Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-02-03
The Bible as Literature.

the "Blble as Literature The liter
airy appropriations of it by such men as
Froude, Gladstone, Dana and others
were quoted, while DR.. Steel's w tri-
butte was a literary classic. 1t is to be
regretted that the length of time per-
mitted to pulpit ~discourses prevented
liberal quotations to illustrate the points
made.
The literary excellence of the Bible,
both in the original and in King James
version, has long been recognized, but
has been but little appreciated by the
generality of men and women. Applying
to it the strictest standards of literary
criticism, it must be awarded first place
among all writings. The supreme and
universal excellence of Shakespeare"
as Macauley terms it must yield place
to it, as must the merit of all other
writer's. In construction of sentences,
in ~phraseology, in thought and in de-
lineation of character and use of words
it has no peer.
The scene in Scott's Lady of the
Lake" where King James ~unknowing,
meets Roderick Dhu, is one of the finest
dramatic situations in literature. When
James had bitterly denounced the rebel
and told how he painted to meet his foe
face to face, the rebel chieftain whis-
ties and from bracksand bush all around
hundreds of his followers arise
These are Clan Alpine's warrior true,
And Saxon, l am Roderick Dhu."
ThrOI1rh ro0r0 khon q h1nHr0N nrn-
ceding the climax has been worked up
to and most skillfully and dramatically
is it produced. But contrast St. Johns
account of the seizure of Christ, chap
ter Is, when the band, with swords and
slaves, come to take Him
"Jesus, therefore, knowing all things
that should come pom him, went forth
and said unto them-whOm seek We?
They answered, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said, / am he, and Judas also,
which had betrayed him stood with
them"
The simple unstudled narrative of the
disciple, is not less dramatic. not Sc
cond in literary perfection, to the pol
ished and repo!lshed poem Of the prac-
ticed literateur.
AS for beauty of expression, Mar
loves lines
''She was as fair as a summers eve
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars"
have long been admired. 1t is pure
poetry, a beautiful fancy beautifully
expressed. Yet is it as fine as this
from the 18th chapter Of Revelations
"And there appeared in the heavens
q WOnon olOthp6 with the GIN
To Shakespeare has been accorded
first place among all profane. writer's.
The soliloquy of Cardinal Wolsey is one
of his fines things
{ This is the state of man; today he puts
forth
The tender leaves of hope; tomorrow
} blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick
upon him;
The third day a frost, a killing
frost,
And when he thinks, good easy man,
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his
root
And her he falls as | do.
This is beautiful and splendid, but is
it not inferior to the expression of the
same idea in the 1O3d Psalm
GAS for man, his days are as grass;
as a flower of the field SO he fourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it and it is
gone, and the place thereof shall know
it nO8mOre.'
Addison has long held a pref minent
place in literature for his loftiness of
thought and expression and the purity
of his language. He wrote a para
! phrase of the 10Th Psalm so excellent
as still to be included in the hymn books
of today
1.-The spacious armament on high
And all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens a Starry
frame
Their great Original proclaim"
But mark the greater simplicity, the
wider sweep, the deeper, more solemn
note of the original
1.-THE heavens declare the glory of Coo
And the armament shoWeth his handi.
: work,
Day unto day uttereth speech
And night unto night showeth knowl
! edge"
Examples might be multiplied a hun.
dred fold. For the finest gems from
all profane literature parallels may be
, found in the Bible which possess greater
literary beauty or strength. 1t was
written by many hands, some of then
~unlearned. 1t deals with a multitude
of men and women and events, anc
with an infinite variety of circumstance
with exultant victory and shameful
death; with wars, struggles and strife
and with ways of ~pleasantness anc
paths of peace; with humble homes anc
roor-;6oa1t co,,rtc of Eip0c. with ,,,lore