The Cordele dispatch., 1919-05-06
lIIul Observation-Disclosures
DR.. TUPPER HAD
GREAT LECTURE
PRESENTED ONE OF HIS MOST
APPEALING TOPICS TO-DAY

Peerless Book" His subject was the
Literary Glory Of the Bible" and
from an hours address we are able
to present to the readers of The Dis
patch the following brief extract:
"The Bible is the book of our learn
ing as well as of our religion. It an
pea to ma" highest literary taste
as well "a 10 his deepest spiritual
2eei In beauty and simplicity, in
dignity and sublimity in depth of
thought and wealth of imagery, in the
descriptive and the pathetic. in touch
ing biography and solemn drama, in
thrilling ode and eloquent Grafton
this wondrous Word of God is not
only unsurpassed but, al. o, unequalled
in the entir9 'a2'in of literature. 1t
IS the noblest thesaurus of divine wis
dom and of human learning the ages
have known. 1t is full of the sweet
est strains of poetry, the most men,
orable deeds of history, the most in
exhaustible stores of philosophy. tho
most thrilling incidents Of biography
and the loftiest teachings of morals
and ethics. In the Pentateuch we
have law, in the Psalms music, in the
Proverbs wisdom, in the Prophets his
tory, in the Gospels biography, in the
PARALLELS imaginative literature and in
Revelations the most inspirational of
visions. Genesis furnishes us won
drous revelations CT the beginnings
of the universe; Exodus deals with
a high type of history because 1T con
Germs civilized man; Leviticus is the
profoundest of treatises in law; Job is
the sublinest of soul-epics; Psalms
has both dramatic and meditative Tyr
les; Proverbs lis the nobleSt collection
of morals extant; Ruth, Esther and
the EVangelists are rich in individual
experience, while in the immortal
Epistles we have marvellous combf- |
nation of logic and emotion. Oh! what
range and glory of literature, allego
ry, biography, drama, ethics, legend,
letters, morals, orations, philosophy,
poetry. romance and religion! No
wonder is it that we have eulogy on
the Bibles literature from men like
Sir Isaac Newton, Goethe, Humboldt,
Milton, Macauley and other of the
worlds litterateurs.
"And the influence of the Bible in
creating literature beyond itself, how
vast and glorious! The worlds best
works are saturated through and
through with Biblical sentiment and
quotation. Spencer's Faerie Queen
presents the Red Cross Knight" sug-
gested by the Ephesian letter of Paul.
Popes messiah" is a paraphrase of
Isaiah. Byron's lode to Darkness" is
suggested by jeremiah. Words
worth's lode to Immortality" is in |
spired by First Corinthians. Bryants
"Thanatopsis" gets its suggestion |
from Job. Hall Gaines "Deemseter"
is from the Parable of the Prodigal |
Tennyson's "In Memoriam" has over |
one hundred Bible sentiments or il
Illustrations. In Ruskin's works are
over $4,000 Biblical references, illus
ions or quotations. Shakespeare, who |
quotes from no other book, goes 96S |
times to the Bible for quotation or il |
lustration. Millions masterpieces are
Samson Agonistes" and Paradise |
Lost" two Bible inspirations. Scott's F!
finest heroine is Rebecca. Byron's La
ment over fallen Rome is suggested |
by Jeremiah's Lament over fallen Je-'
rusalem. Without the Bible we
should have no Tasso's Jerusalem"
no Bunyan's Pilgrim" no Dante's
Inferno" no Byron's Hebrew Melo-
dies" no Burns "Cotter's Saturday
Night" in it's finest scene.
"And note, especially, how Bible
names and sentiment have penetrat-
ed dramatic art and fiction. One has
but to call to mind the most popular
works of romance during the last
score of years to be impressed with
the saturation by the Scripture of mod
ern fiction, as "The Inside of the
Cup" THE Servant in the House"
"The Faith-Heaier," "Anti-Christ,"
"ln6 samaritan, IL He IfOLilSeu
Land" and like works. Begbie and
Comfort and Crawford and Churchill
catch their highest inspiration from
this more than human Book.
Three facts there be which are
full of suggestiveness as to the Scrip
ture and literature. Luther's Bible
gave formation to the German Ian
guage and Calvin's writings on the
Bible fixity to the French language
and Tyndale's Bible standard to the
English Bible.
Finely has Whittier written:
We search the world for truth;
we Gull
The good. the pure, the beautiful
From craven stone and written
scroll
And all old fower-felds of the soul:
And, weary seekers of the best,
We come back, laden from our quest,
TO find that all the sages said
Is in the Book our mothers read