tibvaxy of 'the trheotygtcd gmimvy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 «@» 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Professor P, W, Loetscher 
 
 S5538 
 .Y73 
 

 56x~vtti*-& J * M ~ 
 
CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 a Jfresj) Appraisement 
 
 / By 
 
 Jesse Bowman Young, D.D., Litt.D. 
 
 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
 CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM 
 
Copyright, 1910, by 
 EATON & MAINS 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PA<JE 
 
 Prefatory 7 
 
 I. A World-Wide Appeal 13 
 
 II. Structural Charms 21 
 
 III. An Elaborated Instance: Philemon 31 
 
 IV. A Manifold Book 45 
 
 V. Literary Traits 57 
 
 VI. The Poetry of Scripture: Its Forms 73 
 
 VII. Hebrew Poetry : Mountain and Sea 87 
 
 VIII. Biographical Attractions 101 
 
 IX. The Grip on the Conscience 115 
 
 X. The Promises 127 
 
 XL Home Life in the Bible 141 
 
 XII. Biblical Ideals: God and Man 153 
 
 XIII. The Appeal to the Intellect 167 
 
 XIV. Credentials 183 
 
 XV. The Supreme Teacher 203 
 
 XVI. The Great Portrait 217 
 
 XVII. The Book of Hope 233 
 
 Index of Texts 253 
 
 Index of Verses 255 
 
CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul : 
 
 The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 
 
 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: 
 
 The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 
 
 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever : 
 
 The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 
 
 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, 
 
 Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb. 
 
 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: 
 
 In keeping of them there is great reward. 
 
 — Psa. 19. 7-11. 
 
 Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be 
 written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear 
 them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by 
 patience and comfort of thy Holy Word, we may embrace 
 and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which 
 thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 — Collect from the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 A glory gilds the sacred page, 
 
 Majestic like the sun; 
 It gives a light to every age — 
 
 It gives, but borrows none. 
 
 — William Cowper. 
 
PREFATORY 
 
 To call forth in fresh array the beauties of the Scrip- 
 ture; to illustrate by pertinent citations and in system- 
 atic order those features of the Book which invest it 
 with perennial attractiveness; and to indicate anew 
 the main reasons which underlie its supremacy in the 
 world — these are the aims of this volume. 
 
 This supremacy — considered in view of the Bible's 
 literary qualities, its gradually perfected moral stand- 
 ards, its world-wide scope and message, its vitalizing 
 religious doctrines, and its fadeless portrait of the 
 Perfect Man; and especially when brought into com- 
 parison with the status and claims of other so-called 
 sacred books, representing various pagan faiths — 
 gives this Book a place which, like that occupied by 
 the sun in the solar system, is unique, central, com- 
 manding. 
 
 This place of intellectual and moral rulership it 
 holds to-day over a vaster realm than ever before — 
 an empire which enlarges year by year, and thus 
 steadily increases the multitudes in many lands who 
 are able to say with one of the poets of ancient Israel, 
 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto Psa. 119. 105 
 my path." 
 
 On the other hand, there are hosts of people who de- 
 liberately neglect or carelessly ignore the Bible, by 
 reason of absorption in matters pertaining entirely to 
 this life, or perhaps on account of an agnostic, worldly, 
 
8 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 or religiously indifferent temper of mind; while there 
 are vast numbers of professing Christians who sel- 
 dom read, and never study, the Scriptures. The 
 knowledge which they may possess with regard to 
 the Book is due to the instructions they received in 
 early life, and to the training which has reached them 
 from the pulpit, Sabbath after Sabbath, as worshipers 
 in the sanctuary. Living in the midst of Christian 
 privileges and opportunities and enswathed in a 
 Christian atmosphere, many people absorb, without 
 conscious effort, from their environing circumstances, 
 biblical ideals, teachings, and principles which help 
 to keep them from lapsing into heathenish ignorance, 
 stupidity, and demoralization. 
 
 There are, moreover, great numbers of children and 
 young people growing up without any settled habits of 
 Bible study. Their needs are not provided for ade- 
 quately by the current system of Sunday school 
 lessons, which at the very best, and under the most 
 skillful body of trained teachers that might be organ- 
 ized, can never afford any student of the Word a 
 coherent and symmetrical acquaintance with the 
 contents of the Bible. The knowledge our teachers 
 and pupils are gaining in the Sunday school of to-day 
 is piecemeal, scattered, and lamentably incomplete. 
 It is a hopeful sign of the times that leaders in this 
 work, who have until recently been blind to the de- 
 mands of the age in this respect, are at last awakened 
 to the needs of the rising generation, and have planned 
 an improved system of Bible study for use in the new 
 century upon which we have entered. 
 
PREFATORY 9 
 
 In view of these facts a fresh effort to bring forth 
 out of the exhaustless treasure of Scripture "things Matt. 13.52 
 new and old"; to suggest and unfold some of the 
 beautiful qualities which lie on the very surface of 
 its pages, and at the same time to indicate the funda- 
 mental charms which cannot be appreciated except 
 by those who search for them as for hid treasures, Prov. 2. 4 
 but which, when found, are fraught with unfading 
 grace — may not be amiss. 
 
 The charms of the Bible, as many know, become in- 
 creasingly evident as one reads its pages; they are 
 inexhaustible; like the mercies of the Lord, they are 
 fresh every morning and new every night; they make 
 their appeal to all classes of minds; and while some of 
 them have to be uncovered and brought to light by 
 patient inquiry, there are others which are so obvious, 
 so simple, and so manifestly beautiful that the imma- 
 ture and the untrained, even, may by a little attention 
 find them in profusion. 
 
 The man who has eyes and who keeps them in use 
 hardly needs a guide to indicate to him the sun shining 
 in the heavens. And yet many are blind to the 
 beauties of the day — to the splendor of the dawn, the 
 glory of the sunset, the sparkle on the water, and the 
 play of color on the landscape when 
 
 "Dappled o'er with s hadows flung from brooding clouds." 
 
 Only by the aid of a teacher do we learn to unbraid 
 a ribbon of sunlight through a prism and show the 
 rainbow-colored threads, and the lines and bands on 
 the spectrum which indicate the substances burning 
 
10 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 in the sun — or to apprehend the fact that there are 
 invisible rays in the light, by which remarkable 
 effects are wrought. Even if a friend may do nothing 
 more than suggest a new standpoint from which to 
 get the best impressions of a river-view, or a mountain, 
 or plain, his service is of value. Such service, perhaps, 
 this volume may render in relation to the Book whose 
 
 Psa. 119. 130 entrance bringeth light — into the heart, the home, 
 the world. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly emphasized, in connection 
 with any plan for Bible study, that while some phases 
 of the Book are easily apprehended, there are others 
 which require the best service of the scholarship of 
 the world to discover them and bring them within 
 reach of the ordinary student. Then, too, there are 
 enshrined in Scripture countless attractions which 
 can be discerned and enjoyed only by those who 
 possess the enlightened vision of discipleship. We 
 may, therefore, indeed be grateful that He whose last 
 office during his earthly ministry was to open the 
 
 Luke 24. 45 minds of his followers that they might understand the 
 
 John 8. 12 Scriptures is still the Light of the world. He has 
 graciously provided a Helper of whom he has said: 
 
 John 15. 26 "He shall bear witness of me: ... He shall guide 
 16.13,14 you into all the truth. ... He shall glorify me: for 
 he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you." 
 Thus the privilege of enlightenment is proffered to 
 all who are in loyal and loving touch with the Re- 
 deemer. And for those who long to have their vision 
 clarified, so as to understand the meaning, discern 
 
 Rom. 15. 4 the beauty, taste the sweetness, and enjoy "the com- 
 
PREFATORY 11 
 
 fort of the Scriptures," there is left on record a brief 
 but precious petition, uttered by the unknown author 
 of one of the great Psalms, and repeated by devout 
 souls in every generation since it was first set down: 
 
 ''Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold won- Psa. 119. 18 
 drous things out of thy law!" 
 
 It may be helpful to the reader to indicate here 
 that the passages of Scripture quoted in this vol- 
 ume to illustrate various phases of biblical truth or 
 usage are taken in part from the Revised Version, of 
 which two editions have been in use by the author : 
 (1) that of 1885; and (2) the one printed in 1898 for 
 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, "with the 
 readings and renderings preferred by the American 
 Revision Companies incorporated in the text." 
 Once in a while a marginal rendering has been called 
 into play, and a few times quotations have been made 
 from the great metrical version of Isaiah by Bishop 
 Lowth, or from the similar version of the Minor 
 Prophets found in the Cambridge Paragraph Bible. 
 The ordinary version has been used when its render- 
 ings seemed to express the truth most clearly. 
 
 Jacksonville, Florida. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 A WORLD-WIDE APPEAL 
 
 13 
 
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 
 
 And the man that getteth understanding. 
 
 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of 
 
 silver, 
 And the gain thereof than fine gold. 
 She is more precious than rubies : 
 And none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared 
 
 unto her. 
 Length of days is in her right hand; 
 In her left hand are riches and honor. 
 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
 And all her paths are peace. 
 
 — Prov. 3. 13-17. 
 
 O God, whose Word lighteneth the eyes of the blind; 
 Vouchsafe us, we beseech thee, the light of thy truth; that 
 fashioning our lives with all meekness to the obedience of 
 heavenly wisdom, we may by humility in things temporal 
 attain to the glory of the things eternal; through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Ainen. 
 
 — Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Thy thoughts are here, my God, 
 
 Expressed in words divine, 
 The utterance of sacred lips 
 
 In every sacred line. 
 Across the ages they 
 
 Have reached us from afar; 
 Than the bright gold more golden they, 
 
 Purer than purest star. 
 
 — Horatius Bonar. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 A WORLD-WIDE APPEAL 
 
 The appeal which the Bible makes is not limited to 
 any single generation or period in human history. 
 It is a book for all time, and for all times, ancient, 
 mediaeval, modern, and for the ages that are yet to 
 come. The majestic declaration of the Master, 
 spoken when he was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief, a peasant without wealth or worldly 
 power, still affords warrant of divine authority — 
 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words Matt. 24. 35 
 shall not pass away." The songs of praise that com- 
 forted ancient Israel in their days of exile, for example, 
 gave fortitude to the Huguenots when they were 
 harassed and driven by their foes two thousand years 
 after the Jewish captivity; and still later ministered 
 cheer to the Pilgrim fathers of the American Republic 
 in their forlornest days of toil and danger. The mes- 
 sages of the Hebrew prophets, spoken to the kings 
 of Judah and Israel, are found in our own time rich 
 in admonitions, instructions, and warnings for civic 
 reformers, political rulers, and religious leaders in 
 every land. The Decalogue, given to Moses, under- 
 lies the structure of English and American law in the 
 twentieth century, and we can hardly imagine a civil- 
 ization in the ages to come which would undertake 
 to dispense with its principles and sanctions. This ; 
 
 15 
 
16 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 then, is one of the attractions of the Word — its uni- 
 versal message, to all ages and generations. 
 
 Nor is this Book confined in its ministries to any 
 one race or language. Written entirely by Jewish 
 authors, and originally in large part the possession 
 of the Hebrew people alone, it foreshadowed from the 
 very start its world-wide scope and purpose of grace, 
 indicating that in the promise given to Abraham 
 mercy and blessing were to be the inheritance in due 
 Gen. 12. 3 time of "all the families of the earth." The language 
 of the Old Testament is Semitic, and its imagery is 
 cast in an Oriental mold; the verbiage and symbols 
 are all taken from the habits and customs, the scenery 
 and the life of Egypt, and Syria, and other regions of 
 the East; and yet much of the message, apart from 
 its transient and circumstantial wrappings, is for the 
 world. This is one of the marvels of the Bible, 
 taken as a whole, that its books — written chiefly in 
 Eastern lands, by men of various vocations and en- 
 vironments, and in different periods of time, running 
 through more than a thousand years, and in ancient 
 tongues, the Chaldee, the Hebrew, the Greek — should 
 in later generations be translated into hundreds of 
 versions, covering substantially all races and languages 
 on the earth, with their diversities of tradition, 
 tribal prejudices, hereditary traits, idolatries, super- 
 stitions, cruelties and sins, and prove to be adapted 
 to all the circumstances and needs, the heart-hunger 
 and sorrow and fears of humanity everywhere, of all 
 types, colors, and conditions. Is not this a marvel 
 beyond parallel, that a book once wholly Jewish, 
 
A WORLD-WIDE APPEAL 17 
 
 written by Jews for their own people — Hebrew his- 
 tory, Hebrew biographies, Hebrew folklore, Hebrew 
 prophecies, Hebrew hymns, Hebrew maxims of wis- 
 dom — should finally prove, with its New Testament 
 completion, to be a book for all men, in all time, and 
 in all lands under the sun? 
 
 This Book, however, has not come to its throne 
 without challenge or conflict; nor has it reached its 
 place of power by the ministry of priestcraft, or 
 ecclesiastical tyranny, or the sword of the warrior. 
 In every age its claims have been searched, tested, 
 denied, and sometimes scoffed at ; but it has made its 
 incessant appeal to the mind, the conscience, the 
 universal heart of man, in such pleadings as these : 
 
 Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. . . . Isa. 1. 18 
 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ... If any l Thess. 5. 21 
 man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, j h n 7. 17 
 whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself. . . . p rov 2 3-5 
 Yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for 4 13 
 
 understanding; if thou seek her as silver, and search for her ' 
 
 as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of " sa " 
 Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God. . . . Take fast 
 hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy 
 life. ... I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto 
 thy testimonies. 
 
 Responding to such appeals as these, the Book has 
 commended itself to all sorts and conditions of men 
 in all ages and lands. It has been tested in every 
 possible way, and has been found adequate to satisfy 
 the inquiries and longings of "every tribe, and tongue, Rev. 5. 9 
 and people, and nation" on the face of the earth. 
 Childhood everywhere has been attracted by its 
 stories of little children, such as that of Ishmael, 
 
18 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 cared for with his forlorn mother in the desert; Moses, 
 hidden in an ark of bulrushes by the river, and 
 watched over by his sister Miriam, and thus preserved 
 for an unparalleled career; and the child Samuel, 
 beginning at a tender age to minister in the sanctuary 
 and thus opening the way for a life of extraordinary 
 devotion and usefulness as the friend of the sovereign 
 and the guide of the nation and one of Jehovah's great 
 prophets. Youth has found in its elements of ad- 
 venture and romance — such as the achievements of 
 Gideon and of Samson, the story of Ruth, the combat 
 between the shepherd boy of Bethlehem and the 
 Philistine champion, and kindred narratives — mate- 
 rial to satisfy its cravings for scenes of courage, peril, 
 and fortitude; motherhood has been ennobled by the 
 gospel of the infancy of our Lord; old age has been 
 strengthened and comforted by the examples fur- 
 nished by the patriarchs, by Zacharias and Elisabeth, 
 Simeon and the aged prophetess Anna. 
 
 Business men have found in Proverbs maxims of 
 prudence, of industry, temperance, frugality, and 
 worldly wisdom, surpassing in the aggregate all that 
 has been noted of this character in the literature of 
 the nations. The great composers — Handel, Haydn, 
 Mendelssohn, Beethoven — achieved their most ma- 
 jestic and monumental works when they treated 
 themes taken from the Bible— 'The Messiah," "The 
 Creation/' "Saint Paul," "The Mount of Olives," for 
 example. The most illustrious mediaeval painters — 
 Raphael, Rubens, Murillo, and in our own day Hein- 
 rich Hoffmann, Burne-Jones, Tissot, Holman Hunt, 
 
A WORLD-WIDE APPEAL 19 
 
 and many others — have found in biblical scenes and 
 characters scope for their utmost powers; indeed, 
 they have invested the manger and the cross with 
 new glory as they have sought to portray their mes- 
 sages to the world on canvas. And, in brief, where 
 shall we stop if we once begin to mention the poets, 
 like Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare, and in the 
 recent century, Tennyson, Browning, Longfellow, 
 Whittier, who have been quickened for their loftiest 
 flights by lifelong study of the Word and constant 
 treatment of scriptural scenes? The list, furthermore, 
 of great scholars who have devoted their lives to the 
 mission of studying the evidences, the languages, 
 and the contents of the Bible, or to the task of ex- 
 pounding its teachings, would be interminable, were 
 we once to start out to make it. 
 
 It is clear, therefore — from this mere glance at the 
 varied scope of the Bible, and at the different fields 
 of beauty and attractiveness whereby it has drawn to 
 itself admiration, confidence, love, from countless 
 hosts of readers and students — that the theme before 
 us is vast to the point of exhaust lessness, this theme 
 which sets before us the charms of the English Bible. 
 
 These charms cannot be compassed, or even sug- 
 gested by way of enumeration, by any one writer. 
 But, since the Bible is to each generation — by virtue 
 of the progress of discovery in the Orient, the finding 
 of ancient manuscripts, the making of fresh versions, 
 and the constant indication of timely applications, 
 modern helps and illustrations — actually a new book, 
 one more effort to indicate its charms may not be 
 
20 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 thrown away. Sometimes a single passage of Scrip- 
 ture has required the insight and labor of generations 
 of expositors to develop its fullness of meaning; 
 just as the polishing and cutting of the Kohinoor 
 commanded the services of many lapidaries to reveal 
 all its facets and planes of lustrous beauty. This 
 volume, therefore, may find a helpful and appropriate 
 place, we trust, as the work of one more toiler who 
 would aid his fellow students of the Word to inquire 
 how it has come to pass that the Scripture has attracted 
 so many sorts of minds, in so many different ages, 
 to its consideration. What is there in this book 
 which charms the fancy, wins homage from all hearts, 
 rewards the diligent student, instructs the ignorant, 
 consoles the sorrowing, renews the fountains of life 
 at their source and origin, and holds captive, from 
 age to age, the attention of the world? What are 
 some of the chief charms of the Scripture? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 STRUCTURAL CHARMS 
 
 21 
 
A word fitly spoken 
 
 Is like apples of gold in network of silver. 
 
 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, 
 
 So is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. 
 
 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, 
 
 So is a faithful messenger to them that send him; 
 
 For he refresheth the soul of his masters. . . . 
 
 As cold waters to a thirsty soul, 
 
 So is good news from a far country. 
 
 My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter: 
 
 I speak the things which I have made touching the king: 
 
 My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 
 
 — Prov. 25. 11-13, 25; Psa. 45. 1. 
 
 God, in the gospel of his Son, 
 Makes his eternal counsels known; 
 Here love in all its glory shines, 
 And truth is drawn in fairest lines. 
 
 The prisoner here may break his chains; 
 The weary rest from all his pains; 
 The captive feel his bondage cease; 
 The mourner find the way of peace. 
 
 Here faith reveals to mortal eyes 
 A brighter world beyond the skies; 
 Here shines the light which guides our way 
 From earth to realms of endless day. 
 
 Oh, grant us grace, Almighty Lord, 
 To see thy light, to know thy Word; 
 Its truths with meekness to receive, 
 And by its holy precepts live. 
 
 — B, Beddome. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER II 
 STRUCTURAL CHARMS 
 
 One of the beauties of the Bible, little noted, hardly 
 known, indeed, to hosts of people who are supposed to 
 be familiar with the Book, consists in its structure — 
 the arrangement of its books in the order in which 
 they appear in our version, and the arrangement of 
 the contents of each book when examined by itself. 
 In this view at the very first glance one notes a very 
 important fact, with which everybody who reads at 
 all should be acquainted, but the importance and 
 meaning of which are not frequently emphasized — 
 namely, that this volume which we call the Bible is 
 really a library of sixty-six volumes. Nearly all of 
 these volumes may be procured in separate form, 
 each bound by itself, and when thus arrayed before 
 the eye the fact thus instanced becomes impressive 
 and suggestive. The questions at once arise, What 
 reason is there for binding them all in one book? 
 What have these separate volumes in common? 
 What tie or ties of unity make them one? Why are 
 they arranged in the order in which we find them in 
 our English Scriptures? 
 
 Directly we set out to make these inquiries we find 
 that in the Hebrew Bible the books of the Old Testa- 
 ment occur in another order. In ancient times the 
 Jewish rabbins distributed the books into three sec- 
 
 23 
 
24 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 tions— the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. 
 They counted First and Second Samuel as but one 
 book; and so they did with First and Second Kings, 
 and the Books of Chronicles, and with the twelve 
 Minor Prophets. Thus they made out but twenty- 
 four books in the Old Testament, whereas we have 
 in our version, by a different allotment, thirty-nine. 
 
 Still another distribution of these books was made 
 in the Greek Version, known as the Septuagint, where 
 we find them grouped under the heads, the Historical, 
 the Prophetic, and the Poetic books. 
 
 It is not worth while for us here to indicate in 
 detail the arrangement of the books as thus found in 
 the ancient versions. One who is interested in the 
 matter can easily find in a good Bible dictionary, or 
 in a work on biblical introduction, all the information 
 that is needed in the case. But, on the other hand, it 
 will amply repay us to give attention to the groups of 
 books as they are distributed in our modern Bibles. 
 
 It is a matter of course that every reader of the 
 Word should be familiar with this grouping. The 
 order of the books as they now appear in our Author- 
 ized Version should be indelibly printed on the mem- 
 ory, so that reference to any one of them may become 
 an immediate and automatic process of the mind 
 and hand. When this general arrangement, or struc- 
 ture, of the Book is clearly seen there is added to it, 
 as we have already suggested, a distinctive attraction. 
 At the risk, therefore, of being commonplace, we need 
 to give just here a summary of this arrangement of 
 the books in the English Bible. 
 
STRUCTURAL CHARMS 25 
 
 ; 
 
 1. There are seventeen Books of History, to begin 
 with, opening with Genesis, and reaching to and 
 including Esther. Nearly all the contents of these 
 books deal with the annals of the Hebrew people, 
 starting with the call of Abraham, in the twelfth of 
 Genesis, and coming down to the return from cap- 
 tivity, a record of about fifteen hundred years which 
 brings to view a series of extraordinary characters 
 and events, all strangely linked with the destinies of 
 the human race. 
 
 2. The five Poetical Books — Job, Psalms, Proverbs, 
 Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs — which are next in 
 order, do not contain by any means all the poetry of 
 the Bible, for many of the utterances of the pro- 
 phetic messengers of Judah and Israel were written 
 in poetic form, and should invariably be printed so 
 as to show their poetical structure. 
 
 3. The closing section of the Old Testament, opening 
 with Isaiah and closing with Malachi, is occupied with 
 seventeen Books of the Prophets, who form a body 
 of wise, heroic, matchless men, to the peculiar func- 
 tions of whom we may have need to recur hereafter. 
 
 TWO TESTAMENTS, OR COVENANTS 
 
 Turning now to take a cursory glimpse of the other 
 chief division of the Bible, it is evident that the two 
 Testaments, or Covenants, are thus brought into the 
 foreground as a line of cleavage in the structure 
 of the whole volume. Those who have not stopped 
 to make inquiry as to this distinction, and the reason 
 for it, will find it helpful to give heed to the matter, 
 
26 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 for in this division is involved the primary significance 
 of the whole history of God's revelation to man. 
 
 The literal meaning of the term Testament — a 
 document attested by seals, witnesses, or other legal 
 certification — or, a document which disposes of prop- 
 erty by the will of a testator — applies to the use of 
 the word in connection with the Bible. The word 
 Covenant, however, which may be employed, as the 
 Revised Version uses it, as a synonym of Testament, 
 brings out the fullest measure of meaning in the case, 
 so that we may style these two grand divisions of 
 the Bible the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 
 The former is the record of Jehovah's ancient dealings 
 with the Jewish people, and, through them, with the 
 human race, whereby he bound himself with a solemn 
 covenant, or series of covenants, or promises, on 
 certain conditions to take into new fellowship with 
 himself all who revere and obey him. The New 
 Testament, or New Covenant, is the enlargement 
 and fulfillment of the old promises, agreements, or 
 compacts, in which the privileges and blessings of 
 the gospel are assured to mankind through the work 
 of Jesus Christ. In connection with this use of the 
 term the Master's words, spoken in the institution of 
 Luke 22. 20 the Lord's Supper, "This cup is the new covenant 
 in my blood," is full of sacred suggestions. 
 
 In the New Testament, now before us, we find 
 (1) an Historical Section, made of the four Gospels 
 and the book of Acts; (2) the Pauline Epistles, four- 
 teen in number, in which the anonymous Epistle to 
 the Hebrews is included, for convenient enumeration; 
 
STRUCTURAL CHARMS 27 
 
 (3) the seven General Epistles, of James, Peter, John, 
 and Jude; and (4) a Book of Prophecy — the Revela- 
 tion of John. 
 
 This New Testament record, covered by these 
 books, reaching from the annunciation to Zacharias 
 down to the completion of the last book, includes 
 substantially the first century of the Christian era. 
 When we take a broad and general view of the entire 
 Bible as thus set before us in outline, and get a com- 
 prehensive idea of the structure and range of the 
 whole Book, its majesty, and greatness, and terrific 
 beauty begin to break upon us. The Book opens 
 with the creation of the universe, and closes with the 
 day of judgment! 
 
 The Scriptures are thus seen to comprehend, in 
 this flashlight glance which we take at them, as 
 though we were occupying one of the mountain peaks 
 of eternity for our viewpoint, the whole story of time, 
 from its beginning to its tragic close! That one fea- 
 ture of the Bible stamps it with a glory and a signifi- 
 cance elsewhere not to be found. In this respect 
 this Book is marked off from all other books in the 
 world. This bird's-eye view of the contents of the 
 Scripture, whereby we sweep the panoramic field of 
 prophecy and history, of time and eternity, with a 
 single glance, should give us pause. What other book 
 was ever written to startle the imagination and trans- 
 fix the soul with a sublime vision such as is thus 
 afforded? 
 
 Fresh attractions — to take another step in the task 
 of dealing with the structure of the Bible — will be 
 
Gen. 
 
 2. 
 
 4 
 
 
 5. 
 
 1 
 
 
 6. 
 
 9 
 
 
 10. 
 
 1 
 
 
 11. 
 
 27 
 
 
 25. 
 
 12 
 
 
 25. 
 
 19 
 
 
 36. 
 
 1 
 
 
 37. 
 
 2 
 
 28 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 revealed when we undertake to analyze and outline 
 the contents of a single individual portion of the vol- 
 ume, and thus proceed to study the Scriptures 
 seriatim, a book at a time. To read the Bible from 
 beginning to end is worth while, but those who thus 
 deal with Scripture, without noting the plan and 
 scope of each book in turn, miss much of the beauty 
 enshrined therein. Sometimes the plan of an individ- 
 ual book constitutes one of its essential charms, and 
 when that plan can be stated in a single sentence, 
 lodged in the memory, and used from time to time in 
 Bible study in connection with that particular part 
 of Scripture, there is added a new delight to the work. 
 Take, for instance, the first book in the Bible and 
 note how easily it almost opens itself for analysis to 
 the inquiring reader. The Book of Beginnings it is, 
 as indicated by its title, Genesis. For close analysis 
 attention should be given to a phrase which is re- 
 peated at the beginning of a new section again and 
 again; as, for example: 
 
 These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth. 
 
 This is the book of the generations of Adam. 
 
 These are the generations of Noah. 
 
 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, 
 and Japheth. 
 
 These are the generations of Terah [father of Abraham], 
 
 These are the generations of Ishmael. 
 
 These are the generations of Isaac. 
 
 These are the generations of Esau. 
 
 These are the generations of Jacob. 
 
STRUCTURAL CHARMS 29 
 
 A Bible reader by simply underscoring these pas- 
 sages will thereby obtain at sight a helpful outline of 
 the book. 
 
 A briefer plan, substantially correct, and easily 
 held in mind, is that which allies the contents of the 
 book of Genesis with the six chief characters men- 
 tioned in it — Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
 Joseph. Accordingly, the contents may be tabulated 
 thus: 
 
 THE BOOK OF GENESIS 
 
 (1) Adam, Creation and Fall: Chapters 1 to 5. 
 
 (2) Noah, the Deluge and Dispersion: Chapters 6 to 11. 
 
 (3) Abraham: Chapters 12 to 25. 18. 
 
 (4) Isaac : Chapters 25. 19 to 27. 46. 
 
 (5) Jacob: Chapters 28 to 36. 
 
 (6) Joseph: Chapters 37 to 50. 
 
 A simple outline, like the foregoing, is memorized 
 without difficulty, and thus retained is of singular 
 service. 
 
 Sometimes an outline becomes at the same time a 
 description of the book. The case of the book of 
 Joshua is in point. It has twenty-four chapters, one 
 half of them being devoted to the subjugation, and 
 the other half to the settlement, of the Promised 
 Land. When the simple phrase thus suggested, 
 changed slightly in form, is repeated again and again, 
 it becomes unforgettable, and the book takes on its 
 rightful significance as it brings before the mind, 
 alliteratively as well as analytically, "the conquest 
 and colonization of Canaan. 7 ' 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews may be easily out- 
 lined in such a way as to make its contents stand out 
 
30 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 in clearness, like a picture before the eye. The 
 message of the epistle, which was written to show 
 that the gospel is God's final and perfect revelation 
 of grace to the world, may be thus summarized: 
 Jesus Christ is greater than the prophets; greater 
 than the angels; greater than Moses and Joshua; 
 greater than Aaron and the Jewish priesthood; he is 
 the fulfillment of Hebrew types and shadows, and 
 his gospel is the final embodiment of divine mercy. 
 The last three chapters recall great examples of faith, 
 and urge parting counsels and practical lessons. This 
 outline can be amplified, put into analytical form, 
 and otherwise clarified; at each step of this process 
 the student will find new beauties in the epistle. 
 When after due study the contents of this noble por- 
 tion of the New Testament are fully apprehended, 
 they become a precious intellectual and religious 
 inheritance for evermore. 
 
 The structural charms of the Bible, thus hinted at 
 in the foregoing pages, can hardly be exhausted. 
 Each separate book, analyzed and outlined, becomes 
 a distinctive addition to one's intellectual possessions, 
 and each one thus possessed increases the evident 
 attractions of the Scriptures as a whole. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 
 
 31 
 
But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and 
 hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned 
 them; and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred 
 writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
 through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture 
 inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, 
 for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: 
 that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely 
 unto every good work. — 2 Tim. 3. 14-17. 
 
 How precious is the Book divine, 
 
 By inspiration given! 
 Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine, 
 
 To guide our souls to heaven. 
 
 O'er all the strait and narrow way 
 
 Its radiant beams are cast; 
 A light whose never-weary ray 
 
 Grows brightest at the last. 
 
 It sweetly cheers our drooping hearts 
 
 In this dark vale of tears; 
 Life, light, and joy it still imparts, 
 
 And quells our rising fears. 
 
 This lamp, through all the tedious night 
 
 Of life, shall guide our way, 
 Till we behold the clearer light 
 
 Of an eternal day. 
 
 — John Fawcett. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER III 
 AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 
 
 In immediate relation with the attractions of the 
 Bible which, as we have just been suggesting, are 
 involved in its structure, an instance may be elabo- 
 rated to advantage. By this specimen it may be 
 shown that unsuspected beauties are sometimes 
 lodged in the setting and environment of a book, and 
 that there are parts of Scripture which may seem to 
 have at first blush but little interest or value, but 
 which when viewed in connection with the circum- 
 stances which gave them birth, and the immediate 
 aim of the writer, are vested at once with a vividness 
 and grace never to be forgotten. This principle may 
 be illumined as well as instanced in the shortest epistle 
 of the apostle Paul, a production which has but 
 twenty-five verses, and which — without the help of 
 the sidelights to be furnished by the historian who is 
 acquainted with Paul's situation and purpose in 
 writing this brief letter — seems to contain but little 
 that is of practical or edifying import. The epistle, 
 without its setting and framework, shows off to poor 
 advantage — like a notable painting which requires 
 to be suitably framed and hung in a proper light in 
 order that its merits may be duly seen. 
 
 To this short letter, then, let us give attention, 
 drawing upon the assured historic data connected 
 
 33 
 
34 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 with PauPs later career in order to secure the side- 
 lights for its illumination. 
 
 The apostle's opening words — "Paul, a prisoner of 
 Christ Jesus" — taken along with similar allusions in 
 the Epistle to the Colossians, tell us that the produc- 
 tion was written when the writer was in captivity in 
 Rome. It belongs with the Epistles of the Imprison- 
 ment, which include Colossians, Philippians, Ephe- 
 sians, and Second Timothy — a notable category. 
 This fact alone is significant. The apostle spent at 
 least five years in captivity — in Csesarea, in the hands 
 of soldiers during the long and disastrous voyage 
 and journey to Rome, and then in the Imperial City for 
 two years or more. To all human seeming his use- 
 fulness was at an end. The little struggling Church, 
 scattered here and there throughout Asia Minor and 
 Greece, must have been smitten with dismay for the 
 time being when they learned that their chief apostle 
 and guide was a prisoner. And to the apostle him- 
 self the period of captivity must at first have been an 
 inexplicable calamity. What was to become of his 
 work? Who would instruct the converts? Who 
 would direct his fellow missionaries? How could the 
 "regions beyond" be evangelized if he, the leader-in- 
 chief, was in the hands of his enemies in a Roman 
 prison? Questions like these must have taxed and 
 almost distracted him until he learned in whatsoever 
 state he was therein to be content ; until he found 
 out that the afflictive and dreadful things that had 
 happened to him — mob violence, shipwreck, hard- 
 ships of many sorts, and long imprisonment — had 
 
AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 35 
 
 "f alien out rather unto the progress of the gos- Phil. 1. 12 
 pel." 
 
 The prison ministry of the apostle, indeed, fraught 
 though it was with suffering and privation and peril, 
 turned out to be one of the most fruitful periods of 
 his life. He wrote from prison, as we have already 
 indicated, some of his most important epistles; he 
 directed in Rome — like the commander-in-chief of an 
 army from his headquarters far away from the actual 
 field of conflict — the work of his fellow soldiers — 
 Luke, Mark, Timothy, Aristarchus, Tychicus, Epa- 
 phras, and Onesimus, among others — sending them 
 out into the city of Rome and into other fields, and 
 hearing their reports when they returned to hold 
 converse with him in his prison cell. He was in close 
 touch with the choicest troops in the Roman army — 
 the Pretorian Guard, who had charge of the prisoners 
 held for trial in the Mamertine prison; and as the 
 guards were changed several times a day the apostle 
 had many opportunities for conversation, counsel, 
 prayer with them. It thus occurred that he became 
 known in the palace of Nero, and his work, his testi- Phil. 1. 13 
 mony, and his example exerted a strange leavening 
 and quickening power among the soldiers and slaves 
 who helped to make up "the household of Caesar," 
 from whom greetings are sent to the converts at Phil. 4. 22 
 Philippi in a notable passage in the great epistle sent 
 to that body. By this means the trophies won by 
 Paul during his imprisonment grew to be many, and 
 because of the vital relation of this work to the palace 
 of the Caesars, and to the officers and men of the 
 
36 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Roman soldiery, this part of his career is of large im- 
 port. Thus the situation of the apostle at the time 
 when he wrote the short Epistle to Philemon, when 
 graphically set forth, serves to throw light on the 
 case at once. 
 
 The man to whom this letter was addressed and 
 sent, Philemon, was a citizen of Colossae, in Asia 
 Minor, who had been converted, years before, during 
 Paul's ministrations in that region, probably during 
 that period recorded in Acts, chapter nineteen, in 
 which the spread of the gospel from Ephesus, where 
 the apostle had his home for the time being, through 
 all the surrounding region, including Colossae, is 
 suggested. This man became a disciple of Christ 
 through the personal influence of the apostle, and 
 his home was opened to the ambassador who had 
 brought him to the Redeemer. The converts in that 
 city made this home their place of resort, fellowship, 
 and worship, as indicated in the expression, "the 
 church in thy house." That Philemon was a man of 
 station, of wealth, and of a kindly, generous, and hos- 
 pitable character is clearly made out when all the facts 
 are put together. He was an owner of slaves, and 
 concerning one of them — Onesimus by name — 
 this Epistle to Philemon was written. This slave, it 
 seems, had run away from his owner, after having 
 stolen money, or in some other way, perhaps by em- 
 bezzlement, had proved dishonest. He fled to Rome, 
 and there sought to lose himself in the great metrop- 
 olis. After he had been there for some weeks or 
 months, sinking, probably, deeper and deeper in 
 
AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 37 
 
 degradation, he was brought in some way, not clearly- 
 indicated in the story, into personal contact with 
 the imprisoned apostle. Exactly how this occurred 
 no one can now tell; the most probable solution of 
 the case is the supposition that the runaway slave 
 after committing some offense in Rome was arrested 
 and thrown into prison, where he made Paul's ac- 
 quaintance. We are not stretching the probabilities 
 of the situation when we opine that he was an inmate 
 of the very cell where Paul was incarcerated, and 
 that he was thus brought into the closest personal 
 relationship with the apostle. The sequel, so far 
 as concerns Paul's influence over this wretched crea- 
 ture — an outcast, a thief, a vagabond on the face of 
 the earth — might be easily forecast. The circum- 
 stances are not detailed, but the great fact is clearly 
 given in Paul's own testimony: this runaway slave 
 became one of the trophies of Paul's prison ministry. 
 He was converted and became one of the apostle's 
 helpers and workers. 
 
 We may picture to ourselves, without transgressing 
 the essential facts in the case, the situation when 
 this ragged, filthy, and abject specimen of broken 
 manhood, Onesimus, was cast into the cell w r here 
 Paul was a prisoner. When the new inmate of the 
 prison had sobered off from his debauch, and had 
 recovered in some degree his right mind, the apostle 
 began to inquire concerning his history. The man 
 confessed his waywardness and faults and sins: he is 
 a runaway slave ; his master lives in Colossae, Philemon 
 by name — at which Paul's eyes glisten and his lip 
 
38 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 trembles. That is a familiar name — that is a well- 
 known city: had this man, this poor slave, lived in 
 the home where he, the apostle, in former days had 
 been a welcome guest? Further inquiry showed that 
 this was even so. Here was the starting point for 
 Paul's instructions, warnings, and compassionate 
 appeals to the outcast, thus strangely brought into 
 fellowship with him in prison. The slave had learned 
 that the way of the transgressor is hard; he had ex- 
 perienced the pains and penalties of his wicked 
 career; and he was seemingly ready to accept the 
 offer of pardon and renewal which in the gospel pro- 
 claimed by Paul was freely made. There in the 
 Mamertine prison the man was converted; he devel- 
 oped gifts and graces quickly under Paul's encourag- 
 ing words and gracious example; when his time of 
 imprisonment was up he joined himself to the com- 
 pany of Paul's fellow workers in the city, and for a 
 time served as an evangelist and messenger. 
 Meanwhile two epistles were to be written, to the 
 Eph. 6. 21, 22 churches at Ephesus and at Colossae respectively, and 
 Col. 4. 7-9 to this task Paul devoted himself. Tychicus, for a 
 long time a companion and helper of the apostle, was 
 commissioned to bear the letters to their destinations, 
 as he was a native of that region. In connection 
 with this prospective errand into Asia Minor a ques- 
 tion arose in the apostle's mind concerning Onesimus, 
 and the conclusion was speedily reached that the 
 slave must return to his master. It is reasonable to 
 suppose that the man himself had some questions to 
 put in connection with this decision: "Am I still a 
 
AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 39 
 
 slave of Philemon? Are we now not brothers in 
 Christ? Does this new religion allow a man to be 
 held in bondage? Have I no new rights and privi- 
 leges, now that I have given my heart and life to the 
 Redeemer? What will my master do with me when 
 I return? How can I repay him the money that I 
 stole from him? What punishment will I meet when 
 I face him?" Some of these questions Paul could 
 answer offhand; others have only recently been 
 solved, in part by the gradual growth of the concep- 
 tion of manhood, in part by the new vision of per- 
 sonal liberty afforded to the world in our own times, 
 and in part by the dread arbitrament of the sword. It 
 is clear, at any rate, that Paul deemed it his duty to re- 
 turn this runaway slave, now a converted man and a 
 brother in Christ, to his master, Philemon, at Colossae. 
 
