The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas à Kempis (translated by Rev William Benham)

Paperback:  The Imitation of Christ (1905) (Latin:  De Imitatione Christi) by Thomas à Kempis is a Christian devotional book.

It was first composed in Latin ca 1418-1427.  It is a handbook for spiritual life arising from the Devotio Moderna movement, of which Kempis was a member.  The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic.

Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650.  Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ. 

The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions:

- Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life

- Directives for the Interior Life

- On Interior Consolation

- On the Blessed Sacrament.

The approach taken in the Imitation is characterized by its emphasis on the interior life and withdrawal from the world, as opposed to an active imitation of Christ by other friars.  The book places a high level of emphasis on the devotion to the Eucharist as key element of spiritual life.

About the translator:  In 1857, William Benham was ordained deacon and priest in 1858.  He was appointed divinity tutor and lecturer in English literature at St Mark's, Chelsea, still under Coleridge.  He remained there until in 1865, he became editorial secretary to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.  At the same time, he engaged in Sunday ministerial work as curate of St Lawrence Jewry, under Benjamin Morgan Cowie.  From 1866 to 1871, he was also professor of modern history at Queen's College, Harley Street, in succession to Maurice.

Benham's preaching attracted the attention of Archbishop Charles Longley, who made him in 1867 first vicar of his local parish of Addington, where the archbishop resided.  Longley was in poor health:  Benham acted as his private secretary during the period of the first Lambeth Conference in 1867, and was with him at his death in 1868.  Longley's successor Archibald Campbell Tait gave him the Lambeth degree of BD, made him one of the six preachers of Canterbury and in 1872, gave him the vicarage of Margate.