In each of the six-book series, They Knew Their God, the authors, Edwin and Lillian Harvey have been careful to include a wide variety of men and women to illustrate that knowing God is available to every Christian irrespective of nationality, gender, or religious affiliation. Generally, the sketches in each book are placed chronologically. There are some exceptions. Take for instance in the first of this series.
There are many daily reading books out there on the market right now. The Christian’s Daily Challenge by E. F. and L. Harvey is one of them. The authors, however, felt the need when this book was compiled, to produce a daily devotional that would prove a real challenge to readers to strive after a deeper devotional life with Christ.
Covetousness has been termed “The sin very few ever confess.” In fact, that is the subtitle of the book Covetousness, written by Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. A few quotes from this book will give you an idea of its main thrust and purpose.
“The sin of the whole world is essentially the sin of Judas—men do not disbelieve their Christ; but they will sell Him.”
—Ruskin
“If money be not thy servant it will become thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth as it may be said to possess him.”—Charcon.
“It is not the fact that a man has riches which keeps him from the kingdom of Heaven, but the fact that the riches have him.”
—David Caird
Covetousness is now available in Harvey Christian Publishers’ Online Christian Bookstore.
Most Christians have heard of Amy Carmichael. As well as being a devoted missionary in India for many years, Amy was also a writer and poet. She writes out of her wealth of experience. In Royal Purposes, a small devotional of thirty-one readings and compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, one of her many poems is included in the reading, “Scarred in Battle.”
Hast thou no scar?
Hast thou no wound:
Yet was I wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned me against a tree to die, and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned;
Hast thou no wound?
No wound: No scar”
Yet, as the Master, shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who has not wound or scar?
Royal Purposes is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
The first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” is not exactly the kind of statement one hears on today’s media. To express one’s need, to acknowledge one’s lack—that does not seem the way to inherit anything, let alone a kingdom. Yet these words are Jesus’ words, our Lord and Master, God incarnate, Wisdom Incarnate, and they echo through the ages and knock at the doors of our hearts.
Only the conquered yield,
Only the humbled pray,
Only the helpless trust
Jesus, the soul’s strong Stay.
Only the weary rest,
Only the seekers find,
Only the souls are blest
Who in the Savior hide.
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I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? I have found everything in Christ.
—John Calvin. (p. 92.)
It is easy to appear a Daniel in a country where there are no lions. (p. 141.
We need not make so much effort to defend the Bible as to practice it . p. 199.
To speak well, is to sound like a cymbal, but to do well, is to act like an angel.
—Phillips Brooks. (Ibid.)
Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders.
—F. W. Faber. (p. 218)
There’s a song that God is writing on the staff for you and me,
And its melody is sweeter than the songs of earth could be;
For the major and the minor of this song of life sublime
Bring us nearer home to Heaven—when God beats time….
There are “holds” and “rests” before us, and to pause it may be hard,
But we find a hidden meaning when we come to God’s retard”;
He alone can give expression, make the song of life sublime,
If we only mind the pauses—when God beats time.
There are chords of minor music that we may not understand,
In this song of life unfolding, written by the Master’s hand;
Yet how patiently He lingers till we catch the glory chime,
And the song is made the sweeter—when God beats time.
When at last the curtain’s lifted, and the choirs of Heaven stand
In the Hallelujah greeting to the happy, blood-washed band,
Then our sharpest “accidental” with the angel notes will rhyme
In the chorus of redemption—when God beats time.
—F. M. Lehman
Used by permission. Copyright property of the Nazarene Publishing House.
The above poem is taken from page 164 of The Christian’s Daily Challenge by E. & F. Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
The book, Tribulation Worketh by G. D. Watson, is unique. It differs from his other books because it is a compilation of his writings on the subject of the blessings of tribulation—what suffering does for the soul. On the cover is a picture of a plowed field indicating that suffering plows the soul and prepares it for God’s sowing and harvesting. This book contains sixteen chapters, each taken from various other of Watson’s writings. It was compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and has proved a blessing to many suffering saints. Pastors have used it in hospital visitation. It has only seventy-eight pages so is easily read. The book is introduced by the following poem:
“O break my heart; but break it as a field
Is by the plow up-broken for the corn;
O break it as the buds, by green leaf sealed,
Are, to unloose the golden blossom, torn;
Love would I offer unto Love’s great Master,
Set free the odor, break the alabaster.
“O break my heart; break it victorious God,
That life’s eternal well may flash abroad;
O let it break as when the captive trees,
Breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties;
And as thought’s sacred grove to life is springing
Be joys, like birds, their hope, Thy victory singing.”
Tribulation Worketh is available in Harvey Christian Publishers’ Online Christian Bookstore.
“God is our nearest relative.” This is the opening sentence of the book, Our Own God, by G. D. Watson and this is the sentence which met the eyes of Edwin Harvey as he thumbed through this book in a friend’s home in Northern Ireland, many years ago. Edwin, co-author of Kneeling We Triumph, the They Knew Their God series, and many other books published by Harvey Christian Publishers, became immediately enthralled and immediately proceeded to read Our Own God through seven times consecutively.
Harvey Christian Publishers do publish other books besides those written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. Most of these are reprints such as the books by G. D. Watson, George Bowen, and Gerhardt Tersteegen. Then we do have several books written by contemporaries of the Harveys. These include a book by Emil Kremer, Eyes Opened, a book by a Welsh evangelist, Robert Cox called Elisha, and several by John Wright Follette whose most well known is Broken Bread. Other books include Missing the Way by Patricia St. John, well known British children’s author, several autobiographies–Striking Incidents by Breeden, Amanda Smith, and William Carvosso. Blessing the Church? by Clifford Hill, and the Letters of John Fletcher.
All these and more can be found on our Online Christian Bookstore, www.harveycp.com.
