The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-01-31
Tuesday, January 81. 1899
TIE WORLDS BEST LITERATURE IN
SILrY-SIX VOLCMKS.

Several libraries of the "World's
Best Literature" have been recently
published and advertised aud bought
extensively. We do not particularly
admire these works. But the idea
set rs thinking, and we purpose writ
ing now of another library, Of sixty
six volumes, which are in the reach
of all, and which may justly be styled
ssThe Worlds Best Literature."l
This is really comprehensive
library, of si1ty-six works, by some
forty different authors, Including
history, philosophy, poetry. fiction,
law, essays, letters and religion. The
writings are not confined to one age
either, but cover 3 period OF 1,60O
years Moraover, the masterpieces
here gathered together are the foun-
dation and fountain head Of most OF
The rest Of the worlds good literature.
The most able of ali the worlds
writers, with few exceptions, have
acknowledged their indebtedness to
these authors by continued quotation
and allusion, if not by actusl confes-
sion and tribute. No one who makes
any pretensions to literary culture,
can afford to neglect these writings.
DR.. Wordsworth speaks thus Of them:
ssThe Bible slone, Of all books in the
world, addresses itself to the whole
man. 1t exercises his memory,
strengthens his reason, controls his
passions, informs aais judgment, legu.
lates his conscience, sanctiies his will,
enliveas bis fancy, warns his imsgi-
na.ien, cherishes his affections, stimu.
lstes his practice, quickens his hope,
aud auimates his faith"
Others have testified similarly. Sir
VIM. Jones wrote on the fy-leaf of bis
Bible: 81 have regularly and stten.
lively read these Holy Scriptures, aud
AN of opinion, that this volume, inde-
pendently Of its divine origin, contains
more sublimity and beauty, more pure
morality, more important history, and
finer strains OF poetry au! eloQuence,
than can he collected from all other
books in whatever age or language
they may have been composed"
Any one who il perfectly master of
the literature in these sixty-s'x volumes
must of necessity have cultivated
taste, or in other WorG., literary cul.
turo. Where can historians oe found
20 perfectly accurate, impartial, ana
dramatic-to uselProf Rogers word
80 Moses and1the writer's of Samuel,
Kings, Chronicles, and the Gospels
and Acts? Calmly Eand maiastIcally
the facts are narrated without com
ment to bias the reader. The shor;-
comings and falls and egregiou: sins
of the heroic. wise and good are told
without concea lment, qualification or
apology. Yet nowhere DO we find the
dry, mechanical record Of the anna
list.
Or take heroic poetry combined
with dramatic form, aid whare have
we anything grandsr than the Epic of
Job? Where can sublimar passages
be found than in this work? There
can be no grander bursts of .eloquence
than are to be found in the prophets;
No profounder soul-thrills than those
in the Book OF Psalms; no more beau
tifnl and absorbing passages than in
the parab.es; no more powerful rea.
.oning than Psnl give, u on occasions.
There is numor iii Judges, wit and
wisdom in Proverbs, sarcasm ard
satire in Galatians and elsewhere.
We are arguing on low earthly plane
for the excellence O. tn. Bible as
field Of study for literary culture. be-
cause we expect 10 help our readers
who will follow Us 70 better methods
of study and better understanding
of the Bible, which is in truth library
of si1tY-six volumes, though ordinarily
bound in;o ore.
For fear that we will be considered
a. e1 pa1tc and biased in cur estimate
ofthe literary excellence c:,he volumes
in this library, which Y" wish TO
commend to the examinu of oar
readers, we will close VII. Tue esti-
mate of literary critic, NOT thus
biased. We take the quotation from
Shutters "Wit and Humor OF the
Bible" GAS : particular book, tn:
Bible is an unequaled source ofliterary
AS a book OF religious
truth, it is supreme; but religious
truth without any impairment of 1t,
value or obscurity Of its meaning, may
be studied from the literary siand-
point; in fact, in the light Of literary
criticism, or tested by the usual canons
of the scholar, it will appear more
sacred, more beautiful, more divine.
Never forgetting that it is our manual
of religion, it is also the vehicle OF the
most wonderful literature in human
aunals, aud precedes in Importance all
others. There is no book so CON-
posite in character and yet so har-
monious in plan, 90 mul!iplex in
styles and yet so educational in
rhetoric and logic, % varied in con-
tents, and yet so progressive in phi
losophy and religion, as the Bible.
Taken as whole, it is massive, com
prehensive, revelation of the Infinite.
Studied In ito parts, it stiinulates
single faculties willis it minieters
nourisbment TO :he whole frame. Its
histories are more compact than those
Of Herodotus, Gibbop CT Macaulay;
its poetry, whose KEY is mystery,
quiets Homer, Shakespeare and Tenny-
son; it's prophecies are unique climaxss
Of wisdom, both IN dsapsry and SUBJ
stance; its biographies excel those OF
Plutarch, Irving, Carlyle and Boswell;
it: chronicles of wars are superior to
those Of Julius Caesar, Wellington,
and UIyssea Grant; ito
epistles eclipse those of P lin. Madame
Sevigns aud Francis Bacon; lis laws,
in ,heir ethical and spiritual import,
are quite beyond JnstiniaD, Blackstone
and the Eoglish Parliament, Every
phasis Of literature, every norm Of
wisdom. is in tie Bible. Il ministers
10 all tastes aud arouses The slumber- |