"And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, 'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!' . . . But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, 'O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!'" These words taken from Second Samuel 18:33 and 19:4 are among the saddest words found in all the Bible. They are the words of King David, whose son, Absalom, had been struck down as he fled for his life after leading a treacherous rebellion against his father's...

"No other reformer struck out a more original and independent course than Ulrich Zwingli (1483-1531). No other man attempted to be, at the same time, a preacher, author, statesman, military patriot and reformer. Why he gave such varied direction to his noble energies, and how well he succeeded in his efforts, it is partly the design of the present volume to show. His personal history is full of interesting incidents; his character rich in admirable qualitites; his public life conveys a lesson upon the mingling of religion and politics which it may be well to ponder in later times. The author...

William Farel (1489-1565) was a French evangelist, and a founder of the Reformed Church in the cantons of NeuchGtel, Berne and Geneva, and the Canton of Vaud Switzerland. He is most often remembered for having persuaded John Calvin to remain in Geneva in 1536, and for persuading him to return there in 1541, after their expulsion in 1538. Together with Calvin, Farel worked to train missionary preachers who spread the Protestant cause to other countries, and especially to France. Farel was a fiery preacher and an energetic critic of the Roman Catholic Church. In the earliest years of the...