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AMONG

FAMOUS BOOKS

BY

JOHN KELMAN, D.D.

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON  NEW YORK  TORONTO

Printed in 1912

PREFACE

The object of the following lectures is twofold. They were delivered inthe first place for the purpose of directing the attention of readers tobooks whose literary charm and spiritual value have made themconspicuous in the vast literature of England. Such a task, however,tends to be so discursive as to lose all unity, depending absolutelyupon the taste of the individual, and the chances of his experience inreading.

I have accordingly taken for the general theme of the book that constantstruggle between paganism and idealism which is the deepest fact in thelife of man, and whose story, told in one form or another, provides thematter of all vital literature. This will serve as a thread to givecontinuity of thought to the lectures, and it will keep them near tocentral issues.

Having said so much, it is only necessary to add one word more by way ofexplanation. In quest of the relations between the spiritual and thematerial, or (to put it otherwise) of the battle between the flesh andthe spirit, we shall dip into three different periods of time: (1)Classical, (2) Sixteenth Century, (3) Modern. Each of these has acharacter of its own, and the glimpses which we shall have of them oughtto be interesting in their own right. But the similarity between thethree is more striking than the contrast, for human nature does notgreatly change, and its deepest struggles are the same in allgenerations.

CONTENTS

LECTURE I

The Gods of Greece

LECTURE II

Marius the Epicurean

LECTURE III

The Two Fausts

LECTURE IV

Celtic Revivals of Paganism

LECTURE V

John Bunyan

LECTURE VI

Pepys' Diary

LECTURE VII

Sartor Resartus

LECTURE VIII

Pagan Reactions

LECTURE IX

Mr. G.K. Chesterton's Point of View

LECTURE X

The Hound of Heaven