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The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life: Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (Abridged Christian Classics)
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Item description for The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life: Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (Abridged Christian Classics) by Hannah Whitall Smith...
Overview
Barbour's new abridged and updated classics line--with fiction and nonfictiontitles--fits perfectly into Christians' daily lives.
Publishers Description
Whether your preference is for fiction or nonfiction, you're sure to find a favorite in Barbour's new abridged and updated classics line. Whether you've already been exposed to these inspiring classics—or if you're new to the classics—these quick reads will encourage and entertain, while fitting perfectly into your busy life.
Whether your preference is for fiction or nonfiction, you're sure to find a favorite in Barbour's new abridged and updated classics line. These quick reads will fit perfectly into your busy life.
Perfect for busy book lovers, Barbour's new abridged and updated classics line will continue to encourage and entertain yet another generation of readers. These inspiring but quick reads make great gifts for any occasion and are super ways to introduce new readers to these favored-for-generations classics. |
Item Specifications...
Format: Abridged
Studio: Barbour Books
Pages 192
Dimensions: Length: 6.7" Width: 4.1" Height: 0.7"
Weight: 0.25 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Feb 1, 2010
Publisher Barbour Books
Edition Abridged
Series Abridged Christian Classics
ISBN 1602608555
ISBN13 9781602608559
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Availability 1 units.
Availability accurate as of May 24, 2012 02:46.
Usually ships within one to two business days from New Kensington, PA.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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More About Hannah Whitall Smith
Product Categories
Christian Product Categories
Books > Inspiration > Motivation > Classics
Books > Christian Living > Practical Life > General
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Reviews - What do customers think about The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life: Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (Abridged Christian Classics)?
 | A new classic Oct 12, 2009 |
| A Christian's Secret of Happy Life is becoming a classic of our time. The way that Hannah Whitall Smith pinpoints the struggles and means to victory as a believer in Jesus is powerful and encouraging! This is the kind of book that is nearly impossible to read straight through. Her insights and wisdom are thought provoking and can really be life-altering when taken to heart. | | |  | The Christian's Secret of a Happy LIbe Oct 5, 2009 |
| Purchased at the request of a library patron. Had timely delivery and was good as new. Others have found it on the shelf to check out also. | | | | The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life Jan 13, 2009 |
| In this short volume, Hannah Whitall Smith presents a compelling viewpoint on what the Lord desires for our lives. To quote from the Preface: "...behind this deceptively simple title is a loving invitation to discover the astonishing truth about life within God's loving embrace: '...by a step of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord, for Him to work in all of us the good pleasure of His will; and that by a continuous exercise of faith we keep ourselves there.' " I would highly recommend this book to all believers, whatever the level of their spiritual walk. It is no wonder that it has been continually published since Hannah Smith wrote it 125 years ago! | | | | One of the Best Nov 3, 2008 |
| One of the best Christian books I have read. It may seem "old school" because it was written a long time ago, but deep truths transcend time. | | | | Archaic title for a classic work on Christian Spirituality Sep 6, 2008 |
My review is in response to a very "sad" review written from an already established position. The reviewer (I think Tim Challies) gives us what he thinks is the thrust of the book, "What must the Christian DO in his quest for VICTORY?," then offers his simplistic review of Hannah Smith's response, "NOTHING." Challies then sums up Smith's work with his critique of "the man-centered and subjective age in which we live," and puts Smith in this category. This is an amazingly simplistic (and ignorant) summation by an educated person - this is why I think it betrays "an already established position."
Hannah Smith lived in the latter half of the 19th century - the terms "happy" and "gay" had different meanings in common use than what we have today. A better title for this book would be "The Christian's Secret to a Joyful Life," but we cannot retitle the work.
Smith is writing to refute the basic practical theology of her strict Quaker background which apparently leaned heavily on the force of a person's determined will and discipline to gain freedom from sin. Many of us have seen how this emphasis, while possibly effective in the life of one generation, can lead to dead works and dry religion in the following generations that lack the intense affections of the initial leaders and have only been given the "right doctrine" to live by.
Let's allow Hannah Smith to speak for herself;
==========================
The most difficult thing we have to manage is self....In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself and all your inward experiences, your temptations, your temperament...all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you, and therefore He understands you and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it. Say to Him, "Here, Lord, I abandon myself to thee. I have tried in every way I could think of to manage myself, and to make myself what I know I ought to be, but have always failed. Now I give it up to thee. Do thou take entire possession of me....And here you must rest, trusting yourself thus to Him continually and absolutely....
Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness....
Consecration is the first thing....In order for a lump of clay to be made into a beautiful vessel, it must be entirely abandoned to the potter, and must lie passive in his hands. And in order for a soul to be made into a vessel unto God's honor, "sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and
prepared unto every good work," it must be entirely abandoned to Him, and must lie passive in His hands....
Oh, be generous in your self-surrender! Meet His measureless devotion for you, with a measureless devotion to Him. Be glad and eager to throw yourself headlong into His dear arms, and to hand over the reins of
government to Him. Whatever there is of you, let Him have it all. Give up forever everything that is separate from Him. Consent to resign from
this time forward all liberty of choice...
(I cannot find my copy and have used the online version)
==========================
This is far from doing NOTHING. Smith's focus is on the most difficult aspect of living for God - the abandonment of YOUR will. She maintains
that IF you can truly abandon yourself (I do not think this can be done 100% of the time anyway) God will do His work in you. In the past, some
20 years ago when I first read this book, I wondered if Watchman Nee had read Hannah Smith. In his little powerful book, "Sit, Walk, Stand" he
says this,
"If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing...For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE." p.14 (Tyndale, 1977)
Maybe Challies believes that Nee also distorted scripture here (I should confess that I am not a fan of everything Nee writes).
Again, Challies: "God calls Christians, not to happiness, but to holiness." Smith's comments on "perfect obedience would be perfect happiness" directly address this accusation. Did Challies really even read Smith's book? It is difficult for me to think so. "The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life" is far from the "self-help psychobabel" label Challies gives to it.
It is true that Hannah Smith did not have a "happy" life. She had some marital issues and an unfaithful husband; she seems to have suffered some
depression; and her theology was not always orthodox - she apparently struggled with the concept of eternal punishment (like Origen!).
Nonetheless, this book by Hannah Smith has remained a Christian classic for a reason - it is challenging and good.
And by the way, Hannah Smith did die in great misery - she suffered from arthritis during the final years of her life.
R.A. Baker
Ph.D. Ecclesiastical History | | | Write your own review about The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life: Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (Abridged Christian Classics)
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