Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1854-09-30
DARDs OF THE BIBLE.

Q .
BARDs OF THE BIBLE.
Many sparkling passages occurin "Gil'
fllan's Bards Of the Bible" reppblished
in q neat form by the Harpers of New
York city. The following are illustra'
tions:- aHf ,Y,, sF ~
"THE BIBLE is a mass Of beautiful fig
ures; its words and its thoughts are alike
poetical; it has gathered around its cen
tral truths all natural beauty and interest ;
it is a temple with one altar and one God,
but Illuminated by a thousand varied lights
and studded with a thousand ornaments,
It has substantially but one declaration to
make, but it utters it in The voices Of the
creation. Shining forth from the excel.
lent glory, its light has been reflected on
a myriad of intervening objects, till it has
become at length attempered to our earth
ly vision. It now beams upon us at once
from the heart Of man, and from the coun-
tenance Of nature. II has arrayed itself
in The charms Of fiction. It'has gathered
new beauty from the works of creation,
and new warmth and new power from the
very passions of clay. Il has pressed in
10 its service the animals Of the forest, the
flowers of the field, the stars Of heaven,
all the elements of nature. The lion
spurning the sands of the desert, the wild
roe leaping over the mountains, the lamb
led in silence to the slaughter, the goat
speeding to the wilderness, the rose BIOS
soming in Sharon, the lilly dropping in the
valley, the apple tree bowling under its
fruit, the great rock shadowing weary
land, the river gladdening dry place,
the moon and the morning star, Carmel
by the seq, and Tabor in the. mountains,
the dew from the womb Of the morning,
the rain upon the mown grass, the rain
bow encompassing a dark place, the light
Gods shadow, the thunder His voice, the
wind and the earthquake His footsteps, =
all such varied objects are made as il nat
urally designed from their creation 10 rep
resent Hin TO whom the Book and all its
emblems point. Thus the spirit Of the
book has ransacked creation to lay its
treasures on Jehovah's altar, united the
innunerable rays,of a far streaming glory
on the little hill Of Calvary, and woven a
garland for the bleeding brow Of Emanuel,
the flowers Of which have been culled
from The garden Of "a universe.
"The power Of the Bible over man has
been long and obsiinately resisted; but
resisted in vain. Forases has this artless,
loosely piled little Book been exposed TO
the fire Of the keenest Investigations, q
fire meanwhile which has consumed con-
temptuodsly the mythology of the Illiad,
the husbaudry of the Georges, the histo-
rical truth of Liyy, the fables of the Shas-
Ter, The Talmud, and the Koran, the artis-
lie merit of many popular poem, the
authority of many work of philosophy
and scieace. And yesthere the Bible lies
unhur,, untouched, with not one Of its
pages siuged, with not even smell Of
ire ire having passed uponit. Many an at
tempt has been made TO scare away this
Fiery Pillar OF our wandeEings, to prove
il mere natural product Of the wilder
ness; but still night after night rises, like
one Of the sure and ever shining stars in
the vanguard of the great march of man,
lhe old column gliding slow, but guiding
certainly 10 future lands Of promise, both
in the life that is, and that which comelh
hereafter.
uWbile other books are planets shining
with reflected radiance, this Book, like
the sun. shines With ancient and unbor-
rowed rays.
"O,her books, atler shining their little
eeason, may perish in flames fiercer than
those which destroyed the AleSandrlan
library; this must in essence remain fine
as gold, but inconsumable as asbestosin the
general conlagration."