Anthology of Jesus

I found this charming little anthology in a dusty corner of my local second-hand bookshop some years ago,and it has been a more or less permanent fixture on my bedside table ever since.It's just perfect for a little late-night contemplation and reflection on the life of,"That mightiest heart that ever beat".Sir James Marchant cast his net far and wide when he collated this collection back in the 1920s,and he succeeded in hauling aboard a glittering array of jewels from the deep ocean of prose and poetry.He also ranged up and down the centuries for his quarry and authors quoted are as diverse as Tacitus and Turgeniev.The 420 extracts are grouped thematically into 43 separate chapters with headings such as,"His advent","Lover of little children","Trial and crucifixion" and "Light of the world".No extract is so long as to outstay it's welcome,and many are just very affecting isolated paragraphs or verses.There is an enormous amount of food for spiritual thought in this lovable little book and as an appetizer I'll leave you to digest one of my favourite morsels from the chapter,"Friend and brother" : "I missed him when the sun began to bend; I found him not when I had lost his rim; With many tears I went in search of him, Climbing high mountains which did still ascend, And gave me echoes when I called my friend; Through cities vast and charnel-houses grim, And high cathedrals where the light was dim, Through books and arts and works without an end, But found him not - as I found the Lark, A sound in fields I heard but could not mark; I found him nearest when I missed Him most; I found him in my heart,a life in frost, A light I knew not till my soul was dark." George MacDonald ("Lost and found").