 It requires no stretch of fancy to see the apostle 
 and this converted slave conversing in regard to the 
 new relationships made possible in the gospel between 
 the master and his bondservants, under the Roman 
 law, and if we listen closely we can almost hear Paul 
 say to his companion and helper something like this: 
 
 "Brother Onesimus, you must return to your mas- 
 ter, to Philemon, my friend and brother. I do not 
 know how he will receive you, nor can I tell in ad- 
 vance what he will do in your case. But Tychicus 
 is going to Colossae with the Epistle to the Colossians 
 which I have just written, and in it I have made 
 personal reference to him and you, so that our dis- 
 ciples in that city will know that I have confidence 
 in you. This is what I have said: 
 
40 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Col. 4. 7-9. "All my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto you, the 
 
 beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in 
 the Lord : whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, 
 that ye may know our estate, and that he may comfort your 
 hearts; together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved 
 brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto 
 you all things that are done here. 
 
 "And now in addition I have written to your mas- 
 ter, Philemon, a letter which you are to take to him. 
 You are to give it into his hands yourself. Read it 
 over before you go, and you will understand what 
 sort of an appeal I have made to him. And to you, 
 before you go, I want to say only this further word. 
 Trust yourself to the brotherly kindness of your 
 master, but remember that under the laws of the 
 Roman empire you are his servant, and he must 
 determine what is to be your new relationship. I 
 have gone as far as I can with tact and sympathy to 
 suggest what perhaps he might do, but I can go no 
 further. Make no complaint; keep up your courage; 
 accept whatever comes to you in the spirit of forti- 
 tude; and whatever your lot and labor may be, act 
 as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Good-by; you have 
 been a help and a comfort to me in my imprisonment. 
 I have indicated to your master that when I am by 
 and by set free I hope to make a visit to him in Colossae; 
 in that case we may meet again; if not there I shall 
 meet you one of these days in the city that hath 
 foundations. God bless you!" 
 
 In that final interview between Paul and Onesimus 
 something like the foregoing conversation must have 
 taken place, and at least the substance of it must 
 
AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 41 
 
 have been spoken to the man thus returned to his 
 master in Colossae. 
 
 Now we are ready to read and apprehend this 
 Epistle to Philemon. Paraphrased, and put into 
 modern English, the letter substantially would read 
 as follows: 
 
 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ in Rome, to Philemon, 
 our beloved fellow worker: I have heard again and again 
 of your kindness and hospitality through these years since 
 I was at your house. The news has comforted and cheered 
 me many times, and when I pray I have you and your needs 
 in mind. May God give you grace and peace! 
 
 I write this letter, not to command from you a service, 
 but to give you the chance to do a good turn of your own 
 accord. I write to beseech you in behalf of Onesimus, your 
 slave, who has been converted under my influence here in 
 Rome, and who — once unprofitable to you — now returns to 
 you, your servant, but much more, a brother man and a 
 brother in Christ — and who bears this letter from me to you. 
 He has been so helpful to me that I greatly desired to retain 
 him here as my fellow worker — it almost tears my heart out 
 to send him away; but I did not dare to keep him here with- 
 out your consent, and so he goes back to you. Perhaps he 
 was allowed to go from you for a while so that you might 
 
 fet him back a converted man, a brother beloved. Receive 
 im as you would receive me, should I be able to come. 
 Indeed, I expect to be your guest when I get out of prison; 
 have a room ready for me when I come! 
 
 Note this — I write it down with my own hand : If Onesi- 
 mus owes you anything, charge it to me. I will pay it every 
 penny. I say this, even though I might perhaps remind you 
 that you owe me your own salvation. Think this over, and 
 do whatever the Lord prompts you to do in the case of this 
 dear brother, whom I now return to you. 
 
 I have such confidence in your generous kindness that I 
 believe you will do even more and better for him than I have 
 dared to hint. 
 
 My fellow workers salute you. Grace be with you. Amen. 
 
 Now, with this preliminary matter, which serves 
 to illumine the background as well as the foreground 
 
42 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 of this singularly interesting and touching story, let 
 the reader turn to the epistle itself, as found in the 
 Revised Version, and read it over. Rather, for the 
 sake of convenience, let the whole epistle — for it is, 
 as we now know, very brief — be here reproduced, so 
 that the picture and its frame may be fittingly 
 joined, and so that, illumined by these sidelights, 
 this exquisitely tactful, gracious, and manly letter 
 of Paul to Philemon may speak for itself — as a single 
 illustration of the beautiful things to be found in the 
 Bible. 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON 
 
 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, 
 to Philemon our beloved and fellow worker, and to Apphia 
 our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the 
 church in thy house : Grace to you and peace from God our 
 Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my 
 prayers, hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast 
 toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; that the 
 fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge 
 of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ. For I had 
 much joy and comfort in thy love, because the hearts of the 
 saints have been refreshed through thee, brother. 
 
 Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin 
 thee that which is befitting, yet for love's sake I rather be- 
 seech, being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now a prisoner 
 also of Christ Jesus: I beseech thee for my child, whom I 
 have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, who was aforetime 
 unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me : 
 whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, 
 my very heart : whom I would fain have kept with me, that 
 in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the 
 gospel: but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy 
 goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will. For 
 perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that 
 thou shouldest have him for ever ; no longer as a servant, but 
 more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but 
 how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 
 
AN ELABORATED INSTANCE: PHILEMON 43 
 
 If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself. 
 But if he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put 
 that to mine account; I Paul write it with mine own hand, 
 I will repay it: that I say not unto thee how that thou 
 owest to me even thine own self besides. Yea, brother, let 
 me have joy of thee in the Lord : refresh my heart in Christ. 
 Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, 
 knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say. But 
 withal prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through 
 your prayers I shall be granted unto you. 
 
 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth 
 thee; and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow 
 workers. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. 
 Amen. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 A MANIFOLD BOOK 
 
 45 
 
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
 but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou 
 mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein : 
 for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou 
 shalt have good success. 
 
 —Josh. 1. 8. 
 
 The words of the Lord are pure words; 
 As silver tried in a furnace of earth, 
 Purified seven times. 
 
 — Psa. 12. 6. 
 
 I will also speak of thy testimonies before kings, 
 And shall not be put to shame. 
 
 I have seen an end of all perfection; 
 But thy commandment is exceeding broad. 
 
 —Psa. 119. 46, 96. 
 
 Lord, thy Word abideth, 
 And our footsteps guideth; 
 Who its truth believeth, 
 Light and joy receiveth. 
 
 When our foes are near us, 
 Then thy Word doth cheer us; 
 Word of consolation, 
 Message of salvation. 
 
 When the storms are o'er us, 
 And dark clouds before us, 
 Then its light directeth, 
 And our way protecteth. 
 
 Word of mercy, giving 
 Succor to the living; 
 Word of life, supplying 
 Comfort to the dying! 
 
 Oh, that we, discerning 
 Its most holy learning, 
 Lord, may love and fear thee, 
 Evermore be near thee! 
 
 —Sir H. W. Baker. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A MANIFOLD BOOK 
 
 He who reads the Scriptures as if they were all on 
 the same plane of beauty, authority, importance, 
 and edifying ministry thereby misses some of their 
 chief charms. Even the laws of the Word are not all of 
 the same quality, for we have the authority of the Mas- 
 ter himself as to the first and greatest commandment, Matt. 22. 34- 
 and the second which is like unto it ; and he condemns 39 
 severely those who have "left undone the weightier ***' n \ a ,_ 
 
 * . ° Z lim. o.lb,17 
 
 matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith." 
 Saint Paul indicates four functions of Scripture in- 
 spired of God, but he surely did not mean that every 
 verse, paragraph, or chapter of the whole volume is 
 charged with all these properties. The good sense 
 of most students of the Bible leads them in the exer- 
 cise of a sober discriminating faculty to discern the 
 fact that the Bible is a manifold book, that its con- 
 tents are of various values, and that this manifold- 
 ness contributes greatly to its charms. The volume 
 would lose some of its attractiveness, to say nothing 
 of its edifying helpfulness, were it all on the same 
 grade of quality. All kinds of fanaticism and folly 
 have arisen from neglect of the truth that the Bible 
 is a book of diversities, its different parts having 
 different qualities and grades of importance. It has 
 
 taken the world a long time to find out what should 
 
 47 
 
48 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 have been perceived from the start — that the Bible 
 does not run along on a dead level of monotonous 
 utterance and teaching, all of them equally interesting, 
 notable, and important. Once quotations were made 
 almost at random from all parts of Scripture in ser- 
 mons and in doctrinal discussions, and in the task of 
 building up systems of theology — it being deemed 
 sufficient for the purpose in hand to be able to cite 
 the chapter and verse where "the Bible says so." 
 That method of Bible study and Bible teaching, hap- 
 pily for all of us, is coming to an end. Intelligent 
 people have come to see that other phases of the case 
 must be inquired into now in order to determine the 
 meaning and validity of the sayings of the Word, 
 such as: "Where does the Bible say this? Who is 
 represented as saying it? Under what circumstances 
 was it said, and for what intent? How was it at first 
 understood? Is it plain prose or is it a figure of 
 speech? Is it the moody, skeptical, pessimistic plaint 
 of a man who finds, as does the writer of Ecclesiastes, 
 nothing good or hopeful under the sun, or is it the 
 outcry of a man, like Job, distracted and bewildered 
 with his losses and sufferings, or is it clearly the ad- 
 monition and command of a prophet or apostle sent 
 by the Almighty to declare a message?" Questions 
 like these, shrewdly asked, will illumine many a dark 
 place in Scripture, and at the same time help to bring 
 out gleams of beauty hidden from ordinary vision. 
 
 The diligent reader of the Bible soon learns for 
 himself that while each portion of the Book may have 
 its own value and its own structure, there are certain 
 
A MANIFOLD BOOK 49 
 
 portions which literally overflow with light, and 
 comfort, and strengthening grace, — such as the Ser- 
 mon on the Mount, the Gospel of Luke, many of the 
 Psalms, certain chapters in Isaiah, and some of Paul's 
 writings. Here we have the central portion, the 
 throbbing heart of the Scripture, but to read it 
 through without weighing and testing the various 
 parts, without comparing their teachings one with 
 another, and without learning to discern the amazing 
 variety and the radical differences of style and pur- 
 pose and helpfulness which abound in them, is a 
 wasteful and an unedifying piece of business. 
 
 It is greatly to our advantage that the Book has 
 these diversities; we should be grateful that God has 
 made it possible for us by means of them now to 
 wander on sunny slopes, and now to walk through 
 grassy glades; now to pluck fruit from luxuriant 
 orchards, and again to explore mysterious caverns, 
 and once in a while to ascend a mountain peak and 
 thence get a glimpse of vast expanses of beauty, 
 and nearer visions of the sky; to-day to refresh our- 
 selves in cool and shady nooks from neverfailing 
 springs, and to-morrow dig deep into some murky 
 mine and bring out from its recesses gems of priceless 
 value. Exercising discernment in reading the Word, 
 the reader finds that there are certain portions to 
 which he instinctively turns when in anxiety, in doubt, 
 in temptation, in sorrow, in trial. He realizes that 
 these inner and essential features of the Bible are the 
 liber in libro, the Book within the book, and that these 
 are the substantial things of revelation — such as the 
 
50 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 promises of God; the moral law, with its ever clarifying 
 standards of ethics; the patterns of devotion and 
 courage and faith which abound; and the perfect 
 character of our Lord as set forth in the Gospels. 
 These varying qualities of the Scriptures not only 
 carry with them a self-evidencing quality which, 
 rightly apprehended, makes the Bible its own best 
 witness to its authority, truthfulness, and power, 
 but also constitute innumerable contributions to the 
 list of charms which this volume embodies. 
 
 Growing out of this singular variety of the contents 
 of Scripture we find a diversity of utterance, a mul- 
 tiplicity of literary method, and an omniformity of 
 style which transcend enumeration and description. 
 It is hardly too much to say that nearly all manner 
 of writings and writers are found in the Bible — except 
 specimens of the frivolous or comic. Indeed, styles, 
 rather than style, the plural rather than the singular, 
 is the term that needs to be used in the effort to 
 define the literary attractions of the Bible. These 
 attractions alone demand a volume instead of a chap- 
 ter for their adequate delineation. Although they 
 have challenged and received an attention, age after 
 age, which is now proverbial from the masters of 
 style, and although they have exercised a vitalizing 
 ministry in the growth of our language, from its 
 primitive beginnings through all its progress in the 
 creation of that magnificent heritage which we call 
 English literature, yet the field is still virgin soil in 
 which each new generation finds fresh and hitherto 
 unreckoned treasures. 
 
A MANIFOLD BOOK 51 
 
 The variety of aim, authorship, environment, and 
 subject embodied in the different books of the Bible, 
 as well as the long period, variously estimated at 
 from a thousand to fourteen hundred years, during 
 which the process of composition, collaboration, 
 editing, and unification into a single volume went on, 
 are circumstances which suggest the historic ground- 
 work of the various literary qualities which we find 
 in the Word. Picturesque outlines of the beginnings 
 of things, in the morning of time; an account of the 
 origin of the race, and of the emergence and growth 
 of sin in the world; sketches of heroic personalities — 
 now elaborate, and now terse and brief, mere thumb- 
 nail portraits, as it were — and narratives of their 
 struggles, adventures, sorrows, failures, sins, and 
 victories; songs and prayers which touch every chord 
 in the human heart, and sweep the whole gamut of 
 the experience of the race; messages spoken by 
 anointed messengers of God to kings and nations, in 
 times of peril and transgression and calamity; wise 
 maxims, keen proverbial utterances — the wisdom of 
 the many crystallized into current intellectual coin 
 for all time by the wit of a few — dramas of suffering 
 and of joy; a biography, fourfold in form, that stands 
 alone in its absolute perfection of plan, detail, and 
 moving force, and in its fadeless and stainless beauty ; 
 letters to endangered converts and inchoate churches 
 and bodies of people just gathered out of idolatry, 
 and assailed by temptations and woes which, however 
 peculiar to their time, were yet universal in their essen- 
 tial nature, and which repeat their allurements and 
 
 \ 
 
52 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 specious phases of iniquity in various guises in every 
 age since that early day of trial and martyrdom; mys- 
 terious imagery, startling visions, detailed directions 
 concerning forms of worship — here we have, in a single 
 far-ranging sentence, at least a suggestion covering 
 the different sorts of writings to be found in the Bible. 
 Further, every one of these themes has its own 
 apt and adequate style, its own form of literary 
 expression, its own figures of speech, or, as circum- 
 stances demanded, its own plain and direct and 
 unadorned quaintness of utterance, its own verbal 
 and rhetorical embodiment. When we gather into 
 one view these various qualities of style, what an 
 amazing variety, what an extraordinary combination, 
 we have set before our vision! The greatness of the 
 Most High, the majesty and the meanness of man, 
 the power of the human heart to rejoice, to suffer, 
 and to triumph, the magnificence of the mountains 
 and the sea, the largeness of God's mercy, and the 
 Psa. 45. 2 beauty of Him who was "fairer than the children of 
 men/' and altogether lovely — these and a thousand 
 other themes which transcend description, are en- 
 shrined in Scripture in words and sentences and 
 paragraphs which, after having passed the scrutiny 
 of the ages, have won unstinted admiration from the 
 most penetrating judgments, and, according to the 
 determination of the centuries, remain the most 
 perfect utterances in all literature. Surely those who 
 are seeking the highest standard of literary work in 
 the world will find it embodied in many places in the 
 English Bible. 
 
A MANIFOLD BOOK 53 
 
 The tribute recorded by the revisers of the Bible, 
 in the version issued in 1881-85, is, in connection 
 with this phase of the case, worth citing, as it comes 
 from experts who had devoted years of painstaking 
 labor to the work committed to their hands: 
 
 We have had to study this great version carefully and 
 minutely, line by line; and the longer we have been engaged 
 upon it the more we have learned to admire its simplicity, its 
 dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression, its general 
 accuracy, and, we must not fail to add, the music of its 
 cadences and the felicities of its rhythm. To render a work 
 that had reached this high standard of excellence still more 
 excellent, to increase its fidelity without destroying its charm, 
 was the task committed to us. 
 
 A still more recent tribute, which in view of its 
 source and spirit is remarkable, appears in the daily 
 press dispatches while this chapter is being written — 
 a statement from the committee representing the 
 Jewish Publication Society of America, and the Cen- 
 tral Conference of American Rabbis, the two bodies 
 embracing, collectively and typically, the Hebrew 
 scholarship of the twentieth century. Under the 
 auspices of these two organizations a new version of 
 the Old Testament is being made. It is to be, accord- 
 ing to their statement, "a mere revision" of the two 
 former versions, the "Authorized" of 1611 and the 
 "Revised" of 1885. Of the former version they say: 
 
 In the case of the older English version it is well known 
 how it has become an English classic, part and parcel of the 
 great English literature ; its phraseology has entered the very 
 English language and cannot be severed therefrom with 
 impunity. Hence it is that the new translation will not 
 attempt to discard familiar phrases unless in the judgment 
 of the editors they fail to do justice to the Hebrew original. 
 
54 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Even in such cases the familiar renderings will be recorded 
 in the margin. 
 
 Nor will there be any attempt at modernizing the diction. 
 Biblical English has a ring and a force which up to date 
 language cannot equal. The quaintness of the English 
 Bible is a charm that must not be sacrificed to an exaggerated 
 desire for intelligibility. The errors of translation must at 
 all hazards be corrected; absolutely unintelligible or mis- 
 leading words must be discarded, but care must be taken to 
 preserve the beauty of the biblical English, for the English 
 Bible as a classic is dear to all English-speaking men, Jews 
 or Christians. 
 
 The preciousness of this inheritance which we pos- 
 sess in our English Bible may be emphasized when 
 we recall the fact that it now represents more than 
 five centuries of scholastic toil, devoted to it in the 
 effort to clarify and perfect each successive version 
 that has been made since Wycliffe's first translation 
 of the whole Bible into English was given to the 
 world in 1384, A. D. Our English Bible is enriched 
 with martyr blood, shed in order to purchase the 
 right to translate, read, and circulate it, and it has 
 been inwrought into the very life of our English lan- 
 guage and literature so deeply that if it were possible 
 to take away the elements which it has contributed 
 to our dictionaries, our poetry, and our chief stand- 
 ards they would be left in rags and tatters. 
 
 The literary excellence of the Scriptures as embodied 
 in our familiar versions has received new prominence 
 within the past decade or two by the emphasis which 
 has been put upon the Bible as Literature, to cite the 
 suggestive title of a volume issued a dozen years ago, 
 containing articles by twenty-one notable scholars, 
 such as Lyman Abbott, Henry van Dyke, Marvin R. 
 
A MANIFOLD BOOK 55 
 
 Vincent, and Milton S. Terry. Professor R. G. 
 Moulton, one of the joint authors of the book, has 
 prepared an edition of the Books of the Bible, the 
 typographical arrangement of which, and also the 
 fresh analyses and discerning notes which he has 
 supplied, make up a distinctive contribution to the 
 apparatus of the reader who would become acquainted 
 with the charms of the Scripture. Further, the 
 typographical arrangement of the Revised Version — 
 especially the printing of the Psalms and other por- 
 tions of the Old Testament as poetry, and the indi- 
 cation of citations from various parts of Scripture as 
 such on the page, have helped to make the volume 
 almost a new book in its revelation of significance and 
 beauty. In addition there are a dozen other recent 
 versions — the Century Bible, the Twentieth Century 
 New Testament, the Temple, the Cambridge, and 
 the Westminster Bibles, and others of a character 
 all their own, each of which serves to bring out at- 
 tractive phases of the Word hitherto not stressed in 
 any former edition. The fresh facilities for biblical 
 study, the wealth of expository knowledge, and the 
 new revelations of the beauty and worth of our 
 Scriptures which are thus set before us are so many 
 and so important that they may well be styled a 
 distinguishing feature of our age. No other genera- 
 tion ever had such invaluable treasures put within 
 reach in this regard as those which we possess. And 
 each one enhances the attractions of the Book, which 
 grow in number and in beauty, decade by decade. 
 
 1/ 
 
CHAPTER V 
 LITERARY TRAITS 
 
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words; 
 And that which was written was upright, 
 Even words of truth. 
 The words of the wise are as goads, 
 And as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. 
 
 — Eccl. 12. 10, 11. 
 
 Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read: 
 
 No one of these shall fail, 
 
 None shall want her mate; 
 
 For my mouth it hath commanded, 
 
 And his spirit it hath gathered them. 
 
 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: 
 But the word of our God shall stand for ever. 
 
 — Isa. 34. 16; 40. 8. 
 
 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; 
 teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and 
 hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts 
 unto God. 
 
 —Col. 3. 16. 
 
 This Book, this holy Book, on every line 
 Marked with the seal of high divinity, 
 On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 
 Divine, and with the eternal heraldry 
 And signature of God Almighty stamped 
 From first to last ; this ray of sacred light, 
 This lamp from off the everlasting throne, 
 Mercy took down, and in the night of Time 
 Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow; 
 And evermore beseeching men with tears 
 And earnest sighs, to read, believe, and live. 
 
 —Robert Pollok. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 LITERARY TRAITS 
 
 There are certain rhetorical features of the Bible 
 which have put it in the foreground of the world's 
 attention, and have kept it there for ages in undis- 
 puted literary supremacy. A few of these may now 
 be indicated, in brief, and yet in some detail, and with 
 illustrative citations. 
 
 Some men, among those whose writings are found 
 in the Bible, deal with the grandest themes, and move 
 on the very highest plane of thought and expression. 
 It is difficult to represent their work fitly without 
 using superlative terms. These writers were first of 
 all men of unrivaled genius; then they had a passion 
 for God and an aptitude for religious truth, and an 
 insight into its meaning and worth which made them 
 a class by themselves; they had extraordinary literary 
 gifts; and in addition we are told that these men 
 "spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." 2 Pet. 1.21 
 With such varied qualifications, it is no wonder that 
 their writings in certain respects are of surpassing 
 rank. 
 
 1. The^sublimity of certain passages in Scripture is a 
 quality which stands foremost on many pages. What, 
 for instance, can the literature of the world present 
 to match the opening verses of Genesis? No matter 
 what interpretation may be put upon the chapter 
 
60 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 from which the verses are taken, it can scarcely be 
 debated that the ineffable magnificence of the theme 
 finds fit embodiment in these majestic words: 
 
 Gen. 1. 1-5 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 
 
 And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon 
 the face of the deep: and the spirit of God moved upon the 
 face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and 
 there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: 
 and God divided the light from the darkness. And God 
 called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And 
 there was evening and there was morning, one day. 
 
 Of like scope and magnificence are the opening 
 verses of the Gospel according to John: 
 
 Johnl. 1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 
 God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
 with God. All things were made by him; and without him 
 was not anything made that hath been made. In him was 
 life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth 
 in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. 
 
 How noble and adequate, also, are the words of the 
 psalmist in which he symmetrizes his lofty concep- 
 tions of the power of Jehovah, with his grateful 
 acknowledgment of the condescension of the Most 
 High: 
 
 Psa. 147. 1-9 Praise ye the Lord* 
 
 For it is good to sing praises unto our God; 
 
 For it is pleasant, and praise is comely. 
 
 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; 
 
 He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 
 
 He healeth the broken in heart, 
 
 And bindeth up their wounds. 
 
 He telleth the number of the stars; 
 
 He giveth them all their names. 
 
 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; 
 
 His understanding is infinite. 
 
 The Lord upholdeth the meek; 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 61 
 
 He bringeth the wicked down to the ground. 
 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; 
 Sing praises upon the harp unto our God: 
 Who covereth the heavens with clouds. 
 Who prepareth rain for the earth, 
 Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 
 He giveth to the beast his food, 
 And to the young ravens which cry. 
 
 Other illustrative citations embodying this quality 
 may recur when we take up specifically the topic of 
 Hebrew Poetry. 
 
 2. The ye arning, human tenderness of the Bible is a 
 phase not to be ignored. Such utterances as the fol- 
 lowing form an essential part of the Book, and they 
 make up an unspeakably precious element in the 
 Christian's heritage of grace and truth: 
 
 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. Isa. 66. 13 
 
 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth Psa. 103. 13 
 them that fear him. 
 
 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; Isa. 54. 10 
 but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall 
 my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath 
 mercy on thee. 
 
 And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my Exod. 3. 7, 8 
 people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason 
 of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am 
 come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, 
 and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land 
 and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 
 
 3. Chapters 42^45,^1 the Book of Genesis are over- 
 flowing with another element vitally affiliated with 
 that which has just been noted— namely, the quality 
 of pathos . 
 
 Those who can read that inimitable story of Joseph 
 as he deals with his brothers in Egypt, and finally 
 reveals himself to them, and sends for his father to 
 
62 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 come down from Canaan — without being deeply 
 moved with the emotions which perennially throb 
 and stir in the narrative even after the lapse of thirty- 
 five centuries, must be apathetic indeed. 
 
 There are throughout the Scripture record cries of 
 anguish, wailings of despair, sobs of inexpressible 
 grief, which come to us across the ages, repeated to 
 us as though the Bible were a phonograph, endowed 
 with the power to repeat even the tones of the voice 
 and the choking utterances of the heartbroken of 
 ancient centuries which are contained in this most 
 human of books. What a notable case is that, for 
 example, which the historian gives in his revelation 
 of King David's appalling agony when he hears of 
 the death of the revolting Prince Absalom: 
 
 2 Sam. 18. 33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the cham- 
 ber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said: 
 O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I 
 had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! 
 
 We scarcely need Longfellow's lines to make this 
 scene and its lessons more vivid than this single cita- 
 tion from Scripture makes it: 
 
 There is no far nor near, 
 There is neither there nor here, 
 There is neither soon nor late 
 In that Chamber over the Gate, 
 Nor any long ago 
 To that cry of human woe, — 
 O Absalom, my son! 
 
 Some of the appeals which Jehovah puts into the 
 mouths of his prophetic messengers overflow with 
 pathetic tenderness, while the words of our Lord 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 63 
 
 again and again are surcharged with it. Two or 
 three instances must suffice : 
 
 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver Hos. 11. 8 
 thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I 
 set thee as Zeboim? my heart is turned within me, my 
 compassions are kindled together! 
 
 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Isa. 5. 3, 4 
 judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What 
 could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not 
 done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring 
 forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 
 
 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and Matt. 23. 37 
 stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have 
 gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 
 
 Thus throughout the Scriptures God seeks access 
 to us by incidents and utterances which aim at the 
 mqst sensitiv e regions of the soul, in the effort to 
 reclaim us from our wanderings and bring us back to 
 our home. This feature of the Book may be reck- 
 oned one of its chief elements of power — the appeals 
 which it continually makes to the sympathies, yearn- 
 ings, soul-hunger, and tender emotional capacities 
 which are lodged in the universal heart of man. 
 
 4. The singular skill, the searching and awakening 
 force and penetrating power revealed in the question- 
 ing methods of the Bible need to be noted in any 
 faithful attempt to delineate the elements of attrac- 
 tion in its literary style. The questions which are 
 put into the mouth of the Almighty in the opening 
 chapters of Genesis afford specimens of the quickening 
 and wakening ministry of well-directed inquiries when 
 aimed at the detection of transgressors, the alarming 
 of the conscience, and the exposure of sin. How 
 
64 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 terrific are these arousing questions, which are sup- 
 posed to sound in the ear of the first man, cowering 
 in guilty dread, smitten with premonitions of doom, 
 in the garden of Eden: 
 
 Gen.3.9,11,13 Where art thou? . . . Who told thee that thou wast 
 naked? . . . Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I com- 
 manded thee that thou shouldest not eat? . . . What is 
 this thou hast done? 
 
 In like manner the arraignment of Cain incorporates 
 
 the same principle, the same relentless and unescap- 
 
 able method: 
 
 Gen. 4. 6, 9, 10 And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and 
 why is thy countenance fallen? . . . Where is Abel thy 
 brother? . . . What hast thou done? 
 
 How tender the question addressed to the heart- 
 broken Hagar, in the desert, famishing for water, 
 and expecting that she and Ishmael were surely 
 doomed to perish of thirst and heat — the question 
 which opened to her a chance to breathe out her cry 
 of want and grief into the ear of heaven, and which 
 assured her that sympathy and help were available 
 in her extremity of need: 
 
 Gen. 21. 17 What aileth thee, Hagar? 
 
 How full of both gentle rebuke and of sympathetic 
 encouragement is the inquiry addressed to the great 
 prophet of Israel, when he had fled from the threats 
 of Jezebel and in despondence and loneliness was 
 hiding in the cave at Sinai: 
 
 1 Kings 19. 9 What doest thou here, Elijah? 
 
 The function which the interrogative method serves 
 in turning the gaze of the transgressor in upon his 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 65 
 
 own life, and thus inducing him to sit in judgment 
 and condemnation upon his sins, is abundantly 
 illustrated throughout the books of the Hebrew 
 prophets, who knew well how to thrust a sharp ques- 
 tion into the very quick in the warnings and appeals 
 which they delivered. A few instances, cited almost 
 at random, may be suggested: 
 
 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the Isa. 10. 3 
 desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee 
 for help? and where will you leave your glory? 
 
 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Jer. 6. 15 
 nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. 
 
 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? 8. 22 
 
 why then is not the health of the daughter of my people 
 recovered? 
 
 Why will ye die, house of Israel? Ezek. 33. 11 
 
 It is in the New Testament, however, that we find 
 the fullest exhibition of the scope and power of the 
 interrogative form of speech, as it is employed by our 
 Lord and by Saint Paul. It would require many 
 pages to cite all the questions used by them, and to 
 make brief comments upon them in the case. The 
 great Teacher, of whom in his early boyhood it is 
 recorded that in the temple at Jerusalem he was 
 found among the doctors, "both hearing them, and Luke 2. 46 
 asking them questions," revealed higher qualities in 
 the use of the interrogation point than even that 
 ancient Greek philosopher whose fame is linked with 
 the Socratic method which he first established at 
 Athens. The Master questioned men for purposes 
 of awakening, of rebuke, of encouragement, and in 
 his ministry left on record scores and scores of ques- 
 tions which embody his knowledge of the human 
 
66 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 heart and of the science of teaching. Without any 
 
 effort to organize these inquiries, it may serve our 
 
 purpose merely to cite a few as typical of his method: 
 
 Matt. 7. 16 Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 
 
 8. 26 Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? 
 
 9- 28 Believe ye that I am able to do this? 
 
 13. 51 Have ye understood all these things? 
 
 16. 13 Who do men say that the Son of man is? 
 
 20. 6 Why stand ye here all the day idle? 
 
 22. 20 Whose is this image and superscription? 
 
 22. 42 What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he? 
 
 Mark 11. 30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? 
 
 Luke 10. 26 What is written in the law? how readest thou? 
 
 Mark 8. 36 What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, 
 and lose his own soul? 
 
 Remarkable specimens of the interrogative method 
 as employed by Saint Paul, especially in his argu- 
 mentative writings, may be found in the second and 
 third chapters of Romans. 
 
 Those who will reflect on the singular facility with 
 which a shrewd question — which Bacon said is the 
 half of knowledge — fastens itself in the memory, 
 arouses the soul from dormancy, and sometimes puts 
 every faculty on the qui vive, can scarcely ignore 
 the attractive, holding, and searching function of this 
 element in the Bible, which compels attention, 
 awakens conscience, quickens thought, and often 
 pierces the soul to its deepest recesses by its matchless 
 interrogatory forms of speech. 
 /^ 5. Another feature in the style of the biblical chroni- 
 
 j/ , clers which takes strong hold of the casual reader as 
 well as the critical student is the quai nt, straight^. 
 forwarcj, and picturesque simplicity of their writings. 
 Some of tne men wno nelpeaTo put the Old Testa- 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 67 
 
 ment into its present form were fascinating story- 
 tellers, using that term in its very highest sense. The 
 noblest arts which have from earliest times made the 
 Orient famous in this regard find their highest em- 
 bodiment in Scripture. Certain of the elements of 
 their style, as viewed in connection with this charac- 
 teristic of their productions, are not easily defined, 
 but a little study reveals other phases of enduring 
 interest and attractiveness which are vivified in their 
 narratives. The use of the archaic phrase, "And it 
 came to pass"; the skillful massing of circumstantial 
 details, done with graphic power; and the employ- 
 ment of such distinctive expressions as the following: 
 
 He lifted up his voice and wept — his sickness was sore — in 
 his days and in his son's days — they returned every man to 
 his house in peace — under his own vine and figtree — no rest 
 for the sole of her foot — yet other seven days — to thee and 
 to thy seed after thee — he did solemnly protest — his life is 
 bound up in the lad's life — fell on his neck and wept — a very 
 great and sore lamentation — man child — man of God — 
 comely — goodly — divers weights and measures — av ouched— 
 
 and many other strong, commanding, old-fashioned 
 terms — these are features of these ancient writings 
 which are significant and characteristic as suggesting 
 some of the secrets of their fascinating method. In 
 addition it will be seen, with a little examination, that 
 the Hebrew narrators make a sparing use of adjectives 
 and descriptive epithets, while they constantly bring 
 the noun and the verb into the foreground, putting 
 stress upon them and employing them often without 
 any qualifying phrases, while there are still other 
 qualities in their style which are elusive and subtle, 
 
68 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 and which almost defy analysis. Whether one can 
 penetrate, however, into the secrets of their literary 
 art, or not, it is evident that these old chroniclers 
 composed their narratives after a method which has 
 made them models of effectiveness for all time. 
 
 Let the following brief quotation be scrutinized, and 
 it will be found to contain some of the most striking 
 traits of the skill of the Hebrew story-writers. Not 
 a word can be changed to advantage; each term adds 
 force and finish to the narrative, and the whole stands 
 out like a picture drawn upon canvas: 
 
 Josh. 9. 3-6 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua 
 
 had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they also did work wilily, 
 and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and 
 took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent 
 and bound up; and old shoes and clouted upon their feet, 
 and old garments upon them ; and all the bread of their pro- 
 vision was dry and was become moldy. And they went to 
 Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to 
 the men of Israel, We are come from a far country: now 
 therefore make ye a covenant with us. 
 
 The whole Book of Ruth is an illustration of the 
 felicitous style of those who wrote the historic books 
 of the Old Testament — an idyllic prose poem, whose 
 beauty is never-fading. 
 2 Sam. 12. l- The account of the interview of Nathan with David 
 is a piece of exquisite work. Other qualities in 
 addition to that of direct simplicity are here embodied 
 — tragic power, dramatic action, descriptive finish — 
 indeed, the skill of the story-teller here reaches its 
 climax. 
 
 The work of the four evangelists in respect to the 
 quality of direct and unadorned narration marks off 
 
 15 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 69 
 
 these portions of Scripture from all other documents 
 in the world. The authors of the Gospels tell the 
 story of the earthly life and ministry of the Saviour 
 of the world; but they hardly ever stop to make a 
 comment, or insert an adjective, or use a single quali- 
 fying term. Incidents the greatness and the signifi- 
 cance of which must baffle even angelic intelligences, 
 words which remain for all time and all eternity the 
 final expression of the will of the Father in heaven, and 
 the unfolding of the way of salvation for the human 
 race, and at the last the sorrows and death and resur- 
 rection of the Redeemer — all these are simply told — 
 not described, or pictured, or expounded, or elaborated 
 — with an elimination of all personal elements in the 
 witness and narrator, with a self-restraint, a poise, 
 an unadorned simplicity of statement, and an ab- 
 sence of comment which silence us in a spell of speech- 
 less amazement when we come to study the history, 
 and note this quality in the historians. In compari- 
 son with the so-called graphic descriptions which have 
 been given in the pulpit, and in contrast with the 
 efforts of the various biographers of our Lord in deal- 
 ing with the crucifixion, what a piece of narration 
 is this: 
 
 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the palace, Matt. 27. 27- 
 and gathered unto him the whole band. And they stripped 31 
 him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And they plaited a 
 crown of thorns and put it upon his head, and a reed in his 
 right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked 
 him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spat upon 
 him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. And 
 when they had mocked him, they took off from him the robe, 
 and put on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him. 
 

 
 70 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 The nakedness of the style in the bare, unclad story 
 of the evangelist seems to befit Him from whose body 
 the seamless robe was stripped before he was nailed 
 to the cross. 
 
 6. The_ symbolism of the biblical writers deserves 
 a chapter instead of a paragraph. That the Orientals 
 in their languages and literature abound in imagery, 
 that they see the truth not in logical array but in 
 pictures, that they are given not to argument or 
 mathematical statements but to allegories and para- 
 bles and various figures of speech, is as true to-day as 
 it was in the olden time. Thus the Book, written by 
 Orientals, makes its appeal to children, to lovers of 
 poetical and dramatic beauty, and to all who are 
 moved by rhetorical symbolism. From this quality 
 comes the power which this volume has over the 
 imagination in its portrayals of truth in the form of 
 glowing and sometimes terrible imagery. 
 
 Page after page might well be occupied with illus- 
 trative citations instancing the variety and the 
 splendor of these symbolic utterances. A few must 
 suffice, but it will be an interesting task for any 
 Bible student to copy out and arrange typical pas- 
 sages for himself. The dying utterance of the patri- 
 arch Jacob, for example, is full of characteristic 
 symbolism: 
 
 Gen. 49. 3, 4, Reuben, thou art my firstborn: . . . 
 9, 11, 12 Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the preeminence. 
 
 Judah is a lion's whelp. 
 
 Binding his foal unto the vine, 
 
 And his ass's colt unto the choice vine; 
 
 He hath washed his garments in wine, 
 
LITERARY TRAITS 71 
 
 And his vesture in the blood of grapes: 
 His eyes shall be red with wine, 
 And his teeth white with milk. 
 
 The Psalms are overflowing with imagery employed 
 
 to make vivid the character and attributes of Jehovah, 
 
 such as may be found in the following: 
 
 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; Psa. 18. 2, 28, 
 My God, my strong rock, in him will I take refuge; 29, 33-35 
 
 My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. 
 
 For thou wilt light my lamp : 
 
 The Lord my God will lighten my darkness. 
 
 For by thee I run upon a troop ; 
 
 And by my God do I leap over a wall. 
 
 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet : 
 
 And setteth me upon my high places. 
 
 He teacheth my hands to war; 
 
 So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass. 
 
 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: 
 
 And thy right hand hath holden me up, 
 
 And thy gentleness hath made me great. 
 
 The biblical symbols suggesting the brevity of life, 
 and the beauty of a long and well-spent career, are 
 many. From the multitude we may cite these: 
 
 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Job 7. 6 
 
 In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. Psa. 90. 5, 6 
 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; 
 In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 
 
 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: 92. 12-14 
 
 He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon; 
 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord 
 Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 
 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. 
 
 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, Job 5. 26 
 
 Like as a shock of grain cometh in in its season. 
 
 A single practical suggestion in connection with 
 this enticing topic may be of service to beginners in 
 
72 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Bible study, as well, perhaps, as to others: Two 
 faults must be guarded against in the task of inter- 
 preting figurative passages in Scripture — (1) do not 
 construe them as if they were plain prose; and (2) do 
 not crowd and strain the symbols of Scripture to 
 their utmost limit in the endeavor to press out of them 
 the last bit of juice, as though they were grapes in the 
 wine press. 
 
