Thanks to my colleague, Rev. Benjamin Mayes, for his fine translating work. This is a statement that Paul Gerhardt wrote on the occasion of his 70th birthday. It has been referrred to as his “testament” for lack of a better word to describe what this is. It is quite moving and powerful. He addressed it to his son. This, once again, amply destroys the myth that Paul Gerhardt was some sort of Pietist yearning to run free of the shackles of Lutheran Orthodoxy, a very, very common myth, sadly, even among a number of Lutherans, who really should know better. He offers absolutely wonderful advice here that we all do well to heed. For instance, when anger wells up in us, then we do well to say nothing but to pray the Ten Commandments and the Creed.

The So-Called “Testament” of Paul Gerhardt for His Son (Early 1676)

Now that I have reached the 70th year of my life and also have the joyful hope that my dear, holy God will soon rescue me out of this world and lead me into a better life than I have had until now on earth, I thank Him especially for all His kindness and faithfulness which, from my mother’s womb until the present hour, He has shown me in body and soul and in all that He has given me. Besides this, I ask Him from the bottom of my heart that when my hour comes He would grant me a happy departure, take my soul into His fatherly hands, and give my body a peaceful rest in the ground until the dear Last Day, when I, with all of my [family] who have been before me and also may remain after me, will reawake and behold my dear Lord Jesus Christ face to face, in whom I have believed but have not yet seen. To my only son whom I am leaving behind I leave few earthly goods, but with them I leave him an honorable name of which he will not have to be ashamed.

My son knows that from his tender childhood I have given him to the Lord my God as His possession, that he is to become a servant and preacher of His holy Word. He is to remain now in this and not turn away from it, even if he has only few good days in it. For the good Lord knows how to handle it and how sufficiently to replace external troubles with internal happiness of the heart and joy of the spirit.

Study holy theologiam [“theology”] in pure schools and at unfalsified universities and beware of the syncretists [those who mix religions or confessions], for they seek what is temporal and are faithful to neither God nor men. In your common life do not follow evil company but rather the will and command of your God. Especially: (1) Do nothing evil in the hope that it will remain secret, for nothing is spun so small that it is not seen in the light of day. (2) Outside of your office and vocation do not become angry. If you notice that anger has heated you up, remain still and speak not so much as a word until you have first prayed the Ten Commandments and the Christian Creed silently. (3) Be ashamed of the lusts of the flesh, and when you one day come to the years in which you can marry, then marry with God and with the good advice of pious, faithful, and sensible people. (4) Do good to people even if they have nothing with which to repay you, for the Creator of heaven and earth has long since repaid what humans cannot repay: when He created you, when He gave you His beloved Son, and when He accepted you in Holy Baptism as His child and heir. (5) Flee from greed as from hell. Be satisfied with what you have earned with honor and a good conscience, even if it is not all too much. But if the good Lord gives you something more, ask Him to preserve you from the burdensome misuse of temporal goods.

In summary: Pray diligently, study something honorable, live peacefully, serve honestly, and remain unmoved in your faith and confessing. If you do this, you too will one day die and depart from this world willingly, joyfully, and blessedly. Amen.

[Translated by Benjamin T. G. Mayes, 5/4/2007]

We Pray

Almighty God, the apostle Paul taught us to praise You in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We thank You this day for those who have given to Your Church great hymns, especially Your servants Philipp Nicolai, Johann Heermann, and Paul Gerhardt. May Your Church never lack hymnwriters who through their words and music give You praise. Fill us with the desire to praise and thank You for Your great goodness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608) was a pastor in Germany during the Great Plague, which took the lives of 1,300 of his parishioners during a sixth-month period. In addition to his heroic pastoral ministry during that time of stress and sorrow, he wrote the texts for “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying” and “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright,” known, respectively, as the king and queen of the Lutheran chorales. Johann Heermann (1585–1647), also a German pastor, suffered from poor health as well as from the ravages of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). His hymn texts are noted for their tenderness and depth of feeling. Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676) was another Lutheran pastor who endured the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War. By 1668 he lost his pastoral position in Berlin (for refusing to compromise his Lutheran convictions), and endured the death of four of his five children and his wife. He nevertheless managed to write 133 hymns, all of which reflect his firm faith. Along with Martin Luther he is regarded as one of Lutheranism’s finest hymn writers.

