same stereotyped expressions."
"Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent."
"The rugged truth is, that we first of all reach our conclusions. That is the starting-point. Then, amazed at our own temerity in doing so, we hasten to tack on a few reasons as a kind of apology to ourselves for our own intrepidity, a tardy concession to intellectual decency and good order."
"Is there a club, a society, an office, or a church in the wide, wide world that does not shelter a most excellent individual whose one and only fault is that he cannot get on with anybody else? That is, of course, my way of putting it. It is not his. He would say that nobody else can get on with him."
"I once had a most extraordinary experience, an experience so altogether amazing that all subsequent experiences appear like the veriest commonplaces in comparison. The fact is, I was born. Such a thing had never happened to me before, and I was utterly bewildered. I did not know what to make of it."
During his lifetime he published something like 46 books. Mostly, they are composed of edifying little discourses about life and this and that, which take about 15 minutes to read. They have titles like, 'A Slice of Infinity', 'The Corner Cupboard', 'Tuning from the Bass' and 'The Mistress of Margins'. They are dated, but they're not without relevance today, and are full of wit, story, left-field observations, 'sermons in stones', and beautifully written, in a style not dissimilar to GK Chesterton (whom Boreham had definitely read, alongside many, many other authors - he was evidentially a voracious reader). It must have been quite something to hear him preach.
When I say 'dated', one instance in particular is heart-breaking. Mushrooms on the Moor was published during WWI. In an essay from the book, called 'On Getting Over Things', Boreham writes about the War, "...after the thunder-clouds have broken and the storm has spent its strength, so we shall find ourselves living in a kindlier world when the anguish of to-day is over-past... the scars will stay as they always stay; but they will stay to warn us against perpetuating our ancient follies. Empires will never again regard their militarism as their pride."
They thought it would be 'the war to end all wars', but warmongers right up to people like Putin in our current day didn't get the memo.
...Didn't get the edification of little, hopeful, good-spirited discourses or the worldview of a character like Boreham.
Here are a few cunning little quotes as a taster:
"A man might as well try to wear his father's clothes as try to wear his father's faith. It will never really fit him."
"Here is the spirit of a bright young girl decked out in all the contents of her grandmother's spiritual wardrobe. The clothes fitted the grandmother perfectly; the old lady looked charming in them; but the grand-daughter looks ridiculous. I was once at a testimony meeting. The thing that most impressed me was the continual repetition of certain phrases. Speaker after speaker rang the changes on the same stereotyped expressions."
"Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent."
"The rugged truth is, that we first of all reach our conclusions. That is the starting-point. Then, amazed at our own temerity in doing so, we hasten to tack on a few reasons as a kind of apology to ourselves for our own intrepidity, a tardy concession to intellectual decency and good order."
"Is there a club, a society, an office, or a church in the wide, wide world that does not shelter a most excellent individual whose one and only fault is that he cannot get on with anybody else? That is, of course, my way of putting it. It is not his. He would say that nobody else can get on with him."
"I once had a most extraordinary experience, an experience so altogether amazing that all subsequent experiences appear like the veriest commonplaces in comparison. The fact is, I was born. Such a thing had never happened to me before, and I was utterly bewildered. I did not know what to make of it."
December 9, 2020
3 or 4 stars? I liked this book, and yet it lingered on my "Currently Reading" shelf for six months. I think that was because it was on Kindle. This book of devotional essays reminded me of flannel graph lessons from my youth.
Boreham often looks at an everyday item, say onions, and extracts lessons from it. Or begins with a sentence like We get over things. and expands on that thought.
His piece on "margins" in life (and books) made me wonder if Richard Swenson, the author of Margin got the idea from this book.
Boreham includes many literary references, and they are not all classical. I was surprised to recognize Myrtle Reed and Gene Stratton Porter, authors of vintage fiction I used to read in my twenties.
I think I have four more Kindle books by Boreham. They seem better to me if you read them occasionally.
Boreham often looks at an everyday item, say onions, and extracts lessons from it. Or begins with a sentence like We get over things. and expands on that thought.
His piece on "margins" in life (and books) made me wonder if Richard Swenson, the author of Margin got the idea from this book.
Boreham includes many literary references, and they are not all classical. I was surprised to recognize Myrtle Reed and Gene Stratton Porter, authors of vintage fiction I used to read in my twenties.
I think I have four more Kindle books by Boreham. They seem better to me if you read them occasionally.
October 23, 2019
Well. I do like some bits of this.
I like Boreham’s humor at times.
I like that he finds beauty and wonder in small things, like the humble onion and the pig.
