Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-05
The Holy Bible.
LITERARY INFLUENCE OF THE GOOD BOOK IN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION.

LITERARY INFLUENCE OF THE GOOD BOOK IN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION.
Probably no single influence has been
greater in the development of civilization
than that of the Biblc. While it did not
cause the great awakening of the human
mind which took place in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, it is certain that that
awakening went forward at an accelerated
rate from the time that Luther and Wick
| life translated the sacred books into the
German and English tongues. The Bible
did what the universities could never have
done it awakened the minds Of the COM
mon people, placed in the hands of the
peasantry, veuerated as the absolute word
of God, speaking with the highest authori-
I ~ upon the profoundess themes, and ap-
neajIf1o - the most exoisable part of mans
nature there is Nc no. lsonder that it took pow
erful hold of the imagiilssssisos1n sssssion Of the Ger
manic races, and gradually made then the
most thoughtful psople in the world. These
people once set thinking about God and
Immortality, revolving in their minds prob
lens of right and wrong, and their imagi-
nation kindled by the story of Cod inter-
est in mankind. and the later developments
of civilization were only question of time
1t was certain that the people whose minds
were SO stirred would not only bscome
highly moral and religious, but would dis
cover the law of gravitation, invent the
steam engine and develop commercial rela-
tions that are only restricted by the size OF
the globe. The Bible, read in peasant
| households all over Protestant Europe, was
sure to result in an Intellectual quickening
which would, sooner or later, give the
world its Shakespeares, Millions, Goethes,
and the innumerable host of authors who
have made the literature of the Teutonic
races SO superior in versatility, if not also in
quality, to the literature of any other race.
We are very far from claiming the Bible as
the cnly agency in creating the beauty and
strength of English aud German literature,
but it is: simply a matter of fact that no
other causes have been so powerful or so
| far-reaching. Without it there would have
been no Milton, no Carlyle, Emerson or
Rnskin, and probably if the secret influence
could be discovered which created ancestral
habits of thoughtfulness no Shakespeare
or Goethe or any of the great writers of
peasant origin. We should have had 9TH
ers undoubtedly, but of far inferior quality
of mind and heart.
When we examine the Bible with the
sternest critical eyes We are compelled to
admit that it is great enough to be the cause
of all we have ascribed to its influence.
| Without speaking of its moral or religions
qualities it is evident that its literary merits
are supreme. Let any one go through it
| from Genesis to Revelation, and while he
will find passages that are now unspeakably
uuiuteresting, yet on every page will be
found some pearl of great price, which,
| even if it were not regarded as q sacred
word, the human race would never allow
| not no 1sYh
of the scientific accuracy of the first chap
ter of Genesis, few would be willing to have
that graphic and poetic account of the cre-
alton fado out Of the mind.
! The Bible contains every kind of liter
ature and can furnish specimens of each
which can hold their own with the best that
the race has produced. Its historical por-
tions, besides being the Oldest attempts to
trace the history of mankind, and deserib-
ing the Divine method of dealing with one
of the most gifted races of the world, are
related with simplicity and directness
which no later hiftorian has surpassed. Its
biographies. chapters of human life, when
the race was young and men were vigorous
in their virtues and great in their crimes,
have charm which can never lose its
power. No novelist has ever written q
sweeter story than the Book of Ruth, No
dramatist has over treated the universal
problem of mans destiny and Gods ways
with him with such seeing eye and under
standing heart, ''all in such free flowing
outlines, grand in its sincerity, in its simpli-
city, in its epic melody and repose of re-
concilement.'' 1t is not its devotional ele-
ment alone which has given the Book of
Psalms its unequa'e ed place in TIE liturgies
of Christendom, but this is partly due to
| xl,H : Dko,r af kha
blest aud most inspiring quality. Even in
a prose trsnslation-a test which no other
great body of poems like Homer could sur
vive-it appeals to the mind no less than to
the emotions, and maintains its position,
not wearying by repetition nor weakening
through lapse of years. Probably no por-
ton of the Bible has suffered so much in
translation as the Book of Proverbs; but,
nevertheless, st. James version contains
sentences of exquisite literary finish, while
the wisdom of the generations, which have
followed has never crystalized itselfin more
concise or convincing form. Nor is it the
spiritual utterances of the prophetic books
which gives them their only charm. Gems
of poetry, having the Divine qualities
which touch the imagination and render
their places in the literature of the world
permanent, are to be found in Isaiah and
Jeremiah. The literary qualities of the
Bible have been largely forgotten in the
far greater grandeur Of its religious and
moral qualities but the sacred Book could
never have retained the respect of scholars
or, indeed wholly of the ignorant, if it had
been crude, incondte and confused jum-
bic, like the Koran. 1t is certainly mat
ter Of the most profound congratulation
that book that was to be read daily III so
many homes, and weekly in all the church
es, and which was to be the first popular
literature of so many nations, should be cast
in such excellent literary form. What its
Influence has been in the quickening of i'm
agination and thoughtfnlness, as an inspira-
| ton Of literature, can of course never be
measured, but it is only second to the
, moral and religious influence it has exert
, ed. 8 large part of this result among
English-speaking people is due to the trans
lators Of our popular and long-used ver-
sion. Whatever this lacks in accuracy, it
is certainly swell of English undehled, :"
aud its place can never be taken by any
thing which is not its equal.
What this life-awakenlng Book may ac-
complish among the many other natious
into whose language it has been translated
during this century, and among whom it is
being circulated at the rate of more than
one million copies every year, it is yet too
early to tell. But those who love it need
not doubt that it's influence will be in de-
gree the same that it has been among the
German and English nations. 1t will Of
course teach righteousness and the way OF
escape from sin; but its work will not be
confined to this. 1t will exercise control.
ing influence upon the development OF
language, fixing its forms apd enriching il
with thousands Of words from classic
! sources; it will quicken the mind and stimu
late the imagination, create desire fol
| education and become the perhaps unrec.
ognized mother of many literatures, un
like itself, indeed, but still of incalculable
benefit to the world.-Prouidence Journal
'If 'twere down, when tits down, it were
well 'twere down quickly p' is what per
son thinks when he is contemplating taking
! dose of old-fashioned pills. DR.. Pierce't