I was looking at the German for “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star” yesterday and recognized that there are several very clear references to the Lord’s Supper that are missing from most English translations.

We need to be clear about one thing. “Translating” hymns is not merely a matter of putting the original language into English. There is quite an art and skill in rendering the hymn into English in such a way that it retains a poetic structure and style and, most importantly, still is able to be sung. So, before we ever get too hard on translators of hymns, we need to keep this in mind, but, having said that, it is good at times to take a look at the original language from a more literal/literalistic point of view to better see and understand the original words and the intent of the author.

Now, as you read these words, keep in mind the context in which they were written. Pastor Nicolai was watching as, literally, thousands of bodies were being carried out of town for burial due to the plague, and he himself was performing many of the funerals. Here is more information on Pastor Nicolai, who was a staunchly orthodox Lutheran, a great defender of Biblical truth against Calvinism, and a deeply spiritual, pious pastor and hymnist.

Here is a great mini-biography of Pastor Nicolai, and following it, you will find the literal translation of “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star.” If you read on to the extended entry, I’ve placed there a longer biographical article on Nicolai, from the Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia that offers a more complete look at his theological work.

Philipp Nicolai
(1556-1608)

Philipp
Nicolai was born at Mengeringhousen in Waldeck (near Arolsen), Hessen,
Germany, August 10, 1556, the son of a Lutheran pastor, Dieterich Nicolai. In 1575 Nicolai entered the University of Erfurt, and in 1576 he went to Wittenberg graduating in 1579 (D.D. at Wittenberg July 4, 1594).
For four years after his graduation, he lived at Volkhardinghousen,
near Mengeringhousen, and frequently preached for his father. In
August, 1583, he was appointed Lutheran preacher at Herdecke, but found
many difficulties there, the members of the Town Council being Roman
Catholics. After the invasion by the Spanish troops in April, 1586, his
colleague re-introduced the Mass, and Nicolai resigned his post.

In the end of 1586 he was appointed diaconus at Niederwildungen, near Waldeck, and in 1587 he became pastor there.¹
He then became, in November, 1588, chief pastor at Altwildungen, and
also Hofprediger (Court Preacher)  to the widowed Countess Margaretha
of Waldeck, and tutor to her son, Wilhelm Ernst, Count of Waldeck in
Wildungen, Hessen (died at Tubingen, September 16,
1598, the result of the bubonic plague, and who formed the inspiration
of one of Nicolai’s greatest hymns, Wachet Auf). In this position he found himself in disagreement with the Calvinists on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper (the “the
Sacramentarian controversy”), and was, in Sept. 1592, inhibited from
preaching by Count Franz of Waldeck. However, the prohibition was soon
removed, and in the Synod of 1593 held at Mengeringhausen, he found all
the clergy of the principality of Waldeck willing to agree to the Formula of Concord.

He
went to Unna in Westphalia in 1596 where he again was involved in
controversy with the Calvinists. The city of Unna fell victim to the
plague in 1597 and 1598, which took the lives of over 1,300 of its
inhabitants. From the parsonage which overlooked the churchyard,
Nicolai was deeply saddened by the continual burials. On one day thirty
graves were dug. On December 27, 1598, Nicolai was forced to flee Unna
before the invasion of the Spaniards, and did not return till the end
of April, 1599.

From these scenes of death he
turned to the study of St. Augustine’s “City of God” and the
contemplation of the eternal life, and so absorbed himself in them that
he kept himself “comforted in heart, joyful in spirit, and truly
content.” It was in the midst of this distress (e.g., 1599) that he
wrote a series of meditations to which he gave the title, Frewden-Spiegel dess ewigen Lebens,
(“Joyful Mirror of the Eternal Life”; opens in a new window at an
external site). It was a book of pious and devout reflection, which
included two hymns that quickly attained a wide popularity, and are
indeed admirable for their fervor of emotion and mastery over difficult
but musical rhythms.