I appreciated his concept of how fear can function as the beginning of wisdom in that the emotion can prevent foolishness, but that fear must be overcome.
But I also found many of his concepts trite or even wrongheaded.
His idea that the strongest proof is the contention “just because,” as in an inner confidence. That confidence alone proves a Christian’s faith true. That left me cold.
Plus his writing style is often overlong and repetitive, with long meandering paragraphs.
Ah well. It’s over. Next!
I like Boreham’s humor at times.
I like that he finds beauty and wonder in small things, like the humble onion and the pig.
I appreciated his concept of how fear can function as the beginning of wisdom in that the emotion can prevent foolishness, but that fear must be overcome.
But I also found many of his concepts trite or even wrongheaded.
His idea that the strongest proof is the contention “just because,” as in an inner confidence. That confidence alone proves a Christian’s faith true. That left me cold.
Plus his writing style is often overlong and repetitive, with long meandering paragraphs.
Ah well. It’s over. Next!
February 5, 2018
Delightful series of essays, some overtly religious, mostly "spiritual" and certainly non-denominational. Boreham had a great way of seeing old things in a new way. Some favorite quotes: "It is sometimes a fine thing to sample infinity." "A man may know how many children he has; but no man knows how much faith he has." "The finest of all the fine arts is the art of putting up with nasty things."
December 12, 2020
When I first acquired this book, I expected it to be more of a book about nature for some reason. When it wasn't, I was disappointed, and it drifted to the back pages of my Kindle. I rediscovered it recently and, accustomed to the idea that it was a book of essays, began to read it an essay at a time.
My enjoyment varied: some essays were convicting and encouraging, some essays I found drier. I am glad that I gave it a second chance.
My enjoyment varied: some essays were convicting and encouraging, some essays I found drier. I am glad that I gave it a second chance.
August 10, 2021
Clicked 4, but would give it 4.5 if available. I was looking for something to read before bed that got me in the right state for sleep. This is perfect.
He sees allegory everywhere. It gets you thinking in new ways about the way you move through life. It’s a gift to see the world this way. I think some comedians have this gift too.
By the way, you can listen to the audio version for free on Librevox app.
He sees allegory everywhere. It gets you thinking in new ways about the way you move through life. It’s a gift to see the world this way. I think some comedians have this gift too.
By the way, you can listen to the audio version for free on Librevox app.
February 7, 2018
Boreham deftly draws thoughtful and practical application out of simple, everyday observations, connecting the mundane with the sublime against a backdrop of Christian faith. His good humor and his optimism are infectious, and if his other early 20th century works are in a similar vein, I'll definitely be revisiting his way of looking at the world.
May 16, 2019
A Deep Pleasure
I just recently discovered F. W. Horsham and Mushrooms on the Moor. Each story of essay is a treasury of delight , wisdom, and profound insight.
I understand that he wrote fifty-five books in his life as a pastor. I am sixty-four years old and hope I live long enough to read them all.
I just recently discovered F. W. Horsham and Mushrooms on the Moor. Each story of essay is a treasury of delight , wisdom, and profound insight.
I understand that he wrote fifty-five books in his life as a pastor. I am sixty-four years old and hope I live long enough to read them all.
May 30, 2019
I’d read a story every evening or so. A few of the chapters were not as clear to me as others. (Some seemed dated or a little out of place for 2019.) But, wow, others were so great. Moving, enlightening, funny, & some were just so quirky - like sitting down with a friend at a kitchen table & talking about the things of your life.
I really love Frank Boreham.
I really love Frank Boreham.
October 12, 2023
Each story has a lesson that we should all apply to our lives. Most stories make a lot of sense when you get the main theme, but it is easy to get lost. I wouldn't recommend reading while distractions are present. The book is public domain, so it's free on the Kindle store. It doesn't hurt to give it a read and it's worth it.
September 26, 2023
Boreham writes like no other!
If you’re not familiar with the author, you need to change that. If your comfortable with the older English you will fall in love with the style and poetic flare. This book is full of Boreham’s rich original thoughts. Worth every moment spent.
If you’re not familiar with the author, you need to change that. If your comfortable with the older English you will fall in love with the style and poetic flare. This book is full of Boreham’s rich original thoughts. Worth every moment spent.
July 10, 2017
Wonderful
First time reading one of FW Boreham's books it is a great book and well worth reading. I will most certainly read it again in the future.
First time reading one of FW Boreham's books it is a great book and well worth reading. I will most certainly read it again in the future.
July 29, 2021
At some point in every chapter I found myself thinking hmm I've never thought about it that way before.
