Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 219, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1914 — Back to the Bible [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Back to the Bible

Application c! the Scriptarea to the World Today at Seen by Eminent Hen in Various Walks o! Life

(Copyright, 1914, by Joseph B. Bowles) BIBLICAL HISTORY AND POETRY. (By ROBERT BTUART MACARTHUR, D. D., LL. D., President, Baptist World Alliance.) "The English Bible is the chfe. bond which holds united, in a common loyalty and a common endeavor the various branches of the English race.’’— Albert S. Cook, Ph. D., profesor of the English Language and Literature, Yale University. If we think of the history contained in the Bible we shall be able the better to judge of Its value to literature. It Is the earliest record of the oldest events; It reaches to the morning of creation. It leads us through all the eras of creation until man appears as the crowning glory of God’s creative work. It permits us to hear the morning stars singing together; it gives us the first notes of praise uttered by the joyous sons of God. Not Herodotus, but Moses is the true “Father of History.” The book is largely composed of history and biography, and no studies are more important than these. Carlyle said that the only true history is biography; and in this respect the Bible surpasses all other books. It avoids the dangers and it illustrates the excellences of this most difficult kind of writing. Let us think, also, of its poetry, that we may better appreciate its relations to literature. • What is poetry? Aristotle says, "Poetry is imitation;” the quaint Thomas Fuller says, "Poetry is music in words;” and Dr. Johnson defines poetry to be “the art of pleasing.” Shakespeare and Cowper endeavored to define poetry, but probably neither they nor,any others have been able to give a definition satisfactory even to themselves. But whatever definition may be accepted, it is certain that in the Bible we have some of the finest examples of what all will agree to be poetry of a high order. Most readers of the Bible have to judge of it, as most readers of the poetry of Homer and Virgil, through a translation. David and Isaiah thus suffer; but even when so studied, the glowing lyrics of the one and the seraphic prophecies of the other, place them in the front ranks of the writers of all countries and centuries. • ' The poetry of the Bible is unsurpassed in loftiness of thought find eloquence of expression. This poetry Is animated by the breath of God; it is aglow with the soul of the Eternal. At the same time it throbs with all human sympathies; it sings in our gladness, weeps in our sadness, mourns in our defeats, and shouts in our triumphs. It is equally at home In funeral obsequies and at marriage festivities. It belongs exclusively to no school of poetry; it possesses many of the excellences of all schools of noblest song. It belongs to the twentieth century as truly as to the remotest past; and it will be equally appropriate to the thought and life of. the most distant future. Milton declared that the Greek and Roman classics are unworthy to be compared with Zion’s songs; and Sir Daniel Sanford says: “In lyric flow and Are, In crushing force, in majesty that seems still to echo the awful sounds once heard beneath the thunder clouds of Mount Sinai, the poetry of the ancient Scriptures is the most superb that ever burned within the breast of man.” FAITH AND FORGIVING. (By WARREN A. CANDLER, D. D., LL. D„ Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.) "What a book it is! No other book tn the world can fit itself to your needs, to your temptations, your cares and wants.’’—Robert J. Burdette. There is a vital connection between faith and forbearance. To have great-

ness of mind one 'must have greatness of heart. Bunyan rightly called bis hero of faith, “Great Heart.” Joseph’s brethren behaved most despicably towards him when they sold him to the Ishmaelites; but how magnanimously he bore himself towards them when later he made himself known to them in

Egypt! “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. • • • And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not yoy that sent me hither, but God: and He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his bouse: and a ruler throughout all theT land of Egypt." Three times In there brief words the magnanimous brother detlares that the hand of God was in

all he had suffered more than war* the hands of his brethren. He wan not blind to their fault, nor did he seek to excuse their crime; but he spoke out of the habitual faith of his heart that the mercy of God is more powerful than the malice of men. To a faithless heart the injuries of earth bulk too large; its vision is too narrow for it to perceive things in thefr true proportion. But to the heart of faith God is very great, and He is able to over-rule to good ends even so refractory a thing as the wrath of man. Such a soul is not busy with the plans of self-will, but seeks to find and follow God’s plan for it, believing and knowing that no one is able to defeat the divine purpose by machinations of evil. Like its Master it can dare crucifixion, and pray for its tormentors, "Father forgive thpm,” because, ft discerns by faith that its cross is the prophecy of its crown. If one has occasion to practise forgiveness and forbearance towards his fellow-man, let him pray, "Lord, increase our faith," as did the apostles when Jes,us commanded them to forgive the trespassing brother seven times tn a day, if he repented. More faith is required to overcome an unforgiving disposition than to remove a mountain. The vision of Jesus at the right hand of God turned Stephen’s gaze away from the rage of the men who stoned him and moved him to pray, “Lord lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:60.) HOW THE POET BURNS WAB SET FREE. (By ALBERT S. COOK, Ph. D., LL. D., Professed of English Language and Literature, Yale University.) ■ • "Knowledge of the Bible is declining among all classes, with an Incalculable loss to the life of the country.”—. Viscount Bryce, former British ambassador at Washington. The Bible is the poor man’s charter of freedom. What is it that makes the poor man free? What prevents him from being bought—that is to say, enslaved? What deters a tyrant from attempting to crush him? What enables him to hold up his head in any presence? Character. And there is no such nurse of well-knit, modest, quiet, decided, courageous character as the sense that one is a child of God, is under his defense and guidance, and that one can call upon him at any moment for counsel and support. f ' Robert Burns, born in the humblest of situations, bred to poverty and toil, is now considered one of the four chief representatives of the Scottish race. Until he was sixteen years old, his Use, to use his own words, brought him “the cheerless gloom of a hermit and the unceasing toil of a galleyslave." Yet his name is today held in greater reverence, and uttered with more heartfelt love, than that of any king who ruled in his lifetime. How did he thus free h|mself, and, by asserting his manhood in song, hold up a banner to every struggling peasant everywhere? I know no better answer than Rurns has provided in his own poem, "The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” where he shows the place that the Bible held in the poor man's home —how it inspired trust, cheerfulness, self-respect, and mutual affection. After telling how the father—his father —“collects his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes," he relates how the members of the family gather, and partake of their frugal supper—oatmeal porridge, milk, and home-made cheese. The mother, at the table, rattles pleasantly on, and then — The cheerfu’ supper done, wi* serious face, ' They, round the ingle, form a circle wide: The sire turns o’er, wl’ patriarchal grace. The big ha’-Blble, ance his father's pride. . . . He wales (chooses) a portion with judicious care. And "Let us worship God!** ho says, with solemn air. The priest-like father reads the sacred page, How Abram was the friend of God on high. . . . From scenes like these old Scotia’s gran- . deur springs, That makes her lov'd at home, rever'd * abroad: Princes and lords are but the breath of kings. "An honest man’s the noblest work of God." (Copyright, 1914. by Joseph B. Bowles.)