Previously, the hymns of the
Reformation had been distinguished by their simplicity and
appropriateness to church use; their models had been found in the
earlier Latin hymns, or in the Psalms of the Old Testament and the
hymns handed down to us by St. Luke.

Now, however,
in Nicolai’s writings there is a new style, afterwards very prevalent,
which is similar to some of the later mediaeval hymns addressed to the
Virgin and saints, and finds its scriptural ground in the Song of
Solomon and the Apocalypse. As yet most hymns were addressed to God the
Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, or to the Holy Trinity, or in the
case of hymns of sorrow and penitence to the Savior. But afterwards the
mystical union of Christ with the soul became a favorite subject; more
secular allusions and similes were admitted, and a class of hymns
begins to grow up, called in Germany “Hymns of the Love of Jesus.”

Of his hymns, only four seemed to have been ever printed. Three of his hymns were first published in his devotional work entitled Frewden-Spiegel dess ewigen Lebens, published at Frankfurt-am-Main, 1599. Two of them — “Wachet auf” and “Wie schön” — rank as classical and epoch-making.

The former, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme“ (“Wake, Awake, For Night Is Flying” and many other translations) is the last of the long series of Watchmen’s Songs, which begins:

“Wake, awake, for night is flying,

The watchmen on the heights are crying,

Awake, Jerusalem, at last!”

which
is well known in England from the use of its splendid chorale in
Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” to the words, “Sleepers, wake, a voice is
calling.” The opening lines of Wake, awake are probably
borrowed from a medieval “watch song”, but while those voices were
admonishing the workers of darkness to flee from discovery, “with
Nicolai it is a summons to the children of light to awaken to their
promised reward and full felicity.” The tune to the lyrics is also
ascribed to Nicolai (although adapted from an earlier hymn by Hans Sachs).

The other hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (“O Morning Star, How Fair And Bright“)also
possesses a very fine chorale; and so popular did it soon become, that
its tune was often chimed by city chimes, lines and verses from it were
printed by way of ornament on the common earthenware of the country,
and it was invariably used at weddings and certain festivals. It is
still to be found in all German hymn-books, but in a very modified form
to suit more modern tastes.

This hymn
marks the transition from the objective churchly period to the more
subjective and experimental period of German hymn writing. It began a
long series of Hymns of Love to Christ as the Bridegroom of the Soul,
to which Franck and Scheffler contributed such beautiful examples. Marked by a new sincerity, they gave the church a new voice in song. Published just a few short years before Johann Arndt’s True Christianity, they reflect a similar feeling of devotion about Jesus.

Finally,
in April 1601, he was elected chief pastor of Katharinenkirche (St.
Katherine’s Church) in Hamburg, where he began his duties August 6,
1601. In Hamburg, Nicolai was universally esteemed,
was a most popular and influential preacher — he was hailed as a
“second Chrysostom” — and was regarded as a “pillar” of the Lutheran
church. In his private life he seemed to have been most lovable and
estimable, although some of his writings, according to Julian, were
“polemical” and “acrid in tone.”

On October 22, 1608, he took part in the ordination of a colleague, the diaconus Penshorn,
and returned home feeling unwell. He developed a violent fever, and
died October 26, 1608. He was buried at Katharinenkirche, Hamburg.
Sadly, the Katharinenkirche was almost destroyed in World War II,
though it was restored in the 1950’s.

Besides his fame as a preacher, his reputation rests mainly on his hymns.

Notes

1.
According to another account, from 1586 to 1588, Nicolai had moved to
Köln (Cologne), a thoroughly Catholic city, and was a preacher of the
Lutheran congregations, who at that time met secretly in houses. Return

Sources:

• Rev. Duncan Campbell, Hymns and Hymn Makers (London: A. & C. Black, Fourth Edition, 1908)

• The Cyberhymnal

• The Hymnuts

• John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology. 1892, 1907; reprinted by Dover, 1957.