January 1, 2023
Didn't want this book to end! Delightful collection of essays.
November 11, 2024
4.5/ 4.75
February 26, 2016
If i remember right, C.S Lewis made mention of Boreham and I went to amazon and downloaded this book on my kindle. Boreham is a delight to read, he has an unique and fun style of writing and the insights he shares are one of a kind, there isn't any "Ready made clothes" here, he isn't the typical parrot and mockingbird regurgitating what everyone has heard again and again.
In his essays, he takes something like his strong dislike one size fits all clothing and then he considers all that this could be analogous to and gets blissfully carried away writing about it. A couple of quotes from this chapter:
“A man's faith should fit him like the clothes for which he has been most carefully measured... A man might as well try to wear his father's clothes as try to wear his father's faith. It will never really fit him. There is a great expression near the end of the brief Epistle of Jude that always seems to me very striking. 'But ye, beloved,' says the writer, 'building up yourselves on your most holy faith.' That is the only satisfactory way of building—to build on your own site. If I build my house on another man's piece of ground, it is sure to cause trouble sooner or later. Build your own character on your own faith, says the apostle”
“There is always trouble if a man builds his house on another man's site. The souls of men were never meant to be attired in ready-made clothes. Somebody has finely said that Truth must be born again in the secret silence of each individual life.
“For the matter of that, the philosophy of ready-made clothes applies as much to unbelief as to faith. Now and then one meets a mind distracted by genuine doubt, and it is refreshing and stimulating to grapple with its problems. One respects the doubter because the doubt fits him like the elastic silk; it seems a part and parcel of his personality. But at other times one can see at a glance that the doubter is all togged out in ready-made clothes, and, like a bird in borrowed plumes, is inordinately proud of them. Here are the same old questions, put in the same old way, and with a certain effrontery that knows nothing of inner anguish or even deep sincerity. One feels that his visitor has seen this gaudy mental outfit cheaply displayed at the street corner, and has snapped it up at once in order to impress you with the gorgeous spectacle. How often, too, one is made to feel that the blatancy of the infidel lecturer, or the flippancy of the sceptical debater, is simply a matter of ready-made clothes. The awful grandeur of the subjects of which they treat has evidently never appealed to them. They are merely echoing quibbles that are as old as the hills; they are wearing clothes that may have fitted Hobbes, Paine, or Voltaire, but that certainly were not made to fit their more meagre stature. Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent.”
In another essay, Boreham inspired me to start getting books on a variety of subjects, ones that i know nothing about and have little interest in.
“It was my experience in the auction-room that saved me. When I had read all these books which I should never have bought if I could have helped it, I discovered the folly of buying books that interest you. If a book appeals to me at first sight it is probably because I know a good deal about the subject with which it deals. But, as against that, see how many subjects there are of which I know nothing at all! And just look at all these books that have no attraction for me! And tell me this: Why do they not appeal to me? Only one answer is possible. They do not appeal to me because I am so grossly, wofully, culpably ignorant of the subjects whereof they treat.”
“If a man wants to feel that the world is wide, and a good place to live in, he must be for ever and for ever sampling infinity. He must shun the books that he dearly wants to buy, and buy the books he would do anything to shun.”
In his essays, he takes something like his strong dislike one size fits all clothing and then he considers all that this could be analogous to and gets blissfully carried away writing about it. A couple of quotes from this chapter:
“A man's faith should fit him like the clothes for which he has been most carefully measured... A man might as well try to wear his father's clothes as try to wear his father's faith. It will never really fit him. There is a great expression near the end of the brief Epistle of Jude that always seems to me very striking. 'But ye, beloved,' says the writer, 'building up yourselves on your most holy faith.' That is the only satisfactory way of building—to build on your own site. If I build my house on another man's piece of ground, it is sure to cause trouble sooner or later. Build your own character on your own faith, says the apostle”
“There is always trouble if a man builds his house on another man's site. The souls of men were never meant to be attired in ready-made clothes. Somebody has finely said that Truth must be born again in the secret silence of each individual life.
