The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-02-01
LITERATURE OF THE BIBLE
AZ Is Full of wit. Humor and Poetry al
Well as Wisdom and Law.

It Is FUN of wit, Humor ana Poetry a
Well as Wisdom and Law.
A recent writer has described TIL,
Bible as "a literature smothered will
reverence. A reverence, which, while
IT is genuine and profound. really
stands in the way frequently of :
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 appeal it
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 it's charm as it
would be to put the pigments of the Sis
tine Madonna under microscope to
search tor the secret of Raphael's in
SEPARATION. This is the depressing mis-
take which men like DR.. Talmage and
Col. lngersoll make respecting the SUI
preme expression of the literary as
well as the religious genius of great
race Mr.. Talmage treats the Bible as
II 1t was Chinese puzzle, or what the
children call the game of a ''dissected
map" Ridden by the theory that the
book is unit of theological teaching.
he sacrifices its beauty, as botanist
tears rose bud to pieces, searching
Tor doctrinal identity. He loses the
grandeur of that peerless poem of the
creation in Genesis while he is striv-
Ch
how much light might have existed be-
Tore the sun was born; while Col. In
gersoll stands by and makes delicious
fun OF the process. Bnt Mr.. Ingersoll |
has been educated in the same vicious
school OF thought, and is just as dense
~ ignorant of the real claim of the
Bible upon the worlds admira ton.
The poetry, the wisdom, the philosophy,
the dramatic, epical and lyric beauty
OF the book are all lost upon him. He
can admire the Shakespearian SON
nets; he is insensible to the Psalms of
David. He loves the "Cotter's Satur-
lay Night" he can not appreciate the
story of Ruth. He appreciates
The immortal fables of Esop: he is
untouched by the incompara BILE para
,les of the New Testament. He knows {
hamlet and Lear; he is ignorant of the
greater tragedy of Job. The writer to
whom have just referred says: ''With {
he single exception of humorous 6
literature, for which the Hebrew tenn /
'erament has little fitness, the Bible i
resents as varied an intellectual food
S can be found in any national litera- l
ure." But surely there is no need of
xeiudlng from the fair picture of the S
Idle even the element of the humor- t.
as. The Bible is pervaded by tone h
lofty seriousness, but it would be f;
cry strange If that sense of the in b
)ngruous which characterizes the W
enius of the Hebrew people should be tt
bsent from the finest expression of lie
lat genius. We must not forget that OF
is that sense of the incongruous "
hich is the matrix of the higher in
nge and type of the humorous And tt
is this sense which furnishes one of N
e unerrlng tests of truth. I'll
DWELL speaks of it as "that he
odulating and restraining balance m
heel which we call a sense of w,
Imor." Let anybody read the ter m
ic description of the prophet taunt-
3 the prophets of Baal. Here is be
NOR OF very grim type, it is true to-
t him read the exquisite fable of the sp
'es of the field choosing king. 1t flu
one of the most delicate satires in tn
= literature. Then let him search sh
; book of Proverbs, where he will ter
the electric flashes of pure wit, pa
ID for the illumination of truth. he
he horse leech has two daughters. nc
cir names are Give, Give" Tam cru
ny could not find better motto. sur
E Bible is full-orbed as literature. ="
blessed will be that day when yor
ldren shall be taught to read it for 50
own splendor and not regard it as for
crutch to some lame theological cru
nion.-Rev. John Snyder, in St. Der
lis Globe-Democrat. sur