REV. EDWARD MCKENDRIE BOUNDS was passionately devoted to his beloved Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His devotion was extraordinary in that he was praying and writing about Him all the time, except during the hours of sleeping. God gave Bounds an enlargedness of heart and an insatiable desire to do service for Him. To this end he enjoyed what I am pleased to term a transcendent inspiration, else he could never have brought out of his treasury things new and old far exceeding anything we have known or read in the last half century. Bounds is easily the Betelguese of the devotional sky. There is no man that has lived since the days of the apostles that has surpassed him in the depths of his marvelous research into the Life of Prayer. He was busily engaged in writing on his manuscripts when the Lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.” His letters would often come to me in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1911, 1912 and 1913, saying, “Pray for me that God[vi] will give me new nerves and new visions to finish the manuscripts.” Wesley was of the sweetest and most forgiving disposition, but when aroused he was a man of the “keenest penetration with a gift of speech that bit like the stroke of a whip.” Bounds was meek and humble, and never did we know him to retaliate upon any of his enemies. He cried over them and wept praying for them early and late. Wesley was easily gulled. “My brother,” said Charles, on one occasion in disgusting accents, “was, I believe, born for the benefit of knaves.” No man could impose on Bounds’ credulity. He was a diagnostician of rare ability. Bounds shied away from all frauds in profession, and would waste no time upon them. Wesley was preaching and riding all day. Bounds was praying and writing day and night. Wesley would not allow any misrepresentation of his doctrinal positions in his late years. Bounds in this respect was very much like him. Wesley came to his fame while yet alive. He was always in the public eye. Bounds, while editing a Christian Advocate for twelve years, was little known out of his church. Wesley at eighty-six could still preach on the streets for thirty minutes. Bounds was able at seventy-five in the first hour of the fourth watch to pray for three hours upon his knees. Wesley, at the time of his death, had enjoyed[vii] fifty-six years of preferment. His name was on every tongue. Christianity was born again in England under his mighty preaching and organization. Bounds was comparatively unknown for fifty years but will recover the “lost and forgotten secret of the church” in the next fifty years. Wesley’s piety and genius and popularity flowed from his early life like a majestic river. Bounds’ has been dammed up, but now it is beginning to sweep with resistless force and ere long he will be the mighty Amazon of the devotional world. Henry Crabbe Robinson said in his diary when he heard Wesley preach at Colchester, “He stood in a wide pulpit and on each side of him stood a minister, and the two held him up. His voice was feeble and he could hardly be heard, but his reverend countenance, especially his long white locks, formed a picture never to be forgotten.” The writer of these lines gave up his pulpit in Brooklyn in 1912 to Rev. E. M. Bounds just ten months before his death. His voice was feeble and his periods were not rounded out. His sermon was only twenty minutes long, when he quietly came to the end and seemed exhausted. Wesley had sufficient money and to spare during all his career. Bounds did not care for money. He did not depreciate it; he considered it the lowest order of power. Wesley died with “an eye beaming and lips breaking into praise.” “The best of all is God[viii] with us,” Bounds wrote the writer of these lines. “When He is ready I am ready; I long to taste the joys of the heavenlies.” Wesley said, “The World is my parish.” Bounds prayed as if the universe was his zone. Wesley was the incarnation of unworldliness, the embodiment of magnanimity. Bounds was the incarnation of unearthliness, humility and self-denial. Wesley will live in the hearts of saints for everlasting ages. Bounds eternally. Wesley sleeps in City Road Chapel grounds, among his “bonny dead,” under marble, with fitting tribute chiseled in prose, awaiting the Resurrection. Bounds sleeps in Washington, Georgia, cemetery, without marble covering, awaiting the Bridegroom’s coming. These two men held ideals high and clear beyond the reach of other men. Has this race of men entirely gone out of the world now that they are dead? Let us pray...from the books

Edward McKendree Bounds (August 15, 1835 – August 24, 1913) prominently known as E.M. Bounds, was an American author, attorney, and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South clergy. He is known for writing 11 books, nine of which focused on the subject of prayer. Only two of Bounds' books were published before he died. After his death, Rev. Claudius (Claude) Lysias Chilton, Jr., grandson of William Parish Chilton and admirer of Bounds, worked on preserving and preparing Bounds' collection of manuscripts for publication. By 1921, Homer W. Hodge completed additional editorial work. Edward McKendree Bounds was born on August 15, 1835, in Shelbyville, Missouri. He is the son of Thomas Jefferson and Hester A. (née Purnell) Bounds. In the preface to E.M. Bounds on Prayer, published by Hendrickson Christian Classics Series over 90 years after Bounds' death, it is surmised that young Edward was named after the evangelist, William McKendree, who planted churches in western Missouri and served as the fourth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was the fifth child, in a family of three sons and three daughters.

