Phineas F. Bresee - A Prince In Israel - Media Sabda Org

He prized most of these highly, and they doubtless had much to do with the trend, at least, of his
intellectual and spiritual development. Throughout his ministry he read and studied persistently.
A work called "The Preacher's Lantern," consisting of four large volumes, was very helpful to him
for several years, and among his treasures were "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker. In middle
life, he acquired and deeply studied, "The Life and Epistles of Saint Paul," by Conybeare and
Howson; "Hours With the Bible," by Cunningham Geike, D.D.; and the works of Rev. Daniel
Dorchester, and Bishop Randolph S. Foster. A little later, he became interested in the writings of
George Adam Smith, and made a careful study of his works on "Isaiah" and the "Book of the Twelve
Prophets." Other favorite volumes found in his library, were the works of Fletcher, John Wesley,
Watson, Puncheon, Spurgeon, Millman, Henry Ward Beecher, Gilbert Haven, Henry White Warren,
Hugh Price Hughes, William W. Newell, John Hall, and Bishop J. M. Thoburn.
Among his especial favorites were the History of the Reformation, by Merle D'Aubigne; The
Throne of Eloquence, by Paxton Hood; the historical works of Bancroft and Motley; Keith on the
Prophecies; Channing's Works; Frederick W. Robertson's sermons; Curiosities of Literature, by
Disraeli; The Land and the Book, by W. H. Thomson; Max Muller's Works; ten large volumes on
Modern Eloquence; and Science and the Bible, by H. W. Morris.
He owned and read with interest, a complete set of Maclaren's sermons, and a prominent place
in his library was occupied by the works of Gibbon, Macaulay, Buckle, Prescott, Emerson, and
Carlyle.
In the last few years of his life he derived intense pleasure from the writings of W. M. Ramsay,
J. H. Jowett, Lewis O. Brastow, Harold Begbie, Charles Silvester Horne, W. K. Fleming, and others.
He was especially delighted with the works of Ramsay and Jowett, and I think he bought all their
books.
He subscribed for and read two or three of the leading papers of other denominations, as well as
the "Homiletic Review," and kept in close touch with the best religious literature of the day.
His Cordiality
Dr. Bresee's religion did not make him unhuman, superhuman, or abnormal in any way. He did
not hold himself aloof from his fellows, either because he was too good or too busy to have
intercourse with them. He was approachable, cheerful, congenial, and sociable. All who associated
with him, could feel the atmosphere of love and sympathy which he had about him. There was
genuine warmth in his greetings, and his face lighted up with manifest pleasure on these occasions.
During the stirring scenes of his long, eventful, and useful life, there were almost innumerable
incidents which, if it were practicable to depict them in a volume such as this, would be extremely
interesting, but I can not follow him in all of these.