Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1854-12-21
BARDS OF THE BIBLE.

BARDS OF THE BIBLE.
Manv sparkling passages occur in "Gn-
6IIan's Bsrds Of the Bible" republished in
a neat form by the Hsrpers of New Y ork
city. The following are illustrations
"The Bible is mass of beautiful figures:
its words and its thoughts are alike poe,icaI;
II has gathered around its central truths al,
natural beauty and interest. !. is temple
with one slar and one God, but Illuminated
by thousand varied lights, end studded
with thousand ornaments. 1t hes, substan-
TALLY, bu! one declaration to make. but it
n'ers it in the voice Of creation. Shining
forth from the excelien, glory. its light has
been reflected on a myriad Of intervening
objects, until it has become a,empered TO
our earthly vision. 1t now brealhes upon
us at once from the hear. Of man, and from
The countenance Of nature. It has arrayed
itself in The charms Of fiction |, has gath
.ered new beauty from the works Of crea,ion,
and new warmth and new power from the
very passions Of clav. 1t has pressed into
It's service the animals Of The forest, the how~
ers of The field, The stars Of heaven-al the
clements Of nature. The lion spurning the
sands of the desert, the lid roe leapIng ovtr
the mountains, The lamb led in silence 10 tit
slaughter, The goat speeding to the ilder-
ness. the rose blossoming in Sharon. the lilly
dropping in the valley, the apple tree bow
ing under lis fruit, the great rock shadow
ing weary land, the river g laddening dry
place, the moon and morning star. Carmel
by the sea, and Tabor in the moun.ains, the
dew from the womb Of the morning, the
rain upon the mown grass, the rainbow en-
composing dark place, the light Gods
shadow, the thunder His voice, the wind
and earthquake His footsteps. All such
varied objects are made as if naturally de-
signed from their creation to represent Him
t" whom the book and all its emblems point
Thus The spirit Of the book has ransack ed
creation To lay its treasures on Jehovah's
altar, united The rays Of a far streaming glory
on the lille hill Of Calvary, end woven 3
garland for the bleeding brow of Emanuel,
The flowers Of which have been culled from
The garden Of the universe.
"The power of the Bible over man has
vain. For ages has this arlless, loosely pill
ed lit,lc book been exnosed 10 The fire Of
----a.-s---~-rTgusioi. IRE meduwniic
which has consumed con,emp,uously the
mythology Of the Had, the husbandry Of
the Georges, ,he historical truth of Livy,
the fables of Shaster, the ralmud, and the
Koran, The artistic merit of many a popular
poem, The au,hori,y Of many work Of
Philosophy and science. And vet there the
Bible lies unhur,, untouched, with moi one
Of lis pages singed, with not even the smell
OF fire having passed upon II. Many an al
tempt has been made TO scare away this f.
cry Pillow of our wanderings, to prove il
mere natural product Of the wilderness; but
still ligh. after light rises, like one Of the
sure and ever shining stars in the vanguard
Of The great march OF man, the old column
guiding slow, but guiding certainly to future
lands of promise, boih in the life that is, and
ths, which comeih hereafter.
"Whlle other books are planets, shining
with reflected radiance, this Book, like The
sun, shines with ancient and unborrowed
rays.
"Other books after shining their liille sea-
son, NAV perish ID flames fiercer than those
which destroyed the AleXandrian library;
this must in essence remain as gold. but in
consumabe as Asbes,on in the general con-
hsg1a,ion."