Prayer and Praying Men has a unique approach as a book on prayer. Many books on prayer focus mostly on simply features of prayer. Edward Bounds takes a different approach in Prayer and Praying Men by focusing on persons of prayer. Bounds examines the lives of nine different biblical figures: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Hezekiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Samuel, Daniel, and Paul. In his examination, Bounds explores how important prayer was to the spiritual lives of these men. He provides concrete examples of the importance and nature of prayer, grounded in biblical narratives. Prayer and Praying Men is thus recommended for those who crave a book on prayer which is not abstract or airy, but direct and concrete. -Tim Perrine, CCEL Staff Writer

“If God answers prayer, why doesn’t He answer mine?” Does this sound familiar? Prayer is what connects us to the Creator, without prayer we lack His guidance and His power in our lives. We become an ineffective, dysfunctional part of the body of Christ. E. M. Bounds has experience with the results of true, faith-filled prayer. Let him show you how to turn your frustration into praise as you move mountains through life-changing prayer.

The Guiding Helper is a practical guide to the three aspects of Islam within the Maliki school, namely Iman, Islam and Ihsan. It is an English adaptation of Ibn 'Ashir's famous text al-Murshid al-Mu'in, and has been written uniquely for the modern reader while only using authenticated opinions within the Maliki school. Containing 43 easy-to-memorize songs that are also fun to recite, it is destined to serve as a trusty companion for English-speaking Malikis for many years to come.

Methodist minister and Civil War chaplain Edward McKendree Bounds (1835-1913) considered conversation with God as fundamentally vital to the Christian's life as physical breath. He devoted the last 17 years of his life to intense intercession and to penning some of the most perennially popular works about prayer. This attractive volume features the very best of his beloved writings. "God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world." --from E.M. Bounds on Prayer Every Christian library needs the classics--the timeless books that have spoken powerfully to generations of believers. Hendrickson Christian Classics allow readers to build an essential classics library in affordable modern editions. Each volume is freshly retypeset for reading comfort, while thoughtful new introductions place each in historical and spiritual context. Attractive, classically bound covers look great together on the shelf. Best of all, value pricing makes this series easy to own. Planned to span the spectrum of Christian wisdom through the ages, Hendrickson Christian Classics set a new standard for quality and value.

By the hundreds of thousands, men are joing the Promise Keepers, an organization offering spiritual guidance and community to Christians. Since the movement began in 1990 with fewer than a hundred men, it has grown to nearly two million, packing stadiums in cities throughout the country with individuals striving for enlightenment and a closer life with God. The apostle Luke once declared quite simply, "Men should always pray." Turning to prayer and making it a critical part of your life will open your heart to God and further your spiritual journey. That is why prayer serves as the foundation of the Promise Keepers movement. Who better than Stephen Shanklin, a leader of prayer for the Promise Keepers, to offer a book of moving and inspirational prayers to the organization's followers. First, The Book of Prayers teaches the importance of prayer, motivating men to make a connection with God. Then he helps guide men through prayer. Each chapter begins with a brief story about a man searching for spiritual help, followed by several prayers, and finishing with brief passages from the Bible. These prayers will serve men in every aspect of their lives: Prayers for Courage Prayers of Thanksgiving Prayers of Rejoicing Prayers for Repentance Prayers for Family The strength and power of The Book of Prayers comes not only in its depth and conviction, but also in its celebration of the very spirit of a life with God.

Praying People will always change the World! In this wonderful classic book about prayer, author Edward M Bounds, clearly identifies those throughout the Bible who knew the importance of praying to God. From Joshua and Jacob, and Samuel and Samson, to Daniel and David, and Peter and Paul, the sidnificance that prayer made in the lives of biblical men is unquestionable. Prayer is the difference between bictory and defeat- between communication with and isolation from God. "Hezekiah had hardly finished his prayer, and Isaiah was just about to go home when God gave him another message for Hezekiah, this time one more pleasant and encouraging. the mighty force of prayer had affected God, and had changed His edict and reversed Him in His purpose concerning Hezekiah. what is that which prayer cannot do? what is it which a praying man cannot accomplish through prayer?" Learn how you can be vitorious through praying such as those men in the Bible who overcame great odds to fulfill their destinies in God.