 The messages of the prophets abound in metaphors, 
 similes, and other symbols, and the words of our Lord 
 — as we shall have occasion to note later — are often 
 couched in parables. This figurative manner of 
 speech serves to pique curiosity, move the imagina- 
 tion, appeal to the emotions, and aid the memory, 
 and it thus becomes a distinctive feature of the 
 attractive power of the Word. 
 
 r- 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 
 
 73 
 
O Lord, how manifold are thy works! 
 In wisdom hast thou made them all: 
 The earth is full of thy riches. _ 
 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, 
 Wherein are things creeping innumerable, 
 Both small and great beasts. 
 There go the ships; 
 
 There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to take his pas- 
 time therein. 
 These wait all upon thee, 
 
 That thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
 That thou givest unto them they gather; 
 Thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good. 
 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; 
 Thou takest away their breath, they die, 
 And return to their dust. 
 
 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; 
 And thou renewest the face of the ground. 
 Let the glory of the Lord endure for ever; 
 Let the Lord rejoice in his works. 
 
 — Psa. 104. 24-31. 
 
 O Word of God, 
 
 O Wisdom from on high, 
 O Truth unchanged, unchanging, 
 
 O Light of our dark sky; 
 We praise thee for the radiance 
 
 That from the hallowed page, 
 A lantern to our footsteps, 
 
 Shines on from age to age. 
 
 It floateth like a banner 
 
 Before God's host unfurled; 
 It shineth like a beacon 
 
 Above the darkling world. 
 It is the chart and compass 
 
 That o'er life's surging sea, 
 'Mid mists and rocks and quicksands, 
 
 Still guides, O Christ, to thee. 
 
 — William Walsham How. 
 
 74 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 
 
 Much more of the Old Testament is occupied by 
 poetical contents than the ordinary Bible reader is 
 aware of, for most of the books of the Prophets are 
 poetical in form as well as in their literary style. 
 The five poetical books, already enumerated — Job, 
 Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs 
 — when printed as they are in the Revised Version, 
 are at first sight seen to be of that order. Bishop 
 Lowth, in his version of Isaiah, and Dr. Moulton in 
 his edition of the Prophetical Books, as well as other 
 writers, have shown that there is thoroughly good 
 reason for printing these books in the like manner. 
 When thus set before the eye they have a new beauty 
 and a fresh meaning. 
 
 The modern typographical setting in which these 
 books are or may be presented indicates at a glance 
 the distinctive feature of Hebrew poetry, as to its 
 structure — namely, the system of parallelism. As 
 compared with English forms of verse even a child 
 can note the difference between biblical and other 
 poetry. In Hebrew poetry there is no rhythm, such 
 as is revealed in the musical lines from Byron: 
 
 The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, 
 And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold. 
 
 75 
 
76 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 In Hebrew verse there is no rhyme — a feature which 
 often adds melody to our versified lines; there is 
 no meter, such as characterizes English blank verse, 
 as in the following from one of Bickersteth's produc- 
 tions: 
 
 God's oracles grew luminous as he spake; 
 
 And all along the ages good from ill 
 
 And light from darkness sprang, as day from night. 
 
 The first faint dawn from ruined Eden rose, 
 
 And glimmered round the solitary ark, 
 
 And lighted up Moriah's sacrifice, 
 
 And shed its warmth on Jacob's dying couch, 
 
 And bathed the bloodstained mercy seat with love. 
 
 When we say that these elements, meter and 
 rhyme, are lacking from Hebrew poetry we are not 
 unmindful that some great scholars are still at work 
 in Germany and in this country trying to work out 
 the theory that both these features occur in the Old 
 Testament originals; thus far, however, they have 
 not established their contention. At any rate, the 
 matter is not essential to our discussion, for the dis- 
 tinctive fact of Hebrew parallelism as the chief phase 
 in the form of biblical poetry still remains in either 
 case without question. 
 
 There are three chief forms of Hebrew poetry, 
 which we may briefly instance here: (a) the Synony- 
 mous, (6) the Antithetic, and (c) the Synthetic. 
 
 (a) In the simplest form of Hebrew" poetry the 
 writer puts his message into two lines, the second being 
 simply a continuation or an enlargement of the idea 
 in the first, or perhaps only a repetition of the first 
 in a slightly different phraseology. Thus the second 
 
THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 77 
 
 line may be almost an echo of the first. The following 
 citations are illustrations of this form: 
 
 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, Psa. 69. 8 
 
 And an alien unto my mother's children. 
 
 We are become a reproach to our neighbors, 79. 4 
 
 A scorn and derision to those that are round about us. 
 
 Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, 80. 5 
 
 And given them tears to drink in large measure. 
 
 Occasionally this sort of synonymous parallelism 
 is extended into three lines, and sometimes these 
 triplets are made to follow in a series: 
 
 For it is a statute for Israel, Psa. 81. 4, 5 
 
 An ordinance of the God of Jacob; 
 
 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony. 
 
 The third chapter of Job contains a majestic instance 
 of this kind of structure, which is styled the synony- 
 mous or cognate form. 
 
 (b) A second phase of Hebrew parallelism is the an- 
 tithetic, in which the second line brings out a contrast, 
 or antithesis, which stands sharply over against the 
 utterance of the first. In Proverbs we have a host 
 of such utterances: 
 
 The righteous shall never be removed: Prov. 10. 30 
 
 But the wicked shall not dwell in the land. 
 
 The lip of truth shall be established forever: 12. 19 
 
 But a lying tongue is but for a moment. 
 
 Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise: 13. 20 
 
 But the companion of fools shall smart for it. 
 
 Better is little with the fear of Jehovah, 15. 16 
 
 Than great treasure and trouble therewith. 
 
 (c) Another form of biblical poetry — the construc- 
 tive, or synthetic — is found, in which the successive 
 
78 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 lines after the first furnish neither a repetition of, nor a 
 contrast to, the opening utterance, but rather indicate 
 a supplemental or completing addition. This form 
 sometimes contains three, four, or more members, 
 instead of the simple couplets or triplets as in the 
 phases just noted. A fine instance of this occurs as 
 follows, where a single thought is turned over and over 
 again, with beautiful variations: 
 
 Psa. 78. 1-8 Give ear, O my people, to my law: 
 
 Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 
 
 I will open my mouth in a parable; 
 
 I will utter dark sayings of old : 
 
 Which we have heard and known, 
 
 And our fathers have told us. 
 
 We will not hide them from their children, 
 
 Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, 
 
 And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done 
 
 For he established a testimony in Jacob, 
 
 And appointed a law in Israel, 
 
 Which he commanded our fathers, 
 
 That they should make them known to their children : 
 
 That the generation to come might know them, even the 
 
 children which should be born; 
 Who should arise and tell them to their children : 
 That they might set their hope in God, 
 And not forget the works of God, 
 But keep his commandments: 
 And might not be as their fathers, 
 A stubborn and rebellious generation; 
 A generation that set not their heart aright, 
 And whose spirit was not steadfast with God. 
 
 There are other forms of poetry that may be noted, 
 in the Bible, but they do not differ much from those 
 we have outlined; indeed, they are mere modifications 
 of the three which have just been studied, and they 
 occur so seldom that it is hardly worth while now to 
 do more than mention them. A glance, however, 
 
THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 79 
 
 may be taken at the alphabetical, or acrostical, va- 
 riety as embodied, for example, in the book of Lamen- 
 tations. Chapters one, two, and four of that book 
 have twenty-two verses each — the number of letters 
 in the Hebrew alphabet; and in the Hebrew the verses 
 follow the order of those letters, the first one having 
 as its initial letter Aleph, the second Beth, and so on 
 to the end. The 119th Psalm is another specimen of 
 a like arrangement. There are in that production 
 twenty-two sections of eight verses each. The first 
 section has Aleph for the initial letter of each verse; 
 the second section opens in the case of each verse 
 with Beth; and so on through the Psalm. In the 
 English version these sections are simply headed with 
 the Hebrew letter, as it is not possible to reproduce the 
 acrostical system as to the verses in our language 
 edify ingly. This whole psalm, it may be noticed by 
 any reader, is occupied with tributes to the Bible, 
 which is brought to our attention under a variety 
 of titles — such as the law, the testimonies, the pre- 
 cepts, the commandments, the word, the ordinances 
 of Jehovah. It is amazing that in these alphabetical 
 arrangements there is no sign of artificiality in the 
 thought or utterance. The poet does not seem to 
 have been hindered in any way, in uttering his mes- 
 sage, by the necessity of working out his acrostical 
 design. 
 
 We have already noted the fact that the Minor 
 Prophetical Books are just as really poetical in their 
 form and structure as the Psalms, and that when 
 attention is paid to this phase of them in printing 
 
80 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 these parts of the Bible new beauty is revealed in 
 them. With a little study almost any discerning 
 reader of these books may indicate for himself this 
 characteristic. The book of Isaiah, with the exception 
 of a few historic portions (chiefly found in chapters 
 37-39), is a great series of prophetic poems, spoken 
 at various times and beanng^^noifferent themes. 
 Bishop Lowth, who was the discoverer, we might say, 
 of the poetical structure of much of the Old Testa- 
 ment, made a new translation of Isaiah a century 
 and a half ago which was published in metrical form, 
 and which became a monumental work largely in 
 view of that aspect of it. A few lines may be cited 
 from it to indicate, in contrast with the ordinary 
 version, what a difference the metrical printing of 
 these portions of the Bible makes. First look at 
 three verses as printed in the Revised Version, as 
 plain prose: 
 
 Isa. 43. 1-3 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and 
 
 he that formed thee, O Israel : Fear not, for I have redeemed 
 thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When 
 thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and 
 through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou 
 walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither 
 shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy 
 God, the Holy One of Israel, thy saviour. 
 
 Now compare this passage with the same utterance 
 cited from Bishop Lowth's poetical version, in his 
 New Translation: 
 
 Yet now, thus saith Jehovah, 
 
 Who created thee, O Jacob; and who framed thee, O Israel; 
 
 Fear thou not, for I have redeemed thee; 
 
 I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 
 
THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 81 
 
 When thou passest through waters, I am with thee; 
 
 And through rivers, they shall not overwhelm thee: 
 
 When thou walkest in the lire, thou shalt not be scorched; 
 
 And the flame shall not take hold of thee. 
 
 For I am Jehovah, thy God; 
 
 The Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. 
 
 In most of the books referred to the parallelism is 
 so evident, even in the lack of metrical printing, that 
 in many cases without the shifting of a single word it 
 will be found easy to arrange a passage in parallel 
 lines so as to set forth visibly its poetical structure. 
 Take the following as a specimen, in which the verses 
 as found in the Revised Version are simply reprinted 
 in metrical parallel lines without any other change: 
 
 They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready"; Ezek. 7. 14-17 
 
 But none goeth to the battle: 
 
 For my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 
 
 The sword is without, 
 
 And the pestilence and the famine within : 
 
 He that is in the field shall die with the sword; 
 
 And he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall 
 
 devour him. . . . 
 All hands shall be feeble, 
 And all knees shall be weak as water. 
 
 The warnings and denunciations of these Books 
 of Prophecy, spoken by Jehovah's messengers against 
 Israel, Judah, and the surrounding nations in view 
 of their inveterate wickedness, their idolatries, and 
 varied disobedience, are terrible enough when they 
 confront us on the page as usually printed, but their 
 severity, their vividness, and their inner meaning 
 cannot be fully appreciated until we read them in a 
 metrical version. One of the outcries spoken against 
 
82 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Moab, for example, assumes new emphasis when thus 
 set before the eye: 
 
 Jer. 48. 8, 10- And the spoiler shall come upon every city, 
 12 And no city shall escape; 
 
 The valley also shall perish, 
 
 And the plain shall be destroyed; 
 
 As the Lord hath spoken. . . . 
 
 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently, 
 
 And cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. 
 
 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, 
 
 And he hath settled on his lees, 
 
 And hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, 
 
 Neither hath he gone into captivity: 
 
 Therefore his taste remaineth in him, 
 
 And his scent is not changed. 
 
 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
 
 That I will send unto him them that pour off, 
 
 And they shall pour him off; 
 
 And they shall empty his vessels, 
 
 And break their bottles in pieces. 
 
 In like manner the words of encouragement and 
 
 promise which these prophets often spoke, even in 
 
 dark hours of national degeneration and doom, 
 
 become more precious and beautiful when their 
 
 poetical character and structure are made apparent 
 
 in print. A single specimen must suffice, although 
 
 there are hundreds which invite attention: 
 
 Hos. 14. 4-7 I will heal their backsliding, 
 
 I will love them freely; 
 For mine anger is turned away from him. 
 I will be as the dew unto Israel: 
 He shall blossom as the lily, 
 And cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 
 They that dwell under his shadow shall return] 
 They shall revive as the corn, and blossom as the vine; 
 The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 
 
 We have occupied considerable space in this out- 
 line of the peculiarities of the structure — the outward 
 
THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 83 
 
 form — of the poetry of the Old Testament, because 
 this phase of the Bible is ordinarily but little heeded. 
 The field, indeed, thus surveyed is for most readers 
 utterly un tilled; we might better say completely 
 unexplored, a terra ignota. Yet when one has his 
 attention directed to the hitherto unsuspected at- 
 tractions which are involved in the metrical form of 
 this portion of the Scripture it becomes invested with 
 an affluence, a beauty, and often a splendor, which 
 add to our intellectual and spiritual possessions 
 measureless and permanent treasures. 
 
 While the New Testament possesses no poetical 
 books, yet it will be found on examination that there 
 are many passages in that section of the Book which 
 are genuinely poetical in form. Passage after pas- 
 sage from the words of our Lord might be cited which 
 reveal this sort of structure. 
 
 That our Lord might be numbered among the poets 
 of Israel may seem an unusual suggestion, and yet 
 it is not straining the truth to put the declaration 
 in that fashion. All that is required is the casting of 
 his utterances into the mold of a new typographical 
 setting, and, behold, their poetical structure is imme- 
 diately made manifest. Take some specimens, chosen 
 almost without heed, and reprinted, without any 
 change in the order of words, but in parallel lines: 
 
 And he said to him also that had bidden him, Luke 14. 12-14 
 
 When thou makest a dinner or a supper, 
 
 Call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, 
 
 Nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; 
 
 Lest haply they also bid thee again, 
 
 And a recompense be made thee. 
 
84 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 But when thou makest a feast, 
 
 Bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 
 
 And thou shalt be blessed; 
 
 Because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: 
 
 For thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. 
 
 Matt. 6. 19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, 
 
 Where moth and rust doth consume, 
 And where thieves break through and steal: 
 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
 Where neither moth nor rust doth consume, 
 And where thieves do not break through nor steal : 
 For where thy treasure is, 
 There will thy heart be also. 
 
 The denunciations uttered by our Lord in the 
 closing week of his ministr}' in Jerusalem, when his 
 foes were plotting to destroy him, sound like the 
 words of Jeremiah or Ezekiel, and the resemblance 
 becomes still more striking when the passages con- 
 taining them are properly printed so as to reveal their 
 poetical structure: 
 
 Matt. 23. 25- Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 
 28 For ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, 
 
 But within they are full from extortion and excess. 
 Thou blind Pharisee, 
 
 Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, 
 That the outside thereof may become clean also. 
 
 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 
 
 For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, 
 
 Which outwardly appear beautiful, 
 
 But inwardly are full of dead men's bones, 
 
 And of all uncleanness. 
 
 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, 
 
 But inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 
 
 Perhaps we may have some day a version of the New 
 Testament in which all the utterances of our Lord 
 which are genuinely metrical shall be printed so as 
 to show that phase of them. It should be evident 
 
THE POETRY OF SCRIPTURE: ITS FORMS 85 
 
 to any one who studies the case that such an edition 
 of the Gospel would give it a new charm. 
 
 After this study of the forms of Hebrew poetry 
 we are now ready to examine its substance. What 
 about its spirit, its purpose, its range? With what 
 topics does it deal? With what aim was it written? 
 These questions in part will be dealt with in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 p 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 
 
 87 
 
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount 
 Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. 
 And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; 
 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, 
 and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea; and the South, 
 and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, 
 unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land 
 which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, 
 saying, I will give it unto thy seed : I have caused thee to see 
 it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So 
 Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, 
 according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in 
 the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor: but 
 no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. 
 
 — Deut. 34. 1-6. 
 
 The heavens declare thy glory, Lord; 
 
 In every star thy wisdom shines; 
 But when our eyes behold thy word 
 
 We read thy name in fairer lines. 
 
 The rolling sun, the changing light, 
 
 And nights and days, thy power confess, 
 
 But the blest volume thou hast writ 
 Reveals thy justice and thy grace. 
 
 — Isaac Watts. 
 
 88 
 
CHAPTER VII «- 
 
 HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 
 
 In studying the substance and spirit of Hebrew 
 poetry we face the distinctive fact that it is, taken 
 throughout, a body of religious literature. The Song 
 of Songs may be an exception to this law, for it 
 seems devoid of any religious teaching except that 
 which certain traditional interpreters read into it 
 between the lines, and then force out from it by 
 expository processes which cannot wisely be applied 
 to any other book of the Bible. But the rule holds 
 good for all other poetical writing in the Bible; it all 
 deals with the interests of the human soul, with man 
 as a religious being, with the higher life and the loftier 
 destinies of the race. These Hebrew seers saw God 
 everywhere, in nature, in history, in humanity, in 
 government, in the stars, and in the human soul, in 
 the events of time and in the administration of 
 eternity. 
 
 This trait, taken in its relation to the insight, 
 beauty, dignity, and power of these sections of Scrip- 
 ture, sets the poetry of the Bible off by itself. It 
 brings home to us the truth that this chosen nation, 
 the Jews, had a literature the creation of which ran 
 through at least a whole millennium, and which in 
 all of its aspects, themes, and life was religious 
 through and through. 
 
90 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 In the poetry of the Bible we find, as one of its 
 notable phases, a devout recognition and appreciation 
 of the works of God in nature. The beauty, the 
 grandeur, the meaning, and the mystery of the out- 
 ward world are therein discerned, unfolded, glorified 
 with vividness beyond parallel in their relation to 
 Him who created them and who sustains them in 
 being. The rights of divine ownership which the 
 Almighty has invested in the universe, and the care 
 which he has exercised toward the work of his hands, 
 are exalted beyond measure by the bards of the Bible. 
 What a magnificent passage is that, for instance, 
 from which we take the following: 
 
 Psa. 95. 4-7 In his hand are the deep places of the earth; 
 The heights of the mountains are his also. 
 The sea is his, and he made it ; 
 And his hands formed the dry land. 
 O come, let us worship and bow down; 
 Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker: 
 For he is our God, 
 And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. 
 
 How noble and stately is the representation of 
 divine ownership and rulership contained in the fol- 
 lowing familiar declaration, which belongs, of course, 
 to the list of biblical utterances which people generally 
 should know by heart: 
 
 Psa. 19. 1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; 
 
 And the firmament showeth his handiwork. 
 
 Day unto day uttereth speech, 
 
 And night unto night showeth knowledge. 
 
 There is no speech nor language; 
 
 Their voice cannot be heard. 
 
 Their line is gone out through all the earth, 
 
 And their words to the end of the world. 
 
HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 91 
 
 An interesting volume might easily be collated 
 dealing with the notable sayings of Scripture con- 
 cerning the mountains and the seas. There are 
 scores of these, and they surpass in magnificence, 
 and in insight and sympathy with nature, all that 
 may be found on these subjects elsewhere. It is 
 difficult for us to account for the fact that apprecia- 
 tion of the greatness and the mystical significance 
 of the hills and the ocean is a heritage of recent date, 
 so far as literature is concerned. It belongs almost 
 exclusively to the years beginning with Scott, and 
 Cowper, and Byron — not much over a hundred years 
 ago. Wordsworth led the world, in that period, in 
 the study of nature, in the mission of unfolding her 
 innermost meaning, and in illumining her mysteries 
 with the light of his discerning intelligence. We 
 read ancient writings — the lyrics and dramas of great 
 poets, the adventures of notable tourists, the story 
 of travel on the sea and across the Alps — and hardly 
 anywhere in the records do we find a suggestion that 
 the grandeur of mountain scenery and the magnifi- 
 cence of the ocean made any deep impression on 
 these writers. The same observation is true of 
 mediaeval writers and of those who wrote down al- 
 most to the close of the eighteenth century. It 
 would seem that the light did not break from moun- 
 tain top and from dashing wave upon human sight 
 in its fullness of meaning until about a century ago. 
 But the Hebrew poets, ages ago, anticipated this 
 nineteenth-century birth of interest and appreciation 
 and delight in nature-study, and expressed in their 
 
92 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 poetry descriptions of these great natural objects 
 and allusions to them which are immortal in beauty 
 and profound in meaning. They were the first men 
 of our race to give adequate expression to the feelings 
 of reverence, awe, beauty, aspiration, occasioned in 
 the human heart when the inmost messages of nature 
 are discerned, the first to lead the human race in 
 such a chorus of praise as this: 
 
 Deut. 33. 13- Blessed of the Lord be his land; 
 
 16 For the precious things of heaven, for the dew, 
 
 And for the deep that coucheth beneath, 
 And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, 
 And for the precious things of the growth of the moons, 
 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, 
 And for the precious things of the everlasting hills, 
 And for the precious things of the earth and the fullness 
 thereof. 
 
 To-day there are many poems which suggest the 
 glory of the hill country, the sublimity of the moun- 
 tains, the higher values of peak and range, when their 
 voice is interpreted to man's nature and he is taught 
 to respond to their appeal. We think of Words- 
 worth's poetry; and of Coleridge, whose Morning 
 Hymn to Mont Blanc stands foremost among the na- 
 ture lyrics of the ages; and of Ruskin's ministry as the 
 revealer of the deeper secrets of sky and cloud and 
 landscape, and we marvel what sort of an age it was 
 in the years previous to the time when these men 
 began to speak forth to the world in prose and poetry 
 the real significance of the works of the Creator. 
 But after we have gone over all that they have written 
 we must turn at last to the Hebrew prophets for the 
 Deut. 33. 15 final word which exhibits "the precious things of the 
 
HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 93 
 
 everlasting hills' ' — things more precious than metals 
 that are concealed in their caverns, and springs that 
 flow from their cloven ridges, and timber that covers 
 their flanks, and rocks that underpin their founda- 
 tions. Where can we match utterances like these, 
 taken almost at random from the Scripture? 
 
 The blessings of thy father Gen. 49. 26 
 
 Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors 
 Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: 
 
 Then the earth shook and trembled, Psa. 18. 7 
 
 The foundations also of the mountains moved 
 And were shaken. 
 
 The hills are girded with joy. 65. 12 
 
 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place 90. 1, 2 
 
 In all generations. 
 
 Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 
 Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
 
 Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 
 
 The strength of the hills is his also. 95. 4 
 
 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. 97. 5 
 
 Let the floods clap their hands; 98. 8 
 
 Let the hills sing for joy together 
 Before the Lord. 
 
 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, 121. 1 
 
 From whence cometh my help. 
 
 Who hath . . . weighed the mountains in scales, Isa. 40. 12 
 
 And the hills in a balance? 
 
 The mountains and the hills shall burst forth before 55. 12 
 
 you into song, 
 And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
 
 They shall say to the mountains, Cover us, Hos. 10. 8 
 
 And to the hills, Fall on us! 
 
 Hear ye now what Jehovah saith : Mic. 6. 1, 2 
 
 Arise, contend thou before the mountains, 
 
 And let the hills hear thy voice. 
 
 Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, 
 
 And ye enduring foundations of the earth. 
 
94 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Hab. 3. 6, 10 He stood, and measured the earth; 
 
 He beheld, and drove asunder the nations: 
 And the eternal mountains were scattered, 
 The everlasting hills did bow; . . . 
 The mountains saw thee and were afraid. 
 
 Psa. 125. 1, 2 They that trust in Jehovah 
 
 Are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth 
 
 for ever. 
 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, 
 So Jehovah is round about his people, 
 From this time forth and for evermore. 
 
 Isa. 2. 2 The mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established 
 
 on the top of the mountains; 
 And it shall be exalted above the hills: 
 And all nations shall flow into it. 
 
 Psa. 46. 1-3 God is our refuge and strength, 
 
 A very present help in trouble. 
 
 Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, 
 And though the mountains be moved in the heart of the 
 
 seas; 
 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, 
 Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 
 
 Isa. 49. 13 Sing aloud, O ye heavens; and rejoice, O earth: 
 
 Ye mountains, burst forth into song: 
 For Jehovah hath comforted his people, 
 And will have compassion on his afflicted. 
 
 Psa. 36. 6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. 
 
 72. 3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people. 
 
 This elaborate presentation of the biblical teachings 
 concerning the great mountains seems necessary 
 in order to make anything like an adequate survey 
 of one of the most magnificent phases of the poetry 
 of the Bible, and in order to emphasize our suggestion 
 that after all that great English poets have done as 
 interpreters of nature we find the most majestic and 
 commanding utterances concerning the everlasting 
 hills in these ancient writings. 
 
HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 95 
 
 A little further inquiry would show that the most 
 significant events in the Old Testament, and some 
 of the extraordinary incidents of the New — such as 
 the Temptation, the Transfiguration, and the Ascen- 
 sion — found their setting and background fitly 
 framed upon mountain tops. Hither also our Lord 
 often resorted for prayer in the nighttime, and it is 
 clear from that fact that he, who was reared among 
 the foothills of the Lebanon range, was a lover of the 
 mountains. The Scriptures thus make a special appeal 
 to those who are lovers of the beautiful and great in 
 natural scenery, and to whom a great mountain, 
 
 "Standing alone 'twixt the earth and the heaven, 
 Heir of the sunset and herald of morn," 
 
 is one of the most moving and inspiring spectacles 
 that earth affords. 
 
 Another theme which called forth the loftiest 
 strains of Hebrew poets was the splendor of the sea. 
 The land of Israel bordered on the Mediterranean; 
 years before the nation occupied its inheritance it 
 was declared that "the great sea" should be their 
 western border. Centuries before that time the "sand Num. 34. 6 
 which is upon the seashore" was made to Abraham Gen. 22. 17 
 a symbol of the number of his spiritual progeny. 
 The triumphal exit of the liberated hordes of Israel 
 from Egypt under the leadership of Moses through 
 the waters of the Red Sea was by the genius of Asaph 
 embedded in one of their national songs of praise for 
 all time: 
 
 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; Psa. 78. 13 
 
 And he made the waters to stand as an heap. 
 
96 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Thus in their traditions, their hymns, and their 
 geographical situation — affording opportunity for 
 those who dwelt on the coast or who viewed the 
 tumbling waters from hill or mountain top, shining 
 afar off in the light of the sun, to study their beauty, 
 their grandeur, their changing phases of storm and 
 calm, and to gather from the spectacle lessons and 
 suggestions not merely for their own generation but 
 for all time — there are to be found abundant reasons 
 for the fact now before us, that the poets of the Bible 
 became, beyond all others who ever studied the 
 Gen. 1. 10 "gathering together of the waters" which were 
 called in the beginning "seas," interpreters of their 
 greatness, their symbolism, their majesty, and their 
 spiritual significance for mankind. 
 
 The note that we made with regard to the study 
 of mountain scenery in our time is true also concern- 
 ing the ocean : only within the past hundred years 
 have poets adequately discerned and unfolded the 
 varied characteristics of the sea. The works of the 
 great classical writers contain but little on this subject 
 worthy to stand alongside of what has been written 
 by the modern school of poets, beginning with Byron 
 and Scott. Shakespeare has hardly anywhere a line 
 to suggest that he was ever impressed by the great- 
 ness of the ocean, and those who followed him, up 
 to the opening of the recent century, appeared to see 
 nothing in the theme to quicken their fancy or awaken 
 their enthusiasm or vivify their muse. But the 
 tributes which the Hebrew poets paid to the sea are 
 unspeakably great. There lie before me, as I write, 
 
 A 
 
HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 97 
 
 several volumes entirely devoted to poetry of the sea; 
 many of the poems in these books are immortal, but 
 they are all products of the last hundred years, and 
 most of them have been written in that era of nature- 
 study in which, fortunately for us, our lots are cast. 
 But those who would hence conclude that the ocean 
 did not inspire men to write until recent years need 
 to refresh their studies and recast their conclusions, 
 for the work of the Hebrew poets anticipates, pre- 
 cedes, and surpasses, we opine, all that has been done 
 since their day. In support of this judgment we may 
 bring forth from the Bible the chief allusions to the 
 sea, and take only a glimpse of them as they are thus 
 massed together. Noble and stirring as many of 
 these are when viewed individually, they make their 
 due impression only when they are seen in the aggre- 
 gate. These ancient songs, when their voices rise 
 together and their music is chorded into harmony, 
 make a chorus of majesty and beauty unexampled 
 elsewhere in the world of poetic utterance. Com- 
 ment is scarcely needed to emphasize the magnificence 
 of these citations — they appeal of themselves to the 
 ordinary reader, just as the sea itself makes its own 
 appeal to the beholder who stands upon the shore 
 and notes the waters come sweeping in, or who in the 
 midst of the ocean expanse finds on all sides a fresh 
 revelation of the power and greatness of the Ruler 
 of wind and wave: 
 
 Canst thou by searching find out God? . . . Job 11. 7, 9 
 
 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, 
 And broader than the sea. 
 
98 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Job 38. 8, 11 Who shut up the sea with doors, . . . 
 
 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; 
 And here shall thy proud waves be stayed? 
 
 Psa. 33. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; 
 He layeth up the deeps in storehouses. 
 
 72. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea. 
 
 77.19 Thy way was in the sea, 
 
 And thy paths in the great waters. 
 
 89. 8, 9 Who is a mighty one like unto thee, O Jehovah? . . . 
 Thou rulest the pride of the sea : 
 When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. 
 
 93. 3, 4 The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah, 
 The floods have lifted up their voice; 
 The floods lift up their waves. 
 Above the voices of many waters, 
 The mighty breakers of the sea, 
 Jehovah on high is mighty! 
 
 104.25,26 There is the sea, great and wide, 
 
 Wherein are things creeping innumerable, 
 Both small and great beasts. 
 There go the ships. 
 Isa. 23. 11 He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, 
 
 He hath shaken the kingdoms. 
 43. 16 Thus saith Jehovah, 
 
 Who maketh a way in the sea, 
 And a path in the mighty waters. 
 
 J 57. 20, 21 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; 
 ] For it cannot rest, 
 
 I And its waters cast up mire and dirt. 
 
 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 
 
 Ezek.26.18,19 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; 
 
 Yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy 
 
 departure. . . . 
 When I shall bring up the deep upon thee, 
 And the great waters shall cover thee. 
 
 Mic. 7. 19 He will tread our iniquities under foot; 
 
 And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 
 
 Hab. 2. 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory 
 of Jehovah, 
 As the waters cover the sea. 
 
HEBREW POETRY: MOUNTAIN AND SEA 99 
 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it. 
 
 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; 
 
 For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; 
 
 And there was no more sea. 
 
 They that go down to the sea in ships, 
 
 That do business in great waters; 
 
 These see the works of the Lord, 
 
 And his wonders in the deep. 
 
 For he eommandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, 
 
 Which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
 
 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the 
 
 depths: 
 Their soul melteth away because of trouble. 
 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, 
 And are at their wits' end. 
 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, 
 And he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
 He maketh the storm a calm, 
 So that the waves thereof are still. 
 Then are they glad because they be quiet; 
 So he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be. 
 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 
 And for his wonderful works to the children of men! 
 
 Other phases of this portion of the Bible may be 
 briefly dealt with later in the volume, particularly 
 the fact that the Psalms — in their ministry to the 
 conscience, in their awakening, melting, and devo- 
 tional functions, in the keenness with which they 
 touch the very quick of the soul, and move every 
 faculty and power, and in the skill with which they 
 portray all possible phases of the life of the spirit, 
 from the depths of remorse and despair to the heights 
 of heavenly rapture — stand alone in religious litera- 
 ture. They voice every emotion of sinner and saint; 
 they paint with accuracy the various stages of sin 
 and salvation; and accordingly they have for ages 
 
 Rev. 
 
 20. 
 
 13 
 
 
 21. 
 
 1 
 
 Psa. 
 31 
 
 107 
 
 . 23 
 
100 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 revealed their purpose and efficiency as the praise 
 and prayer book of the human race. 
 
 A brief remark remains yet to be written: The 
 citations made in this chapter and the preceding one 
 may seem to be lavish; in fact, they might have been 
 manifolded without depleting the treasure-house of 
 beauty and spiritual wealth from which they have 
 been chosen. The poetry of the Bible is an exhaust- 
 less deposit of riches; were we to compare it to a mine 
 we might simply say: These are sample nuggets; the 
 mine is full of such! **- 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 
 
 101 
 
Let us now praise famous men, 
 
 And our fathers that begat us. 
 
 The Lord manifested in them great glory, 
 
 Even his mighty power from the beginning. 
 
 Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, 
 
 And were men renowned for their power, 
 
 Giving counsel by their understanding, 
 
 Such as have brought tidings in prophecies; 
 
 Leaders of the people by their counsels, 
 
 And by their understanding men of learning for the 
 
 people. . . . 
 All these were honored in their generations, 
 And were a glory in their days. . . . 
 Their seed shall remain forever, 
 And their glory shall not be blotted out. 
 Their bodies were buried in peace, 
 And their name liveth to all generations. 
 
 — Ecclesiasticus 44. 1-4, 7, 13, 14 (the Apocrypha). 
 
 And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I 
 tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and 
 Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued king- 
 doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
 the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the 
 edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed 
 mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. 
 
 — Heb. 11. 32-34. 
 
 Great God, with wonder and with praise 
 
 On all thy works we look; 
 But still thy wisdom, power, and grace 
 
 Shine brightest in thy book. 
 
 Here are our choicest treasures hid, 
 
 Here our best comfort lies; 
 Here our desires are satisfied, 
 
 And hence our hopes arise. 
 
 Lord, make us understand thy law, 
 Show what our faults have been; 
 
 And from thy gospel let us draw 
 The hope of pardoned sin. 
 
 — Isaac Watts. 
 
 102 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 
 
 Foremost among the wondrous things contained 
 in Scripture is its wealth of biographical detail, inci- 
 dent, and characterization. Hosts of men and wo- 
 men, of different ranks, of varying circumstances, 
 manifold in temperament, and representing all phases 
 of human nature, are depicted in the Bible with a 
 vividness, an insight, a dissective and a penetrating 
 skill which, taken together, set this volume apart by 
 itself among the books of the world. In this aspect 
 of the Book we have a universal portrait gallery of 
 our race, where we may wander at will, studying the 
 faces and scrutinizing the lives and even looking 
 down deep into the hearts of countless folk, good, 
 bad, indifferent; men of strength and miserable 
 weaklings; patterns of wisdom and exemplars of 
 folly; men who have overcome every adverse cir- 
 cumstance and every disadvantage of birth, environ- 
 ment, lineage, and temptation that can be suggested, 
 and are pinnacled in the Book as instances of what 
 a man may do and may become with God's help and 
 under the operation of a virile and heroic purpose; 
 and, on the other hand, pictures of men who with 
 every incentive and surrounding to aid them have 
 made shipwreck of faith, and have left on record their 
 
 103 
 
104 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 life-history as a warning to all later generations: a 
 portrait gallery which holds with growing interest 
 the attention of the world, and which gains instead 
 of losing appreciation and admiration as the years 
 grow into centuries, since each new discovery in 
 Bible lands and each successful attempt to freshen 
 and vivify our English versions of Scripture help 
 to bring out more strikingly the lineaments and the 
 salient elements of character which mark these 
 ancient biographies. It should be evident, even 
 upon slight examination, that the human element 
 thus brought to notice by the mention of the "lives" 
 of all sorts of people enshrined in Scripture con- 
 stitutes a charm not to be ignored. 
 
 This feature of the Bible accounts in part for the 
 hold which the Book secures early in life upon the 
 heart of childhood. To little ones the mother and 
 the teacher tell the exquisite stories which abound in 
 the Book, picturing them forth with that spontaneous 
 exercise of dramatic and graphic skill which forms 
 an essential function in the work of those who have 
 to deal with children at school or in the home, and 
 repeating the process year after year until the pupils 
 are able to read for themselves portions of the Scrip- 
 ture story. The imagination of childhood is thus peo- 
 pled with visions of adventure, with noble ideals, with 
 heroic characters, with pictures whereby in the most 
 effective way valuable truths are incorporated into 
 the life in its formative stages. Without this bio- 
 graphical element the Bible could never have fastened 
 itself upon the universal heart of childhood, as it has 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 105 
 
 done, generation after generation, wherever its teach- 
 ings have become known. 
 
 As to the effectiveness of this sort of teaching in 
 general through the agency supplied by notable 
 biographies, there are many witnesses, and but one 
 opinion. Plutarch, for instance, was one of the 
 greatest scholars and writers of his time — eighteen 
 centuries ago — a teacher of philosophy, a master of 
 his own Greek tongue and of the Latin as well; a 
 profound student of ethics, and of natural science; 
 yet he is known to-day chiefly because of the biog- 
 raphies which he wrote. In his later years he set 
 out to picture forth to the world forty-six "Parallel 
 Lives," half of them chosen from the realm of Grecian 
 life and half from the Roman annals. He did this 
 so skillfully, so vigorously, so delightfully, that his 
 work as well as his name is immortal. While criti- 
 cism has been busy, especially in recent years, in the 
 resolute effort to sift out from ancient classical writ- 
 ings the inaccuracies and misrepresentations and 
 partisan bias which some of them contain, yet on the 
 whole the data in Plutarch's "Lives" remain the 
 chief authority in regard to the men whom he por- 
 trays. Minor defects have been discovered in the 
 book, but the general impression which the reader 
 forms after studying his work is now recognized by 
 all scholars as the correct one. Those who desire to 
 see the leading men of Greece — orators, legislators, 
 generals, rulers — coupled each with a man some- 
 what similar in tastes, character, or career selected 
 from the life of Rome, can find the task accom- 
 
106 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 plishecl nowhere else so well as in this notable an- 
 cient work, which is still alive, although nearly 
 every other vestige of the literature which was con- 
 temporary with Plutarch is covered with the dust 
 of oblivion. 
 
 Literature in our own day is affluent in the depart- 
 ment of biography — so that one suffers "the embar- 
 rassment of riches" in selecting a few of the best 
 works as specimens of the charm which inheres in 
 this kind of writing when at its best. The service, 
 for example, which James Boswell rendered the world 
 by his Life of Samuel Johnson — who had himself 
 secured a good part of his literary influence by his 
 Lives of the Poets— is proverbial. But for the biog- 
 raphy written by Boswell the great lexicographer 
 might have been in our day merely a shadowy name; 
 but through that unrivaled specimen of a literary 
 memoir we are permitted to know Dr. Johnson as 
 though we had lived in London in his time. His 
 greatness, his foibles and defects, his literary dis- 
 cernment, his vast knowledge, his constitutional 
 indolence, his moods of penitence and depression, his 
 feasts and his fasts, his vows and church observances, 
 his proneness to spells of devotion, his joys and sor- 
 rows, his petulance and his partisanship, and a score 
 of other characteristics — all are known to us simply 
 because there was by his side a gifted biographer 
 who loved and admired the best side of the man, 
 taking notes, studying his individual peculiarities, 
 and at last writing out the story with an amplitude 
 which chimed fitly in with the largeness of the man 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 107 
 
 thus depicted and enshrined in the most famous 
 biography ever given to the world. 
 
 Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas 
 Arnold and Irving's Life of Washington may also be 
 cited as instances of the entrancing beauty of this 
 sort of literature. It need not surprise us, therefore, 
 to find that the Bible depends, for something of its 
 amazing attractions, upon its biographies, great and 
 small. 
 
 The elaborate pictures of the notable men of the 
 Bible which are sketched, and in some measure de- 
 tailed, in its pages command attention. They open 
 with the narratives of the patriarchs. Abraham, in Gen. ch. 12-23 
 the very dawn of human history, separated from us by 
 forty centuries, emerges from the mists of the past — 
 a venerable figure, dignified, self-poised, devout, 
 patient, the first of the great company of pioneers to 
 follow the openings of Providence and journey west- 
 ward toward the new lands which ever since his day, 
 from time to time, have invited migration; the pattern 
 believer, who when he got the impression that Jehovah 
 required him to sacrifice his only son, in an hour when 
 God's command and God's promise seemed to be at 
 cross purposes, did not flinch; the man whose con- 
 fidence in God's power and grace is taken in the New 
 Testament as the supreme and ideal exhibition of 
 saving faith — and becomes in the graphic record a 
 familiar figure, a friend of God and an example to 
 the ages! 
 
 Next in the picture gallery comes Isaac, quiet, Gen. ch. 24-27 
 harmless, unadventurous, a dim and nebulous char- 
 
108 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 acter, hardly to be discerned in the shadows of 
 Gen. ch. 28-36 antiquity; and then appears the strong, unfading 
 portrait of Jacob, shrewd, self-seeking, not over- 
 scrupulous; of the earth, earthy; at times sordid and 
 mean, and yet with great capacities for a nobler life 
 and for spiritual things long covered up in the sub- 
 liminal parts of his nature — capacities which finally 
 flowered into beauty and commanding growth so 
 that when we study his career and note what the 
 grace of God can do with coarse and common clay 
 we see a new meaning in the psalmist's words, "The 
 Psa. 46. 7 God of Jacob is our refuge." 
 
 Gen. ch. 37-50 And who can forget the matchless story of Joseph? 
 — beloved by his father, hated by his jealous brothers, 
 sold in his teens into Egypt, maintaining his equipoise 
 and holding fast to his integrity when tempted, ma- 
 ligned and imprisoned, and retaining his grasp on 
 the higher values when subjected to the specious 
 allurements and demoralizations which unlimited 
 wealth and arbitrary power involve. The salient 
 lessons of his life — God's providential care of his own, 
 the duty of fraternal love, the obligation to forget 
 and forgive when one has been sorely injured, the 
 privilege of discerning even in disaster and suffering 
 a divine message and meaning — when these are 
 written out in plain prose they are, of course, signifi- 
 cant, but how much more inevitable and commanding 
 they become when they appear in the details of the 
 story as a matter of course, standing out in the drama, 
 and making their own indelible impression. 
 This, of course, as everyone must see who gives the 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 109 
 
 slightest thought to the matter, is the aim of these 
 Bible biographies: they present us with virtue and 
 vice embodied, incorporated into human lives, set 
 before us in immortal examples. Thus arrayed 
 before us in panoramic vision they stir within us the 
 spirit of emulation or warn us, on the other hand, 
 with admonitions that cannot pass unheeded; they 
 teach us what great and heroic qualities belong to 
 human nature, and they also show us by dreadful 
 exhibitions of vice, crime, weakness, and treachery 
 to what depths of degradation a man may descend. 
 
 Much edifying and interesting matter, for instance, 
 has been written by wise teachers to show that even 
 children may serve the Lord, and that an early start 
 in the way of righteousness may lead to a godly life 
 and a career of vast influence; indeed, not only chap- 
 ters but volumes have been written with that purpose 
 in view. Useful as they are, all of them together 
 fail to grip the imagination, and to take hold of the 
 memory and move the heart, as does a single bit of 
 biographical writing in the Old Testament, where we 
 are told of the child Samuel, his praying mother, his 
 child-ministrations in the sanctuary, and his response 
 to the divine call — "Speak, Lord; for thy servant 1 Sam. ch. 1-3 
 heareth." 
 
 The biblical virtue of humility — to take another 
 case — is hard to define so as to make it clear to in- 
 quiring minds. To be humble is often regarded, 
 even by well-instructed people, as synonymous with 
 being timid, tame-spirited, lacking in self-respect 
 and in courageous aggressiveness. The Bible is wise 
 
110 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 enough not to attempt to define this virtue — instead 
 of definitions it gives us pictures — and in this par- 
 ticular case it portrays this noble grace of humility so 
 vividly and in such relation with other qualities 
 as to require the conclusion that this virtue is conso- 
 nant with the most magnificent combination of noble 
 aims and dispositions to be found anywhere in the 
 world. 
 
 Abraham teaches us what this grace is when we see 
 him bowing in self-abasement and lowly reverence 
 before Jehovah and exclaiming under his breath, 
 
 Gen. 18. 27 "Behold, I am but dust and ashes." Gideon illus- 
 trates the meaning and beauty of this trait when in 
 dismay he cries out upon being summoned to under- 
 
 Judg. 6. 15 take a forlorn-hope enterprise, "Oh Lord, wherewith 
 shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest 
 in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 
 Jeremiah, who became the counselor of kings, teaches 
 the same lesson when at the outset of his prophetic 
 
 Jer. l. 6 ministry he utters his pathetic protest, "Ah, Lord 
 
 Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak: for I am 
 a child." Who can mistake the nature of humility 
 when he considers the picture found in the later part 
 of the career of the patriarch of Uz, who says, at the 
 end of the long argument: 
 
 Job 42. 5, 6 "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: 
 
 But now mine eye seeth thee, 
 Wherefore I abhor myself and repent 
 In dust and ashes"? 
 
 The Roman centurion, evidently a man of com- 
 manding character, possessing the dignity of a true 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 111 
 
 soldier, types the quality under consideration when 
 
 he responds to the Master's assurance, "I will come 
 
 and heal thy servant," with the self-deprecating 
 
 words, "0 Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest Matt. 8. 5-10 
 
 come under my roof: but only say the word, and 
 
 my servant shall be healed." And Saint Paul, 
 
 who declares that he is "the least of the apostles, not l Cor. 15. 9 
 
 meet to be called an apostle," and who later writes, 
 
 "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, Eph. 3. 8 
 
 was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles 
 
 the unsearchable riches of Christ," is a witness to the 
 
 fact that the deepest humility may coexist in the 
 
 heart with the most generous and lofty qualities in 
 
 human character. 
 
 With this preliminary study we may begin to appre- 
 hend the reason why the contents of Scripture are 
 so largely poured into biographical molds, which 
 serve to make virtue clear to the eye and embody it 
 before the imagination; and to delineate by means 
 of living examples the meaning and worth of the 
 fundamental graces. These living patterns of holy 
 character appeal to all t hat is j ioble and emulous in 
 our hearts. As we study them Joshua passes before 
 the eye a type of soldierly devotion and courage ; and 
 Job teaches us by his patience and resignation that 
 it is possible for a mortal to say in the very extremity 
 of loss and pain, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust Job 13. 15 
 him"; and Andrew, the first of the Master's disciples, 
 appears, to show us how easy it is for a young con- John l. 41 
 vert, after having found Christ, to go out and bring 
 his brother to the Saviour; while, greatest of them 
 
112 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 all, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, by his person- 
 ality and career, pictured with extraordinary vivid- 
 ness in part by his own pen in his epistles, and in part 
 by Saint Luke, his fellow worker and beloved physi- 
 cian, reveals the spirit and plan of the pattern mis- 
 sionary, serving as an ever-living example of zeal, 
 wisdom, compassion, and love for all lands and ages 
 
 Rev. ll. 15 until the kingdoms of this world shall have become 
 the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ! 
 
 The biblical biographies, moreover, are fraught 
 with warnings, also, of the most searching sort. The 
 frailties, blunders, and sins of the saints and the 
 perverseness, cruelty, and stubbornness of the wicked 
 are told with a plainness and a vividness that are 
 forever impressive. The truth that middle life and 
 old age have their peculiar perils, for instance, is 
 urged upon us by the story of David's double trans- 
 gression, with the punishment which followed hard 
 upon it; as well as by the breakdown of Solomon, 
 
 l Kinga ll. 4 who in old age loved many strange women, and was 
 by them turned from the worship of the Almighty 
 to follow other gods. Indeed, there is scarcely to 
 be found anywhere in life's voyage a dangerous reef, 
 or a treacherous quicksand, where a mortal may be 
 engulfed, that is not marked in Scripture as by a 
 beacon light or a buoy in the story of some poor soul 
 who has thereon made shipwreck of faith. Out from 
 the pages of these Bible stories come hosts of solemn 
 
 Exod. 8. 15 admonitions issuing forth from lips long ago turned 
 to dust. Here Pharaoh warns us against the folly 
 and blindness of those who when they see that there 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL ATTRACTIONS 113 
 
 is respite harden their hearts; and Judas bears un- 
 willing testimony age after age that a man may be 
 for years a companion of Jesus Christ, and even one 
 of his apostles, and yet turn out to be a traitor; and 
 Pilate is an illustration of the doom which comes upon Luke 23. 13- 
 
 24 
 
 the man who trifles with his sense of justice, caters to 
 the prejudices of the mob, puts his political interests 
 and office ahead of his moral convictions, and shuts 
 his eyes to the true, the beautiful, and the good, 
 when the Truth embodied stands in his very presence! 
 Sometimes in the brief biographical allusions in the 
 Scripture there are found instances where a life-story 
 is summed up in a sentence or two, or where in a 
 phrase a tragedy is depicted. Take, by way of 
 illustration, the case of Demas, one of the companions 
 and helpers of Paul in Rome during the apostle's 
 imprisonment toward the end of his ministry. All 
 that is known concerning Demas is found in three Col. 4. 14 
 references, but these brief mentions of the name ™} em \ 2 * 
 make up a picture full of meaning. The apostle, 
 writing to one of his churches, joins this man with 
 one of the noblest of his yokefellows, saying, "Luke, 
 the beloved physician, and Demas salute you." 
 About the same time, in writing to a brother in Asia 
 Minor, he brings into a single verse four men by 
 name who unite in salutations: "Mark, Aristarchus, 
 Demas, Luke, my fellow workers." Here we see 
 Demas, in the midst of choice friends, ministering 
 to the apostle in prison, helping to carry out his 
 plans, holding fellowship with men worthy to rank 
 with the "glorious company of the apostles and the 
 
 2 Tim. 4. 9 
 
114 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 goodly fellowship of the prophets" for all time. Alas! 
 this is not the whole story. There is another mention 
 of this man, in which he is singled out to stand by 
 himself. The close of the great ministry of Paul is 
 near; the plots of his foes are culminating, and he 
 writes his farewell letter, in which he urges Timothy 
 to visit him in Rome: "Do thy diligence to come 
 shortly unto me : for Demas hath forsaken me, having 
 loved this present world." There in three verses we 
 behold a tragedy enacted — a man counted worthy 
 to be a friend and fellow worker of Paul, serving the 
 interests of the kingdom for a while in Rome, visiting 
 the apostle in prison, holding sweet converse with 
 the other brethren, and numbered for the time among 
 the saints; turning at last from his teacher and friend, 
 giving up his commission, stopping his ears against 
 the call of duty, and absorbed once more in the cares 
 and gains and enticements of this present world — 
 the world of sight and sense, the world of pleasure 
 and gain, the world of allurement and adventure; 
 finding his "own place" in the awful record, out of 
 which he passes into darkness. He loved the world; 
 he forsook Paul, he escaped being a hero, and sinks 
 out of sight as a renegade. From this single instance 
 we can see how marvelous even the biographical 
 allusions of the Scripture sometimes are! 
 
 v 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 
 
 115 
 
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lov- 
 ing-kindness : 
 
 According to the multitude of thy tender mercies 
 blot out my transgressions. 
 
 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, 
 
 And cleanse me from my sin. 
 
 For I acknowledge my trangressions: 
 
 And my sin is ever before me. 
 
 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 
 
 And done that which is evil in thy sight: 
 
 That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, 
 
 And be clear when thou judgest. 
 
 — Psa.51.1-4. 
 
 Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless 
 and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and 
 profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, 
 for manslayers, for fornicators, for abusers of themselves 
 with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and 
 if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; 
 according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, 
 which was committed to my trust. 
 
 —1 Tim. 1.9-11. 
 
 Holy Bible, Book divine, 
 Precious treasure, thou art mine! 
 Mine to tell me whence I came, 
 Mine to tell me what I am, 
 Mine to chide me when I rove; 
 Mine to show a Saviour's love; 
 Mine art thou to guide my feet, 
 Mine to judge, condemn, acquit. 
 Mine to comfort in distress, 
 If the Holy Spirit bless; 
 Mine to show by living faith 
 Man can triumph over death; 
 Mine to tell of joys to come, 
 And the rebel sinner's doom: — 
 Holy Bible, Book divine, 
 Precious treasure, thou art mine! 
 
 — John Burton. 
 
 116 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 
 
 Thus far we have noted chiefly the attractions of 
 the Bible which are to be classified as aesthetic, 
 literary, rhetorical. These, however, are not the 
 supreme charms of Scripture, although they are 
 involved in those elements which attach to it imper- 
 ishable interest and value. The Book has a hold 
 upon human nature in view of other aspects and 
 qualities than those which we have been studying. 
 Beautiful as this volume is, considered as a matchless 
 specimen of ancient literature, charming as are its 
 narratives, noble as is its poetry, and heroic as are 
 its models of character, it could never have reached 
 its supreme rank in the world but for other elements 
 which it possesses in unique measure. It holds fast 
 to man with a grip like that which the sun exerts 
 upon its planetary system by means of gravitation, 
 like that which the magnet sways upon the steel, a 
 grip the like of which is shown by no other book in 
 the world. This grip is the hold it has upon the 
 moral faculties, the appeal which it makes to the 
 ethical judgment, the power which it has to awaken 
 the conscience, to rouse the soul from its guilty 
 stupor, and to enlighten J _jn^e L _pej^uade L and guide 
 men out of darkness into day, out of a condition of 
 
 117 
 
118 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 evil, waywardness, carelessness, and conscious sin, 
 into a new hope, a new joy, a new life. 
 
 In this view of the Book perhaps the word "attract" 
 or the term "charm" is not the word to use to describe 
 the function under consideration; the Bible looked 
 at from this standpoint commands, grips, and holds 
 the human soul. It deals with man as a transgressor, 
 as a violator of law, as a creature under condemnation 
 and in peril, whose nature is deranged and ungeared, 
 as one who needs help, and renovation, and — to use 
 a single term — salvation. This is the peculiar func- 
 tion of the Book which gives it an incomparable 
 influence and scope in the world wherever it is read. 
 The Bible possesses a singular individualizing min- 
 istry; it singles out and seizes the offender and brings 
 home to him his guilt and need ; it makes its appeal 
 as though it were endowed with life and personality; 
 it startles, arraigns, condemns men everywhere with 
 its awful accusation, "Thou art the man!" But for 
 this quality, we repeat, the Book would be compara- 
 tively inert; it would have no revolutionary and 
 explosive and arousing force; for its literary beauties 
 and its dramatic charms, however unique they may 
 be, are not fraught with the power to change the 
 heart of man and renew the face of the earth. To 
 this peculiarity of the Bible our attention is now 
 directed — its appeal to the conscience, its awakening, 
 dissecting, arraigning functions. 
 
 There are problems related to this aspect of the 
 Bible with which we have nothing now to do. We 
 need not stop to ask how evil came into the world; 
 
THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 119 
 
 nor how far astray from original righteousness man 
 has gone; nor to what extent his nature is corrupted; 
 nor what is the exact interplay of divine decrees with 
 the human will. The skillful physician with a critical 
 case in hand does not spend much time in trying to 
 determine where or how the patient "caught" the 
 malady; the chief thing to be done is to bring help 
 and healing as speedily as possible. Accordingly, 
 we shall deal here with the facts in the case — not 
 with the philosophy which may be supposed to 
 underlie them. 
 
 In the Revised Version a favorite proof-text much 
 used in former days has a fresh and singularly inter- 
 esting rendering. It used to read, "The heart is Jer. 17. 9 
 deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: 
 who can know it?" In this form the passage has 
 long been used as a part of the basis on which to 
 build the doctrine of "total" depravity. We do . 
 not desire to go into that old discussion, nor attempt 
 to determine to what extent man is a depraved 
 being. The later rendering commends itself by its 
 freshness, force, and wisdom: "T he heart is decei tful 
 above all thing s, and it is d esperate^-sick : who can 
 know it?" JJoesnot that utterance accord with human 
 experience everywhere? Is there a man or woman 
 on earth who will candidly deny it? Does it not 
 cohere with the testimony of the conscience, with 
 the utterances of poets, ancient and modern, with 
 the convictions and researches of the philosopher 
 and psychologist, with the conclusions alike of the 
 pagan and the Christian student? The moral nature 
 
120 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 of man is diseased; it is "desperately sick"; there is 
 derangement of a deplorable character in what the 
 apostle calls the "inward man"; and in many cases 
 the famous story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde typifies 
 the conflict which daily goes on in the human heart 
 between the noble and ignoble elements, between 
 good and evil, between right and wrong, between 
 deity and demonism. Who is there in the world who 
 has not found himself torn by this struggle, bowed 
 under this burden, cowed and crushed into a sense of 
 guilt and helplessness and danger, and forced to use 
 the apostle's words, again and again, in his trouble: 
 "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death?" 
 
 It is to man in this estate of moral lapse, in this 
 condition of inward struggle and tumult — lamenting 
 his folly, his moral blindness, his stupidity, his way- 
 wardness, his indolence, his proneness to go in the 
 wrong direction, to approve that which is good while 
 he pursues that which is bad, to do violence to his 
 better aims and ideals — that the Bible comes with its 
 terrible arraignment, with its command to repent, 
 and with its proffer of grace and help for every time 
 of need. And it is this element of the Book which 
 gives it a hold on men that cannot be evaded or 
 shaken off. 
 
 The messages of warning and the denunciations 
 spoken to ancient Israel have not lost their applica- 
 tion to men. They may be used, with hardly a 
 change, in the messages uttered by God's prophets 
 to-day. Look at a few of them, and ask whether 
 
THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 121 
 
 these are effete and obsolete words, belonging to an 
 
 age far away from us, or whether, on the other hand, 
 
 they are not exactly applicable to great multitudes 
 
 in our own time: 
 
 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the Isa.3. 11,15, 16 
 reward of his hands shall be given him. . . . What mean 5. 20 
 ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? Prov. 1. 24, 25 
 . . . The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with j sa 59 3 
 stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing j er 5 g 
 as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet. . . . Woe „ \\ fi 
 unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness ° ' ' ' 
 for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, 
 and sweet for bitter! ... I have called, and ye refused; I ^ sa - 1 - 2 
 have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye Prov. 10. 7 
 have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my Hos. 7. 2 
 reproof. . . . Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mut- 13. 9 
 
 tereth wickedness. . . . Among my people are found wicked 
 men : they watch as fowlers lie in wait ; they set a trap, they 
 catch men. . . . There is no truth, nor kindness, nor knowl- 
 edge of God in the land. . . . My people are destroyed for 
 lack of knowledge. . . . They sow the wind, and they shall 
 reap the whirlwind. . . . Hear, O heavens, and give ear, 
 O earth, for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and 
 brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. . . . 
 The name of the wicked shall rot. . . . They consider not in 
 their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. ... It 
 is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against 
 thy help! 
 
 Corresponding to these searching accusations, which 
 are more than justified by the history of the people 
 to whom they were directed, are the confessions of 
 sin found in the Bible. The Psalms especially are 
 full of these acknowledgments, which have been 
 used, generation after generation, as the most ac- 
 curate and contrite expressions of personal and 
 communal wrongdoing and ill-desert that language 
 can frame. Let some of them be cited as specimens 
 of hundreds which are contained in the Bible: 
 
122 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Ezra 9. 6 I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God : 
 
 Psa. 25. 7 for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guilti- 
 31. 10 ness * s grown up unto the heavens. . . . Remember not the 
 oo 4 sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. . . . My strength 
 4 ' 12 faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are wasted 
 away. . . . Mine iniquities are gone over my head: as a 
 51. 2-4 heavy burden they are too heavy for me. . . . Innumerable 
 evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have over- 
 taken me so that I am not able to look up; they are more 
 than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me. . . . 
 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me 
 from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and 
 my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I 
 sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight. 
 
 The doctrine of sin, as suggested by these pene- 
 tential utterances and by these scriptural arraign- 
 ments, is very different from the so-called modern 
 liberal teaching in which sin is minified, smoothed 
 over, explained away as a matter of heredity, or 
 environment, or perhaps a relic of animal impulse 
 and brute nature not yet sloughed off. Sometimes 
 it is declared that man needs only better housing, 
 better food, and better education in order to rid the 
 world entirely of vice and crime. This view is so 
 short-sighted, so inconsistent with the administration 
 of law all about us, so lacking in historic or philosophic 
 basis, so contrary to the deeper convictions of univer- 
 sal manhood, that it is hardly worth while to debate 
 it. The truth is that the heart of man responds to 
 the voice of Scripture, and declares: "It is true. I 
 am naturally out of sympathy with righteousness, 
 estranged from my Creator; my spirit is ungeared, 
 there is a dreadful twist in it: I am perverted, and 
 wrung aside from goodness. I need to be renewed, 
 made over again, cleansed from my sin." 
 
 I 
 
THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 123 
 
 It is this prompt, this inevitable, this spontaneous 
 response of the conscience of man in all ages to the 
 declarations of the divine word, in regard to the 
 weakness, the waywardness, and the guilt of the soul, 
 that constitutes one of the invincible proofs of the 
 superhuman authority of the Scripture. The Bible 
 says: "Thou hast simied. Thou art in condemnation. 
 Thou hast transgressed the law of thy God, and 
 hast brought ruin upon thyself." And the soul — the 
 universal soul, the soul of man in all lands and in 
 all generations — bows in the dust and cries out, 
 "Alas, it is true. I have been found out. My secret 
 sins are brought forth into the light of day. I cannot 
 hide myself from this penetrating, revealing, accusing 
 word of Scripture, which pierces my soul as though 
 it were indeed the arrow of the Almighty." 
 
 Thus again and again, in Christian and in pagan 
 lands, even a few detached passages of Scripture, 
 filled with arousing and arraigning power, have 
 sufficed to awaken transgressors from their sinful 
 stupor even without the intervention of a human 
 voice or a priestly prayer or a teacher's instruction. 
 
 The teaching of the Master with regard to the sin- 
 fulness of man's nature is unmistakable in its mean- 
 ing. His words have no uncertain ring in connection 
 with this theme: 
 
 Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in Matt. 18. 3 
 
 no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. ... Ye must j h n 3. 7 
 
 be born again. ... A good man out of the good treasure j^ att 12 35 
 of the heart bringeth forth good things : and an evil man out ' , -" , q 
 
 of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. . . . For out 
 of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
 
124 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: these are the 
 things which defile the man. . . . Except ye repent, ye shall 
 all likewise perish. . . . And this is the judgment, that the 
 light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness 
 ather than the light; for their works were evil. 
 
 It should certainly be clear to the candid student 
 of the words of Jesus Christ that he did not believe 
 or teach that man is simply a weakling, or that his 
 trouble is immaturity and ignorance, and that he 
 only needs a little moral coddling in order to grow 
 into strength and beauty. The evil in man's con- 
 dition and nature as the Master diagnosed it is a 
 radical and desperate one; he located the trouble in 
 the very deepest recesses of the soul; he declared 
 that the heart itself must be renewed in order that 
 moral health may be secured. 
 
 Many pages might be occupied with this theme 
 without exhausting it, but we have cited enough 
 truth from the Word to show that one of the func- 
 tions of the Bible is to dissect, uncover, and quicken 
 into new consciousness the guilty nature of man. 
 Wherever that word has a fair chance it does this 
 very thing. Whose fault is it, then, that we have 
 lost in our time the sense of sin? Who is to blame 
 for the prevalent impression that men no longer are 
 deeply troubled with "conviction of sin," that the 
 ordinary preaching of the modern pulpit makes but 
 little of the "sinfulness of sin"; that the modern 
 conscience, of men and women alike, seems to be an 
 easy-going, unburdened, unthinking conscience, and 
 that the very word "lost," which the Master uses again 
 and again to describe the moral condition of our race, 
 
THE GRIP ON THE CONSCIENCE 125 
 
 has dropped almost out of the vocabulary of our 
 age? 
 
 Has the Bible been neglected so long that men 
 have forgotten its denunciations, its threats, its 
 definitions of guilt, its revelations of the doom which 
 it declares against the impenitent? Have its awful 
 truths been so glossed over, so toned down, so ignored, 
 so emasculated, that men have been allowed to go to 
 sleep on the brink of destruction, with none to warn 
 them of a wrath to come? Or have men so doped 
 their own consciences with greed, with worldliness, 
 with selfish ease, with luxurious living, or with sottish 
 indulgences that they can read or hear the teachings 
 of the Bible in regard to sin and its penalties, and yet 
 fancy that there is no real earnestness or genuine 
 severity in them? Whatever may be the case, let 
 it be once more said that whenever the moral grip 
 of the Bible upon a human soul or upon a generation 
 has been loosened, wherever the ear is closed against 
 the warnings of Scripture, then and there destruction 
 like the breaking forth of waters waits for that soul, 
 and for that generation. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 THE PROMISES 
 
 127 
 
My son, attend to my words; 
 
 Incline thine ear unto my sayings. 
 
 Let them not depart from thine eyes; 
 
 Keep them in the midst of thine heart. 
 
 For they are life unto those that find them, 
 
 And health to all their flesh. 
 
 Keep thy heart with all diligence; 
 
 For out of it are the issues of life. 
 
 Put away from thee a froward mouth, 
 
 And perverse lips put far from thee. 
 
 Let thine eyes look right on, 
 
 And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 
 
 Make level the path of thy feet, 
 
 And let all thy ways be established. 
 
 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: 
 
 Remove thy foot from evil. 
 
 — Prov. 4. 20-27. 
 
 What advantage then hath the Jew? . . . Much every 
 way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles 
 of God. " —Rom. 3. 1, 2. 
 
 For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper 
 than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing 
 of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to 
 discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 
 — Heb. 4. 12, 13. 
 
 Whence but from heaven could men, unskilled in arts, 
 In several ages born, in several parts, 
 Weave such agreeing truths? or how, or why, 
 Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie? 
 Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice, 
 Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price! 
 
 — John Dryden. 
 
 128 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 l/ 
 
 THE PROMISES 
 
 1. A marked feature of Scripture, and one of its 
 distinctive attractions, as well as one of its secrets 
 of far-reaching and ever-growing influence, is lodged 
 in the promises — "precious and exceeding great" — 2 Pet. 1. 4 
 which are found therein. In the early record we 
 find but few; these grow in number and scope and 
 beauty from age to age, and when at last the Book 
 is complete it is found to contain a great multitude 
 of these covenants of grace whereby countless bless- 
 ings are assured to those who are the heirs of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 A visitor to a great astronomical observatory one 
 night was asked by the scientist in charge of the 
 telescope, "Have you ever seen the star called Vega?" 
 The reply was, "No; where is it?" The visitor then 
 looked up through the opening in the dome in the 
 direction indicated, and could barely distinguish a 
 star, in the midst of a bit of star-mist in the dark 
 blue sky. "Come here," said the astronomer, "I 
 want you to see what Vega really looks like." And 
 forthwith the great telescope was adjusted in the 
 proper way, and the visitor looked into the eyepiece 
 to find Vega. Behold, there was a star of brilliant 
 white, set in the midst of a constellation of multi- 
 colored suns, yellow, green, crimson, all aflame with 
 
 129 
 
130 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 indescribable splendor. After feasting his soul with 
 the sight he turned away awestricken, glad, and 
 worshipful; he had seen one of the glories of the skies. 
 The early skies of Scripture have but few stars of 
 promise shining in them, but as the ages pass, and as 
 men are trained to see the invisible and to under- 
 stand the gracious complexity and divine amplitude 
 of the covenants of mercy, those stars expand, are 
 multiplied, take on themselves new tints, increase 
 in lustrous magnificence, until each promise becomes 
 a constellation, radiant with heavenly beauty. 
 
 The basis of the hundreds of promises in Scripture, 
 covering every variety of human need, is to be found 
 in the early covenant given to Abraham at the very 
 outset of his career, when he was led out from his 
 ancestral and idolatrous environment and started 
 on his pilgrimage toward the new land — which was 
 known distinctively for ages as the land of promise — 
 the closing portion of which covenant contains the 
 very essence of the whole gracious transaction: "In 
 Gen. 12. 3 thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 
 This covenant was illumined later by the assurance 
 that the descendants of Abraham should be great in 
 number, like the sands of the sea, and that in some 
 Gen. 22. 17, 18 one of them there would be found blessing for the 
 Gal. 3. 8, 16 human race. The covenant made with Abraham, 
 therefore, was not simply the assurance that his 
 chdilren should in due time inherit Canaan, but that 
 there should be born among them in later ages One 
 who would bring blessing to the sons of men. This 
 promise of a Saviour, gradually through the ages 
 
THE PROMISES 131 
 
 made more and more definite and clear, was, accord- 
 ing to the apostolic interpretation of Scripture, the Acts 3. 25 
 promise given unto the fathers, and it runs through 13 - 32 
 
 the books of history, through the Psalms, and through 
 the prophetical utterances of the Old Testament, 
 like a thread of gold or crimson, binding into a strange 
 unity the record of revelation. Thus in successive 
 centuries for nearly two thousand years messengers 
 from Jehovah appeared, each one adding a new tint 
 to the prophetic portrait, clarifying the outline, 
 portraying more distinctively the features, and an- 
 nouncing with increasing definiteness the functions 
 of Him who was thus foretold to Abraham and 
 from time to time to his descendants — and each one 
 declaring with enlarging emphasis, "He will come, 
 he will come!" And at last the One thus long fore- 
 told appeared, his gracious perfections, his wonderful 
 works, his resemblance to the prophetic portrait, and 
 his own personal testimony all proclaiming to the 
 world: "This indeed is the One who was to come. He 
 is come to seek and to save that which was lost!" 
 
 2. The discerning reader of the Bible soon comes to 
 the conclusion that one mighty agency in the training 
 of the chosen people for their mission in the world 
 was this promise which was given to the fathers, with 
 the additional covenants which from time to time 
 were clustered about it. Repeated age after age was 
 the pledge spoken to Abraham, "I will give unto thee, Gen. 17. 8 
 and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojourn- 
 ings, all the land of Canaan." It was with this faith 
 that Joseph was sustained when generations later he 
 
132 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 came to die: "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I 
 
 die; but God will surely visit you and bring you up 
 
 out of this land unto the land which he sware to 
 
 Gen. 50. 24, 25 Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. . . . And ye shall 
 
 carry up my bones from hence.' ' Still later, when 
 
 the bondage of the children of Israel had reached its 
 
 Exod. 3. 8 limit in Egypt, this promise of Canaan as a national 
 
 Josh. l. 1-6 inheritance was repeated to Moses and to Joshua. 
 
 Thus the promise of Canaan was a unifying bond, 
 
 an educating force, and a tie to hold the tribes fast 
 
 to their ancestral hopes and faith. 
 
 It will be found, furthermore, that at each stage in 
 their history the Jews were guided, checked, helped, 
 encouraged by promises of various kinds given to 
 them in critical hours of need. When, for instance, 
 they were in captivity their unity was preserved and 
 their national life was maintained in good part by 
 the work of Jehovah's messengers, who assured them 
 that if they repented God would in due time forgive 
 their iniquity and restore them to their own land again. 
 Indeed, the prophecies of different kinds concerning 
 the Jewish people, and their good and evil fortunes, 
 are so many that a chapter, or possibly a volume, 
 would be required in order to fully outline them. 
 
 3. This method of teaching and training, whereby 
 the inner life is nourished and built up by means 
 of promises, is not a thing foreign to our common 
 experience and observation. Is not a very large 
 portion of our daily life founded on promises? Is 
 not the basis of the marriage tie and the home a 
 promise, spoken usually with the sanctions of religion, 
 
THE PROMISES 133 
 
 and the prayer for the two who are married that they 
 may "keep this solemn covenant between them 
 made"? Are not commercial transactions, banking 
 business, and, in fact, the whole fabric of our social 
 life built upon human promises? Take out of our 
 experience, out of our plans, out of our week-time 
 work this one element of faith in human promises, 
 our expectations concerning the pledged or implied 
 word of our fellows, and what would be left of the 
 entire structure? Is it strange, then, that God, who 
 trains us to-day by means of this method, has put 
 into his Scripture, from beginning to end, as essential 
 components of its structure and plan, his gracious 
 promises, which induce in the soul a forward and an 
 upward look, which teach confidence in God's fidelity, 
 his wisdom, and his protecting care and power? 
 
 4. When the hundreds of promises in the Bible 
 are systematized it will be found that they tend to 
 form themselves into three or four great classes. 
 We find in them roughly outlined first and foremost 
 a series of covenants assuring pardon to the penitent. 
 
 This great blessing is pledged to the world in many 
 exquisitely tender and beautiful passages. It stands 
 in the foreground among all the blessings secured, 
 by the grace of God and the provisions of mercy in 
 the gospel, to the human race. Without forgiveness 
 there could be no basis laid in the consciousness of 
 the sinner for any later and larger operation of mercy. 
 What prospect could there be for the renewal of our 
 broken natures, for the rehabilitation of the fallen and 
 ruined structure of the soul, for the reconstruction 
 
134 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 of the marred and militant faculties which under the 
 dominion of sin have waged their deadly warfare 
 within us, unless first the assurance of pardon for all 
 the sins of the past were afforded to the sorrowing 
 and burdened conscience? 
 
 How manifold are the passages in which God re- 
 veals his willingness to forgive ! Those who depreciate 
 and malign the "God of the Old Testament' ' surely 
 have forgotten or for the time ignored the many 
 places in which, even in the Pentateuch, his forgiving 
 mercy is unfolded. One of the earliest of the revela- 
 tions made to Moses thus depicted the God of Israel : 
 
 Exod. 34. 6 7 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The 
 Lord, the Lord, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow 
 to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth; keeping mercy 
 for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. 
 
 Turn, for example, to the book of Leviticus, and note 
 how in the chapters which are full of the details which 
 describe how bullocks, sheep, and goats are to be pre- 
 pared for the sacrifice, and in what manner various 
 oblations are to be offered, there runs through the 
 whole order of service like a strain of heavenly music 
 
 Lev. 4. 26, 31, the refrain, occurring again and again, "and he shall 
 
 Lev 5 10 16 ^ e forgiven," "and he shall be forgiven." In one 
 18 of the oldest of the Psalms Jehovah is described as 
 
 Psa. 103. 3 the One "who forgive th all thine iniquities." One 
 of the greatest of the prophets, rehearsing expressly 
 
 Jer 31. 34 the "new covenant" which was to be fulfilled in the 
 gospel, makes this particular mention of the blessing 
 of pardon: "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin 
 will I remember no more." In what varied imagery 
 
THE PROMISES 135 
 
 the prophets depict the completeness of this provision 
 of the divine mercy! The Orient form of speech, 
 with its vast capacity for symbolism, is stretched to 
 its limit in order to express the fullness of God's mercy 
 in this respect: 
 
 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions. Isa. 44. 22 
 
 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed Psa. 103. 12 
 
 our transgressions from us. 
 
 Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as Isa. 1. 18 
 
 snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 
 
 Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. 38. 17 
 
 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Mic. 7. 19 
 
 In the New Testament this provision of God's 
 grace, ministering satisfaction to the deepest needs 
 of the soul, finds still larger expression. 
 
 Our Lord, throughout his ministry, assumed and 
 proclaimed as his own divine prerogative — which has 
 ever been regarded as one of his chief claims and 
 credentials — the right to forgive sins. He said to 
 the multitude at Capernaum, in the moment when he 
 healed the man sick of the palsy, "Ye may know that Matt. 9. 2-6 
 the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." 
 To the man himself he said, "Son, be of good cheer, 
 thy sins are forgiven." To the woman who was a sin- 
 ner the Master said, "Thy sins are forgiven." When Luke 7. 48 
 he instituted the Lord's Supper he declared, "This is Matt. 26. 28 
 my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many 
 for the remission of sins." And at the very last, in 
 his final instructions to his apostles, he taught them, 
 "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and Luke 24. 46, 47 
 rise again from the dead the third day; and that 
 repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
 
136 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 in his name unto all the nations/ ' The remission of 
 Acts 2. 38 sins was held forth by Peter in his sermon on the Day 
 of Pentecost as the glad privilege of even the me'n who 
 had plotted and executed the death of their Lord, and 
 throughout Paul's preaching and writing the same 
 Col. 1. 14 jubilant note is sounded, that "in him we have our 
 
 redemption, through fys blood, the forgiveness of 
 our trespasses." 
 
 Scores of other passages might be cited were it 
 necessary to amplify the truth which we are setting 
 forth. It is clear, however, without further proof, 
 that many of the provisions of mercy, set forth in 
 varied phraseology, in many parts of the Book, center 
 in and radiate forth from this one main covenant, 
 namely, that God offers to the contrite penitent the 
 blessing of pardon. The burden may be lifted, the 
 darkness may be scattered, the smitten and tortured 
 conscience may be healed by forgiveness! The soul, 
 disburdened of its load, may exultantly sing : 
 
 O love, thou bottomless abyss, 
 My sins are swallowed up in thee! 
 
 Covered is my unrighteousness, 
 Nor spot of guilt remains on me, 
 
 While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 
 
 Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries. 
 
 5. Another abundant and fruitful cluster of promises 
 assure guidance and protection to those who are 
 allied to God by faith and obedience. Encouraged 
 by these promises disciples of Jesus Christ may go 
 forth with gladness to meet duty, danger, trial, sor- 
 row, and loss, without complaint and without dread. 
 Pain and disease may afflict the body, property may 
 
THE PROMISES 137 
 
 be destroyed, calamities inexplicable in their severity 
 may occur, but those who trust and obey are confi- 
 dent that their real interests are secure in God's 
 keeping. In the midst of midnight gloom they may 
 steady themselves on the truth which supported one 
 of God's messengers in the ancient days: "When I Mic. 7. 8 
 sit in darkness the Lord will be a light unto me." 
 They learn by their experiences of God's help in trying 
 hours that the real thing in this world is character, 
 and that one of its noblest elements is fortitude. 
 For the cultivation of this knowledge and this faith 
 there are many covenants given, of which these are 
 specimens : 
 
 My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Exod. 33. 14 
 
 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's p sa . 23. 2 
 sake. 
 
 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will 25. 9 
 
 he teach his way. 
 
 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou 32. 8 
 
 shalt go : I will guide thee with mine eye. 
 
 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward re- 73. 24 
 
 ceive me to glory. 
 
 The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy T sa . 58. 11 
 soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou 
 shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, 
 whose waters fail not. 
 
 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: Psa. 34. 9, 10 
 
 For there is no want to them that fear him. 
 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: 
 But they that seek the Lord shall not want 
 any good thing. 
 
 If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, Matt. 6. 30 
 and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more 
 clothe you, O ye of little faith? 
 
 And we know that to them that love God all things work R om> 8. 28 
 together for good, even to them that are called according to 
 his purpose. 
 
138 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Phil. 4. 6, 7 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and 
 
 supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
 known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all 
 understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Deut. 33. 25 As thy days, so shall thy strength be. 
 
