All the Blessings of Life: The Best Stories of F. W. Boreham, rev. ed.

by Frank W. Boreham

Publisher:

John Broadbanks

, 2010

Overview

This volume contains more than 250 of the best stories found in F. W. Boreham's writings. While many readers of this new volume will be devoted followers of Boreham, others may be sampling him for the first time. For these such readers, the biographical essay by Irving Benson has been included as it provides an introduction and the setting for understanding the life and work of this storyteller.

Frank Boreham’s discovery of the power of stories was instilled within him when he was a child. Sunday night was story time in the Boreham household. Boreham knew that while the experience of being spellbound by stories is a good first step it did not make him into a scintillating storyteller. He therefore committed himself to developing the art of storytelling. Throughout his life Boreham wrote and refined his stories in order to master the difficult art of telling a story well. Such diligence was rewarded as Dr. Boreham became recognized as one of the leading Christian preachers and writers in the first half of the twentieth century. In the second half of last century, well known preachers such as Billy Graham, Ravi Zacharias, and Gordon Moyes have frequently expressed their indebtedness to the writings of F. W. Boreham. Scores of lesser-known speakers and writers have discovered Boreham and have scoured his books in search of an apt illustration for their sermons and articles.

Many of the stories in this volume come from human experience. Furthermore, F. W. Boreham had a rich fond of stories because he was an avid reader of books. A large number of F. W. Boreham’s stories in this book come from nature, either from first-hand experience, or his reading of nature books.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Let each painter, each preacher, each person whose duty it is to write a newspaper article or lead a Christian assembly to the Throne of Grace, realize that his view of God and of Humanity and of the Universe is essentially an individualistic view. He sees as nobody else sees. He must therefore paint or preach or pray or write as nobody else does. He must be himself: must see with his own eyes and utter that vision in the terms of his own personality. He must, as Rudyard Kipling would have said, paint the thing as he sees it for the God of things as they are. And, expressing his naked and transparent soul by means of his palette, his pulpit or his pen, he will find sooner or later—sooner rather than later—that truth, like wisdom, is justified of all her children.” (Page 4)

“Yet the amazing thing is that we have actually appropriated so insignificant a fragment of the glittering hoard. We have been mendicants when we might have been millionaires. We must learn a higher wisdom. We must lay daring hands upon the inexhaustible supplies that we have so shamefully neglected and live in the enjoyment of an affluence that we have never before known. Ashamed of the past, we must turn shining and expectant faces to the future, giving glory to God for all the grace we have not tasted yet.” (Page 2)

“I never heard him say an unkind or a mean thing about anybody. He did not attack people, always maintaining that the best way of proving that a stick is crooked is to lay a straight one beside it. ‘People want helping and you don’t help them by scolding them.’” (Page xxiv)

Praise for the Print Edition

Of the books that have played the greatest role in molding me, I count many volumes by especially one writer: F. W. Boreham. He authored more than fifty books of essays and pastored congregations in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. He was not the classical preacher, not even a profound, deep preacher, but he was marvelous at seeing beauty in the simple things of life. He heeded John Wesley's charge to young preachers to blend simplicity with sublimity, 'the strongest sense in the plainest language.'

—Ravi Zacharias

Product Details

• Title: All the Blessings of Life: The Best Stories of F. W. Boreham, rev. ed.
• Author: F. W. Boreham
• Publisher: John Broadbanks
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 288

About Frank W. Boreham

Frank W. Boreham (1871–1959) was a preacher and bestselling author. He began attending C. H. Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College in 1892, where he served as a student-minister. Boreham pastored churches in several different countries, including Australia and New Zealand. He was the president of the Baptist Union of New Zealand and later president of the Tasmanian Baptist Union.

Boreham wrote for newspapers, theological journals, and many other resources. He has authored over 50 books, including Second Thoughts, Lover of Life: F. W. Boreham’s Tribute to His Mentor, and Loose Leaves: A Travel Journal, which can all be found in the F. W. Boreham Collection (9 vols.).