“For the matter of that, the philosophy of ready-made clothes applies as much to unbelief as to faith. Now and then one meets a mind distracted by genuine doubt, and it is refreshing and stimulating to grapple with its problems. One respects the doubter because the doubt fits him like the elastic silk; it seems a part and parcel of his personality. But at other times one can see at a glance that the doubter is all togged out in ready-made clothes, and, like a bird in borrowed plumes, is inordinately proud of them. Here are the same old questions, put in the same old way, and with a certain effrontery that knows nothing of inner anguish or even deep sincerity. One feels that his visitor has seen this gaudy mental outfit cheaply displayed at the street corner, and has snapped it up at once in order to impress you with the gorgeous spectacle. How often, too, one is made to feel that the blatancy of the infidel lecturer, or the flippancy of the sceptical debater, is simply a matter of ready-made clothes. The awful grandeur of the subjects of which they treat has evidently never appealed to them. They are merely echoing quibbles that are as old as the hills; they are wearing clothes that may have fitted Hobbes, Paine, or Voltaire, but that certainly were not made to fit their more meagre stature. Doubt is a very human and a very sacred thing, but the doubt that is merely assumed is, of all affectations, the most repellent.”
In another essay, Boreham inspired me to start getting books on a variety of subjects, ones that i know nothing about and have little interest in.
“It was my experience in the auction-room that saved me. When I had read all these books which I should never have bought if I could have helped it, I discovered the folly of buying books that interest you. If a book appeals to me at first sight it is probably because I know a good deal about the subject with which it deals. But, as against that, see how many subjects there are of which I know nothing at all! And just look at all these books that have no attraction for me! And tell me this: Why do they not appeal to me? Only one answer is possible. They do not appeal to me because I am so grossly, wofully, culpably ignorant of the subjects whereof they treat.”
“If a man wants to feel that the world is wide, and a good place to live in, he must be for ever and for ever sampling infinity. He must shun the books that he dearly wants to buy, and buy the books he would do anything to shun.”
March 12, 2016
Interesting ruminations from the author who lived in London, then New Zealand and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries. I did like the section about mushrooms and also about onions. He mixes religion with politics. "Time was when we expected our newspapers to tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We don't care a rap about the truth now, as long as they'll give us a thrill. We must have onions." (an argument against too much piquancy in life, as if making a diet entirely of onions) "...the more the State restricts the hours of toil, and multiplies the hours of leisure, the more does it increase the possibilities of good in the one case and the perils of evil-doing in the other." (half of those with extra time will use it in a positive manner, but the other half will use it for negative behaviors)
In some beautifully written lines he uses a couple of pages to describe New Zealand -- "The whole country was broken, weird, precipitous and grand. In every direction huge cliffs towered perpendicularly about you; bottomless abysses yawned at your feet; and every scarped pinnacle and beetling crag scowled menacingly at your littleness and scowled defiance at your approach." You will want to read this entire description.
In some beautifully written lines he uses a couple of pages to describe New Zealand -- "The whole country was broken, weird, precipitous and grand. In every direction huge cliffs towered perpendicularly about you; bottomless abysses yawned at your feet; and every scarped pinnacle and beetling crag scowled menacingly at your littleness and scowled defiance at your approach." You will want to read this entire description.
June 28, 2013
Frank Boreham was a Baptist preacher from Australia. This 1915 collection of essays covers a variety of things that he links to a variety of other things, making for a most delightful reading! For instance, the piece "When the Cows Come Home" involves reminders of the importance of faithfulness, our inability to control things, the return of the prodigal, and more. Boreham writes in a gentle, amused voice, and he manages both to exhort and encourage while meandering in a seemingly aimless manner.
November 26, 2013
What a lovely, lovely voice. These essays cover various moral values that include references to Biblical stories, regular down home feelings, and basic Christian principles. They have as much the feel of a well loved uncle sitting down at the table and just chatting away as they do of a man standing at a pulpit teaching a sermon on life.
I swear I could hear him pause to refill his pipe. Did he smoke? He sounded like a man who smoked a sweet smelling pipe, puffing away slowly, thinking for a bit before continuing on.
Very relaxing and uplifting reads. Each essay stands on its own.
I swear I could hear him pause to refill his pipe. Did he smoke? He sounded like a man who smoked a sweet smelling pipe, puffing away slowly, thinking for a bit before continuing on.
Very relaxing and uplifting reads. Each essay stands on its own.
June 26, 2014
Great Discovery
I came to reading Boreham through the suggestion of Ravi Zacharias. It has been a delightful discovery. I have taken to reading one of his anecdotes each morning and have found them to be refreshingly pertinent and helpful.
I came to reading Boreham through the suggestion of Ravi Zacharias. It has been a delightful discovery. I have taken to reading one of his anecdotes each morning and have found them to be refreshingly pertinent and helpful.
August 6, 2015
The anecdotes of Boreham will have you looking for the profound in all your daily monotony.
November 9, 2020
Good stuff. Mushrooms pop up over night 🍄🍄🍄🍄
June 5, 2025
I liked this book but unfortunately I didn’t like most of the narrators.
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