 6. The word ' 'comfort" sums up the contents and 
 spirit of another set of scriptural promises. These 
 covenants of grace are adapted to the condition of 
 men and women and children living in a world of 
 care and sorrow, subject to bereavement and mis- 
 fortune, and liable on every side to various forms of 
 trouble and trial. Amid such conditions and often 
 oppressed by them the world would be a dismal and 
 hopeless region unless it were cheered and enlightened 
 and buoyed up by the solaces which can be adminis- 
 tered only from a higher Power. Such solaces, of a 
 manifold variety, are enshrined in many passages of 
 Scripture, which have proved for ages, to a countless 
 number of forlorn and needy souls, the source of 
 strength and hope. To these words of consolation 
 all manner of afflicted ones have turned — parents 
 grieving for their dead children, little ones crying out 
 for "the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a 
 voice that is still"; strong men who have suddenly 
 found the props swept from beneath their feet and 
 the earthly foundations giving way in an hour of 
 unforeseen loss and calamity; prisoners immured 
 because of their love for liberty, their fealty to con- 
 science, and their affection for God's Word; martyrs 
 in their cells or at the stake or on the rack, or ostra- 
 cized and cast out from home and society for the 
 
THE PROMISES 139 
 
 stand they have taken in behalf of duty and Christ — 
 these and countless hosts besides have turned to 
 God's Word and in it have found exhaustless foun- 
 tains of refreshment, "wellsprings in the desert,' ' 
 strength to hold them up, courage and fortitude 
 wherewith to bear otherwise intolerable burdens, and 
 grace to help in every time of need. Without the 
 consolation which God has thus made what resource 
 would be left for man on earth in sorrow and suffering? 
 Whither could we turn, or to whom or to what could 
 we go in bereavement and disaster, had we no com- 
 forting covenants in the Bible? 
 
 Many pages could be filled with citations instancing 
 this biblical feature; we must be content with a few 
 which are typical of scores of utterances fraught with 
 a consolation nowhere else to be found: 
 
 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. Isa. GG. 13 
 
 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge Psa. 9. 9 
 in times of trouble. 
 
 In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion : in 27. 5 
 
 the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me 
 up upon a rock. 
 
 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord 34. 19 
 
 delivereth him out of them all. 
 
 Jehovah will support him upon the couch of languishing; 41. 3 
 
 Thou makest all his bed in his sickness. 
 
 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 4G. 1 
 
 trouble. 
 
 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. 55. 22 
 
 My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength 73. 2G 
 
 of my heart and my portion forever. 
 
 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 103. 13 
 
 them that fear him. 
 
 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath 119. 50 
 
 quickened me. 
 
 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day- Isa. 4. 6 
 
140 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a 
 covert from storm and from rain. 
 
 Isa. 40. 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 
 
 43. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
 
 thee; and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee; 
 when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned : 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
 61. 1, 2 He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
 claim liberty to the captives, ... to comfort all that mourn. 
 
 John 14. 1, 18 Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe 
 also in me. ... I will not leave you comfortless. 
 
 2 Cor. 1.3 4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who com- 
 forteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to com- 
 fort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort 
 wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 
 
 Pardon, safety, comfort: what clusters of blessings 
 are provided in these promises which we have thus 
 brought together in order before the eye! There are 
 many other treasures in the world, gold, silver, pre- 
 cious stones, houses, lands, great estates, wealthy 
 kingdoms, vast empires crowded with material 
 resources: but there are times in a human life when 
 a single precious promise from God's Word, inherited 
 by faith, affording foothold for the soul, and light for 
 the tear-blinded eyes, and bringing near the healing 
 and helping touch of a Father's hand, is worth more 
 than all these treasures put together! 
 
 Who, then, can overestimate the beauty, the at- 
 tractions, the exhaustless charms of a volume which 
 is compact with hundreds of such covenants of mercy? 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 
 
 141 
 
Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of 
 wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which 
 is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and 
 not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any 
 one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a 
 man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholdeth 
 himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what 
 manner of man he was. But he that looketh into the perfect 
 law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer 
 that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be 
 blessed in his doing. 
 
 —James 1. 21-25. 
 
 Does the Lord of glory speak 
 
 To his creatures here below? 
 And may souls so frail and weak 
 
 All his gracious dealings know? 
 Does the blessed Bible bring 
 Tidings from our heavenly King? 
 
 Oh with what intense desire 
 
 Should we search that sacred book! 
 
 Here our zeal should never tire; 
 Here we should delight to look 
 
 For the rules by mercy given, 
 
 To conduct our souls to heaven. 
 
 Shall not he that humbly seeks 
 
 All the light of truth discern? 
 Do we not, when Jesus speaks, 
 
 Feel our hearts within us burn? 
 For his soul-reviving voice 
 Bids the mourner to rejoice. 
 
 Lord, thy teaching grace impart, 
 That we may not read in vain; 
 
 Write thy precepts on our heart, 
 Make thy truths and doctrines plain: 
 
 Let the message of thy love 
 
 Guide us to thy rest above. 
 
 — William H. Bathurst. 
 
 142 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 
 
 1. The pictures of home life in the Scripture, the 
 ideals of domestic conduct and character which are 
 therein embodied, and the rules laid down in the Book 
 for the cultivation of the moral and religious life of 
 the household, have been chief among the forces that 
 have helped to elevate mankind and shape the higher 
 civilization of our race. The nobler joys of the house- 
 hold, the amenities which soften, sweeten, and illu- 
 mine its fellowship, the sympathies which bind in 
 one communion father, mother, and children in de- 
 lightful relationships and in common aims and 
 hopes, and, in brief, all the varied interests, employ- 
 ments, comforts, and inspirations which are clustered 
 together under the term "the Christian home," find 
 their source and origin in the examples and teachings 
 of the Bible. Wherever those teachings are unknown 
 or ignored, the institution called a home, with the 
 virtues and graces inseparably associated with it in 
 Christendom, is not to be found; while wherever the 
 Scripture goes it carries with it as a matter of course, 
 and by virtue of its leavening influence and its models 
 of domestic character and helpfulness, the ministra- 
 tions and graces out of which grow home life, homo 
 affections, and home happiness. 
 
 Were it necessary to fortify this ground and to 
 
 143 
 
144 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 prove this contention, all that would be necessary 
 would be to study domestic life in Christian nations, 
 or in the better classes of the Hebrew race in contrast 
 with the same phase of existence in Mohammedan or 
 pagan countries, or amid savage tribes, where child- 
 hood is neglected, woman is a slave, the place of 
 residence a prison, and domestic life a scene of selfish- 
 ness, cruelty, ignorance, and often manifold degrada- 
 tion. At its very best, home life in heathen environ- 
 ments — or in non-Christian circumstances, if the term 
 is preferred — is so far removed in its tone, fellowship, 
 mutual recognition of rights, privileges, and self- 
 denying love from the ideals of the Bible that the 
 difference is seen at a glance, and felt by the heart 
 and perceived by intuitions even where it is not 
 immediately seen with the eye. The home, as blessed, 
 purified, elevated, pictured in the Old Testament and 
 the New, is an institution which comes down to us 
 from Edenic traditions, and in its noblest estate is 
 fraught with so many blessings, benefits, and com- 
 forts that there is hardly any other single realm of 
 God's bounty to be compared with it. 
 
 2. In our time, when facilities for travel are so 
 many, and when it is so easy to visit outlandish 
 countries, and to compare observations and expe- 
 riences of different regions and civilizations, this con- 
 trast has become all the more vivid. The testimony 
 of tourists and of missionaries, the studies of explorers 
 and sociologists, the revelations of the photographer 
 and the painter, as to the condition of children and 
 women in those lands where the gospel has not yet 
 
HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 145 
 
 gained the right of way, are all of the same sort, 
 putting emphasis on the fact that everywhere in the 
 world where gospel light has not yet shone there is 
 lacking from the life of our race that manifold and 
 most benign institution which we sum up into the 
 sweetest word in our language and glorify in a song 
 that will never die — "Home, Sweet, Sweet Home." 
 The very first answer that students of the institutions 
 of the world would make to the question, What is the 
 radical difference you found in your journeys be- 
 tween English-speaking countries, for instance, and 
 those lands where alien faiths, or pagan beliefs and 
 practices, prevail? will be in nine cases out of ten 
 couched in some such words as these: "The great 
 mark of distinction lies in the treatment accorded 
 to women and children, and in the life and spirit of 
 the home. We have found nothing anywhere in the 
 non-Christian world to compare with the home as we 
 know it under the reign of the gospel.' ' 
 
 3. Home, as outlined in the Bible at the beginning, 
 was a place of fellowship and union between a man 
 and a woman, joined by common tastes and services 
 and adaptations by the Almighty in marriage. The 
 current shocking theories of experimental marriage, 
 free-love, communal rather than personal responsi- 
 bility, care of children by the State, and other "liberal" 
 and socialistic doctrines of that ilk, find no counte- 
 nance in the Bible. In the early traditions in Genesis 
 there are found a man and a woman — not a man and a 
 harem of several females — united in this relationship. 
 The fact of polygamy in the households of Abraham, 
 
146 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Jacob, David, and Solomon, which finds record in 
 the Old Testament narrative, nowhere meets with 
 the approval of Jehovah. In each instance where 
 it exists it brings a tragedy with it, and no reasonable 
 theory of biblical interpretation can attribute blame 
 for its existence upon the Almighty. The jealousy 
 and collisions and bitterness arising between Sarah 
 and Hagar in the home of Abraham; the divisions 
 in the home of Jacob, occasioned in part by his 
 polygamous relations; the retributions of various 
 sorts which smote David on account of his polyga- 
 mous habits; and the disgrace plainly attributed to 
 Solomon, who allowed in his old age his heathen 
 wives to steal away his affections from the God of 
 Israel, and whose last days are blighted with this 
 fact, and who dies apparently in this apostate con- 
 dition — these are all indications in the record that 
 the divine law encouraged monogamy; and that it 
 gave no countenance to plural marriages, as the Mor- 
 mons call them in our time. 
 
 The further fact bearing on this question is the 
 family life of the Hebrew people, who in spite of the 
 so-called "examples" of their early leaders, have 
 always been monogamous, and who have been noted 
 everywhere for the purity and elevation of their 
 home life, which has been copied after biblical ideals. 
 
 4. Glimpses of careless, easy-going, and envious 
 habits in the home are given here and there in Scrip- 
 ture as warnings; and as such they speak in noun- 
 Gen. 13. 12 certain manner to each successive age. When Lot, 
 for instance, disregarding the wickedness of the 
 
HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 147 
 
 new neighborhood, the monstrous vices of the people, 
 
 and their heathenish characteristics, and attracted 
 
 only by the rich pasturage to be anticipated for his 
 
 flocks and herds, and the opportunity thus afforded 
 
 for gain, "pitched his tent toward Sodom," he invited 
 
 domestic calamities and sore retribution which will 
 
 never lose their edifying lessons for the world. In 
 
 what solitary conspicuity stands Athaliah, whose son, 2 Chron. 22. 3 
 
 Ahaziah, w T as one of the kings of Judah. The Book 
 
 pinnacles her in bad preeminence w T hen it tells us 
 
 that "his mother was his counselor to do wickedly." 
 
 How startlingly that single fact comes out of the 
 
 nebulous and misty past as we study the record, and 
 
 how this bit of history thus written down serves to 
 
 warn us of the harm w T hich a mother w T ho is worldly, 
 
 selfish, resentful, hateful, may do to her children by 
 
 her spirit, her counsels, and her example. The cruel, 
 
 imperious, and idolatrous Jezebel, her name to all l Kings ch. 21 
 
 time a synonym of the worst qualities of a perverted 
 
 and loose-reined womanhood, stands in the record as 
 
 an illustration of the evils that come to the palace, 
 
 to the social circle, and to the nation where such a 
 
 woman is the power behind the throne. 
 
 5. Happily, such examples as these are rare in the 
 Book. The women of the Bible are nearly all types l Sam. ch. 1-3 
 of piety, industry, and devotion. Hannah, for ex- 
 ample, is a beautiful specimen of the loving, humble, 
 praying mother, casting her care on the Lord, im- 
 ploring God's blessing and guidance for her offspring 
 even before they are born, and by her solicitude and 
 her maternal services and sympathies commending 
 
148 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 herself to all who may profit by her example. What 
 tender household ties, what common bonds of fidelity, 
 bereavement, sympathy, and kindness are blended 
 in the story of the Moabitess and her mother-in-law, 
 that has come down to us as fresh in its beauty as a 
 lily of the valley in springtime, the very heart of the 
 story enshrined in the precious words of the one to 
 the other in a critical hour of wretchedness and want : 
 
 Ruth 1. 16-18 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, and to return 
 from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; 
 and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be my 
 people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, 
 and there will I be buried : the Lord do so to me, and more 
 also, if aught but death part thee and me. 
 
 6. Household discipline and filial affection are 
 among the lofty ideals of family life embodied in 
 the instructions of the Word. In the Decalogue it 
 was commanded to Israel, "Honor thy father and thy 
 mother"; while to this day in all Hebrew families 
 the passage which they know as the "Shema" is 
 recited by parents and children together: 
 
 Deut. 6. 4-9 Hear, O Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou 
 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with 
 all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, 
 which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart: 
 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and 
 shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
 thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and 
 when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign 
 upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets between 
 thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts 
 of thy house, and upon thy gates. 
 
 Among the utterances of Hebrew Wisdom are these: 
 
 Prov. 1. 8, 9 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, 
 
 And forsake not the law of thy mother: 
 
HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 149 
 
 For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, 
 And chains about thy neck. 
 
 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, Prov. 23. 22 
 
 And despise not thy mother when she is old. 
 
 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Eccl. 12. 1 
 
 The principles thus set forth found exemplification 
 in the praise awarded to Abraham, of whom Jehovah 
 is depicted as saying: 
 
 For I know him, that he will] command his children and Gen. 18. 19 
 his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the 
 Lord, to do justice and judgment. 
 
 Joshua is represented as announcing this devout Josh. 24. 15 
 pledge of fealty for himself and his family: "As for 
 me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
 
 The womanly ideals and occupations and charms 
 pictured in the closing verses of Proverbs — cited 
 in full at the end of this chapter — have value and 
 interest not merely for the people for whom they 
 were originally set forth, but for all generations. 
 Thus in brief the Old Testament lessons concerning 
 the home pass before us, all of them arrayed with 
 indelible grace and beauty. It is no wonder, when 
 we study these instructions and principles and ex- 
 amples, that the Jews have in all ages been noted for 
 the piety and simplicity of their family life, for it has 
 been built upon these enduring foundations. 
 
 7. In the New Testament these ideals are glorified 
 at the opening of the story by the scenes at Bethlehem 
 and at Nazareth. Poets and painters for many 
 centuries have striven devoutly to reproduce these 
 scenes, and they have not only added to the trophies 
 
150 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 of artistic genius by their labors, but they have 
 helped to people the imagination and heart of the 
 world with the pictures they have painted — pictures 
 of childhood and motherhood which have ennobled 
 all life and added to the worth and to the opportuni- 
 ties of every generation that has been born since the 
 Babe of Bethlehem nestled in the manger. Every 
 child in the world to-day has a larger inheritance and 
 
 John 1. 14 looks up into a brighter sky because the Word be- 
 came flesh and dwelt among men, and walked the 
 earth in garments of poverty and toil. Life has a 
 new meaning, childhood and womanhood have a new 
 value and beauty through the Incarnation, and homes 
 everywhere are brightened by the light which illumines 
 the ages, shining from the Virgin and her Child. 
 
 Matt. 18. 2-6 And, later in the record, when Jesus took a little 
 
 Mark 9. 36, 37 child and set him in the midst of his disciples and said, 
 10. 13-15 " Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name 
 receive th 1116," and when he instanced the spirit of a 
 little child as the type of docility and love to be 
 exemplified in conversion, and when he uttered his 
 invitation, "Suffer the little children, and forbid 
 
 Matt. 19. 14 them not, to come unto me" — in all these cases he 
 opened new possibilities for childhood in all ages and 
 lands. 
 
 Our Lord's relation to social joys and fellowships 
 and to the life of the household as revealed in his 
 friendships and his daily habits during his ministry 
 is suggestive. The institution of marriage, as we 
 are told in the wedding ceremony which has come 
 down to us from remote ages hallowed by centuries 
 
HOME LIFE IN THE BIBLE 151 
 
 of blest associations, was "by his presence and first John 2. 1-12 
 miracle that he wrought at Cana of Galilee adorned 
 and beautified"; and more than once the record shows 
 that he who could fitly share the gladness of the festal 
 occasion could also weep with those who weep. His 
 spirit of compassion, for example, shown toward a 
 sorrowing woman was typified at the gates of Nain, 
 where he raised from the dead a young man — "the 
 only son of his mother, and she was a widow." At Luke 7. 11-17 
 Bethany, in the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, 10. 38-42 
 
 he frequently found respite and welcome on his John 12. 1-8 
 journeys, his communion with that domestic circle 
 standing out in the record as a luminous instance of 
 the engaging social habits of the Son of man. At the 
 cross, burdened with the agonies of atonement, and 
 struggling in the horror of great darkness which for 
 a time immured his soul, he turned his eyes toward 
 his anguish-stricken mother, who knelt on the earth, 
 and commended her to the care of his beloved dis- 
 ciple — "Woman, behold thy son!" Nor were the John 19. 25- 
 little ones forgotten by the Master when he came to 2 
 take final leave of his flock of disciples, for one of his 
 parting commissions was spoken to Peter, and to the 
 Church through him: "Feed my lambs." What John 21. 15 
 wisdom is found in Paul's instructions: "Fathers, 
 provoke not your children to anger, lest they be dis- gph. 6. 4 
 couraged : but bring them up in the nurture and Col. 3. 21 
 admonition of the Lord." 
 
 8. With these examples and teachings before them, 
 it is not strange that the early Church, in apostolic 
 times and later, attracted the attention of the heathen 
 
152 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 world by the purity of its home life, the intelligence 
 and refinement of its women folk, and the sweet- 
 ness and filial devotion exhibited by its children. 
 And in our own day, when the word "home" and the 
 blessings suggested by it mean so much — crowded 
 with joys unknown except in this realm of life — is it 
 not increasingly evident that we are indebted to the 
 Scripture for this great heritage of domestic privilege 
 and happiness? A home where the Bible is loved and 
 obeyed, where prayer is daily offered, where Christ 
 is exalted in song and in worship, where spiritual 
 fellowship crowns and sanctifies all other bonds, 
 where light from scriptural promises shines alike on 
 the hoary head and on the unconscious beauty of 
 childhood — a home like that at Bethany, where Jesus 
 was a welcome guest, a home where comfort from on 
 high is assured in bereavement and in other times of 
 anxiety and trial — such an institution has its source 
 and roots in the Bible, in the conceptions of parental 
 duty, of filial affection, and of loving service which 
 make up a goodly portion of its celestial charms. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 
 
 153 
 
A virtuous woman who can find? 
 
 For her price is far above rubies. 
 
 The heart of her husband trusteth in her, 
 
 And he shall have no lack of gain. 
 
 She doeth him good and not evil 
 
 All the days of her life. 
 
 She seeketh wool and flax, 
 
 And worketh willingly with her hands. 
 
 She is like the merchant-ships; 
 
 She bringeth her food from afar. 
 
 She riseth also while it is yet night, 
 
 And giveth meat to her household, 
 
 And their task to her maidens. 
 
 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: 
 
 With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 
 
 She girdeth her loins with strength, 
 
 And maketh strong her arms. 
 
 She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable: 
 
 Her lamp goeth not out by night. 
 
 She layeth her hands to the distaff, 
 
 And her hands hold the spindle. 
 
 She spreadeth out her hand to the poor; 
 
 Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. 
 
 She is not afraid of the snow for her household; 
 
 For all her household are clothed with scarlet. 
 
 She maketh for herself carpets of tapestry; 
 
 Her clothing is fine linen and purple. 
 
 Her husband is known in the gates, 
 
 When he sitteth among the elders of the land. 
 
 She maketh linen garments and selleth them; 
 
 And delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 
 
 Strength and dignity are her clothing; 
 
 And she laugheth at the time to come. 
 
 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; 
 
 And the law of kindness is on her tongue. 
 
 She looketh well to the ways of her household, 
 
 And eateth not the bread of idleness. 
 
 Her children rise up, and call her blessed; 
 
 Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying: 
 
 Many daughters have done virtuously, 
 
 But thou excellest them all. 
 
 Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: 
 
 But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 
 
 Give her of the fruit of her hands; 
 
 And let her works praise her in the gates. 
 
 — Prov. 31. 10-31. 
 
 154 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 
 
 There remain to be noted some of the fundamental 
 ideals of Scripture on which generations of men, in 
 many lands, have been building their highest achieve- 
 ments of doctrine and daily living, and to which we 
 owe an inestimable debt in view of the shaping force 
 thus exerted on our characters and aims. 
 
 1. One of these conceptions, lying at the very base 
 of all noble living, is the idea and ideal of God which 
 we find in the Bible. That ideal, it should be kept 
 in mind, is not found in any one section or book in 
 its entirety. The revelation of God's character and 
 relationship to man is gradually given; it is a growth — 
 it resembles "the shining light, which shineth more Prov. 4. 18 
 and more unto the perfect day." Those who ignore 
 this principle of the gradual development of doctrine 
 in the Scripture, who search through the Hexateuch 
 for instances of a low moral standard prevalent 
 among the early Hebrews, and who gloat over the 
 strange commands therein found as alleged to have 
 come from Jehovah, and then malign the "God of 
 the Old Testament" as a cruel and monstrous being, 
 unworthy of reverence and worship, thereby fall into 
 lamentable error. To understand the God of the 
 Bible we must take into consideration that he had 
 to shape his instructions and his revelations of himself 
 
 155 
 
156 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 to the childish comprehensions of the people of a 
 primitive time. Even in our own day when parents 
 give their first instructions concerning the Supreme 
 Being to their little ones they frequently use the 
 term "the Good Man" to symbolize the Creator. 
 They use language and similes and stories suitable 
 to the naive mind of childhood. Bearing this prin- 
 ciple in mind, and reflecting also on the fact that the 
 Hebrews were accustomed to attribute directly to 
 the personal agency of Jehovah all things that happen 
 in human experience — impressions on the mind, 
 dreams of the night, visions in the darkness, thunders 
 in the sky, earthquakes — we may reasonably interpret 
 some of the commands and acts ascribed to Jehovah 
 in that early portion of the record so as not to cast a 
 blemish on the moral character of the Divine Being. 
 At any rate, whether or not the difficulties referred to 
 can all be cleared up, it should be evident to any man 
 of discernment that it is not reasonable to take a few 
 instances out of the primitive records and on them 
 as the sole basis construct a picture of the character 
 of the Hebrew Jehovah. In order to acquaint 
 ourselves with him we should search through the 
 whole Book, comparing scripture with scripture, 
 noting the increasing light which shines on the divine 
 character and administration from generation to 
 generation, until in the New Testament his Father- 
 hood is fully unfolded. 
 
 While in the Pentateuch, and in the books which 
 closely follow in the record, God is revealed largely 
 as a mysterious and awful Sovereign, yet there are 
 
BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 157 
 
 noble hints here and there of his tender care, his 
 
 gentle sympathies, his loving nature. What an 
 
 exquisite touch is given to Abraham's relations with 
 
 Jehovah when it is related that the patriarch was 
 
 called the friend of God! With what compassion is Isa. 41.8 
 
 the declaration made by the Almighty to the 
 
 Israelites in Egypt: "I have surely seen the affliction Exod. 3. 7, 8 
 
 of my people, . . . and have heard their cry; I know 
 
 their sorrows, . . . and I am come down to deliver 
 
 them"! What comfort is lodged in an assurance like 
 
 this: "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew 
 
 not; in paths that they have not known will I lead Isa. 42. 16 
 
 them"! With what impressiveness and skill the 
 
 majestic power of the Most High is yoked with hi? 
 
 condescending care in the words: 
 
 He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. Psa. 147. 2-4 
 
 He healeth the broken in heart, 
 
 And bindeth up their wounds. 
 
 He counteth the number of the stars; 
 
 He giveth them all their names! 
 
 These are not sporadic passages, hidden out of 
 sight in the old record; they are characteristic teach- 
 ings, and might be matched by scores of similar 
 utterances which serve to unfold, age after age, the 
 merciful attributes of the God of Israel. 
 
 2. In the New Testament the Fatherhood of the 
 Almighty, moreover, is clearly and constantly set 
 forth. When the Master speaks of God he nearly 
 always calls him "your Father," and his divine com- 
 passion toward his children is illustrated in the 
 Saviour's teachings by his care for the birds, the 111— 
 
158 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 ies, and the grass. Paul uses the comprehensive and 
 Rom. 15. 5, 13 tender terms, "the God of patience/' "the God of 
 2 Cor. l. 3 hope/' "the Father of mercies and God of all com- 
 fort/' to suggest to us the loving and forbearing 
 qualities which belong to him. These citations, and 
 hosts of others which might be culled out of the 
 pages of the Book, should suffice to indicate the unrea- 
 sonable attitude of those who judge the Almighty by 
 a few instances of apparent cruelty found in the 
 earlier Scriptures, and refuse to take into consid- 
 eration the whole broad record in which there is a 
 gradual revelation of the ineffable perfections and 
 tender mercies of our Father in heaven. 
 
 3. Much space is given in the Bible to the various 
 attributes of Jehovah. It would require many pages 
 of this volume to reproduce the passages which set 
 forth his character and administration. Perhaps 
 it will be possible to give a compact and vivid por- 
 trayal of some phases of his manifold being by citing 
 a single terse utterance or two to indicate some of 
 these delineations as biblical writers have conceived 
 and pictured them: 
 
 Psa. 147. 5 Omnipotence: Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. . . . 
 
 Prov. 21. 30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against 
 Jer. 32. 17 the Lord. . . . Thou hast made the heaven and the earth 
 
 by thy great power and by thy stretched-out arm: there is 
 
 nothing too hard for thee. 
 Jer. 23. 24 Omnipresence and Omniscience: Can any hide himself in 
 
 Psa. 139. 1 2 secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do 
 Prov 15 3' not * fi^ heaven and earth? saith the Lord. . . . O Lord, 
 Psa 147 *> thou hast searched me, and known me. . . . Thou under- 
 
 standest my thought afar off. . . . The eyes of the Lord 
 
 are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. . . 
 
 His understanding is infinite. 
 
BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 159 
 
 Justice and Holiness: Justice and judgment are the habi- Psa. 89. 14 
 tation of thy throne. . . . The Lord is righteous in all his 145. 17 
 
 ways, and holy in all his works. . . . Shall not the Judge Gen. 18. 25 
 
 of all the earth do right? . . . The heavens are not clean J° D 15. 15 
 
 in his sight. . . . Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Isa> 6 - 3 
 
 Mercy, Loving-kindness: Thy loving-kindness is better than Psa. 63. 3 
 
 life. ... Oh how great is thy goodness. ... He that 31. 19 
 
 toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. ... He keepeth Zech. 2. 8 
 
 covenant and mercy. . . . God is love. P^ u ^' 7 ". 9 o 
 
 1 John 4. 8 
 
 The stern, implacable, and imperious God of arbi- 
 trary power, but little better than an enthroned 
 Fate, worshiped by the Mohammedans; the hideous 
 aggregation of deities found in the Hindu triad and 
 in other pagan faiths; the gods and goddesses of 
 ancient polytheism, seated on Olympus, with their 
 jealousies, their plots, their stupendous vices and 
 habitual cruelties — we can hardly contrast these 
 alleged deities, even in our thought, for one moment 
 with the God of the Bible, without stopping to 
 ask the Almighty's pardon for our seeming irrever- 
 ence. 
 
 Furthermore, how can we for one moment in 
 reason compare the God whom we worship as our 
 Father in heaven with the mysterious Some-Thing- 
 or-Other with which pantheism fills the universe, or 
 with the inscrutable Force which, according to Her- 
 bert Spencer, and others who accept his doctrines^ 
 lies back of all visible and material phenomena? 
 Turning from all these supposed manifestations of 
 deity we may reverently cry out: Lord, Thou art 
 great, and greatly to be praised, and thy greatness is 
 unsearchable! In thy kingdom thou rulest over all. 
 Thou art the King eternal, immortal, invisible, and 
 
160 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 thou art also our Father, our Comforter, our Re- 
 deemer! Blessed be thy name for evermore. 
 
 4. The biblical ideals of life command attention 
 also, along with the ideals of God's character which 
 we have been studying. 
 
 According to the old Roman sages and popular 
 standards the highest ideals of character were strenu- 
 ous, martial, imperious. The best man m^their 
 view was the man of strength, the champion in the 
 arena, the conqueror of a province, the winner of a 
 triumphal procession and its attendant honors. 
 So captivated were the Roman people by the pomp, 
 the glory, and the power of palace, and court, and 
 field, that they in their thought and in their temples 
 elevated those who had been distinguished in these 
 realms to a supposed rank of deity after death. 
 
 Different ideals of character and achievement 
 prevailed among the Greeks, who exalted physical 
 beauty, mental alertness, intellectual ability, success 
 in the sciences and the arts — in a word, whatever 
 might be compacted into the term "wisdom," which 
 in their view had but a limited scope. The man who 
 could argue in the school of logic, solve problems in 
 mathematics, carve a noble statue, erect a magnifi- 
 cent temple, win a prize in the Grecian games — he 
 was a man worth while ! 
 
 There have been limited regions where political 
 success filled the measure of men's thoughts as the 
 highest sign of human greatness. The typical big 
 man in such a case is the man who has won an office, 
 who can be called King, or President, or Governor, 
 
BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 161 
 
 or even by some less pretentious title. And it must 
 be added that the highest ideal which many in our 
 day have cherished is furnished by the title multi- 
 millionaire! 
 
 Very different is the ideal of human greatness 
 presented in the Bible. Some of the elements of 
 the biblical ideal of character and life commended 
 and commanded in the Book may be very briefly 
 outlined. 
 
 5. One of them is prayerfulness. In every true 
 life, according to the teachings and examples of the 
 Scripture, prayer must have a fundamental place. 
 The good man must be in touch with his Father by 
 daily fellowship of thought and purpose; he must be 
 able to lay his needs and cares before that Father all 
 the while, and when necessary tell him, as a child 
 may tell his earthly parent, his anxieties, his wants, 
 his deepest desires and longings, and his consciousness 
 of sin, failure, and ill-desert. He will ask for some- 
 thing when needed, and will be ready to get along 
 without it if his Father does not see fit to grant what 
 is besought. Thus his life of prayer will be not a 
 mere chronic effort to "get something" from God by 
 persistent supplication, but rather an experience of 
 inward fellowship, a reaching out of the soul after 
 God's help and grace, a submission of the soul to the 
 will of the Father, moment by moment, and grateful 
 acceptance of the gifts which come from on high. 
 
 6. Trustfulness is a further factor of the life en- 
 joined in Scripture. The man who prays will also 
 have faith — faith in God's wisdom, goodness, and 
 
162 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 helpful care. His inward cry will often find expres- 
 Psa. 31. 15 sion in the psalmist's words, "My times are in thy 
 hand." In prosperity or in privation, in periods of 
 success and in experiences of failure and defeat, he 
 will still say, "The Lord will provide." Sometimes 
 he may be able to see and declare, as he reflects 
 upon past perils and sorrows and persecutions, what 
 Joseph testified, looking back to his days of wretch- 
 Gen. 50. 20 edness and servitude and exile — "The Lord meant it 
 for good." And in every emergency, even the worst, 
 while in the path of duty, he will be able to say, 
 Heb. 13. 6 "The Lord is my helper: I will not fear." 
 
 7. Industrious -application to one's daily duties is 
 an added element in the biblical ideal of life. Through- 
 out the book of Proverbs the indolent man is admon- 
 ished concerning the wickedness and clanger of his 
 
 Prov. 20. 4 habits. "The sluggard will not plow by reason of 
 
 J2* 24 the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have 
 
 nothing." He is further warned in this alarming 
 
 utterance: "So shall thy poverty come as a robber, 
 
 and thy want as an armed man." On the other side 
 
 of the case, we are assured that the hand of the 
 
 diligent shall bear rule. Against tattlers, busy- 
 
 2Thess. 3. io, bodies, and idlers Paul directs his sharp rebukes, 
 
 1 Tim. 5. 13 and he also urges that the believer must be not 
 
 ? ( h% 12 4 U slothful in diligence, but fervent in spirit, as he serves 
 
 the Lord; while the Master cries out, feeling the 
 
 pressure of opportunity, "We must work . . . while 
 
 it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." 
 
 8. Courage, furthermore, is set before us as a car- 
 dinal virtue. More than a score of times is the rousing 
 
BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAX 163 
 
 admonition spoken to God's leaders or to his warring 
 hosts: "Be strong, and of a good courage; fear not; 
 quit yourselves like men!" We are not summoned 
 in Scripture to a serene, mystical, easy-going life, 
 nor is the ascetic, brooding, and dreamy mood, as 
 exemplified in certain Oriental forms of religion, 
 encouraged in the Bible. The battle cries of Saint 
 Paul, "Endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus 2 Tim. 2. 3 
 Christ," "Put on the whole armor of God," "Be not Eph.e.n 
 weary in welldoing," "As we have opportunity, let ' 
 
 us work," are full of urgency, ardor, and desperate 
 earnestness. The soldierly and virile phases of char- 
 acter and activity in his writings are kept well to the 
 front. The ideal man, as pictured in the Scripture, 
 is not a complaisant, spiritless, anaemic creature, by 
 any means. He has red blood in his veins; he is Rom. 12. 9 
 a good hater as well as a good lover; he has learned 
 to abhor that which is evil; to him life is a conflict, 
 on which eternal issues depend. Reformers and 
 martyrs in countless hosts have revealed these ele- 
 ments of character, and thus embodied before the 
 ages the heroic element, which, incarnate in so many 
 biblical examples, forms a constituent in the combi- 
 nation of traits that make up ideal Christian manhood. 
 9. Service is another element in the biblical con- 
 ception of life as it is embodied in great examples, 
 and illumined by the spirit of the Master. He who Acts 10. 38 
 went about doing good is set forth as the one to be 
 emulated; as he stoops to perform the act of a menial 
 he says to his disciples, "I have given you an example." John 13. 15 
 His ministry was crowded with deeds of compassion, 
 
164 
 
 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 46 
 
 Dan. 12. 13 
 James 5. 20 
 
 each one of which was a parable in action, intended 
 Matt. 25. 31- to prompt imitation. In his picture of the judgment 
 he sets those who have fed the hungry, clothed the 
 naked, visited the sick and the prisoner, and wel- 
 comed and cared for the needy and forlorn, on the 
 right hand, to be rewarded for their merciful minis- 
 trations. The privilege of helping men into the 
 kingdom is urged upon us by two great passages, 
 which are luminous with suggestiveness and en- 
 couragement: "They that turn many to righteousness 
 shall shine as the stars for ever and ever"; "He who 
 converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall 
 save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude 
 of sins." The great commission spoken by the Mas- 
 ter before his ascension was intended not for his 
 apostles alone, but for his followers, his universal 
 Church: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to every creature, ... to the whole creation. 
 . . . Go, make disciples of all nations; ... ye shall 
 be my witnesses unto the uttermost part of the 
 earth." The duty is therefore laid not on a few but 
 on the many to proclaim, either in person or by 
 proxy, to the whole world the glad tidings of salva- 
 tion through Christ. 
 
 The followers of Christ are just awaking to their 
 duty to render "social service" to the unfortunate, 
 to rescue the outcast, to help the deserving poor, to 
 alleviate the condition of the prisoner, to shepherd 
 the lost, to go after the erring, to remedy as far as 
 they can the inequities and the injustices that are 
 current, and to embody in daily life and in practical 
 
 Mark 16. 15 
 Matt. 28. 19 
 Luke 24. 46 
 Acts 1. 18 
 
BIBLICAL IDEALS: GOD AND MAN 165 
 
 helpfulness the doctrine that God is our Father and 
 that we are all brethren. 
 
 Loving, self-sacrificing brotherly service to others, 
 based upon and reproducing in substance that which 
 our Lord rendered during his record on the earth — 
 this is an essential phase of the ideal life which is set 
 before us in the Bible to be translated into speech 
 and into action. 
 
 10. Two additional far-reaching and engaging traits, 
 which cohere fitly in a symmetrical character, and 
 which have separate and yet harmonious activities — 
 patience and hope — have their place in the ideal life 
 as enjoined in the Bible. 
 
 "Ye have need of patience" ; "Let patience have her Heb. 10. 36 
 perfect work" — here are two out of many commands J ames *■ 4 
 which urge upon us this culminating virtue, which 
 gives a coronal beauty to every other grace in human 
 character. Substantially the Bible says in many 
 passages what Longfellow has put into one of his lines: 
 
 "Learn to labor and to wait." 
 
 In that adage is one of the secrets of perfect victory. 
 And meanwhile, during the stress and tumult, the 
 tempest and the night, the Book continually says in 
 one form or another, "Be of good cheer; hope in the 
 Lord." To him who trusts in God, who faithfully 
 attends to his duty, who toils on in his mission, 
 better days are sure to come. His best times are 
 always ahead of him, no matter what may happen 
 temporarily to cloud his sky and to delay the hour 
 of victory. Far away in the dim distance, in the un- 
 
166 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 known future, but surely provided for him, is the 
 Gal. 6.9 fulfillment of the promise: "In due season we shall 
 
 reap, if we faint not." Girded, therefore, and under- 
 girded, by these two invincible factors of success, 
 hope and patience, the lover and follower of Christ 
 is stayed and buoyed up for conflict or suffering. 
 
 Is not the ideal life, outlined thus from Scripture, 
 an attractive and arousing conception? Is not the 
 Bible enhanced in value, in human interest, and in 
 beauty as well, when we find it enshrining this com- 
 posite and glorious picture of what a man ought to 
 be during his stay on earth? 
 
 Prayer, trustfulness, industry, courage, brotherly 
 service, patience, hope — where in creation may we 
 find a worthier or more winning combination of gentle 
 and virile graces than these? 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 
 
 : 167 
 
I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are 
 forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, 
 because ye know him which is from the beginning. I write 
 unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. 
 I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the 
 Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know 
 him which is from the beginning. I have written unto you, 
 young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God 
 abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one. Love 
 not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If 
 any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust 
 of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, 
 but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the 
 lust thereof : but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 
 
 —1 John 2. 12-17. 
 
 Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace 
 
 Our path when wont to stray; 
 Stream from the fount of heavenly grace, 
 
 Brook by the traveler's way; 
 
 Bread of our souls, whereon we feed; 
 
 True manna from on high; 
 Our guide and chart, wherein we read 
 
 Of realms beyond the sky; 
 
 Pillar of fire, through watches dark, 
 
 And radiant cloud by day; 
 When waves would whelm our tossing bark, 
 
 Our anchor and our stay: 
 
 Word of the everlasting God, 
 
 Will of his glorious Son, 
 Without thee, how could earth be trod, 
 
 Or heaven itself be won? 
 
 Lord, grant us all aright to learn 
 
 The wisdom it imparts; 
 And to its heavenly teaching turn, 
 
 With simple, childlike hearts. 
 
 — Bernard Barton. 
 
 168 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 
 
 What has the Bible to do with the intellectual 
 growth of the world, with educational progress, and 
 with the spread of the highest forms of culture? 
 What appeal does it make to intelligent and discern- 
 ing minds? What relation has it sustained to the 
 institutions which have elevated, informed, and 
 guided the ruling intellects from age to age? These 
 are some of the questions which need to be answered 
 in order to determine certain phases of the attractive 
 force exerted by this Book. Our answers must neces- 
 sarily be short and suggestive, rather than elaborate 
 and complete. 
 
