Handley Moule Books: A Guide to All 10 and Where to Start
HolinessCommentaryPrayerHoly SpiritDevotional
Handley Moule (1841–1920) taught at Cambridge for most of his life and then served as Bishop of Durham. He wrote more than sixty books, most of them short. TheWay Library has ten of them, all free to read: four small books on the inner life (holiness, the spiritual life, secret prayer and the Holy Spirit), five studies in the New Testament (Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, 2 Timothy and Hebrews) and one book of comfort for the grieving. For his life story, see who was Handley Moule.
This guide sorts them so you can find what you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Moule, start with Thoughts on Christian Sanctity. It's short, it was written for students, and it holds the heart of everything he taught about holiness.
After that, choose by what you want:
- For help with prayer: Secret Prayer.
- For the next step in the holy life: Thoughts on the Spiritual Life.
- To study a book of the Bible: Philippian Studies is the warmest and easiest; Romans is the fullest.
- For the Holy Spirit: Veni Creator.
- In grief or loss: Christus Consolator.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of Handley Moule quotes.
Holiness and the inner life
Moule's best-known books are small ones on the Christian's walk with God. Several began as talks to Cambridge students, and they read like a wise older friend explaining the Christian life with care.
Thoughts on Christian Sanctity
Nine short chapters, from addresses given at Cambridge in 1884, the year Moule embraced the Keswick teaching on holiness by faith. He sets out the aims, limits and possibilities of the holy life, self-denial and the daily cross, and God's power to keep. The heart of the book is three chapters on Christ as the believer's Master, Keeper and Friend.
Realize deliberately, and in fact, that you are the slave of Jesus Christ.
Thoughts on Christian Sanctity, The Divine Keeper
Read Thoughts on Christian Sanctity.
Thoughts on the Spiritual Life
The sequel, from 1891, on how the surrendered life works out day by day. Short chapters on work and faith, self-denial, moderation, God's will, strength in weakness, the armour of God, the Spirit within and Christian service. The last is a gentle warning to busy Christian workers not to live on energy or success but on Christ. Read Thoughts on the Spiritual Life.
Secret Prayer
Talks to Cambridge students on private prayer, first given in 1888. Moule faces what crowds prayer out, even Christian work and public worship, then gives plain help: prepare beforehand, set a regular time, and read the Bible first. Later chapters take confession, adoration, consecration, intercession and praying without ceasing. It's one of the most practical books on prayer in the library.
We ought not to need, when the prayer time comes, to do all the work of preparation then.
Secret Prayer, Methods and Helps
Veni Creator: Thoughts on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
A study of the Holy Spirit from 1892, written as devotional chapters rather than a textbook. Moule shows from Scripture that the Spirit is a divine Person, then traces His work through John's Gospel (the new birth, convincing of sin, glorifying Christ) and Paul's letters (the fruit of the Spirit, the fulness of the Spirit and Christ dwelling in the heart by faith). It's longer and fuller than the three books above. Read Veni Creator.
Studies in the New Testament
Moule was a New Testament scholar, and these books follow the Bible text closely. They're written for ordinary readers, though, and every one is devotional as well as careful.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle of St Paul to the Romans
His commentary on Romans for The Expositor's Bible (1893), in thirty-two chapters. It follows Paul's argument from human sin through justification by faith, union with Christ and life in the Spirit, to Israel's place in God's plan and the duties of Christian living. This is the fullest of his books and the best place to see how he joined justification and holiness.
He has peace with God, not in emotion, but in covenant, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Expositor's Bible: Romans, Justification and Holiness
Philippian Studies
Devotional studies in Philippians, taken in short passages: the joy of the letter, "to me to live is Christ," the mind of Christ in chapter 2, "that I may know Him," and the blessed hope. Moule illustrates with the lives of believers such as Charles Simeon and Adolphe Monod. Of his Bible studies, this is the easiest to begin with. Read Philippian Studies.
Ephesian Studies
A devotional exposition of Ephesians in two halves: the blessings we have in Christ, with Paul's two great prayers, and then what Moule calls the "holy results of heavenly blessing." That second half covers unity, gifts, the old and new man, Spirit-filled worship, the Christian home and the armour of God. Read Ephesian Studies.
The Second Epistle to Timothy
Moule calls 2 Timothy "the dying letter of St. Paul." After four chapters on its setting, he takes the letter in about forty short readings, each with the Authorized Version and his own translation. They run from Paul's thanksgiving for Timothy through the call to holy courage, the inspiration of Scripture and the crown of righteousness, to Paul alone at his trial but with the Lord. It ends with an account of Paul's martyrdom. The short chapters make it good for daily reading. Read The Second Epistle to Timothy.
Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews
Thirteen short chapters on Hebrews, from "consider Him" to the letter's last words. Moule sets out Christ as our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, His one sufficient sacrifice and the better covenant, then the faith of Hebrews 11. Each chapter is brief enough to read in one sitting.
The remedy is Christ; a deeper, fuller, always maturing sight of Christ.
Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews, Unto Perfection
Read Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Comfort for the grieving
Christus Consolator: Words for Hearts in Trouble
Moule wrote this book during the First World War for families the war had bereaved, and he wrote it as a man who had lost his own daughter and wife. He faces the mystery of suffering honestly, then points to Christ the Sufferer and Christ the Consoler. The last chapters speak of the departed as "with Christ," of being brought again with Him at His coming, and of the life of the world to come. It's a gentle book to give someone who is grieving.
Beyond the shadow there is not less life but more.
Christus Consolator, With Christ
A note on these editions
These books were restored from scans of the original printings. A few still have scattered misread words or stray marks, especially Secret Prayer, Thoughts on the Spiritual Life and Veni Creator, and some of Moule's Greek has not come through cleanly. The text is easy to follow throughout.
Why read Moule today
Moule shows that careful Bible study and warm love for Christ belong together. He never treats holiness as a technique; he points you to a Lord who can be trusted. Begin with Thoughts on Christian Sanctity, keep Secret Prayer close by, and take one of his Bible studies for your next study. All ten books are on the Handley Moule author page.