• Catherine Winkworth, Philip Nicolai, from Christian Singers of Germany, 1869, found at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Here then, from the hymn-translating-machine, Matthew Carver, of
Hymnoglypt fame, is a literal translation of “How Lovely Shine the
Morning Star” which he produced at my request.

1. How beautifully the Morning-star blazes (to us),
full of grace and truth from the Lord,
you sweet root of Jesse;
You—Son of David, from Jacob’s branch,
my King and my Bridegroom—
(You) have occupied my heart,
lovely, friendly, fair and splendid,
great and honorable, rich in gifts,
high and very nobly exalted.

2. Ah, my Pearl, You precious Crown,
true Son of God and of Mary, a high-born King,
my heart calls You a Lily,
Your sweet Gospel is sheer milk and honey.
Ah, my Flower, Hosanna,
heavenly Manna which we eat,
I cannot forget You.

3. You bright Jasper and Ruby,
Pour very deeply into my heart the flame of Your love,
and gladden me so that I may remain a living rib in Your elected body.
My heart is sick and smoldering for You
Gratiosa Coeli Rosa (Gracious Rose of Heaven)
(my heart is) wounded by Your love.

4. From God a glow of joy comes to me,
Whenever You give me a friendly look with Your eyes.
O Lord Jesus, my trusty good,
Your Word, Your Spirit, Your body and blood revive me inwardly.
Kindly accept me in Your arms, so that I may be warmed by grace.
At Your word, I come burdened.

5. Lord God Father, my strong champion,
You loved me in Your Son eternally before the world.
Your Son pledged Himself to me,
He is my treasure, I am His bride, greatly overjoyed in Him.
Eya, eya!
He will give me heavenly life yonder above;
Forever shall my heart praise Him.

6. Strike the cithara-strings
and let sweet music resound all full joyfully,
so that I may well up with constant love for Jesus
my wondrously beautiful Bridegroom.
Sing (you all)!, Jump (you all)!
Jubilate, be triumphant,
thank the Lord;
great is the King of Glory.

7. How heartily happy I am indeed
because my treasure is the Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the End;
He shall surely take me up to His prize into Paradise
for this reason I clap my hands.
Amen, Amen!
Come, you beautiful Crown of Joy,
Do not tarry long,
I wait for you with yearning.

Read more…

Order your copy of BROKEN now

Here’s a great story on the results of the Chick-fil-A nonsense this past summer…and why you should never trust a “PR Consultant” or “PR Expert.” This is a clip from USA Today’s story about the situation.

So much for “bad” PR. Consumer use of the chain was up 2.2% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2011, says the Sandelman survey of more than 30,000 fast-food consumers conducted in markets where Chick-fil-A is located. Market share was up 0.6%, and total ad awareness was up a hefty 6.5%.

In a social-media-crazed world, any PR can be good PR — particularly if it has strong appeal to a group of ardent supporters. Witness the recent jump in contributions to LiveStrong Foundation at a time Lance Armstrong, the organization’s founder, was forced to step down in disgrace.

Chick-fil-A, too, seems unstoppable. “There was a lot of talk that this would hurt Chick-fil-A, but it actually helped the brand,” says Jeff Davis, president of Sandelman. During the third quarter, Chick-fil-A broadened its regular customer base in 28 of 35 media markets, he says.

Chick-fil-A declined comment.

Last month, the chain seemed to soften its tone. “Our intent is not to support political or social agendas,” Steve Robinson, executive vice president for marketing for Chick-fil-A, said in a statement. Chick-fil-A’s culture, he said, “is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”

Some PR execs are confounded.

“Chick-fil-A did everything wrong in the book,” says Chris Goddard, president of CGPR. “Their president shot from the hip, and his PR team was not equipped or prepared (to respond). It was a PR disaster and a clear case of what not to do in a crisis.”