 Turning back for the moment to the age when 
 printing became one of the new forces of civilization 
 and enlightenment, we find the first publication of 
 the Scriptures occupying a preeminent place of 
 influence and revolutionary power. The sixteenth 
 century was just completing its first quarter when 
 the New Testament in German, in French, and in 
 English issued from the press. No other event of 
 that period can for a moment be compared in impor- 
 tance with that threefold publication. And as the 
 Bible thus early in the history of printing became a 
 beacon light, heralding the progress of discovery and 
 pioneering the pathway of the teacher, so it has con- 
 
 169 
 
170 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 tinued to occupy a foremost place in the educational 
 world. It has never lost the primacy thus empha- 
 sized. Of no other book except the Bible can it be 
 said that it has been translated, in whole or in part, 
 into more than five hundred languages and dialects, 
 and literally scattered abroad among all tribes and 
 nations on the face of the earth. 
 
 As a standard of usage in our own tongue it has 
 an authority and influence which are supreme, while 
 it has stimulated the best writers and afforded a 
 source from which to cite apt phrases and felicitous 
 rhetorical allusions and illustrations to a degree which 
 has put it beyond reach of all other books of the kind 
 in existence. Nearly all great schools in our own 
 country, in Great Britain, and in Europe have been 
 founded and maintained avowedly in the primary 
 interest of what is distinctively called Christian 
 education, by men who had been trained to study, 
 to love, and to exalt the Bible. 
 
 This contention as to the primacy of the English 
 Bible among the agencies which arouse, quicken, 
 and guide the mind in its aspirations and conclusions 
 cannot reasonably be challenged. The question, 
 then, comes up for brief consideration : What ele- 
 ments in the Book possess this specific illumining 
 and awakening function? How does it come that 
 the . Scripture has been a beacon light to the ages, 
 that it has pioneered the way of the thinker, the 
 explorer, the inventor, the student, and that it has 
 won for itself a position unquestioned among the 
 intellectual forces of the world? 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 171 
 
 1. At least the beginning of an answer to these 
 inquiries is afforded when we consider the educating 
 value of fellowship with great writers. A book 
 written by a man of genius, and read by a susceptible 
 inquiring student — hence begins a new career. Many 
 an illustrious leader has traced his intellectual birth, 
 his first notable victory over hitherto baffling ob- 
 stacles, his start toward the kingdom, to his contact 
 with a great volume. Many readers of these lines 
 will recall with a thrill of gratitude the hour when 
 for the first time they became acquainted with, 
 perhaps, the nature poems of Wordsworth, or the 
 majestic characteristics of Paradise Lost, or when 
 they first read a great novel — The Cloister and the 
 Hearth, David Copperfield, Les Miserables, or Vanity 
 Fair. One of the most eminent of American teachers, 
 for years at the head of the Smithsonian Institution 
 at Washington, often told how he had been led in his 
 boyhood to take up the study of the natural sciences, 
 in which he became a leading American authority, 
 by reading a science primer which by chance fell into 
 his hands in his teens. The effect upon his life and 
 plans was immediate and revolutionary. He was 
 at once transplanted into a new intellectual world, 
 and his mind underwent a complete renovation. 
 
 Communion with the masterful minds whose works 
 are collected in the Old and New Testaments is one 
 of the secrets of the influence which the Book exerts 
 over those who are susceptible to such contact. 
 Apart from the ministry of the truths contained in 
 these books, there is a stimulating effect wrought 
 
172 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 upon the minds of those who trace in the productions 
 of such writers as Isaiah, Amos, David, Moses, and 
 Paul the mental operations, the tastes, the native 
 bent, the literary or logical gifts, the heart-yearnings, 
 the inner visions, and the ground basis of noble 
 character which underlie and make possible their 
 work in the Scripture. Being dead, these men yet 
 live, not merely in the books which incorporate 
 their revelations of truth, but in the throbbing heart- 
 beats which palpitate throughout their writings. 
 
 2. Furthermore, the task of grappling with great 
 thoughts, of pursuing difficult arguments, of dealing 
 with vast themes, of studying a volume into which 
 a mighty soul has poured without stint its very life- 
 currents, brings with it intellectual recuperation and 
 growth in amazing measure. The wrestler, in order 
 to develop his thews and sinews, needs to tug with 
 an antagonist tough, and alert, and strong. A stu- 
 dent or reader who is content with easy tasks, who 
 never undertakes a large achievement, who chooses 
 for himself lines of study which never rouse his ener- 
 gies to their fullest exercise — what can be expected 
 of him? 
 
 The themes treated in the Bible are the noblest, 
 most commanding, most fundamental to be found 
 in literature: Who, or what, lies back of the things 
 which we see and hear and feel? How did this 
 universe of order, beauty, and magnificence come 
 into being? Whence came the human race? Whither 
 are we drifting? What is there in man besides 
 flesh and blood? What lies beyond death and the 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 173 
 
 grave? How shall a depraved man regain mastery 
 of himself? By what means shall the heart be 
 renewed, the conscience clarified and cleansed, the 
 life made over again? How shall the superstitions, 
 the cruelties, the poverty and degradations which 
 through countless ages have burdened savage and 
 barbaric lands be removed? How shall the race be 
 made over again into a life of purity and peace? 
 How shall we expedite the coming of the glad day when 
 man shall be in cordial touch with his brother man 
 the wide world over? Here are the fundamental 
 questions of the centuries. They are discussed, illu- 
 mined, argued, in part solved, in the Bible. For 
 these problems there is absolutely no solution except 
 that which the Bible furnishes, or helps us toward. 
 The student who studies these greatest of all themes 
 as they are treated in Scripture, who learns from 
 that Book their nature, importance, and bearing, 
 finds not only light and knowledge, but an intellectual 
 renewal, and upbuilding, and discipline of an ex- 
 traordinary kind. 
 
 3. The prescriptions of the Word looking in the 
 direction of mental and moral culture are many. We 
 have already cited some of the directions given to the 
 ancient Hebrews bidding them teach the law diligently 
 to their children — rules which were from remote 
 times carefully followed in the home and in the 
 schools of the synagogue. Concerning mental dis- 
 cipline of a more general sort the utterances of the 
 book of Proverbs are pertinent, urging men to seek 
 for wisdom and instruction, to increase in learning, 
 
174 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 to attain unto sound counsels, and declaring that 
 wisdom is the principal thing. Who can read the 
 opening chapters of this sagacious and penetrating 
 book without being impressed with the lofty intellec- 
 tual ideals which it embodies and commands? For 
 many centuries the Bible has urged home upon men 
 the truth that it is only the foolish who refuse to be 
 instructed, who are willing to live in ignorance. 
 The directions found in the Bible enforcing the duty 
 of religious application — bidding men to keep the 
 heart with all diligence, to consider their ways, to 
 remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning 
 of wisdom — inevitably involve mental discipline, the 
 regulation of the thoughts, the government of the 
 reason, and the quest of secular as well as religious 
 knowledge. So far as the teachings of Saint Paul 
 are concerned, there is a single passage which has in it 
 the fundamental principles of educational science, 
 both in theory and practice : 
 
 Phil. 4. 8, 9 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
 
 things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatso- 
 ever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso- 
 ever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if 
 there be any praise, think on these things. The things which 
 ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these 
 things do: and the God of peace shall be with you. 
 
 What wise advice in this respect he gives to his son 
 in the gospel : 
 
 1 Tim. 4. 13-15 Give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Neg- 
 lect not the gift that is in thee. ... Be diligent in these 
 things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy progress may 
 be manifest unto all. Take heed to thyself and to thy 
 teaching. 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 175 
 
 No man could write thus without holding and incul- 
 cating a noble ideal for the cultivation of the intellec- 
 tual life. 
 
 4. The teachings of the Bible, again, concerning 
 the mental and moral structure of man's complicated 
 nature are fraught with incitements and helps for 
 intellectual advancement. The psychology of the 
 Bible is singularly free from errors. The admonitions 
 which the Book gives — directed to reason, imagina- 
 tion, memory, heart, conscience, and will — need no 
 correction in order to apply to our current needs. 
 The more closely we study the nature of man as 
 delineated in the Scripture, the clearer will be our 
 insight into the divine wisdom which marks that 
 delineation, and our apprehension also of the intimate 
 relation sustained in the philosophy of the Bible, 
 and in its application to daily life, between the reli- 
 gion of the heart and the culture of the intellect. 
 
 5. An additional fact bears on this theme — namely, 
 that there comes very often in human experience, 
 along with a new religious experience, a quickening 
 of the mental faculties and the mental life. Any 
 college teacher can give testimony concerning this 
 phenomenon as he has had occasion to study it in 
 his daily observations. He has seen an unpromising, 
 indolent, careless, perhaps vicious lad wrought upon 
 by an awakening influence and brought in a single day 
 to give up his vices, his lazy proclivities, turn com- 
 pletely around and become a diligent, devout, and 
 alert student. There has come to the lad not only 
 a new birth for his religious nature but also a new 
 
176 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 birth for his intellect. Almost at once there are 
 revealed mental aptitudes, quickened faculties, aspira- 
 tions after better things, not known in the lad's history 
 up to that day of his conversion. And the change 
 does not pass away as the whim of an hour or the 
 fad of a year. The boy's inner life, of mind and soul, 
 has passed through a genuine renaissance. New 
 motives, new insight, new appreciation of the value 
 of time, a new sense of responsibility, a fresh zeal for 
 knowledge, and a changed outlook on time and eter- 
 nity — all this sometimes takes place as an accom- 
 paniment of conversion. 
 
 The case of John Bunyan may be cited as suggesting 
 the extraordinary influence which a deep religious 
 experience exerts upon the whole intellectual nature. 
 There was surely nothing in the environment, habits, 
 training, native proclivities, or home life of Bunyan 
 as a lad to indicate that the fires of genius were 
 slumbering in his breast. Did anyone who knew him 
 when he was an illiterate vagrant ever fancy for a 
 moment that this young tinker lad had any native 
 talents of a remarkable type? He would have re- 
 mained in vagrancy and ignorance but for the experi- 
 ence of grace which saved him from his sins, introduced 
 him into a new fellowship, quickened all his intellec- 
 tual and moral powers, and not only renewed but 
 transfigured his manhood. 
 
 Milton's case is somewhat different, but it illus- 
 trates the same principle. As a lad he cherished 
 high intellectual ideals, saw in his visions the peaks 
 of poetical achievement which he aspired to climb, 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 177 
 
 and diligently cultivated all the agencies of scholar- 
 ship in order to secure the best culture of the time. 
 But his motives, his ruling aims, his inner life, the 
 very atmosphere in which he moved — all these were 
 religious. It is simply the truth to say that he never 
 would, and never could, have written his great poetry 
 without the help which religious devotion afforded. 
 
 Many instances might be cited from the realm 
 of hymnology showing that the poetic faculty lay 
 almost dormant till it was roused in the breast of the 
 newborn believer in Jesus Christ by the grace that 
 had induced penitence and grateful love. Newton, 
 Cowper, and Charles Wesley are types of this truth. 
 But for their religious experience they could hardly 
 have reached celebrity with their pens. 
 
 A single tribute from a man who was certainly not 
 biased in favor of the usual orthodox type of doctrine 
 or "the current ecclesiasticism" may be cited as fur- 
 nishing from an unquestioned source the judgment 
 of one who looked at things from the standpoint 
 of an historian, a critic, a philosopher — the late 
 Right Hon. W. E. H. Lecky, author of two great books, 
 the History of England in the Eighteenth Century, 
 and the History of European Morals. In his Democ- 
 racy and Liberty he says : 
 
 It is difficult to exaggerate the moral advantage of an 
 early and complete familiarity with the biblical writings. 
 Such familiarity seldom fails to do something to purify, 
 exalt, elevate, and regulate the character, to exalt the imagi- 
 nation, to color the whole texture of a life. Even on its purely 
 intellectual side its value is very great. It may be truly 
 said that the pure, simple, and lofty language of the English 
 Bible has done more than any other single influence to 
 
178 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 refine the taste of the great masses of the English people. 
 It is the most powerful antidote to vulgarity of thought 
 and feeling. 
 
 And fitly chiming in with this declaration comes 
 a quotation from Dr. Charles A. Briggs, in his Biblical 
 Study: Its Principles, Methods, and History: 
 
 Biblical study is the most attractive of all studies. The 
 variety of topic, richness of material, beauty of form, wealth 
 of illustration, the vast importance of its themes, the unity 
 in which the amazing variety of author, age, and topic is 
 bound together — all make the Bible the most interesting and 
 absorbing study for peasant and prince, for child and sage, 
 for all the world. . . . The Bible is a book of life, a real book, 
 a people's book. It is a blessed means of grace when used 
 in devotional hours; it has also holy lessons and beauties 
 of thought and sentiment for hours of leisure and recreation. 
 It appeals to the aesthetic and intellectual as well as moral 
 and spiritual faculties, the whole man in his whole life. 
 
 This, by the way, is the testimony of a man who 
 has had the advantage of foreign study and travel, 
 of the widest culture, and who has been a student 
 and a teacher of the Scriptures since his young 
 manhood. 
 
 6. It may be further remarked that men who have 
 spent their lives in biblical research, and who are 
 masters of its learning, furnish to the world a type 
 of scholarship, of alert and refined manhood, of intel- 
 lectual preeminence, not surpassed in all the wide 
 realms of culture. The man who has become an 
 authority in the lexicography, the literature, the geog- 
 raphy, the archaeology, the linguistics, or the expo- 
 sition of the Bible — so that it may be said of him 
 that he knows in his peculiar field all that can be 
 known by one man, and is still learning — is usually 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 179 
 
 as fine a type of character as the modern world can 
 show. Among men of this type who are gone let 
 the names of Philip Schaff, Edwards A. Park, James 
 Strong, Henry M. Harman, A. B. Davidson, and 
 George P. Fisher be recalled; and among those whose 
 light still shines, think of William Sanday, George 
 Adam Smith, William F. Warren, Francis L. Patton : 
 what profession, what sphere of research, what realm 
 of intellectual achievement can furnish men to surpass 
 such specimens of all-round, full-orbed, magnificent 
 manhood? Then consider this truth : these men owed 
 their development, their refined tastes, their surpass- 
 ing manhood in fullest degree to their devotion as 
 students and teachers to the Bible. That Book was 
 the chief agency in making them, to cite Paul's phrase, 
 "full-grown men." 
 
 7. The field of biblical inquiry, it must be kept in 
 mind, is no narrow, sectarian, controversial domain. 
 The man who has in any genuine sense of the term 
 mastered the Bible must know many cognate branches 
 of learning — ethics, psychology, philosophy, history, 
 poetry, literature, sociology, the annals of ancient 
 and modern exploration and discovery, the Hebrew 
 and Greek tongues as well as the modern languages — 
 for these all have their roots and ramifications in the 
 Scripture. A field of study, therefore, so vast and 
 fruitful, that can furnish to the world the finest types 
 of educated manhood to be found anywhere, com- 
 mends itself thereby for its fructifying, renewing, 
 edifying power. 
 
 Were we to ask such men as those of whom we have 
 
180 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 just been writing, the question, "What has the Bible 
 done for your mind? What has the gospel done for 
 your intellectual powers? What help has religion 
 ministered to you in your search after culture, and 
 in your achievements in scholastic pursuits?" the 
 replies would be immediate and full of grateful 
 recognition. They might possibly run somewhat 
 after this fashion: "The religion of the Bible has 
 given me great thoughts to deal with; it has set 
 before me magnificent intellectual models who have 
 served to waken the spirit of emulation in my breast; 
 it has purified my imagination, and given it wings of 
 strength to fly through spacious regions of research; 
 it has peopled my mind with glorious ideals of char- 
 acter and achievement, with stimulating conceptions, 
 revealing lofty possibilities for myself and for the 
 human race; through prayer it has brought light on 
 the path of duty, light into my often puzzled brain, 
 light in the study of the Word and the works of God, 
 it has exalted my life with its noble fellowships, and 
 introduced me into a company of refined, intelligent, 
 cultivated spirits, with kindred tastes, a common 
 love for the Bible, and a joint interest in the service 
 of the King, uniting us in blessed communion; it has 
 given me steadfastness of purpose, a stronger will- 
 power, a vaster horizon, a loftier outlook and uplook, 
 which have increasingly ennobled life. These are 
 some of the benefits, aspirations, and inspirations 
 which the Bible has brought to me as an intellectual 
 being.' ' 
 The personal influence of such a cultivated soul as 
 
THE APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 181 
 
 we have been delineating, in the community where 
 he lives, is often an extraordinary element in its 
 social and civic life, — apart from the work which he 
 may do in his vocation as teacher, pastor, or editor. 
 One such man — by his winsome ways, his refined 
 tastes, his broad horizon, wit, humor, love for letters, 
 his luminous and edifying conversation, his bonhomie, 
 his devotion to the things which are worth while — in 
 due time is recognized as facile princeps in each circle 
 in which he moves. He becomes a radiating center 
 of illumination, a leavening power, a chief agency of 
 beneficence, whereby childhood is ennobled and youth 
 exalted in its aims, inert souls stimulated, ignoble 
 ambitions changed, and all the life of the community 
 transfigured. The daily walk and conversation of 
 one such man is an inestimable treasure to his neigh- 
 borhood. 
 
 In view of these phases of the ministry of the 
 Scripture to the higher life of the world, can there 
 be a serious question on the part of the well-informed 
 concerning the educating, enlightening, mind-dis- 
 ciplining function of the Bible? And is not this 
 function of the gospel one of its world-illumining 
 charms? 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CREDENTIALS 
 
 183 
 
Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his 
 disciples; and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, 
 Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him 
 speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and 
 beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? 
 And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being in- 
 terpreted, Master), where abidest thou? He saith unto 
 them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and 
 saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: 
 it was about the tenth hour. One of the two that heard 
 John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's 
 brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith 
 unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being in- 
 terpreted, Christ). And he brought him unto Jesus. 
 
 —John 1. 35-42. 
 
 I love the sacred Book of God! 
 
 No other can its place supply; 
 It points me to his own abode ; 
 
 It gives me wings and bids me fly. 
 
 Sweet Book! in thee my eyes discern 
 
 The very image of my Lord; 
 From thine instructive page I learn 
 
 The joys his presence will afford. 
 
 While I am here these leaves supply 
 His place, and tell me of his love; 
 
 I read with faith's discerning eye, 
 And gain a glimpse of joys above! 
 
 — Thomas Kelly. 
 
 184 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 CREDENTIALS 
 
 One of the remarkable traits of the Bible is the 
 variety of arguments and testimonies which have 
 been convincingly used to demonstrate its super- 
 human authority and influence. Not by one line of 
 persuasives or one body of proofs alone, but by many, 
 have the nations been convinced that the Book con- 
 tains God's revelation of himself and his grace to the 
 world. The multiplicity and culminating force of 
 these evidences, when duly considered, are extraor- 
 dinary features of the Scriptures. 
 
 The dependence placed on these various arguments 
 used to defend the authoritative character of the 
 Book varies in different ages. Attacks are made 
 upon the Bible now from one quarter and again from 
 another; and accordingly the lines of defense shift 
 from time to time. Arguments which were effective 
 in one age become obsolescent, and in the course of 
 time new proofs appear, or old ones are modified to 
 meet the exigencies of the hour, or fresh emphasis is 
 put upon this or that phase of what the theologians 
 call the "apologetical discussion." 
 
 A suggestion is needed here that ordinary readers, 
 in meeting the term just used, are liable to be led 
 astray because of the current use of the word "apol- 
 ogy." This term in connection with biblical matters 
 
 185 
 
186 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 is used in its strong literal sense — a defense — not a 
 regretful or timid excuse. The science of "apolo- 
 getics" is devoted to defending, not apologizing for, 
 the Bible, and its aim is to set forth the grounds on 
 which the Scriptures are believed to contain a mes- 
 sage from God and a sufficient rule for our faith and 
 practice. It has grown in our time to be a very 
 extensive branch of biblical learning. Those who 
 have not recently examined this phase of inquiry 
 will find upon giving their attention to it that it is 
 a task of large significance and import to become 
 acquainted with the phase of biblical science thus 
 suggested. The scholarly equipment, for instance, 
 needed for the preparation of such a work as "Apolo- 
 getics; or, Christianity Defensively Stated," by the 
 late Professor A. B. Bruce, of the Free Church 
 College, Glasgow, or such a book as "The Divine 
 Origin of Christianity Indicated by its Historical 
 Effects," by the late Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs — 
 two of the ablest and most complete works on the 
 subject written in our day — can hardly be overstressed. 
 Such books as these could not have been written by 
 men of ordinary attainments. The vast knowledge 
 needed in the case, the varied fields of research with 
 which the authors of such books must be familiar, 
 the insight, the logical acumen, the spirit of tolerance, 
 the straightforward, truth-seeking aim, required by 
 such colossal tasks as are enshrined in these volumes, 
 can be merely hinted at, not defined. Those who 
 deal, therefore, with the Bible flippantly, who fancy 
 that with an offhand argument, a supercilious objec- 
 
CREDENTIALS 187 
 
 tion, or an arrogant assumption, they can easily set 
 aside the claims of Scripture, and settle its authority 
 with a sneer or an attempt at witticism, are sorely — 
 we might better say, tragically — mistaken. The man 
 who assumes that without scholarly preparation he 
 can set out even to discuss intelligently the great 
 facts on which the proofs of the Bible's authority 
 rest, who fancies that he can satisfy the claims of 
 reason and truth by lightly or imperiously brushing 
 aside the work of the centuries which has been 
 aggregated into the science of apologetics, makes 
 himself by his folly a laughingstock. 
 
 The questions before us are: Does the Scripture 
 contain a true revelation of God's character and will? 
 Is its unfolding of the actual condition and needs of 
 man correct? Does it afford us a pathway out of sin 
 and sorrow and peril into fellowship with God? Does 
 it reveal an assured hope of immortality? Does it 
 proclaim a system of perfect morality, of brotherly 
 kindness, of duty and destiny, which betokens a 
 divine origin and a superhuman author? Do we find 
 in the Book, throughout, signs of a wisdom, a search- 
 ing insight, a compassion, a power, far above any- 
 thing that man himself can possibly originate? To 
 these questions, which are of practical importance 
 to the ordinary reader of the Word, a discerning 
 answer is due. 
 
 There has been, as suggested, a change of front on 
 the part of the defenders of the faith in recent years. 
 The old arguments have in part been held in reserve 
 and fresh methods of indicating the reasons why men 
 
188 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 accept the Bible as containing a divine revelation have 
 been put into skillful use. The slightest glance at late 
 volumes devoted to the "evidences of Christianity/' 
 as the phrase used to run, will show a changed line 
 of argument made in view of the changed viewpoints 
 and current needs of Bible students. The so-called 
 "proofs" which were reckoned fifty or a hundred 
 years ago as adequate receive less prominence, and 
 other facts and phases of the Book which were then 
 but scantly stressed are now brought to the fore- 
 ground. A brief rehearsal of the arguments which 
 unite in their testimony that the Bible contains 
 the final revelation of God's character and gracious 
 purpose, and that it speaks with superhuman authority 
 to the human race concerning matters of faith, 
 doctrine, and duty, may help us to see how manifold 
 and convincing are these persuasives in their culmi- 
 nating force. 
 
 A single remark is worth while in advance of this 
 rehearsal. It is very seldom that a man is brought 
 to believe in the Bible or to accept Jesus Christ as a 
 divine Redeemer by argument alone. People do not 
 usually accept the Bible because some method of 
 argumentation has persuaded them that it is inspired, 
 or because they have been convinced by logical 
 processes that it contains a divine revelation. In 
 most cases acquaintance with the logical proofs 
 follows the acceptance of the Bible as God's Word; 
 the study of apologetics does not usually precede 
 that acceptance. The lines of argument which show 
 that it is reasonable to accept the Bible as a true and 
 
CREDENTIALS 189 
 
 reliable book of doctrine, a guide to religion, filled 
 with blessed promises, and stored with resources of 
 patience and help and comfort found nowhere else in 
 any other volume, come into use generally after a 
 soul has believed in the great salvation, and 
 help to supplement and confirm and make stead- 
 fast the work of faith already accomplished in the 
 heart. 
 
 Furthermore, it is not necessary, in order that one 
 shall be a loyal Christian, that he shall accept com- 
 pletely all the arguments that have been put forth 
 in behalf of the Bible and the Christian religion. It 
 is conceivable that one may say concerning a given 
 argument advanced in support of this or that doctrine, 
 or in behalf of the whole Bible, "That is a defective 
 and specious plea; I cannot accept that line of argu- 
 ment/ ' and yet devoutly and implicitly accept the 
 fact itself. The arguments may not persuade; but 
 of the doctrine or the Book the inquirer may have 
 no question, so that one may say, perhaps, concerning 
 this or that method of presenting the case, "I accept 
 the truth involved, with all my heart; but not on 
 the ground presented by that putting of the case, or 
 by that argument." 
 
 Perhaps we are now ready to tell the towers and 
 count the bulwarks of Zion, or at least to go up on 
 the watchtowers and find out for ourselves that the 
 city of our God — this Scripture city of doctrine, and 
 promise, and poetry, and history, and parable, and 
 biography — is well guarded, that its walls are not 
 yet undermined, that its treasures are still secure, 
 
190 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 and that such guarantees of our inheritance as are 
 stored away in the inclosure are still safe. 
 
 1. The argument based on the fulfillment of proph- 
 ecy has long been reckoned one of the proofs that 
 the Bible is an inspired volume. In recent years 
 this argument has been held in the background, 
 or has at least changed its form. It has not, however, 
 lost its force or value. The prophecies concerning 
 the Jewish people, written ages ago, are, for instance, 
 still amazing instances of the foresight and insight 
 of God's prophets of that far-away period. For 
 example: Concerning the financial gifts of the He- 
 brews there can be no question. They have a gift 
 for trading, for making money, for thrifty accumu- 
 lation, which puts them in a class by themselves. 
 How does it come that thousands of years ago it was 
 said to them: 
 
 Deut. 8. 18 "It is [Jehovah] that giveth thee power to get wealth. . . . 
 
 15. 6 Thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not 
 borrow"? 
 
 When we recall the fact that a few Hebrew bankers 
 in this country and in Europe have for generations 
 financed kingdoms and empires in critical times of 
 war and peace, these few words assume a remarkable 
 import. 
 
 Take one other fact — the dispersal of the Jews 
 over the earth. They are found, and have been for 
 ages found, in many lands. In England, in Russia, 
 and elsewhere they have been subjected, genera- 
 tion after generation, to oppression, persecution, 
 imprisonment, and martyrdom in almost endless 
 
CREDENTIALS 191 
 
 measure. The story of their sufferings is the great 
 tragedy of history; it is only within the past few years 
 that their condition has become in any manner toler- 
 able, for example, in Russia. Now turn to the Book 
 and see how exactly this very condition was foretold 
 ages ago: 
 
 Jehovah shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the Deut. 28. 04- 
 one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. . . . 60, 37 
 And among these nations thou shalt find no ease, and there 
 shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot . . . and thy life 
 shall hang in doubt before thee. . . . And thou shalt be- 
 come an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all 
 the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee away. 
 
 These are but a few of the sentences of retribution 
 denounced against the Hebrews in view of their pros- 
 pective disobedience. The chapter which contains 
 these utterances is full of other sentences of doom, 
 which have been dreadfully and almost literally 
 fulfilled in the history of the people of Israel. Their 
 captivity in Assyria and Babylon, and their return 
 from exile, their rehabilitation in their own country, 
 and the new glory which came to them after their re- 
 turn from captivity — all this was foretold many years 
 in advance of the happening of the events themselves. 
 The question inevitably arises: How did the prophets 
 know all these things in advance, unless, as they 
 themselves declared, Jehovah opened their eyes and 
 gave them the power to see the things which were 
 coming to pass? 
 
 Page after page of citation could be here reprinted Ty^ 2 **- 2 '- 
 showing that when Tyre, Babylon, and Nineveh were Babylon: Isa. 
 the great cities of the ancient world, the prophets of Jer. 51.1-64 
 
192 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Israel and of Judah foretold their overthrow, indi- 
 cated its completeness, and put into the picture such 
 touches of detail and such minute descriptions of 
 Nineveh: Na- what was in store for these centers of wickedness, 
 hum, passim p^d^ anc [ earthly grandeur as make the words of the 
 prophets to-day seem like the transcription of the 
 record of a traveler who has recently visited the 
 waste and desolate places where once these vast 
 capitals stood. 
 
 Further : In spite of the changed methods of inter- 
 pretation in vogue to-day, what unbiased mind can 
 read the fifty-third of Isaiah, and then read the closing 
 chapters of the Gospels, without concluding that the 
 prophet had in advance a vision of the sufferings 
 and glory of the Messiah? 
 
 Are we ready to conclude, in view of these glimpses 
 of what the prophets wrote, ages in advance of the 
 events which came to pass, that the argument from 
 the fulfillment of prophecy is obsolete? 
 
 It must be said, however, that the chief thing in the 
 work of the Old Testament prophets was not their 
 predictions. They were witnesses for God to their 
 own times; they brought from Jehovah advice, 
 warnings, instructions, arguments, light, and comfort 
 fitted to the needs of the age in which they lived. 
 It was only occasionally that they predicted in detail 
 the things which were to come. 
 
 2. Much was made in other days of the argument 
 from miracles, and in this instance too there has come 
 to be a change of stress. But little is made to-day 
 of the Old Testament miracles as arguments, but the 
 
CREDENTIALS 193 
 
 wonderful works which the Master did, as recorded 
 in the Gospels, were, to use his own term, "signs' ' of 
 his divine authority, his heavenly benevolence, his 
 superhuman compassion. He appeals to his miracles 
 once in a while as credentials of his Messiahship, as 
 in the case where he sent the disciples of John the 
 Baptist back to their teacher with the. direction. 
 
 Go your way and tell John the things which ye do hear Matt. 11. 4, 5 
 and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, 
 the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are 
 raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 
 
 More than once he declared, "The works that I do John 10. 25 
 in my Father's name, these bear witness of me." 5 - 36 
 
 But the miracles of our Lord were not apparently Matt n '20-23 
 intended as his chief credentials, as affording the 
 main reason for accepting him as the Saviour. His 
 works of healing, for example, had more than an 
 evidential value; they were signs of his philanthropy; 
 they were symbols of his power to recover the soul 
 from its maladies; they were evidences of his tender- 
 ness and gentleness and wisdom as the great Phy- 
 sician. In general his miracles displayed his power 
 over disease, over death, over nature, and over demons 
 — a fourfold sign of his superhuman authority and 
 greatness. 
 
 The whole discussion as to miracles in the case of 
 Christ narrows down in reason to the single fact of 
 his resurrection from the dead; if that greatest of all 
 marvels, that one culminating proof of his divine 
 character and authority, be accepted, why quibble 
 as to the others? What is there beyond the power 
 
194 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 of One who can raise himself from the tomb after he 
 has been put to death by crucifixion? 
 
 The question of miracles in the case of our 
 Lord, furthermore, connects itself with his majestic 
 and unique authority and character. Mysterious, 
 inexplicable, and apparently "supernatural" works 
 wrought by an ordinary man would not bring with 
 them to well-balanced minds any assurance of a 
 heavenly embassy. But miracles performed by one 
 who in himself is the Perfect Man, who has no fault 
 or blemish, who stands alone in the perfections of his 
 character among the sons of men, and who declares 
 himself to be supreme in authority over them — 
 miracles of that sort are so interfibered with his life 
 as to be inseparable. When he says to the storm, 
 "Be still"; and to Lazarus, "Come forth," and to the 
 leper, "I will; be thou clean," the words and acts are 
 consonant with his majesty and beauty and dignity 
 and masterfulness as the Man of all men — the Perfect 
 One — and they help us to see his glory. Miracles 
 in this aspect of the case are not inexplicable. They 
 are the easy and natural and proper outfruit of a 
 life and character in which perfection abode. 
 
 3. The moral effects of the Christian religion afford 
 the basis for one of the most convincing arguments 
 of our day. Charles L. Brace's book, Gesta Christi — 
 devoted to the story of the work incited by the gospel 
 for the poor, the infirm, the fallen, the outcast, the 
 diseased, the crippled, and the forlorn, the work 
 enshrined in hospitals and asylums and reforma- 
 tories throughout Christendom, the varied work of 
 
CREDENTIALS 195 
 
 modern philanthropy, which is confessedly based on 
 the example and spirit and gospel of our Lord — puts 
 emphasis on this phase of the argument. A contrast 
 drawn between the present heathen world and Chris- 
 tian nations of the earth in this regard puts addi- 
 tional emphasis on it. Dr. Storrs's great work, Page 186 
 already alluded to, illumines with research, with 
 comment, with exposition, this great argument, in 
 which he shows that the gospel has alleviated human 
 misery, elevated womanhood, rescued childhood, 
 spread educational institutions and principles, de- 
 stroyed slavery, fostered civil liberty, ennobled man- 
 hood, and enriched the whole of human life. This 
 argument has in recent years — within the past decade, 
 indeed — received additional impetus from events in 
 the Orient. Japan and China, in their quest of the 
 sources of light, of enterprise, of material progress, 
 of educational science and success, have turned 
 toward the Christian nations. They recognize the fact 
 that there has been a vast chasm between their best 
 types of political life and their highest achievements, 
 and what we call Western science and civilization. 
 Who can fail to find just here a new proof of the 
 superiority of Christ and the gospel as over against 
 the other faiths of the world and the civilizations 
 based upon them? 
 
 4. Discoveries in Asia Minor and in the Orient have 
 served in many cases to confirm the historic record 
 of Scripture. Excavations at Nineveh, on the site 
 of ancient Babylon, in Egypt, throughout Palestine 
 and Asia Minor, have for more than fifty years been 
 
196 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 carried on at large cost, and by the aid of the great- 
 est archaeologists of the world, who have deciphered 
 old inscriptions, translated the lettering on tablets 
 and monuments which had been buried for three 
 thousand years or more, identified names and dates 
 in countless instances, and almost literally re-created 
 the ancient civilizations. The results of these in- 
 quiries and discoveries can scarcely be hinted at here, 
 but it may be said that no discovery has been made 
 that contradicts the narrative of events in the Old 
 Testament at any point where the events coincide 
 in time with the secular record, while on the other 
 hand many facts have been clarified, and many 
 places have been identified as the ones mentioned in 
 the Book. 
 
 Perhaps the confirmatory discoveries made with 
 regard to the travels of Saint Paul, as related in the 
 book of Acts, and as referred to in his epistles, may 
 be indicated briefly as among the remarkable things 
 that have been done in this direction. Surveys 
 have been made, for example, of the whole of Asia 
 Minor, so far as the story touches any part of that 
 vast region; the journeys of Paul have been followed 
 up, mile after mile ; each place mentioned in the story 
 has been identified; ruins have been uncovered; 
 distances have been measured or reckoned; the nar- 
 rative of the shipwreck has been tested by the meth- 
 ods and records of the navigator; the Mediterranean 
 Sea has been retraversed, and its depths in many 
 places have been sounded, and, almost foot by foot, 
 the whole record of Paul's journeys has been resus- 
 
CREDENTIALS 197 
 
 citated, in order to determine what basis might be 
 found outside of Acts for the truthfulness of the nar- 
 rative. Photographs have been taken, topographical 
 sketches and new surveys have been made, maps have 
 been drawn, engraved, and published; and it is now 
 literally true that the record of travel written down 
 concerning Paul as undertaken by him in the first 
 century of the Christian era, from the year A. D. 34 
 to the year A. D. 68, has been subjected to the most 
 rigid scientific scrutiny, carried on for more than half 
 a century, with the result that the highest authori- 
 ties in the world — typified, for instance, by Professor 
 W. M. Ramsay, who has devoted years of study to 
 the geography of Asia Minor — declare that the record 
 is true and that no discovery has been made which 
 in any degree mars its validity. 
 
 5. There is, however, a more convincing, practicable, 
 and satisfactory method of identifying the Scriptures 
 as a volume with an authoritative and assuring mes- 
 sage for the human heart than any we have mentioned. 
 This Book is a self- verifying one ; it can be tested, and 
 verified, and approved by the illiterate and the child. 
 We do not need to be masters of literature, students 
 of archaeology, acquainted with the arguments based 
 on prophecy and miracles, and "read up" in the 
 story of the reforms wrought out by the gospel 
 in various ages, in order to be convinced that the 
 Book is, substantially and fundamentally, God's 
 message to the world. There is put within reach of 
 all of us a method whereby we can determine for 
 ourselves whether this message contained in the 
 
198 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Word is worthy of its claims; whether the gospel 
 in its privileges and proffers is divine ; whether there 
 is help in the Bible for the crippled nature of man, 
 balm for the conscience and strength for the will. 
 John 1.39, 46 Twice in the early part of the fourth Gospel the 
 invitation is spoken to inquirers, "Come and see." 
 Once the word was spoken to two disciples of John 
 the Baptist, who had followed the Master, anxious 
 to know something more about him. He turned 
 and asked what they sought, and when they told him 
 he said, "Come and see." That was Christ's welcome 
 to seeking souls, his word of cheer to those who 
 desired to get better acquainted, his invitation to 
 those who sought his friendship, instruction, and 
 guidance. Next day the same expression was used 
 by Philip, speaking to Nathanael, who had expressed 
 doubt as to the possibility of any good thing coining 
 out of Nazareth. "Come and see," was the reply. 
 That is: "If you have any question with reference to 
 this man whom we have found, and who is, we believe, 
 the Christ, foretold by Moses and announced in the 
 prophets; if you would be satisfied, as we are, that 
 this is the One who was to come, and that he has 
 come — then 'come and see' for yourself. Question 
 him, study him, weigh his words, examine his claims, 
 test his power, and you may find out for yourself, 
 as we have done, that this is indeed the Saviour of 
 the world." 
 
 The same method is available to-day. "Come and 
 see" is Christ's answer in our time to all inquiring 
 souls ; it is the answer of the Church to those who 
 
CREDENTIALS 199 
 
 are bewildered, with distracted hearts and brains, to 
 those who have sought here and there and yonder 
 for light and help and have at last ceased to inquire, 
 having sunken into the apathy of despair. To them 
 all the answer of the Gospels still is: "Come and see 
 for yourselves. Try this Man and his claims. Sub- 
 ject them to the utmost tests; bring yourself to him 
 and find out whether he can heal and help." 
 
 For example : The Bible promises light to the per- Psa. 25. 9 
 plexed: "The meek will he guide in judgment, and ames '° 
 the meek will he teach his way. ... If any of you 
 lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Let the anxious, 
 distracted, oppressed soul ask for light, in all sincer- 
 ity, as a child asks to be led in the darkness, reaching 
 out to find the outstretched hand of its mother. Is 
 there any evidence showing that a soul with this 
 disposition of docility and anxiety, sincerely desiring 
 help, was ever left to grope in darkness and un- 
 certainty? 
 
