The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
LITERATURE OF THE BIBLE.
1t Is Full of Wit, Humor and Poetry, as
Well as Wisdom and Law.
Rev. John Snyder In st. Louis Globe-
Democrat.

a recent writer has described the Bible
as "a literature smothered with rever-
ence." A reverence. which. while It is
genuine and profound. really stands in
the way. frequently. Of a knowledge and
appreciation Of the Bible as the literature
OF a great race. We have been so used to
regarding the Bible as the text book of
religion that we sometimes forget the APP
peal II makes to the intellectual nature,
to the Imagination. to the sense Of beauty
and the elevated taste. To think of the
book Of Jonah for instance, as the record
of historical fact, is as surely to lose the
true sense of its charm as II would be to
put the pigments of the Sistine Madon-
ma under a miscroscope to search for the
secret of Raphael's inspiration. his is
the depressing mistake which men like
Dr. Talmage and Col Ingersoll make re-
spectng the supreme expression OF the
literary, as well as the religious genius
OF great race. Mr.. Talmage treats the
Bible as If it was a Chinese puzzle. or
what the children call the game Of dis
sected map" Ridden by the theory that
the book is a unit of theological teach
ing, he sacrifices its beauty, as botanist
tears rose bud to pieces. searching Tor
doctrinal identity. He loses the gran
dellr Of that peerless poem Of the creation
from scientific data, how light might have
existed before the sun was born; while
Col Ingersoll stands by and makes deli
cious fun Of the process. But Mr.. Ingersoll
has been educated in the SINE vicious
school of thought, and is just as densely
ignorant of the real claim of the Bible
upon the worlds admiration. The poetry,
the wisdom. the philosophy the dramatic.
epical and lyric beauty Of the book are all
lost upon him He can admire the Shakes
pearian sonnets; he IS insensible to the
Psalms of David. He loves the Cot
ter's Saturday Night" he cannot appre-
ciate the exquisite story Of Ruth. lie ap-
preciates the immortal fables Of Aesop'
he is untouched by the Incompatible par
ables of the New Testament He knows
Hamlet and Lear; he is ignorant Of the
greater tragedy Of Job.
The writer 10 whom l have just referred
saws: with the single exception OF hui
morous literature, for which the Hebrew
temperament has little fitness, the Bible
presents as varied an intellectual food as
can be found IN any national literature
But surely there is no need of excluding
from the fair picture Of the Bible even
the element Of the humorous. The Bible
is pervaded by tone Of lofty serious
ness. but it would be very strange If that
sense Of the iucongrucus which charac-
terfzas the genius Of the Hebrew people
should
sion Of that genius We must not forget
that IL IS that sense Of the incongruous
which is the matrX Of the higher range
and TYNE Of the humorous. And IL Is this
sense which furnishes one of the unerring
tests of truth Lowell speaks OF ii as that
moduiatfng and restraining balance wheel
which we call Il sense Of humor." Let
ANYBODY read the terrific description Of
the prophet taunting the prophets Of Baal.
Here Is humor Of "a very grim type, it is
true. Let him reRd the exquisite fable Of
the trees of the field choosing a king 1t
Is one Of the most delicate satlres In any
literature Then let him search the book
Of Proverbs, where he viii see the cleo
tric flashes of pure wit, used for the IL
of truth. THE horse leech
has two daughters. Their names are
Give, Give Tammany could not find a
better motto. The Bible is full-orbed, as
literature, and blessed viii be that day
when children shall be taught to read it
for its own splendor and not regard IT as
the crutch TO some lame theological
opinion.