But other PR execs say it confirms their suspicions that not all brands must appeal to everyone. “Brands that take risks can win big rewards, but they must be prepared for the backlash that comes with it,” says Ronn Torossian, CEO at 5WPR. “They were saying to their core constituency: Here’s what we believe.”

Just an FYI…you can pick up some great buys in our “Online Warehouse Sale” … so come on in. It’s kind of like this, sort of, well, not really, but it is a great image.

Television shows and other media outlets will convince anyone, in short order, that the homosexual population in our nation must be around 25% or higher! But, the fact remains that the actual number of homosexuals in the general population is quite low. A recent Gallup poll confirms this fact and shows how misled Americans are on this issue. Here is the link to the summary of the polling results.

Snippet:

Demographer Gary Gates last month released a review of population-based surveys on the topic, estimating that 3.5% of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, with bisexuals making up a slight majority of that figure. Gates also disputes the well-circulated statistic that “10% of the males are more or less exclusively homosexual.”

Dorcas

Almighty God, You stirred to compassion the hearts of your dear servants Dorcase, Lydia, and Phoebe to uphold and sustain Your Church by their devoted and charitable deeds. Give us the same will to love you, open our eyes to see You in the least ones, and strengthen our hands to serve You in others, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

We reflect

These women were exemplary Christians who demonstrated their faith by their material support of the Church. Dorcas (also known as Tabitha) was well-known and much loved for her acts of charity in the city of Joppa, especially for her making clothes for the poor. When Dorcas died suddenly, the members of her congregation sent to the neighboring city of Lydda for the Apostle Peter, who came and raised her from the dead (Acts 9:36–41). Lydia was a woman of Thyatira, who worked at Philippi selling a famous purple dye that was so much in demand in the ancient world. She was also a “worshiper of God” at the local synagogue. When the Apostle Paul encountered her in prayer among other proselyte women, his preaching of the Word brought Lydia to faith in Christ. She and her friends thus became the nucleus of the Christian community in Philippi (16:13–15, 40). Phoebe was another faithful woman associated with the Apostle Paul. She was a deaconess from Cenchrae (the port of Corinth) whom Paul sent to the church in Rome with his Epistle to the Romans. In it he writes of her support for the work of the early Church (Rom 16:1).

Real Answers
Real Religion
Real Holy Spirituality

There are only two kinds of spirituality in the world. One is false, and one is true. One is the manifestation of the old evil foe who has sent many false spiritualties out into the world, and the other is the holy spirituality found only in faith in the one true God. One is a lie, and one is real.

But which is which?

There is a cultural perfect storm shredding the spiritual landscape of the United States. It travels on the wind of a growing ignorance of both history and the Bible. Christians are losing faith because the kind of Christianity they are trying to believe is

BROKEN

This book examines seven of the most common spiritual traditions and how they use speculation, mysticism, and moralism to break Christianity. Author Jonathan Fisk calls them the seven “counterfeit Christian rules that every Christian ought to break as often as possible,” because they are seven myths that have infiltrated the churches in our age, seven teachings taught as if they were doctrine, but which are nothing more than the traditions of men.

The dark secret of Christianity in America is that we are losing. We hide it with light shows, Christian dance and music, and video games, but it’s true. And it’s not new.

The house has grown too dirty. Fisk is going to sweep it clean. All of it: the dusty corners where spores of speculation lay, the air filled with the mustiness of mysticism, the grout where the mold of moralism has grown thick over our clean confidence in Christ. Once the grime has been scrubbed away, Fisk shows how, under the cross of Jesus, you will find that your mind, heart, and hands, your reason, emotions, and sense of mercy, are the very things that our Lord has redeemed. In the resurrection of Jesus, in His fulfillment of the Law, in the essence of His Gospel, in the pure Word of God, you will find the truth.

Order your copy of Pastor Fisk’s book. For any order of $79 or more, including this book, placed from our Christmas Catalog, you receive free shipping!

I thought this was very well put, by an Orthodox Pastor from whom I receive regular missives, Father Patrick Reardon, of Chicago.