 The Bible, again, promises pardon and peace to the Prov. 28. 13 
 penitent inquirer: "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh 
 [his transgressions] shall obtain mercy. ... Ye may 
 know that the Son of man hath power on earth to 
 forgive sins." Scores of such assurances are found 
 in the Book. To an earnest inquirer we may say: 
 "Test one of these promises if you are burdened on 
 account of unforgiven sins. Put these passages to 
 the proof. Bring them to God in prayer, in the name 
 of the Redeemer. Tell your Father in heaven all 
 about your secret doubts, your misgivings, your men- 
 tal uncertainty, your heartache, your sins. Throw 
 
200 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 aside for the moment all other questions — about 
 miracles, or the difficulties of the Old Testament, or 
 the number of the sacraments, or the mode of bap- 
 tism, or the controversies that have raged on sectarian 
 questions. Be careful for one thing alone, that you 
 are willing to give up your sins and to accept the 
 light and help which are promised. No other matter 
 at this juncture is of importance. Ask for pardon, 
 plead the promise; hold fast there. Find out for 
 yourself if this one fact is true, really, fundamentally, 
 gloriously true — that God will pardon the penitent 
 who comes to him in sorrow, with sincere desires for 
 help, and with the deep-seated purpose of living 
 henceforth for him. 'Come and see' for yourself 
 whether this great provision of mercy has in it the 
 basis of absolute truthfulness, or whether it is a 
 delusion! You need not take anybody's say-so; 
 you need not wait to be satisfied by some other 
 man's testimony. Find out for yourself!" 
 
 The gospel offers peace and soul-health in answer 
 to prayer. That does not mean that everything we 
 ask for is to be granted; or that God is going to 
 work miraculous pranks to satisfy our daily whims. 
 It means just what Paul says: 
 
 In everything by prayer and supplication with thanks- 
 giving let your requests be made known unto God. And 
 the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall 
 guard your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. 
 
 We may put that promise to the test, try that sort 
 of a life, make full proof of this and other passages 
 which assure peace to the careworn and heavy-laden. 
 
CREDEx\TIALS 201 
 
 The Master says, "Obey, and know." We may put 
 his claims to the proof and find out by actual experi- 
 ment what there is in this assurance which he makes. 
 He says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
 heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." The invita- 
 tion is so widespread as to include everybody who is 
 in need and who desires deliverance and soul-rest. 
 Throw all other questions and perplexities to the wind 
 except this one matter — the claim of Jesus Christ to 
 give rest and peace to the broken-hearted and bur- 
 dened. The world is challenged to test that one 
 claim! 
 
 For ages this Book has been thus tested. Great 
 scholars, and illiterate pagans; dissipated wretches in 
 the slums of great cities, and men and women of blame- 
 less morals but carrying a stubborn heartache in their 
 breasts because of secret sins and because of unfulfilled 
 ideals; monarchs on mighty thrones, and outcasts in 
 the desert at the limit of all earthly resources ; women 
 sick with mortal diseases, patients about to undergo 
 surgical operations on which life hung in the balances; 
 men, women, and children in sore bereavement, their 
 hearts breaking with a fresh sense of loss and sorrow 
 — these and hosts of others, burdened and smitten 
 and faint with all sorts of griefs and transgressions 
 and responsibilities, have heard the invitations of 
 God's Word, have halted, hesitated, questioned, and 
 delayed, and at last have come, with all their wants 
 and wounds, and have tried for themselves the 
 promises just quoted, and have found them true. 
 New hope has lighted up their paths; a conscious 
 
202 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 peace has been experienced; the burdens have been 
 lifted and lightened; disabled wills have been strength- 
 ened; corrupted imaginations have been purified; 
 blinded eyes have been opened; crippled faculties have 
 been healed; the sources and springs of character 
 within have been renewed and reconstructed; and 
 the spirit of testimony has been quickened, so that 
 from many quarters, and from all sorts and condi- 
 tions of men and women, the word has gone forth: 
 "I have tested this Book for myself; I have put Jesus 
 Christ to the proof; I have found out that his promises 
 are true; that he is a help in trouble, that he is as 
 good as his word, that he gives soul-rest to those who 
 ask for it, and that he affords peace and comfort in 
 time of trial and sorrow. He said to me, 'Come and 
 see. 7 He invited me, 'Come unto me.' I came, and 
 found rest, and peace, and help." 
 
 The offer is open wherever the Bible goes. Test 
 its provisions for yourself. Make the experiment. 
 Put the promises to the proof. Find out for your- 
 self whether or not the Book is a self-verifying one 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 THE SUPREME TEACHER 
 
 203 
 
How beautiful appear on the mountains 
 
 The feet of the joyful messenger; of him that announceth 
 peace! 
 
 Of the joyful messenger of good tidings; of him that an- 
 nounceth salvation! 
 
 Of him that saith unto Sion, thy God reigneth! 
 
 All thy watchmen lift up their voice; they shout together; 
 
 For face to face shall they see, when Jehovah returneth to 
 Sion. 
 
 Burst forth into joy, shout together, ye ruins of Jerusalem! 
 
 For Jehovah hath comforted his people; he hath redeemed 
 Israel. 
 
 Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm, in the sight of all the 
 nations; 
 
 All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 
 — Isa. 52. 7-10. (Bishop Lowth's translation.) 
 
 Break thou the bread of life, 
 
 Dear Lord, to me, 
 As thou didst break the loaves 
 
 Beside the sea; 
 Beyond the sacred page 
 
 I seek thee, Lord; 
 My spirit pants for thee, 
 
 O living Word! 
 
 Bless thou the truth, dear Lord, 
 
 To me, to me, 
 As thou didst bless the bread 
 
 By Galilee; 
 Then shall all bondage cease, 
 
 All fetters fall; 
 And I shall find my peace, 
 
 My All-in-All. 
 
 — Mary Artemisia Lathbury. 
 
 204 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 THE SUPREME TEACHER. 
 
 Although we have already noted many engaging 
 phases of the Bible, yet we have not yet in detail 
 studied its chief charm — that to which all other 
 attractions are subservient, and for which they exist 
 — the Wonderful Life depicted in the four Gospels. 
 For our own age that Life remains the most convinc- 
 ing credential and the crowning proof of the divine 
 authority and heavenly efficacy of the Book. To 
 array before the student the charms of the Bible 
 without indicating Jesus Christ as the foremost of 
 them all would be blindness indeed. 
 
 There are but two aspects in which we have space 
 in this volume to consider the claims of the Master; 
 to one of these attention is now invited — the attract- 
 ive features which appear in the ministry of our 
 Lord when we consider him as the Great Teacher. 
 
 While his utterances, unique in method and style 
 and matchless in the depth and scope of their contents, 
 speak for themselves, yet we are not left without con- 
 temporary testimony concerning the impression which 
 his words immediately produced on those who heard 
 him. Nicodemus spoke not only for himself but for 
 others when he said to the Lord, "Thou art a teacher John 2. 2 
 come from God." When on a certain occasion his 
 
 205 
 
206 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 foes sent officers to watch and arrest the Master, 
 they were overwhelmed with the wisdom and power 
 John 7. 46 of the Lord, and returned to report, ' 'Never man 
 Mark 12. 37 spake like this man." It is on record that "the com- 
 mon people heard him gladly," and often the story 
 tells us that great multitudes followed to hear his 
 word. In view of the testimony thus recorded, and 
 in view of the fact that Jesus has been recognized as 
 the Master Teacher — in most respects without a 
 rival, standing alone in the world — it may be worth 
 while for us to intimate some of the striking features 
 of his work in this regard. In what respects does the 
 Galilean Teacher attract and reward the attention of 
 the nations and of the centuries? 
 
 1. The gospel story puts stress on one feature of 
 the case : The Master was an itinerant teacher, and 
 his utterances were largely spoken in circumstances 
 which were informal and unconventional. The im- 
 mediate occasion suggested his theme ; the surrounding 
 landscape, perhaps, or the emergent circumstances, 
 or an inquiry from one of his disciples, or an objection 
 from the multitude, or some other passing incident, 
 afforded opportunity for the delivery or for the 
 illustration of a message. And yet these occasional 
 words, spoken by Him at the seaside, along country 
 roads, by the well-curb, in the sickroom, walking 
 through the wheatfields, seated on a commanding 
 hilltop, in the synagogue, in the temple in Jerusalem, 
 in some village the name of which is forgotten, in the 
 quiet of the home, at the dinner table, in a boat on 
 the Sea of Galilee, and in many other similar situa- 
 
THE SUPREME TEACHER 207 
 
 tions — these words thus spoken, while meeting 
 completely the immediate needs of the hour, have 
 possessed the secret of immortal influence. They 
 have instructed the centuries, inspired countless 
 millions with a desire for higher things, and laid the 
 foundation on which the ages have builded the insti- 
 tutions of Christendom. 
 
 This phase of the case is without precedent or 
 imitation. Other teachers have had their lecture 
 rooms, their "porches/' and other resorts, as in 
 Athens, and they have drawn their pupils from a 
 wide range of country; but this Teacher used all 
 out-of-doors as his place of instruction. Instead 
 of waiting for people to come to him, he hunted them 
 up; he followed after them, sought them out, studied 
 their daily habits, mingled with them in the by-places, 
 taught in their streets, stood in the market place, 
 and in all possible ways got acquainted with folks. 
 What an example he sets in this regard to those who 
 would become "fishers of men"! 
 
 2. The quiet, conversational method of the Master 
 is also at once in evidence as we study the Gospels. 
 He never seems to have entered the realm of heated, 
 feverish, agitated discussion; rarely spoke as an 
 impassioned orator; and except in the temple, and 
 occasionally in the synagogue, revealed no formality 
 or ceremony, apart from that which was his by reason 
 of his personal dignity, the authority with which 
 he spoke as the Teacher and the Master of men. 
 
 3. There were paradoxical phases to his instructions. 
 He was now tender and gracious and compassionate, 
 
208 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 and anon severe and denunciatory; he threatened 
 and exposed the scribes and Pharisees, and yet spoke 
 with such winning tenderness that little children 
 came and nestled in his arms. He could mingle in 
 his utterance a simplicity which attracted the com- 
 mon people, and which remains yet one of the charms 
 of the gospel, and yet along with it a profoundness 
 and a subtlety and a depth not yet fathomed by 
 any human mind. In the prodigal son, for instance, 
 these two qualities are united. Here is a story which 
 a child can apprehend; it fixes itself in the memory 
 with one reading; it is so picturesque that each phase 
 of the parable is seen with startling distinctness, 
 with the imagination all alive, as if it were a drama 
 being enacted before the eye. And yet who has let 
 his plummet line down into the depths of that story? 
 What commentator, after long study, endowed with 
 highest insight and scholarship and ability, has ever 
 been able to say, "I know this production now; I 
 have sounded all its depths, and explored its utmost 
 meaning, and construed all its wisdom, and mastered 
 its fullness of instruction"? 
 
 4. Closely allied with this suggestion is another: 
 the teachings of the Master are unsystematic. He 
 took no theme for complete development on any one 
 occasion. The one elaborate discourse which we 
 have on record, the so-called Sermon on the Mount, 
 covers more than one topic, although it is coherent, 
 and may be unified under a single heading, perhaps. 
 But if we compare his method of instruction with 
 what we find in books of theology, in catechisms, in 
 
THE SUPREME TEACHER 209 
 
 works on moral science, in creeds, we see at once an 
 amazing difference. To the Master's mind the needs 
 of the immediate individual soul, or the people then 
 present, were the chief thing. He had an eye for 
 the claims of the soul, rather than for the claims of 
 the sermon, and dealt with men directly, according 
 to the exigencies of the moment. 
 
 5. Another fact is to be noted: his teachings were 
 all spoken utterances. He wrote nothing, and ap- 
 pears to have had but little care, at least took no 
 apparent pains, to have his words written down. 
 He promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit would 
 remind them, later, of what he had said, but at the 
 time he was seemingly as prodigal of speech, as care- 
 less of the future of his words, as nature is in regard 
 to the seeds that are scattered on the wind. Millions 
 of seeds and seed spores are thrown out from tree and 
 bush and vine, to be wafted far and wide, to fall here, 
 there, or yonder, in the water, or in the garden, 
 among the rocks, in the hills, apparently wasted. 
 So, in seeming, the Master, writing down not a single 
 word, systematizing no doctrines into shape for his 
 disciples, formulating no book, scattered his words 
 on the wind, and left them to take root where they 
 would. His confidence in the efficacy and immor- 
 tality of the truth in this regard was wonderful. He 
 believed that the Father would give the increase, 
 that he would care for the precious word thus spoken 
 almost at random from day to day. 
 
 Suppose to-day that a man should arise with some- 
 thing like the insight, the wisdom, the questioning 
 
210 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 faculty, the picturesqueness of speech, the conversa- 
 tional aptitudes, the moral power, the compassion, 
 the mingled severity and tenderness which our Lord 
 displayed in his addresses and in his teachings, 
 sometimes for an individual soul. How careful 
 would the world be to report his sayings, to follow 
 him up, to save every syllable from oblivion, to write 
 down by stenographic help each address delivered, 
 and each word of such an instructor dropped on the 
 street, or at table, or in the quiet of the home! In 
 the case of the Master his disciples recalled many of 
 his words, and the people must have had in remem- 
 brance many others. But it is evident that we have 
 only a small part of what he actually did say in his 
 public ministrations. Many discourses were spoken 
 and forgotten; many parables, besides those in the 
 Gospels, were uttered, and lost. How rich we should 
 be if by any process of resuscitation the lost words 
 of Jesus could be reproduced! And how majestic 
 are his claims, when we reflect on the occasional 
 phases of his teaching — "Heaven and earth shall 
 pass away, but my words shall not pass away. . . . 
 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the 
 whole world for a testimony unto all the nations." 
 6. The absolutely self-confident certainty of tone 
 in our Lord's teachings commands attention. He 
 spoke as one who knew all things. In one single 
 respect he avows himself ignorant — concerning the 
 time of his coming again; but in no other regard 
 did he ever exhibit anything like hesitation. This is 
 all the more remarkable when we consider the scope 
 
THE SUPREME TEACHER 211 
 
 of his teachings. He had to deal with the funda- 
 mental problems, the questions which have baffled 
 the greatest minds, the character of God, his re- 
 lations with men, the nature of prayer, the duty 
 of man to his brother, the Sabbath day, the slavery 
 of sin, the guilt of man, the future of the soul, the 
 problem of immortality, retribution, here and here- 
 after, the connection of this life with that which may 
 follow, the cultivation of character, the right ideal 
 of manhood, the awfulness of death, and other such 
 like themes of human inquiry. Ask the wisest man 
 on earth with regard to many of these questions, 
 and he will halt and question, baffled and in dismay. 
 Yet Jesus Christ, offhand, without hesitation, never 
 stopping to say, what every other teacher has had 
 to say a thousand times, "I do not know," dealt 
 with these great critical, vital, complex questions, 
 day by day, in public and in private, on the street and 
 in the synagogue, without making a mistake, with- 
 out ever uttering an inadvertent word, without for 
 one moment showing a sign of uncertainty! And 
 to-day if we need knowledge on any of these topics, 
 if we want to find out the very last word that can 
 be said in respect to many of these issues, whither 
 can we go but to Jesus Christ? His words are our 
 last and our only resource in hours of inquiry, doubt, 
 and perplexity. This man, whose nature we cannot 
 probe, the workings of whose consciousness no man 
 can unfold, spoke as one who had command of in- 
 finite resources, who owned time and eternity, who had 
 insight into the nature of both God and man, who 
 
212 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 could not be baffled or halted in his command of the 
 truth, who knew all things that need to be known 
 concerning the duty and destiny of the human race 
 and the relationship of that race to sin, death, God, 
 heaven and hell. If in this respect there is any 
 parallel to the Great Teacher, we know not where to 
 look for him. 
 
 The difference between Socrates, for example, and 
 Jesus Christ in respect of this phase of teaching is 
 remarkable. The Greek sage did not claim to know; 
 he confessed that he was ignorant of many things, 
 and his aim in his socratic methods of inquiry and 
 probing was to show other people how ignorant they 
 also were, to rebuke half-knowledge, to expose empty 
 pretenders, and to bring people to the place where 
 in humble candor they would recognize their igno- 
 rance. Jesus Christ, however, in his manner and atti- 
 tude assumed to be master of all wisdom; he spoke 
 as if he knew all things. Who ever assumed that 
 attitude before without being exposed as a charlatan? 
 Let any man to-day issue the challenge of assumed 
 omniscience, and how soon he will be put to scorn! 
 
 7. The policy of caution and reticence which Jesus 
 pursued in his teaching illustrates his wisdom. Sel- 
 dom did he make any direct claim that he was the 
 Messiah. Only to the woman of Sychar, to Peter at 
 Csesarea Philippi after that apostle's great confession, 
 to the healed blind man in the temple, and to the 
 Sanhedrin, in an hour when the assertion cost him 
 his life, he said, "I am the Son of God," meaning 
 by that to claim a superhuman, unique, and divine 
 
THE SUPREME TEACHER 213 
 
 relationship to the Father. He did the works which 
 the Redeemer was expected to do; he spoke words 
 which only he could speak, he exhibited a character 
 so symmetrical, so perfect, so complete that from 
 day to day the question was asked, Whence hath 
 this man this wisdom? Who is this Son of man? 
 What manner of man is this? Then, up to the time 
 of his death on the cross, he allowed men to make 
 up their minds for themselves how to answer the 
 question, Who is the Son of man? 
 
 As to his atonement, he was also reticent, and 
 wisely so. Those who find fault with that doctrine 
 as coining from Paul and not from Christ, and who 
 quibble about it to the effect that the Master did not 
 teach it, forget that it was not possible for him to 
 wisely or properly declare in its completeness a doc- 
 trine which was not yet wrought out. Until the 
 work was done, how could it be fully proclaimed? 
 He intimated again and again that he had to die, 
 that he had come to give his life a ransom for many, 
 but he could not in reason go farther than this tenta- 
 tive and preliminary step until he had actually 
 suffered, the just for the unjust, for the sins of the 
 world. Then he could wisely tell his disciples: 
 
 Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise Luke 24. 46, 47 
 again from the dead the third day ; and that repentance and 
 remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all 
 the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 
 
 8. The interrogative methods of Christ have already 
 been noted (see Chapter V). His use of questions 
 is without a parallel. He knew how to put a probe 
 
214 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 down deep into the heart, how to induce a spirit of 
 shame and remorse, how to awaken inquiry, how to 
 prompt and encourage the quest of truth, all by a 
 question. 
 
 9. The picturesque methods of Christ were unique. 
 His employment of parables and various sorts of 
 illustrations make his gospel teachings affluent and 
 beautiful -beyond precedent. To mingle rhetorical 
 beauty with the deepest moral truth, to make an 
 utterance at once extraordinary for its verbal grace 
 and splendor, and at the same time immortal for its 
 penetrating power and spiritual life, was what he did 
 every day. He might have put his truths into 
 prosaic, plain-spoken form: would they have been 
 recalled, and remembered? But he makes the birds, 
 and the lilies, and the grass, and the clouds, and the 
 red and lowering sky, and the sower, and the children 
 playing in the streets, and the woman mixing a 
 batch of dough or sweeping the house, and the mus- 
 tard tree, and the net, and the fisherman, and the 
 pearl, and the hid treasure, and the tares and the 
 wheat, and scores of other familiar facts the instru- 
 ments for illumining his truth. He binds his mes- 
 sages to these, and whithersoever they fly his pre- 
 cious words go along. Truth which catches the 
 eye, startles the fancy, transfixes attention, captivates 
 the imagination, fixes itself in the memory, germinates 
 with singular fecundity, enriches the soil, and brings 
 forth abundant fruit — that is the truth which Jesus 
 Christ spoke from time to time in his parables and 
 other figurative methods of speech. One knows not 
 
THE SUPREME TEACHER 215 
 
 which to wonder at the most — their radiant and 
 unfading beauty, or their matchless moral force and 
 searching power. 
 
 10. The familiarity of Jesus Christ with the Old 
 Testament Scriptures and his extraordinary use of 
 them in teaching form another feature in his work. 
 It would require a volume to do justice to the theme. 
 He seems to have the whole Old Testament at imme- 
 diate command, not as though he had merely com- 
 mitted it to memory, but as though its facts, and 
 characters, and truths were written in spirit and 
 substance in his deepest heart. When he touches 
 any Old Testament passage he makes it blaze with 
 new light; and in addition he shows implicit confidence 
 in its truthfulness, deals with it as though he accepted 
 it, and thus commends it to us. One great argument 
 for that part of the Bible is founded on the way in 
 which our Lord dealt with it, and used it, and handed 
 it over to his disciples, underwritten by himself. 
 
 11. A final element in his work as a teacher to be 
 mentioned is his straightforward aim, at the heart, 
 conscience, judgment, soul. He spoke not to enter- 
 tain, to play with a great theme as with a toy, not 
 self-consciously, not dramatically or oratorically — 
 but as a man, speaking from on high, charged with 
 supreme responsibility, and aiming to guide, awaken, 
 warn, comfort, save. 
 
 Were there no other revelation in the New Testa- 
 ment beyond that of the matchless qualities and 
 peerless methods of the Great Teacher, it would still 
 be one of the most attractive books in the world! 
 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 THE GREAT PORTRAIT 
 
 217 
 
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all 
 creation; for in him were all things created, in the heavens 
 and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, 
 whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; 
 all things have been created through him, and unto him; 
 and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 
 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the be- 
 ginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he 
 might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure 
 of the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell. 
 
 —Col. 1. 15-19. 
 
 Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, 
 who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, 
 despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the 
 throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such 
 gainsaying of sinners against themselves, that ye wax not 
 weary, fainting in your souls. 
 
 — Heb. 12. 2, 3. 
 
 Laden with guilt, and full of fears, 
 
 I fly to thee, my Lord, 
 And not a glimpse of hope appears, 
 
 But in thy written Word. 
 
 This volume of my Father's grace 
 
 Does all my grief assuage; 
 Here I behold my Saviour's face 
 
 Almost on every page. 
 
 This is the field where hidden lies 
 
 The pearl of price unknown; 
 That merchant is divinely wise 
 
 Who makes the pearl his own. 
 
 — Isaac Watts. 
 
 218 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 THE GREAT PORTRAIT 
 
 It has already been indicated in the foregoing 
 pages that the supreme charm of the Book is the 
 portraiture of the Perfect Life given in the Gospels. 
 Here we have the man Christ Jesus set forth in the 
 scenes of his earthly ministry, a servant and yet a 
 King; a peasant and a toiler and yet our Master and 
 Lord; fairer than the children of men and altogether 
 lovely. This fourfold portrait which is afforded by 
 the evangelists is the coronal attraction and credential 
 of the Book, and it stands by itself in literature as an 
 unparalleled representation of complete and blame- 
 less Manhood, the only embodiment of a Perfect 
 Character to be found in the world. In our journey 
 through the mountain ranges of Scripture we have 
 glimpsed some noble peaks; this one, on which is 
 pinnacled in unapproachable majesty the shining 
 figure of the Perfect Man, outtops, outshines them all. 
 
 And this gospel portrait is not only of surpassing 
 beauty, but it involves the argument which for this 
 age at least has proved the most convincing and 
 immovable with regard to the validity and authority 
 of the gospel which Jesus Christ proclaimed, and 
 which we have in fourfold form in the New Testament. 
 Given, this Perfect Man, recognized as the supreme 
 teacher of morals and religion ; and his claims, spoken 
 
 219 
 
220 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 by his own lips, declaring with all solemnity and 
 clearness what manner of man he conceived himself 
 to be, and for what purpose he had come: in face of 
 that problem, of that combination of facts, we leave 
 behind us all questions of prophecies, of miracles, 
 of apostolic testimony, of early creeds, of churchly 
 authority, and in his presence and in view of his 
 wisdom, equipoise, manhood, and majesty, submit 
 the case for decision at the bar of the world's best 
 reason. If this Perfect Man, this Supreme Teacher, 
 claims for himself in language which cannot be mis- 
 construed, again and again, an authority, a relation- 
 ship both to the Father in heaven and to men on 
 earth, a power and a personality which are, to say 
 the least, superhuman, which pedestal him on the 
 throne of universal empire, which require from the 
 human race homage, obedience, love, and implicit 
 loyalty, what rational solution of the problem is 
 possible except that one which acknowledges the 
 truth of his claims, the sanity of his assumptions, 
 and the rightfulness of his sway as Lord of lords and 
 King of kings? 
 
 THE QUADRUPLEX GOSPEL 
 
 The advantages furnished by the fourfold picture 
 of the Master are evident upon inquiry. The first 
 Gospel lays emphasis on the prophetic traits in the 
 portrait, citing passage after passage from the Old 
 Testament in the phraseology, "that it might be 
 fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah, " or some 
 other bard of the ancient time. Here we also have 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 221 
 
 the discourses of our Lord massed together, and a 
 cluster of parables spoken in or near Capernaum, 
 together with material used by the Master in Jeru- 
 salem during the last week of his stay on earth. This 
 Gospel has been aptly styled the Gospel of the King- 
 dom of Heaven. 
 
 The second Gospel, by Mark, is the shortest, most 
 direct and compact, and sometimes the most graphic 
 of the four. The term "immediately" — or, as it is 
 rendered in the Revised Version, "straightway," 
 used eleven times in the opening chapter — betokens 
 the character of this narrative, which pursues a 
 straight course, with no deviations or diversions* 
 summing up the temptation, for example, into two 
 verses and leaving out all references to the birth, and 
 childhood, and life at Nazareth. Christ the mighty 
 One, the Master of all forces, and the Lord of men 
 and angels, is herein portrayed. 
 
 The third Gospel, clearly written by Saint Luke, 
 is the longest, the most systematic, and the most 
 complete of the four, putting stress upon the deeds and 
 utterances which indicate Christ's sympathy with 
 the Gentile world, and with the sorrows of common 
 folk. A large amount of material — the first two 
 chapters, with chapters ten to seventeen complete, 
 and other portions — belong to this Gospel alone. It 
 is the Gospel which tells us most aptly of the Son 
 of man. 
 
 The fourth Gospel, over which the centuries have 
 been quibbling, is such an original, profound, extraor- 
 dinary work that one may conclude, offhand, that 
 
222 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 it must have come from one who knew, intimately 
 and cordially, the Lord Jesus. It gives a represen- 
 tation of his inner life, the divine side of his charac- 
 ter and ministry, uses terms — such as Word, Life, 
 Light, Good Shepherd — nowhere else found in the 
 Bible, except in certain other productions assigned by 
 tradition to Saint John, and is filled from beginning 
 to end with material peculiar to this Gospel. 
 
 Thus we have a view of Christ given from four 
 standpoints, a study of his life and work written 
 by four men, each possessing his own endowments, 
 his own angle of vision, and his own gifts for such a 
 work. A life so rich, so many-sided, so fruitful, so 
 heavenly as was the life of Jesus Christ, could not 
 have been fully pictured by any one evangelist. 
 
 We have in our time advantages for the study 
 and apprehension of the surroundings of our Lord's 
 earthly career such as no former generation possessed. 
 Up to the beginning of the last century there was not 
 a life of Christ in existence except one, of mediaeval 
 and mystical tone; all the "Lives" now before the 
 public — and there are some of extraordinary value — 
 have been written within the past seventy-five years, 
 the leading ones within the past thirty or forty 
 years. His human career has been studied and por- 
 trayed from different standpoints by some of the 
 great scholars of the world, in Germany, in England, 
 and in this country. The local coloring in Bethlehem, 
 Jerusalem, and Nazareth; the landscape, the scenery, 
 the work of the synagogue, family life in that age, 
 social customs of the time, have all been reproduced 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 223 
 
 with singular vividness. No other career was ever 
 studied with the minute, painstaking research which 
 has flooded the age and land in which Jesus of Naza- 
 reth lived. Men have spent months in Palestine for 
 the one purpose of studying the topography and 
 localities in the midst of which the earthly life of our 
 Lord was passed, so that they might vivify the nar- 
 rative of his career which they had planned to write. 
 All possible sources of human knowledge have been 
 explored in order to reproduce that career in print. 
 Thousands of photographs have been made whereby 
 to place before the eye the sites of places connected 
 with the scenes of his ministry, and notable artists, 
 such as Tissot and Hofmann, have devoted their 
 lives to the task of setting forth upon canvas the inci- 
 dents of that Perfect Life, from the annunciation 
 to the Virgin Mary, through all its diversified course 
 down to the hour when he ascended from Mount 
 Olivet. It follows that we have at command means 
 for seeing, apprehending, and appreciating the hu- 
 manity of our Lord such as were never before pos- 
 sessed by mankind until our own day. The portrait 
 of the Perfect Man is set before this age with a clear- 
 ness, a beauty, and a majesty never before achieved. 
 This exhibition of his unique personality is one of his 
 most precious bequests to the world, and, like the 
 sun in the midst of the solar system, this picture of 
 the Man irradiates Christendom. 
 
 This matchless portrait, first found in the Gospels, 
 and in the impression which the Master made upon 
 his own generation, and then gradually developed 
 
224 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 from age to age by the work of successive generations 
 until in its fullness and glory it shines before us 
 to-day, is one of the chief agencies by which a leading 
 aim of the gospel is being accomplished — namely, 
 the introduction upon earth of a new character. 
 
 Who knew what possibilities are lodged in a human 
 soul — what capacities for growth, for courage, for 
 patience, for compassion, are stored up in manhood — 
 until Jesus Christ came to embody them in his own 
 blameless and perfect life? The type of character 
 which he exemplified had been beyond the utmost 
 flight of the poet's dream, and the prophet's vision, 
 until it was shown forth by the carpenter's son in 
 Nazareth and the Son of man in his ministry. 
 
 Matt. 8. 20 That term, "the Son of man," Jesus assumed as his 
 
 20. 28 cn j e f {.j^le. When he spoke of himself it was always 
 
 Matt 25 31 on n ^ s ^P s - Whether he spoke of himself as one who 
 had no place to lay his head, or as one who was to 
 give his life a ransom for many; whether he foresaw 
 and foretold his humiliation or his exaltation, his 
 sufferings or his final reign, his almost invariable 
 title, as used by himself, was this term, "the Son of 
 man." The title is full of meaning. It will stand 
 the test of long and careful study. The Master in 
 his employment of this title indicates in the word 
 "man" — which in the Greek is not the term signifying 
 an individual, but the generic word, corresponding 
 to our term "man," as meaning the race, mankind, 
 humanity — the idea that he is the Son of the human 
 race, the efflorescent embodiment of all that is noble 
 and glorious in humanity, the ideal man. In this 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 225 
 
 term also is involved of course the notion of his 
 actual manhood; Jesus was no phantasmal, spectral, 
 half-human figure, but a man, "born of a woman, Gal. 4. 4 
 born under the law/' subject to the limitations and 
 burdens of ordinary life, and bearing the sorrows 
 and toils of a common humanity. 
 
 The name likewise suggests the brotherliness of 
 his nature, the compassion which marked his acts 
 and which throbbed in his breast, the sympathy with 
 low-down folk and little children which was so often 
 shown in his attitude and words and miracles. 
 
 There was, moreover, a divine element even in 
 this title which more than any other allied him with 
 our race, for he used this term, "the Son of man," Matt. 25. 31 
 when he made his loftiest claims, as, for example, 
 when he told his disciples that the hour would come 
 when he would sit upon the throne of his glory to 
 judge all the nations. With this title on his lips 
 he arrogates to himself supreme authority. 
 
 The manifold characteristics of this Son of man are 
 so harmoniously wrought into perfect unity; his life 
 is so symmetrical, so balanced in moral equipoise, 
 so luminous throughout, as to make it difficult of 
 analysis or description. In that life were blended 
 components never until the time of the Incarnation 
 brought into human embodiment before. The world 
 was not lacking in representations of a single great 
 virtue. Men were found in every land who stood 
 out from their fellows by means of some one conspicu- 
 ous grace, some single endowment which lifted them 
 above the ordinary ranks of humanity. In him all 
 
226 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 these graces and virtues are blended and harmonized 
 so as to make a pattern man, a perfect human life, 
 unexampled elsewhere. Some of the virtues which 
 he embodied had hardly ever been seen or under- 
 stood until he taught and lived them — such as hu- 
 mility, meekness, forgiving love, and compassion. 
 Glimpses of these graces had been seen now and then 
 in Israel, and even among other nations; but they 
 had never been seen combined with the other qualities 
 which he possessed. In him alone among all the 
 children of men we see military leadership, world- 
 wide enterprise, supreme wisdom, teaching tact, sym- 
 pathy with childhood and womanhood, courage of the 
 highest type, fortitude of an exemplary order — the 
 consideration of which has supported timid women 
 in view of the tortures of martyrdom — a majesty 
 before which kings have bowed in humble homage 
 and adoration, a dignity which is superhuman, along 
 with a kindly, considerate, human touch and temper 
 which ally him with the lowest mortal on the earth, 
 and with the humblest child; an authority which 
 arrogates to itself command over the forces and 
 inhabitants of both time and eternity, and a friendli- 
 ness which binds him to publicans and sinners — 
 all these strangely blended into one perfect life, into 
 the peerless portrait of the man Christ Jesus! 
 
 This new character, found in its first representa- 
 tions in the gospel, and in due time developed in 
 human life, and in the unfoldings of grace through 
 the ages, has now become familiar to men wherever 
 the Bible has gone. It is the crowning beauty of 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 227 
 
 that Book, and its invincible credential. Increasing 
 in vividness and beauty, becoming more distinct and 
 glorious in the lapse of time, it is one of the chief 
 agencies whereby the race to which we belong is 
 being renewed, as it attracts the eye, melts the heart, 
 wins the homage, and molds the lives of men in every 
 race and clime. 
 
 The chief facts in the earthly career of this Perfect 
 Man are without question to-day, except that the 
 miracles remain in dispute in certain controversial 
 realms. We can afford in this discussion to leave 
 them on one side; in the presence of this greatest 
 of all miracles, the unique life of this Man, it seems 
 idle to ask whether or not he could heal the leper by a 
 word, calm the sea by a command, and raise the dead 
 from the tomb. The fact of his own resurrection, 
 which cannot be ignored or denied without believing 
 in theories which are preposterously absurd — theories 
 which have been invented to account for the belief 
 of the disciples and of the early Church in this great 
 fundamental fact, without accepting it as a fact — 
 surpasses all other miracles attributed to him. In 
 addition to that, his unique character — which, to 
 recall the words of Bushnell, who helped to put the 
 argument in shape for his generation and ours, 
 "forbids his classification with man" — combined 
 with the claims which he makes and the rank which 
 he assumes in the universe, constitute credentials 
 of a higher order than the signs and wonders which 
 he wrought during his ministry. Putting aside for 
 the moment all other arguments, we may build our 
 
228 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 claim for the supreme authority of Jesus Christ on 
 two immovable buttresses—what he was and what 
 he declared himself to be. 
 
 Here are credentials which appeal to all men 
 everywhere. Consider them in brief: Jesus Christ 
 lived but thirty-three years; he was a Jew, yet he had 
 none of the narrowness and provincialism of his race. 
 He dwelt in a little district secluded from the centers 
 of intellectual and political activity; he enjoyed none 
 of the advantages of travel and scholastic culture, 
 and alliance with the notable forces which usually 
 shape opinion and lay the foundations of a new civili- 
 zation; he had no treasury, no army, no navy, no 
 throne, no scepter, no large following; the rulers of 
 his own people conspired to put him out of the way, 
 and the Roman empire, in the person of its repre- 
 sentative in Judea, Pontius Pilate, the governor, 
 consented to his execution. Yet his words, plans, 
 and work have reached to the ends of the earth. His 
 are the only words which have in them the secret 
 of universal brotherhood and empire and the promise 
 of imperishable influence. Unless, indeed, this Man 
 of Galilee was what he claimed to be, and what the 
 Church in all ages has believed him to be, then his 
 wonderful life stands in the midst of human history 
 an insoluble riddle and a paradox for evermore! 
 
 The perfect moral character which we have been 
 briefly considering has won admiration and recogni- 
 tion even from those who have refused to recognize his 
 divinity. Lecky, the rationalistic historian, declares 
 that "in the character and example of Christ is an 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 229 
 
 enduring principle of regeneration." W. R. Greg, the 
 English skeptical critic, has pronounced Jesus to be 
 "the highest ideal yet presented to us on the earth." 
 John Stuart Mill, philosopher, critic, scholar, says, 
 in spite of his doubts, "E very thing which is excellent 
 in ethics may be brought within the sayings of Christ 
 without doing violence to the language. He is the 
 preeminent genius, the greatest reformer and martyr, 
 the ideal representative and guide of humanity." 
 And, not to multiply instances and witnesses, Renan 
 declares that "the person of Jesus is at the highest 
 summit of human greatness." 
 
 But who can in reason stop with such tributes as 
 these? If Jesus Christ was confessedly the greatest 
 reformer, teacher, and example the world ever saw, 
 then his testimony concerning himself must be taken 
 into consideration. Surely he knew who and what 
 he was. What did he have to say with regard to his 
 rank, as graded with other members of the human 
 race? What was his place in the universe, according 
 to his own judgment? 
 
 What did this unique, incomparable, perfect One 
 say in his own behalf? What claims does he make 
 for himself? What does he demand from the world? 
 What authority does he assume to exercise over the 
 world, over angels and men, over nature, and even 
 over the administration of the heavenly empire? 
 
 Our reply to these inquiries must be brief. In a 
 single word, his claims, his assumptions of super- 
 human authority and rank, his demands upon men 
 of all ranks and conditions — these are transcendent. 
 
230 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 He makes himself the object of supreme regard, and 
 puts himself in kingly relations with mankind such as 
 John 13. 13 befit Ruler and subjects. He said: "Ye call me Lord 
 and Master, and ye do well; for so I am." He as- 
 sumed the right to invite men, and to command 
 them with absolute authority: 
 
 Matt. 11. 28 Follow me. . . . Come unto me. ... I am the light of 
 
 19. 21 the world. ... I am the bread of life. ... I am the way, 
 John 8. 12 an d the truth, and the life. 
 
 6.35 
 14. 6 
 
 These words, put into the mouth of Moses, or 
 Isaiah, or Paul, or Plato, or Confucius, would be the 
 emptiest of mockeries. The world would laugh any 
 man to scorn, no matter how great his abilities, how 
 high his rank, how masterful his influence, were he 
 to arrogate to himself the right to use as his own the 
 words of command and invitation which our Lord 
 constantly employs. Men of all ranks and nations, 
 from age to age, and belonging to many lands, have 
 acknowledged these claims. Rulers of great empires 
 have bowed in submission at his feet, uncrowning 
 themselves before him. Conquerors of nations and 
 commanders of armies have laid at his throne their 
 spoils and swords. The loftiest minds that have been 
 developed through the centuries have knelt before 
 him and with deepest humility and loyalty have 
 confessed him to be King of kings and Lord of lords. 
 As indisputable sovereign over the world of moral 
 and religious thought and life his sway has been 
 more and more widely recognized, year by year. In 
 view of these facts who can say in reason and candor, 
 "The Man of Nazareth was and is only a man"? 
 
THE GREAT PORTRAIT 231 
 
 His fourfold claim — that he has the authority to Matt. 9. 6 
 
 1 I no 
 
 forgive sin, and the power to impart rest to all who 2 b. 31-46 
 
 labor and are heavy-laden; that he is to exercise John 15. 26 
 supreme jurisdiction over all nations at the final 
 judgment, and that he is able to bestow the Divine 
 Spirit on his disciples in answer to prayer — lifts him 
 into an altitude far above all merely human pre- 
 rogatives and realms. It is not possible to question, 
 critically, and with any substratum of fact under- 
 neath the inquiry, whether Jesus did or did not make 
 these claims. His words remain, after the lapse of 
 ages, unquestioned by competent authority in this 
 regard. And upon them countless myriads have 
 built, and other countless myriads are now building, 
 their hopes and plans for time and eternity. One 
 might easily travel round the world and find in nearly 
 every land witnesses to testify that they had found 
 these words of Christ, his assurances of help, his 
 promises of peace, his offer of mercy, to be a guide in 
 darkness, a solace in sorrow, a help for the work of 
 life and the basis of hope for the life beyond. In the 
 service of Christ, communing with his Word, trusting 
 in his grace, and imitating his example, they have 
 discovered the secret not only of a happy but of a 
 useful and a consecrated life. Their heartfelt assur- 
 ance that he is able to succor them in time of need, 
 that he is with them by his spiritual presence and 
 assistance, that he is the inspiration and prompting 
 of all that is noblest and highest in their inner life 
 and in their outer achievements, grows in clearness 
 and certainty, year by year. These jubilant witnesses 
 
232 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 would gladly join with angels on high and disciples 
 of the Master on earth in the song of Saint Bernard, 
 written in another tongue, ages ago: 
 
 Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, 
 
 Nor can the memory find, 
 A sweeter sound than thy blest name, 
 
 O Saviour of mankind! 
 
