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Cornell University Library 
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 Pubic uses of the Bible: 
 
 3 1924 027 221 542 
 
Cornell University 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027221542 
 
THE PUBLIC 
 
 USES OF THE BIBLE 
 
 A STUDY IN BIBLICAL ELOCUTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE M. STONE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
 
 38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 
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 Copyright, 1890, by 
 George M. Stone. 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 This study in vocal interpretation of the 
 Bib^e had its origin in an incident of personal 
 history. After a serious break-down, follow- 
 ing a year of exhausting revival work, the 
 writer's physician said quietly to his friends, 
 "He will never preach another sermon." 
 The symptoms, as they appear in review, were 
 ominous and disheartening, but the issue was 
 quite otherwise than that feared by the physi- 
 cian. An entire change of climate brought a 
 new lease of hope, and with it there came, 
 "little by little," ability to preach in the 
 ordinary tones of conversation. This led to 
 study of emphasis and inflection, with a view 
 to economize vital force in speech, and this in 
 turn to the application of the ' ' Statutes of 
 Expression" to Bible-reading. The results of 
 study and practice in the directions indicated, 
 were no less beneficial ptysically, than they 
 were mentally gratifying. The subjects thus 
 opened, have been followed up, with more or 
 less industry and interest, ever since. The 
 interval of cessation from preaching, after the 
 break alluded to, was only a few weeks. For 
 nearly twenty years since, the regular service 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 of the pulpit has been performed, with only 
 three vacations of more than ordinary length. 
 
 Best of all results of this special interest in 
 effective modes of speech, has been the perpet- 
 ual pleasure arising from private and public 
 reading of the Scriptures. Frequently in the 
 study, the preparation for public service, by 
 reading aloud, has let in strange and unwonted 
 light upon the sacred lines of revealed truth, 
 and put over passages, little understood before, 
 an after-glow which has suggested new evi- 
 dential sources of inspiration. 
 
 I have been indebted in the preparation of 
 my book, especially to Prof. Briggs' carefully- 
 made volume on "Biblical Study;" to Dr. 
 N. J. Burton's Yale lectures ; to Dr. De Witt's 
 version of the Psalms ; to Prof. Nathan 
 Sheppard's incisive lectures ' ' Before an Audi- 
 ence;" to Prof. J. H. Mcllvaine's "Elocu- 
 tion," and to Prof. Austin Phelps' "Men and 
 Books." 
 
 Chapter IX., on "The Physical Factor," was 
 prepared originally for the Homiletic Monthly, 
 under a form and title slightly different. The 
 hints it contains, regarding the physical culture 
 required for preaching, it was thought would 
 have a value in the present work, and I have 
 ventured to give it a place, with some slight 
 modifications. 
 
 G. M. S. 
 
 Hartford, Conn., Oct., 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. Our English Bible . . 3 
 
 II. The Bible and the Human Voice .... 15 
 
 III. Reading which does not Interpret ... 27 
 
 IV. Reading without Comment . .... 39 
 V. The Statutes of Expression . . 53 
 
 VI. Imagination in Reading ... .65 
 
 VII. The Dispensation of the Spirit .... 77 
 
 VIII. Literary Structure of the Bible . . gi 
 
 IX. The Physical Factor 103 
 
 X. Comparative Readings . . . 117 
 
 XI. Methods of Bible Study 139 
 
 XII. The Bible in the Prayer Meeting ... 151 
 
 XIII. Analysis of Chapters, (Old Testament) . 163 
 
 XIV. Analysis of Chapters, (New Testament) . 179 
 
" The Bible is the Word of God, with all the peculiarities 
 of man, and all the the authority of God." 
 
 Prof. Murphy. 
 
 " The Bible is authoritative, for it is the voice of God ; it 
 is intelligible, for it is the language of men." 
 
 Canon Westcott. 
 
 " Henry VIII. at last permitted the English Bible to be 
 published. England had her book. Every one, says 
 Stripe, who could buy the book, read it assiduously, or had it 
 read to him by others, and many well advanced in years 
 learned to read it with the same object. On Sunday the 
 poor folk gathered at the bottom of the churches to hear it 
 read." H. A. Tame. 
 
 " Daniel Webster was for years the bibUcal concordance of 
 the United States Senate. His ablest opponents, in prepar- 
 ing their speeches) used to resort to him to furnish them 
 with Scriptural passages and metaphors to point their 
 weapons against him. Such was his command of the same 
 resources, that he could afford to give them liberally, and 
 ' without upbraiding.' " Prof. Austin Phelps. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 The facts and terms of our redemption are 
 in a book, or rather in sixty-two volumes, con- 
 stituting together a unique and complete sacred 
 library, which, for convenience, w-e bind toge- 
 ther and call the Bible. These component 
 parts of the one book present great contrasts 
 in the times of their origin, their literary struc- 
 ture and specific purpose. The co-ordination 
 and reciprocal aspects of these varied produc- 
 tions, coalescing into the unity of a consistent 
 and harmonious body of revealed truth, are to 
 be reckoned as among the most significant 
 notes of Divine inspiration. The authors, 
 separated by vast intervals of time, and work- 
 ing under the most diverse environments, 
 "see eye to eye," and like the laborers who 
 are carrying out the plan of an architect, 
 under definite instructions, each bring their 
 portions of the material needed to complete 
 the earthly temple of Divine thought. We 
 hear no sound of hamm.er or axe, but part is 
 matched with part, and the edifice rises, as in 
 the legend the walls of Thebes rose to the 
 -music of Amphion's strains. 
 
