The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1911-05-24
OUR BIBLE IS A
BOOK OF WONDERS
A Library of 90 Different
Volumes,
WRITTEN BY 40 OR so WRITER'S
At Widely Different Periods
of Time-Many Helped
In Work.
A GLANCE AT GREATEST WORK

The Bible is not a book. 1t is a
library of sc different books, writ
ten in it's present form by 40 or so
different writer's, but contributed
to by many more. Its earliest book
the Book of the Covenant, con-
tanned in the present Book of EXo-
dus-was written 10 or IL centu-
ries before Christ; the Gospel of
John, one of the latest, was written
at the close of the first or the be-
ginning of the second century after
Christ. Thus for not less than l.
600 or 1900 years was this library
in process OF formation. 1t contains
all that is best in the literature of
an ancient people which has surviv-
ed the wrecks of time. In it are
found history, biography, law, both
political and ecclesiastical; fiction,
poetry. drama, political ethics, prac-
tical theology. Art, music and sci
ence are conspiciously absent, as is
philosophy, except in the latter por-
ton of the New Testament, where
it is philosophy used for practical
purposes and applied to practical
problems.
To specify more in detail: Cen
esis contains the prehistoric tradi-
lions of this people, rewritten by an
unknown prophet. probably as an In
PRODUCTION to the collection; the
next four books are collection of
the laws of this people as they were
gradually formed during a period
of centuries of their national life;
the books of history which follow
are compilations from pre-eXisting
materials, and it is possible now to
distinguish to some extent these
sources of the compilation coming
out clearly in the parallel but indie
pendent narratives of Kings and
Chronicles; Job is what Prof. Ge-
hung has we'll called it. an "epic of
a
collection of religious hymns. some
of which were used in the temple
service, others in the synagogues,
still others for private devotion;
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are books
of ethical culture, which almost en-
tirely ignore both the theological
doctrines and the ecclesiastical in
situations of the people; the Song
of Songs is love drama, one of the
earliest as it is one of the most
beautiful in the worlds literature,
and the prophetic books which fol-
low are collections or addresses
which may be compared to the po-
litical addresses of the modern NOR
al reformers and the sermons of the
modern practical preachers.
The New Testament contains four
biographies of Jesus of Nazareth,
largely compiled from previous oral
and documentary material; a his
tory of the beginning of the apos-
tolic churches; letters from evange-
lists to the infant churches, and
book of dream literature written to
encourage faith and hope in the
church in period of bitter persecu-
ton. But they are all, from the
first chapter of Genesis to the last
chapter of Revelation. records of
human experiences. They are writ
ten not by amanuenses inscribing
at dictation something which they
could not have learned except by
miraculous information, but by men
of like passions as We ourselves are,
writing down what they have seen
and felt. and writing it down that
their readers may see and feel the
same life truths. The Bible is a
library of characteristically human
experiences.-[The Outlook.