I was first introduced to The Autobiography of Jacob Bower in my Baptist History course at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Early 19th century Baptist preacher and missionary Jacob Bower continues to have a lasting impression in my own spiritual journey. Much like David Brainerd, Bower is a man driven by conviction and a sense of divine calling to preach the gospel even in the face of staunch opposition. I find less impressive the 40,000+ miles he rode while fulfilling his preaching duties when compared to the candor with which he relays his daily struggles as a frontier father, preacher, and sinner. The details are fascinating as they both reveal his spiritual journey and the life of a 19th century American missionary.
Until now, it appears that The Autobiography of Jacob Bower, a work in the public domain, has existed online on only two or three websites and has never seen a published (and edited) printed edition. A PDF of the work is made available through Baptist Studies Online in the primary source section located at the following URL under the sub-heading Baptist Biography: http://baptiststudiesonline.com/baptist-biography. (Backup copy of PDF just in case.)
With this post I would like to present my first attempt at an audiobook: The Autobiography of Jacob Bower Audiobook. My hope is that this audiobook will help to popularize this little-known work by making it available in a format accessible to all and under a license that permits its free, non-commercial distribution. It is offered as-is and free of charge to be enjoyed by lovers of history, biographies, and the Christian pilgrim’s progress as well as the audiobook/podcast/MP3 addict.
Download
MP3s are available in two qualities, 64kbps and 128kbps. These files should play normally on all computers, MP3 players, and burn to CD without problem. Browse the directory for individual files or download the entire book bundled together in one of the zip files below. If you’re not sure which quality you want, download the 64kbps.
11 tracks, 1hr 38mins, ~50mb (64kbps)/90mb (128kbps)
Disclaimer
A causal glance of the manuscript will demonstrate to the listener the difficulty of recording a work which does not adhere to standardized spelling or punctuation. This made reading The Autobiography oftentimes tricky and as result awkward at times. Please excuse any misreadings and/or mispronunciations that I did not catch or failed to slickly edit out. I trust that this blips won’t render the audiobook “illegible.” I do recognize after re-listening that I should have spoken slower overall. Sorry. Try to keep up.
License
The Autobiography of Jacob Bower Audiobook by Drew Maust is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at baptiststudiesonline.com. Basically, you can download, listen, distribute and enjoy (and even remix, if you like, under the same license); but you are not permitted to sell or even include this audiobook in any commercial product. Also, please do not host this elsewhere. Instead, link to this post.
CommentsOnToast