This Year’s Elections

Since political elections normally deal with matters of policy, I do not normally make them the subject of pastoral concern. This year, however, the national elections in our country are not concerned simply with policies but with principles.

My first comment, I suppose, should address that difference.

About policies—most questions of political concern—we may expect some legitimate disagreements among Christians. Among these we should include questions about the application of civil punishments, the funding of public education, the tax code, the authority of federal agencies, this or that social program, and so forth. These matters, properly governed by prudence, leave much room for legitimate disagreements among Christians.

My reference to “principles,” however, pertains to matters on which there can be no legitimate disagreement among Christians. Let me mention three subjects of this sort, which are at issue in this year’s national elections. I do not believe there can be legitimate disagreement among Christians with respect to:

First, the origin of human rights. These, since they come directly from the hand of God, are determined by the moral law. That is to say, no political institution can give citizens a right to do something wrong—not the Constitution, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court.

For example, even though the original Constitution, as well as acts of the Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, denied full legal equality to Americans held in bondage, no American has ever had a “right” to own slaves. Slavery in our country was always a violation of God-given human rights, and those responsible for that violation have all answered for it at the throne of God.

Second, the unborn child in the womb has an absolute right to be born. This right, which comes from God, is subject to no qualifying circumstances, including the conditions of the child’s conception and the health of the mother. One may not murder an unborn baby. A baby in the womb has the same right to life as its mother and her doctor.

Third, marriage is the union of a man and woman. This principle, rooted in God’s creating act, can be altered by no decision of any institution or agency of government. No one can be given a right to do a wrong. Whatever name is conferred upon it, state-sponsored sodomy is an abomination to the created order. It is a radical offense against the divine Logos.

Inasmuch as these three principles are manifestly at risk in this year’s elections, it is incumbent on all Christian pastors to bring them to the attention of the flock of God.

This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Centuries ago, Tertullian warned that political idolatry—the effort to confer on the State an authority that belongs only to God—is the worst and most dangerous sort. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.

Fr Pat

The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes is selling like hotcakes. [Where did that whole "selling like hot cakes" expression come from? See below]. Seriously, they are really selling quickly. We’ve not seen sales of a book like this move along this quickly since the new translation of Walther’s Law and Gospel.

The advice I would like (quite strongly, if you don’t mind) like to give you is simply: get those orders in now to make sure you have copies for your congregation, if you are buying in a group/bulk order, or for Christmas gifts. The Apocrypha is part of our Christmas Catalog sale and any order in the amount of $79 or more receives free shipping.

He who hesitates is…well, you know.

Order copies of the Apocrypha here. At that link you’ll find a slew of really impressive endorsements and a sample of the book, etc.

Or call 800-325-3040 to speak to one of our awesome nationally award winning customer service center people.

Now about the history of the phrase: “selling like hotcakes.”

Here are a couple explanations I found after extensive research consisting of five seconds with Google:

The term “hotcake” is an American invention, dating back to the late 17th century (“pancake,” meaning the same food, is older, first appearing in England around 1400). To “sell like hotcakes” has meant “to be in great demand” since about 1839, and there doesn’t seem to have been any particular “hotcake fad” leading to the origin of the phrase. But hotcakes have always been popular at fairs and church socials, etc., often selling as fast as they can be cooked, so they make a good metaphor for a very popular product that sells quickly and in great numbers. Of course, pancakes are, when properly made, quite flat, and “flat as a pancake” has meant “perfectly flat” since the 16th century. A building that collapses straight down floor by floor is said to “pancake,” and when an aircraft drops jarringly onto the runway it is called a “pancake landing.” In Britain, Canada and Australia pancakes are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar, and the day itself is called “Pancake Day” or “Pancake Tuesday” in many places. This day, also known as “Fat Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras,” has traditionally been the occasion for using up all the fat, butter, and other rich ingredients in one’s house in preparation for the fasting and self-denial of Lent.

or

SELL LIKE HOT CAKES – “Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century ‘to sell like hot cakes’ was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity.” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)