 Face to face with this perfect portrait of the Christ 
 of the Gospels, and in full view of the claims which 
 he made for himself, again and again when on earth, 
 and with the world-wide testimony of his followers 
 sounding on every side, we may fitly, and with un- 
 feigned humility, bring this portraiture of the Master 
 to an end by calling to mind and gratefully employing 
 the ancient collect: 
 
 O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst send from the Father the 
 Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth; Grant that he may 
 enlighten our minds with the teaching of thy truth, and 
 sanctify our hearts with the power of thy grace, so that ever- 
 more abiding in thee we may be found steadfast in faith and 
 holy in life, being conformed unto thine image, who art 
 with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever one God, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE BOOK OF HOPE 
 
God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the 
 prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at 
 the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he 
 appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made 
 the worlds; who being the effulgence of his glory, and the 
 very image of his substance, and upholding all things by 
 the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, 
 sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having 
 become by so much better than the angels, as he hath in- 
 herited a more excellent name than they. For unto which 
 of the angels said he at any time, 
 
 Thou art my Son, 
 
 This day have I begotten thee? 
 and again, 
 
 I will be to him a Father, 
 
 And he shall be to me a Son? 
 And again when he bringeth in the firstborn into the world 
 he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And 
 of the angels he saith, 
 
 Who maketh his angels winds, 
 
 And his ministers a flame of fire : 
 but of the Son he saith, 
 
 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; 
 
 And the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of thy kingdom. 
 — Heb. 1. 1-8. 
 
 Great God, mine eyes with pleasure look 
 On the dear volume of thy Book; 
 There my Redeemer's face I see, 
 And read his Name who died for me. 
 
 — Isaac Watts. 
 
 234 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE BOOK OF HOPE 
 
 The Bible throughout is distinguished by an ele- 
 ment which serves to divide off the Christian system 
 from all other faiths — the spirit of hope. Other 
 religions of the world are brooded over with gloom, 
 with fear, with monstrous and grotesque supersti- 
 tions; not one of the pagan faiths is lighted up with 
 joyful anticipations of better things to come. A 
 vision of these better things is caught in advance by 
 every Christian believer, and he is thus heartened for 
 whatever of conflict or suffering he must undergo. 
 Of him and his fellow soldiers the poet has sung : 
 
 They see the triumph from afar, 
 By faith they bring it nigh. 
 
 To this feature of the Book we now give heed as 
 we bring our discussion to an end — to this great 
 truth that the teachings of this volume beget a whole- 
 some spirit of optimism, buoy up the depressed with 
 encouragement, direct the eye of the soul ever upward 
 and onward, and continually point out in the opening 
 future greater achievements to be accomplished, 
 nobler victories to be won, deeper joys to be experi- 
 enced, and vaster empires to be conquered. 
 
 Great souls have written again and again of the 
 value and force of this principle which is by precept 
 
 235 
 
236 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 and example amply set forth in Scripture. Tenny- 
 son's line, 
 
 The mighty hopes which make us men"; 
 
 the words of another poet, 
 
 The most vital movement mortals feel 
 
 Is hope, the balm and life-blood of the soul; 
 
 the utterance of Pope, 
 
 Hope springs eternal in the human breast; 
 
 and Cowper's glowing testimony, 
 
 Hope, as an anchor, firm and sure, holds fast 
 The Christian's vessel, and defies the blast, 
 
 —these are all in accord with the profound truth 
 spoken by a great London preacher, Canon Liddon: 
 
 Hope is the soul of moral vitality, the nerve, the backbone, 
 of all true life. Any man, or society of men, who would 
 live — in the moral sense of the term life — must be looking 
 forward to something. 
 
 Saint Paul had in mind a truth like this when he 
 announced as his motto, 
 
 This one thing I do: forgetting the things which are be- 
 hind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 
 I press on toward the goal. 
 
 1. A single glance at the degradation of the old 
 Roman world in the age when our Lord was born 
 will satisfy any inquirer that one of the most precious 
 gifts which the gospel brought to men was this uplift- 
 ing, inspiring grace, Christian hope. No one can 
 study the classical literature of that period without 
 being moved with the despairing tone of its writers, 
 great and small. The times were corrupt, the age 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 237 
 
 was rotten with vices which cannot even be described 
 in our day; things, indeed, were so utterly bad that 
 men had ceased to expect any improvement. It 
 would require more space than we can give simply to 
 catalogue the miseries, crimes, and degradations of 
 the epoch, or to cite from Roman essayists, poets, 
 and historians characteristic passages depicting the 
 greed, cruelty, and debauchery which had destroyed 
 the moral life of the people. The one fact to which 
 we advert is that men were in despair; they could 
 see no prospect of betterment; philosophy, the pagan 
 faiths, law, poetry, military power, heathen systems 
 of ethics, literature, the arts — all had done their 
 utmost, and the world was sated, selfish, despairing, 
 lost! Saint Paul, writing to a body of converted 
 Gentiles and referring to their estate before the gospel 
 came to them, says: "At that time ye were without Eph. 2. 12 
 Christ, . . . having no hope, and without God in 
 the world.' ' It was therefore to a race merged in 
 the depths of helplessness and despondency that the 
 gospel came with its message of light and encourage- 
 ment. One of its tuneful preludes ran thus: 
 
 The Dayspring from on high shall visit us, to shine upon Luke 1. 78, 79 
 them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide 
 our feet into the way of peace. 
 
 And another, sent by an apostle to a body of con- 
 verts who lived in the place which of all others needed 
 to be led up out of the depths of degradation and de- 
 spair, the city of Rome, is this : 
 
 Whatsoever things were written beforetime were written Rom. 15. 4 
 for our learning, that through patience, and through cotnfort 
 of the scriptures, we might have hope. 
 
238 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 Patience, comfort, hope — to make these blessings 
 accessible the Bible was prepared, and its message 
 in that era was proclaimed to a generation whose 
 moral collapse defies delineation. Matthew Arnold 
 has striven to portray that age in this stanza: 
 
 On that hard pagan world disgust 
 
 And secret loathing fell; 
 Deep weariness and sated lust 
 
 Made human life a hell. 
 
 But not even the poet's "vision and faculty divine" 
 can reproduce the horrors of that period, one of 
 whose most deplorable features was its prevalent 
 despair. The oracles were dumb, the priests were 
 impotent, the deities were dead, and apathy and 
 hopelessness had settled down like night on the 
 empire. It was in such an age that the religion of 
 hope began its course in the world, and the "Book of 
 the Future," completed by the addition of its New 
 Testament portion, unfolded its visions of cheer and 
 comfort for mankind. 1 
 
 2. Even apart from the biblical teachings and ex- 
 amples on this theme, and without reference to the 
 religious offices of this virtue which we have in mind — 
 the benediction which accompanies a cheery tempera- 
 ment, the helpfulness which marks the man who 
 always looks on the silver lining of the cloud, and 
 who thus illumines other lives by the sunshine of his 
 buoyant spirit — these speak for themselves, without 
 argument or comment. It is a noble function which is 
 
 1 For a survey of the moral condition of the pagan world at the opening 
 of the Christian era, with references to the original authorities in the case, 
 see F. W. Farrar's The Early Days of Christianity, opening chapter. 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 239 
 
 given to those who have a sanguine disposition, where- 
 with they can hearten the despondent, encourage the 
 timid, comfort the forlorn, strengthen the faint- 
 hearted, and succor those who are mired in the Slough 
 of Despond. Even the chronic lamentations of the 
 pessimist cease for a time in the presence of one 
 whose eyes are keen enough to look up through the 
 tempest-clouds and see the bow of promise shining 
 in the heavens. The ability to make the invalid 
 laugh, to wipe the tears from the eyes that weep, 
 to bring a new purpose and a new cheeriness to those 
 who are utterly broken in spirit, is a noble faculty. 
 But when to that natural gift of a cheery disposition 
 there are added the illumination, the steadiness, the 
 hold on things eternal which the hope of the gospel 
 assures — then indeed do we begin to understand the 
 worth of this endowment. 
 
 3. It is evident to those who study the history of the 
 ancient Israelites that Jehovah kept them together, 
 consolidated the tribes into unity, preserved them 
 from utter destruction, and gave them much of their 
 distinction and usefulness in the world largely by 
 means of the impartation of hope to them, as individ- 
 uals and as a people. The hope of an heir, planted 
 in the heart of Abraham; the hope of deliverance 
 from Egyptian bondage, kept alive amid experiences 
 of tyranny and poverty indescribable ; the hope of an 
 inheritance in Canaan, of conquest over their foes, 
 of a return into their own land out of dreadful cap- 
 tivity, of a King who would by and by reign from 
 the river unto the end of the earth — these hopes, from 
 
240 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 time to time, maintained by God's grace, and admin- 
 istered by the sure word of prophecy, were chief 
 among the means by which the chosen nation was 
 preserved as God's messenger and mouthpiece to the 
 world. 
 
 4. The prophets of the nation, in spite of the denun- 
 ciations which they were often bidden to speak, and 
 the messages of doom which became their "burden" 
 as they went on their errands of wrath, were still men 
 of hopeful temper. Every man in that ancient 
 "goodly fellowship of the prophets" was an optimist. 
 Not a man of them all, except Jonah, contented him- 
 self with lamentations, censure, and predictions of 
 doom. When Israel and Judah both went into 
 captivity, when the city of Jerusalem was laid waste, 
 and the altar was desolate, and the temple was in 
 ruins, and the people, broken-hearted and despairing, 
 cried out in anguish to ask how they could sing the 
 Lord's songs in a strange land — even then the voice 
 of the prophet was not silent. He had a song for 
 them in the night of their exile. To the captives by 
 the waters of Babylon one of their prophets spoke: 
 
 17, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will gather you out from 
 the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where 
 ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 
 . . . And I will put a new spirit within you : and I will take 
 the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart 
 of flesh : that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine 
 ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and 
 I will be their God. 
 
 Thus at various times in the history of this people 
 they sang: "We shall be brought out of Egypt with 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 241 
 
 a high hand and a strong arm! . . . Our children 
 shall inherit Canaan! . . . We shall escape from 
 exile and come back to the Promised Land ! By and 
 by our King shall be born! We shall have a Re- 
 deemer! He shall reign for ever and ever! In him 
 shall all the earth be blessed! Hallelujah!" 
 
 5. The modern transformation in the mind and 
 heart of China wrought out by the impartation of 
 something like this ancient national spirit of hope 
 is one of the most remarkable features of our time. 
 For centuries that empire has been in a comatose 
 state; its eyes have been averted from the present 
 to the past; its educational system, its domestic life, its 
 political rule all have been fashioned by its habit 
 of dozing and dreaming over the work of its long-dead 
 ancestors and in servile fashion imitating and copying 
 out in writing or in the memory the wisdom of an- 
 tiquity. In that moribund estate there could be no 
 outlook for that great people in an age like ours. 
 Within a decade fresh life has been awakened in 
 China through a new spirit of mingled desire, expecta- 
 tion, and ambition, whereby the eyes of the leaders 
 are directed to the future. And now the government 
 which had long been but little else than a moss- 
 grown political petrifaction, is informed with modern 
 methods, is instinct with new life, and is throbbing 
 through and through with a new hope. And it is 
 no secret that the awakening of this new hope in 
 China, and the startling change that has been achieved 
 in its entire system of education, government, and 
 life, have come in large measure through the quiet, 
 
242 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 leavening influence of the gospel which has been at 
 work for a hundred years, amid persecution and 
 peril, throughout the land. 
 
 6. The message of the Scripture, throughout, is full 
 of exhortations bidding men cultivate this expecta- 
 tion and desire for better things to come. The 
 New Testament has been aptly called "the most hope- 
 ful book in all the literature of the world. Its gospel 
 begins with the heavenly song of peace and good 
 will, and it ends with the new song of the redeemed 
 in the skies." 
 
 Note these passages as types of many like utter- 
 ances taken from the Scripture: 
 
 Psa. 31. 24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, 
 
 all ye that hope in the Lord. 
 71 m 5 Thou art my hope, O Lord God; thou art my trust from 
 
 my youth. 
 130. 7 Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is 
 
 mercy. 
 Prov. 14. 32 The righteous hath hope in his death. 
 
 Lam. 3. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait 
 
 for the salvation of the Lord. 
 Zech. 9. 12 Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. 
 
 Rom. 8. 24 We are saved by hope. 
 
 15 13 The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing 
 
 that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 1 Cor. 13. 13 Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three. 
 
 1 Thess. 5. 8 For an helmet, the hope of salvation. 
 
 Heb. 6 18 19 ^ ne ^°P e se ^ before us; which we have as an anchor of the 
 ' soul. 
 
 Nourished, informed, stimulated, and built up by 
 this grace of hope, the Christian is girded for victory, 
 and sustained and strengthened for toil and suffering. 
 
 7. Is it not worth while to give a thought to the 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 243 
 
 work wrought in the world by the pioneers of explo- 
 ration, discovery, and colonization, who have been 
 sustained by hope amid perils in the wilderness, the 
 jungle, and the mountain in their arduous labors 
 of opening up the world for commerce and Christian- 
 ity? Without the reinforcement which hope gave 
 them in dark hours, how could they have made any 
 headway? These heroic men have made the forests 
 ring with their cheers and the ocean to resound with 
 their songs. The man who first crossed the Atlantic 
 in search of a new path to India; the navigator who 
 first found his resolute way around the globe; the 
 lion-hearted pioneers who opened up, generations 
 ago, the Northern Lakes, the Mississippi River, the 
 great plains, and the far off Rocky Mountains, and 
 thus put a lien upon them as the coming patrimony of 
 freedom and the gospel — who can estimate how 
 much we owe to their heroically hopeful spirit? 
 Through savage foes, pestilential diseases, assailments 
 of wild beasts, privation, famine, and sometimes 
 martyrdom, they pressed on their way until they 
 conquered a new home for liberty, a new treasure- 
 house for humanity, and a new opportunity for the 
 world. 
 
 8. The disciplinary power of this "stanch, adven- 
 turous, and eagle-eyed" faculty has much to do with 
 the development of the soul, which learns under its 
 tuition to eagerly desire, and strenuously plan, and 
 mightily contend for greater deeds and deeper expe- 
 riences in the time to come. By waiting, expecting, 
 never giving up, always looking forward, laying hold 
 
244 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 day by day on the Power of the Future, catching 
 hourly glimpses of frowning heights ahead, and re- 
 solving to scale them, anticipating the battles of the 
 morrow and preparing to win them, enduring without 
 flinching or complaining all the knocks and rebuffs 
 and hurts that come from time to time, but still 
 pressing on and up — thus character is matured, and 
 the soul is made great, and eternal life is assured. 
 And that in a single sentence is the great lesson of 
 the Book of Hope ! 
 
 9. The ministrations of this noble grace to the 
 Christian believer are vividly portrayed by Bunyan 
 in his Pilgrim's Progress. It shows the insight of this 
 writer that he placed alongside of Christian in the 
 most critical conflicts and temptations of the pil- 
 grimage, as his companion and guide, a man by the 
 name of Hopeful, who even in the prison of Giant 
 Despair could say, "Let us be patient and endure 
 awhile; the time may come that will give us a happy 
 release." It was Hopeful who thought of the key 
 of Promise by which to unlock the dungeon doors. 
 It was Hopeful who sustained Christian in the depths 
 of the river, when, even with the towers and battle- 
 ments of the city in view, the feet of the Pilgrim 
 were slipping and his senses reeling under the stress 
 of the last struggle. It was Hopeful who kept his 
 brother's head above the waters, encouraged him 
 when half dead with fright, and shouted in his ears, 
 "I see the gate and men standing by to receive you. 
 Cheer up!" It was Hopeful who held up his fellow 
 pilgrim, took him by the hand, led him through the 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 245 
 
 waters to the farther bank, where the welcome given 
 to arriving pilgrims was administered! Blessed 
 Brother Hopeful! Who has not been ministered to 
 by him in time of trial and depression? Who has 
 not been gladdened and buoyed up and comforted 
 and animated for a further struggle by his example 
 and spirit and helping hand? 
 
 10. Back of the greatest movement of the centuries 
 — the campaign for the evangelization of the world — 
 lies this fundamental grace, the expectation and 
 desire for the capture of all nations for Jesus Christ. 
 He said: "Go, make disciples of all nations. The 
 field is the world. This gospel shall be preached to 
 all nations." Paul caught the vision and outlined 
 his plans for the evangelization of the Gentiles. 
 For ages the Church halted in view of the walls of 
 isolation which encompassed the hermit nations of 
 the Orient, and tarried, for a long time in apathy and 
 unbelief, and then for a generation or more in prayer, 
 for the gates to be opened and the walls to be broken 
 down. To-day these petitions have been gloriously 
 answered, for the doors of separation have been opened 
 wide, and the opportune hour has sounded for the 
 advance of the armies of the King all along the line — 
 in the Turkish empire, in the Dark Continent, in 
 China, Korea, Japan, and the islands of the sea. 
 To the Church, confronting opportunities such as 
 never before stirred the heart of Christ's followers, 
 the Angel of Hope sings her song from the Word: 
 
 The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as 
 the waters cover the sea. ... He shall have dominion also 
 
246 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 from sea to sea, and from the River unto the ends of the 
 earth. . . . The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose. . . . His name shall endure forever. . . . The king- 
 doms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord 
 and of his Christ. The heathen shall be his inheritance and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth his possession. The whole 
 earth shall be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen. 
 
 This vision of the conquest of the whole world by 
 the gospel shines to-day before the eye of Christen- 
 dom. The men who know most thoroughly the 
 difficulties of the task — the thronging millions of 
 heathenism, the tremendous power of caste, of idola- 
 trous practices, and of Oriental creeds; the debasing 
 superstitions and vices of savage lands, and the 
 almost invincible hold which prejudice has upon the 
 non-Christian races and lands — see the vision most 
 clearly and believe in it most profoundly. It is not 
 the men at the front who raise a question concerning 
 the possibility of winning the world for Christ — it 
 is the men in the rear! 
 
 Meanwhile, we merely indicate at a glance the fact 
 that one of the great attractions of the Book is its 
 picture of a world redeemed by Jesus Christ and 
 finally won by his gospel. 
 
 11. There yet remains to be briefly indicated a 
 concluding function of the hope set before us in the 
 gospel; but before glancing at it, and in that glance 
 bringing this discussion to a close, it may be worth 
 while to. suggest the evidential value of the phases 
 of the Bible which we have now brought to view. 
 In these chapters the Scriptures have been permitted 
 to speak for themselves, the task of the author being 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 247 
 
 to uncover and set in organic array their amazing 
 attractions, the multiform phases of their power. It 
 is left for the reader of this volume to ask: "Whence 
 came these marvelous utterances, these transcendent 
 charms, these matchless exhibitions of wisdom, sub- 
 limity, and manifold beauty? What elements in 
 this Book separate it in splendid isolation from all 
 other books on earth? How has it come that the 
 writers of the books of Scripture, sundered one from 
 another by isolating circumstances — their geographi- 
 cal locations, their situations in the midst of different 
 ages, their varieties of environing civilizations and 
 languages — how has it come that they give such a 
 finally unified view of God, and man, and sin, and 
 salvation, of time and eternity, of life, and death, 
 and immortality? Whence came the unifying spirit, 
 the enlarging and harmonious scope, the increasingly 
 vivid unfolding of the will of the Creator, and the 
 culmination of the whole record as found in the New 
 Covenant? How may we account for the searching, 
 awakening, revealing ministry of this Book, in its 
 operations on the heart and conscience of man? Tak- 
 ing the volume as a whole, whence did it come? How 
 must we, as rational beings, account for its origin, 
 its history, its authority, and its ever-increasing 
 influence ?" 
 
 We leave these questions with the reader to answer. 
 It will be seen, at a glance, that some of the current 
 questions in biblical criticism, and some objections 
 often raised in opposition to the claims of the Bible, 
 are in this view of the case simply ruled out of court, 
 
248 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 as immaterial to the case — they have no standing here. 
 The contents of the Bible as outlined in their essence, 
 their substance, their vital character, in this volume 
 do not depend for their worth or authority on the 
 matters now occupying the attention of the world of 
 biblical interpreters — as to the authorship and date 
 of the Hexateuch, the interpretation of a few chapters 
 in Genesis, the dual authorship of Isaiah, the relation 
 of David to the book of Psalms, and the question, 
 "Who wrote Ecclesiastes?" On the other hand, we 
 may rightly say to all men everywhere who read the 
 Scripture: Here is a Book of unquestioned beauty, 
 of literally matchless attractions, of life-giving quali- 
 ties, a Book that bears on nearly every page some 
 token of a superhuman relationship. Aside from 
 all questions of the Old Testament miracles, or any 
 inquiry concerning the authorship of the Pentateuch 
 — questions which are not vital, which do not inhere 
 in the substantial claims and ministry of the volume 
 — the Bible has underlying qualities, phases, and 
 claims which make it absolutely a unique, a distinc- 
 tive, a solitary book, with an age-long and world- 
 wide influence, and an individualizing, an uplifting, 
 a comforting function which ally it vitally and inti- 
 mately with the universal human heart. Answer 
 for yourself and say, in all candor, Whence did this 
 book get this uplifting, renewing, saving power? 
 
 And now, after this brief summing up of the case, 
 we are ready for the closing paragraph, in which to 
 note the final functions, the last blessed ministrations 
 of the messages of the Book. 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 249 
 
 12. Christian hope attends the believer by its 
 cheering ministries to the very last, alleviating his 
 griefs, animating him for his struggles, supporting 
 him in his pilgrimage, till the inevitable end appears 
 in sight. At last, when all mortal succor is vain, 
 when friendship, and medical skill, and womanly 
 sympathy, and will-power, and fortitude have done 
 all that they can do to sustain and encourage the 
 dying believer — then hope achieves her culminating 
 triumph, uncovering the splendors of eternity, open- 
 ing the gateway of the skies, revealing friends waiting 
 for the home-coming, the Saviour himself ready to 
 bestow the crown, the beatific vision, the robe, the 
 scepter, and the regal welcome, all in store in the city 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Under 
 the spell of this celestial vision, opened up by Hope, 
 the departing saint exultingly testifies: 
 
 I shall see my loved ones again, and they shall be mine 
 for evermore. I shall gain the crown promised to them 
 who are faithful unto death. I shall enter into the rest that 
 remaineth for them that love the Redeemer. Death, the 
 last enemy, shall be destroyed. I shall hear the Master say, 
 Well done; enter into the joy of thy Lord. 
 
 For the individual believer this is the peaceful 
 and victorious issue which the Book of Hope portrays 
 as the outcome of a faithful and consecrated life: 
 After toil, rest; after conflict, victory; after the 
 struggle, the crown! 
 
 For the human race there is left on the closing 
 
 page of this Book of Endless Charms this portrayal 
 
 of the Great Consummation: 
 
 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first Rev. 21. 1-4 
 heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no 
 
250 CHARMS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming 
 down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned 
 for her husband And I heard a great voice out of the 
 throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
 and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, 
 and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and 
 he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall 
 be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor 
 pain, any more. 
 Rev. 22. 3-5 And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of 
 God and of the Lamb shall be therein : and his servants shall 
 serve him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be 
 on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and 
 they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun ; for the Lord 
 God shall give them light : and they shall reign for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 Christian poets by the score, pondering the un- 
 veiled splendors of the heavenly city, in the above 
 and in other passages of Scripture, have been uplifted 
 and inspired to utter praise and prayer in songs that 
 will never die. Christopher Wordsworth, for ex- 
 ample, the Anglican bishop and hymn writer, 
 sings: 
 
 They have come from tribulation, and have washed their 
 
 robes in blood, 
 Washed them in the blood of Jesus; tried they were, and 
 
 firm they stood; 
 Gladly, Lord, with thee they suffered; gladly, Lord, with 
 
 thee they died, 
 And by death to life immortal they were born and glorified. 
 
 John Berridge, an English clergyman, during a long 
 and dangerous illness in 1772, wrote many songs of 
 heaven, of which this stanza is typical: 
 
 O happy saints, who dwell in light, 
 And walk with Jesus, clothed in white; 
 Safe landed on that peaceful shore, 
 Where pilgrims meet to part no more. 
 
THE BOOK OF HOPE 251 
 
 And Peter Damiana, the monk and bishop, in his 
 great Latin hymn, beginning, 
 
 Ad perennis vitae fontem, 
 wrote these lines, which have reechoed for a thou- 
 sand years since they were composed: 
 
 Christ, the Palm of faithful victors! of that city make me 
 
 free; 
 When my warfare is accomplished, to its mansions lead 
 
 thou me, — 
 Grant me, with its happy inmates, sharer of thy gifts to be ! 
 
 And now, at the last, we may illuminate and at the 
 same time conclude these studies of the Charms of 
 the Bible by reproducing from one of the hymns of 
 Godfrey Thring — a recently deceased English clergy- 
 man, the author of many notable sacred lyrics — two 
 stanzas which may help us to see new beauties in the 
 vision of Saint John, as quoted from the book of 
 Revelation, and which may also prompt us to utter 
 as the prayer of our deepest hearts the aspiration 
 with which the verses end : 
 
 O great and glorious vision! 
 
 The Lamb upon his throne : 
 O wondrous sight for man to see!— 
 
 The Saviour with his own; 
 To drink the living waters, 
 
 And stand upon the shore, 
 Where neither sorrow, sin, nor death 
 
 Shall ever enter more. 
 
 O Lamb of God who reignest — 
 
 Thou Bright and Morning Star — 
 Whose glory lightens that new earth 
 
 Which now we see from far; 
 O worthy Judge Eternal, 
 
 When thou dost bid us come, 
 Then open wide the gates of pearl 
 
 And call thy servants home! 
 
INDEX OF TEXTS 
 
 Genesis page' 
 
 outline of 28, 291. 
 
 1.1-5 60| 
 
 1.10 96! 
 
 3.9,11,13 64 ch 
 
 4.6,9,10 64 
 
 12. 3 16,130 
 
 ch. 12-23 107 
 
 13. 12 146 
 
 17. 8 131 
 
 18. 19 149 
 
 18. 25 159 
 
 18. 27 110 
 
 21.17 64 
 
 22. 17, 18 95,130 
 
 ch. 24-27 107 
 
 ch. 28-36 108 
 
 ch. 37-50 108 
 
 49. 3-12 70 
 
 49. 26 93 
 
 50. 20 162 
 
 50. 24,25 132 
 
 Ruth page 
 16-18 148 
 
 1 Samuel 
 . 1-3 109.147 
 
 2 Samuel 
 
 .1-15 68 
 
 .33 62 
 
 Exodus 
 
 3. 7,8 61,132, 
 
 8. 15 
 
 33. 14 
 
 34. 6, 7 
 
 Leviticus 
 
 4. 26,31,35 
 
 5. 10, 16, 18 
 
 157 
 112 
 137 
 134 
 
 134 
 
 134 
 
 34. 6 
 
 Numbers 
 
 22. 
 
 1 Kings 
 
 112 
 
 64 
 
 147 
 
 2 Chronicles 
 3 147 
 
 9. 6. 
 
 Ezra 
 
 122 
 
 26. 
 
 Job 
 
 71 
 
 71 
 
 .7-9 97 
 
 . 15 Ill 
 
 .15 159 
 
 8-11 98 
 
 .5,6 110 
 
 Psalms 
 
 Deuteronomy 
 
 6. 4-9 
 
 7.9 
 
 8. 18 
 
 15. 6 
 
 28. 37,64-66 
 
 33. 13-16 
 
 33. 25 
 
 34. 1, 6 
 
 9. ! 
 12. 
 95 18. 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 19. 
 28. 
 25. 
 25. 
 
 Joshua 
 
 outlined 
 1. 1-6... 
 
 1.8 
 
 9. 3-6 . . . 
 24. 15 . . . 
 
 6. 15, 
 
 Judges 
 
 148 
 
 159 
 
 190 
 
 190 
 
 l 91 !3i 
 
 16a oi 
 
 88'31 
 
 32 
 
 33 
 
 29 34 
 
 132134 
 
 46 36 
 
 68 38 
 
 149 140 
 
 41 
 
 145 
 
 11045 
 
 2, 28-35. 
 
 7 
 
 1-4 
 
 7-11.... 
 
 . 5 
 
 . 10.... 
 . 15..., 
 . 19... 
 . 24 . . . . 
 
 . 8 
 
 7 
 
 . 9, 10. 
 . 19.... 
 
 139 
 
 ... 46 
 
 .... 71 
 
 ... 93 
 
 ... 90 
 
 ... 6 
 
 ... 137 
 
 ... 122 
 137, 199 
 
 . . . 139 
 
 ... 122 
 
 ... 162 
 
 .... 159 
 
 . . . 242 
 
 ... 137 
 
 ... 98 
 
 ... 137 
 
 ... 139 
 
 ... 94 
 
 ... 122 
 
 ... 122 
 
 ... 139 
 
 ... 22 
 
 ... 52 
 
 PAGE 
 
 46. 1-3 94, 139 
 
 i46. 7 108 
 
 |51. 1-i 116 
 
 55. 22 139 
 
 63. 3 159 
 
 |65.12 93 
 
 69.8 77 
 
 71. 5 242 
 
 ,72.3 94 
 
 ,72.8 98 
 
 73. 24 137 
 
 73. 26 139 
 
 77. 19 98 
 
 78.1-8 78 
 
 78. 13 95 
 
 79. 4 77 
 
 80. 5 77 
 
 81.4,5 77 
 
 89. 8. 9 98 
 
 89. 14 159 
 
 90.1,2 93 
 
 90.6 71 
 
 93. 3, 4 98 
 
 95.4 93 
 
 97. 5 93,99 
 
 98. 8 93 
 
 103. 3 134 
 
 103. 12 135 
 
 103. 13 61, 139 
 
 104. 24-31 74,98 
 
 107. 23-31 99 
 
 119. 18 11 
 
 119.46 46 
 
 119. 50 139 
 
 119.59 17 
 
 119.96 46 
 
 119. 105 7 
 
 119. 130 10 
 
 121. 1,2 93,94 
 
 130. 7 242 
 
 139. 1,2 158 
 
 145. 2-5 157, 158 
 
 147. 1-9 60 
 
 147. 2-4 157 
 
 147. 5 158 
 
 Proverbs 
 
 1. 8,9 148 
 
 1. 24, 25 121 
 
 2. 3-5 . 
 
 2. 4 
 
 3. 13-17. 
 
 4. 13.... 
 4. 18.... 
 4. 20, 27 , 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 155 
 
 128 
 
 253 
 
254 
 
 INDEX OF TEXTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 6. 11 162 
 
 10. 7 121 
 
 10.30 77 
 
 12.19 77 
 
 12. 24 162 
 
 13.20 77 
 
 14. 32 242 
 
 15. 3 158 
 
 15.16 77 
 
 20. 4 162 
 
 21. 30 158 
 
 23. 22 149 
 
 25.11,13,25 22 
 
 28. 13 199 
 
 31. 10-31 154 
 
 ECCLESIASTE8 
 
 12. 1 149 
 
 12. 10, 11 58 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 1. 2 121 
 
 1. 18 17,135 
 
 2. 2 94 
 
 3. 11-16 121 
 
 4. 6 139 
 
 5. 3, 4 63 
 
 5. 20 121 
 
 6. 3 159 
 
 10.3 65 
 
 ch. 13 191 
 
 23.11 98 
 
 34.16 58 
 
 38. 17 135 
 
 40. 1 140 
 
 40.8 58 
 
 40. 12 93 
 
 41.8 157 
 
 42. 16 157 
 
 43. 1-3 80 
 
 43. 2 140 
 
 43.16 98 
 
 44. 22 135 
 
 49.13 94 
 
 52. 7-10 204 
 
 54. 10 61 
 
 55. 12 93 
 
 57.20,21 98 
 
 58. 11 137 
 
 59. 3 121 
 
 61. 1, 2 140 
 
 66. 13 61, 139 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 1. 6 110 
 
 5. 26 121 
 
 6.15 65 
 
 8.22 65 
 
 17. 9 119 
 
 23. 24 158 
 
 31. 34 134 
 
 32. 17 158 
 
 48.8,10-12 82 
 
 ch. 51 191 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lamentations 
 
 3. 26 242 
 
 EZEKIEL 
 
 7.14-17 81 
 
 11. 17-20 240 
 
 18.19 98 
 
 ch. 27 191 
 
 33.11 65 
 
 Daniel 
 
 12. 3 164 
 
 Hosea 
 
 4. 1, 6 121 
 
 7. 2 121 
 
 8. 7 121 
 
 10. 8 93 
 
 11.8 63 
 
 13. 9 121 
 
 14. 4-7 82 
 
 MlCAH 
 
 6.1,2 93 
 
 7. 8 137 
 
 7. 19 98, 135 
 
 Nahum 
 
 passim 192 
 
 Zechariah 
 
 2. 8 159 
 
 9. 12 242 
 
 Apocrypha 
 Ecclus. 44. 1-14... 
 
 102 
 
 Matthew 
 
 6.19-21 84 
 
 6. 30 137 
 
 7.16 66 
 
 8. 5-10 Ill 
 
 8. 20 224 
 
 8.26 66 
 
 9. 2-6 135 
 
 9. 6 199, 231 
 
 9. 28 66 
 
 11. 4, 5 193 
 
 11. 20-23 193 
 
 11. 28 230, 231 
 
 12. 35 123 
 
 13.51 66 
 
 13. 52 9 
 
 16.13 66 
 
 18. 2-6 150 
 
 18. 3 123 
 
 19. 14 150 
 
 19. 21 230 
 
 20. 6 66 
 
 20. 28 224 
 
 22.20 66 
 
 22. 34-39 47 
 
 22.42 66 
 
 PAGE 
 
 23.23 47 
 
 23. 25-28 84 
 
 23.37 63 
 
 24. 14, 35 210 
 
 24.35 15 
 
 25. 31-46.. 164, 224, 231 
 
 26. 28 135 
 
 27.21-31 69 
 
 28. 19 164 
 
 Mark 
 
 8. 31 224 
 
 8.36 66 
 
 9. 36, 37 150 
 
 10. 13-15 150 
 
 11.30 66 
 
 16. 15 164 
 
 Luke 
 
 1. 78, 79 237 
 
 2. 46 65 
 
 7. 11-17 151 
 
 7. 48 135 
 
 10. 13 193 
 
 10. 26 66 
 
 10. 38-42 151 
 
 13. 15 124 
 
 14. 12-14 83 
 
 22. 20 26 
 
 23. 13-24 113 
 
 24.45 10 
 
 24. 46 164 
 
 24. 46, 47 135, 213 
 
 John 
 
 1.1-5 60 
 
 1. 14 150 
 
 1. 41 Ill 
 
 1. 35-42 184 
 
 2. 1-12 151 
 
 3.2 205 
 
 3. 7 123 
 
 3. 19 124 
 
 5. 36 193 
 
 6. 35 230 
 
 7.17 17 
 
 8. 12 10, 230 
 
 9. 4 162 
 
 10. 25 193 
 
 12. 1-8 151 
 
 13. 13 230 
 
 13. 15 163 
 
 14. 1, 18 140 
 
 14. 6 230 
 
 15. 26 10, 231 
 
 16.13,14 10 
 
 19. 25-27 151 
 
 21. 15.. 151 
 
 Acts 
 
 1.8 164 
 
 2. 38 136 
 
 3. 25 131 
 
 10. 38 163 
 
 13. 32 131 
 
INDEX OF VERSES 
 
 255 
 
 Romans page 
 3. 1, 2 12S 
 
 7. 24 120 
 
 8. 24 242 
 
 8.28 137 
 
 12. 9 163 
 
 12. 11 162 
 
 15. 4 10, 237 
 
 15. 5, 13 158,242 
 
 1 Corinthians 
 
 13. 13 242 
 
 15. 9 Ill 
 
 2 Corinthians 
 
 1. 3, 4 140, 158 
 
 13. 18 242 
 
 Galatians 
 
 3. 8, 16 130 
 
 6. 9, 10 163 
 
 Ephesians 
 
 2. 12 237 
 
 3. 8 Ill 
 
 6. 4 151 
 
 6.11 163 
 
 6.21,22 38 
 
 Philippians 
 
 1.12,13 35 
 
 3.13 236 
 
 4. 6,7 138,200 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. S.9 174 
 
 4.11 34 
 
 4.22 35 
 
 Colossi ans 
 
 1. 14 136 
 
 1. 15-19 218 
 
 3.16 58 
 
 3. 21 151 
 
 4. 7-9 38,40 
 
 4. 14 113 
 
 1 Thessalonians 
 
 5. 8 242 
 
 5.21 17 
 
 2 Thessalonians 
 
 3. 10, 11 162 
 
 1 Timothy 
 
 1.9, 11 116 
 
 4. 13-15 174 
 
 5. 13 162 
 
 2 Timothy 
 
 2. 3 163 
 
 3. 14-17 32, 41 
 
 4. 9 113 
 
 Philemon 
 
 outlined 33-13 
 
 v. 24 113 
 
 Hebrews paoe 
 outlined 29, 30 
 
 1. 1-8 234 
 
 2. 14 98 
 
 3.6-10 94 
 
 4. 12, 13 128 
 
 6. 18, 19 242 
 
 10. 36 162 
 
 11. 32-34 102 
 
 12. 2, 3 218 
 
 13. 6 162 
 
 James 
 
 1. 4 165 
 
 1.5 199 
 
 1. 21-25 142 
 
 5. 20 164 
 
 2 Peter 
 
 1. 4 129 
 
 1.21 59 
 
 1 John 
 
 2. 12-17 168 
 
 4. 8 159 
 
 Revelation 
 
 5. 9 17 
 
 11. 15 112 
 
 20.13 99 
 
 21.1 99 
 
 21. 1-4 249 
 
 22. 3-5 250 
 
 INDEX OF VERSES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A glory gilds the sacred pa<?e Cowper 6 
 
 Break thou the bread of lite Lathbury 204 
 
 Christ, the Palm of faithful victors Damiana 251 
 
 Does the Lord of glory speak Bathurst 142 
 
 God, in the gospel of his Son Beddome 22 
 
 Great God, mine eyes with pleasure look Watts 234 
 
 Great God, with wonder and with praise Watts 102 
 
 Holy Bible, Book divine Burton 116 
 
 How precious is the Book divine Fawcett 32 
 
 I love the sacred Book of God Kelly 184 
 
 Laden with guilt, and full of fears Watts 218 
 
 Lamp of our feet Barton 168 
 
 Lord, thy Word abideth Baker 46 
 
 O great and glorious vision Thring 251 
 
 O happy saints Berridge 250 
 
 O Word of God, incarnate How 74 
 
 The heavens declare thy glory, Lord Walts 88 
 
 They have come from tribulation Wordsworth 250 
 
 This Book, this holy Book Pollok 58 
 
 Thy thoughts are here, my God Bonar 14 
 
 Whence but from heaven Dryden 128 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 a&W&ttSSS* 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEMCO 38-297