 The attempt to rule out of the court of Christ- 
 
4 OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 ian evidences the argument from design, has 
 met conspicuous failure. The ancient witness, 
 clothed in modem garb, and with rich store of 
 new facts, is freely admitted at the tribunal of 
 modern thought. It testifies not alone to 
 marks of design in nature as proofs of creative 
 intelligence, but to adaptations of the Bible to 
 man's spiritual nature, as equally cogent and 
 decisive respecting its origin. The Bible was 
 made for man's soul as truly as external nature 
 was made for his natural senses. The power 
 which is in it, discloses itself to the spirit of 
 man in such a manner as to verify its astonish- 
 ing claims. It finds us in our deepest con- 
 sciousness, and holds us in our highest aspira- 
 tions, to objects which fix and satisfy them. 
 Its mis-readings and perversions, ancient and 
 modern, only emphasize the need of a personal 
 trial of it. The German, Dorner, says : " He 
 who wishes to know what Christianity, that 
 magnitude in world history, professes to be, 
 must keep to the Scriptures." He who enters 
 this many-cloistered temple to find adaptations 
 to his spirit will be reverent and teachable. He 
 will not be falsely humble, so as to question 
 the main condition which assures him of capa- 
 city for knowing the truth, when he has waited 
 upon God for it. The Scriptures are to furnish 
 " the man of God" thoroughly for every right 
 thought, as well as for every good work. He 
 will keep study and prayer in an equipoise, 
 
O UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 5 
 
 like that of the forces which hold the planet in 
 its orbit. 
 
 In making a plea for more careful reading 
 of the Bible in the pulpit, we, of course, intend 
 the reading of the English Bible. The version 
 made in the reign of King James was com- 
 pleted in i6ii-. It displaced the Genevan 
 version and the Bishops' Bible, after a long 
 and somewhat sharp conflict. The Genevan 
 version had been made in times of persecution, 
 by English exiles, and with the assistance of 
 the illustrious reformers, Calvin and Beza. 
 Fresh copies were issued even after the middle 
 of the seventeenth century. This version 
 crossed the ocean with the refugees from op- 
 pression. It had numerous notes, and it is 
 said the people complained, after it ceased to 
 be printed, that "they could not see into the 
 Scriptures for lack of the spectacles of the 
 Genevan annot^tors." The Bishops' Bible was 
 a revision of the version called the great Bible, 
 as this latter was based upon a recension of the 
 version of Tyndale. In fact, King James' 
 translation, so-called, was a revision of the 
 Bishops' Bible. Other men had labored, and 
 the forty-seven scholars, who produced our 
 standard English Bible, entered into their 
 labors. The literary structure of the great 
 heirloom is thus, like the English Common 
 Law, the work of many generations. It has 
 been recently enriched, by the mature scholar- 
 
6 OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 ship of our time, in the production of the 
 Canterbury revision. For more than two and 
 a half centuries the English Bible, in the form 
 of King James' version, was the conspicuous 
 literary factor in our civilization. The con- 
 quests of these pregnant centuries have been 
 made under its prestige. Anywhere in Eng- 
 land, from John O'Groat's to Lands' End, a 
 quotation from Scripture is recognized and 
 reverenced. It is quite different in France. 
 The correspondent of a widely circulated Paris 
 newspaper, writing from London, says: "The 
 English are a strange people ; over the Ex- 
 change they have this motto : 
 
 ' The Earth is the Lord Mayor's ; and the fulhiess thereof.' " 
 
 The contrast between the moral status of 
 Scotland and Spain is due, in the main, to this 
 biblical factor, present with one people and 
 absent from the other. Wales and Italy pre- 
 sent a lesson of similar contrast. The Puritans 
 brought the Bible in the Mayflower. It 
 wrought a century and a half before the crisis 
 of the American Revolution. The difference 
 between that revolution and the carnival of 
 cruelty and unreason, which so nearly syn- 
 chronizes with it, in France, is largely due to 
 the pre-eminence of the Bible in the early 
 colonial society. France had driven out her 
 Bible-loving Huguenots. The Reformation, 
 which was the unchaining of the Scriptures, 
 was arrested there when it received hospitality 
 
O UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 7 
 
 in Germany and England. Calvin, "the 
 architectural mind" of the movement, who 
 was a Frenchman, would have done for 
 France what Luther did for Germany, but 
 for the checks imposed ; and the results of 
 the French Revolution would probably have 
 been achieved without those features which 
 are the foulest blot upon the pages of modern 
 history. Macaulay attributes the difference 
 between Washington and Robespierre, be- 
 tween Franklin and Barr^re, between the 
 destruction of a few barrels of tea and the 
 confiscation of thousands of square miles, 
 between the tarring and feathering of a tax- 
 gatherer and the massacres of September, to 
 the difference between English rule in America 
 and Bourbon rule in France. But the under- 
 lying cause of these contrasted conditions was 
 the pervasive influence of that book which 
 imparts to literature its noblest elements, and 
 to all people who receive it, the conditions of 
 virtue and stability. 
 
 The word-structure of our English Bible 
 will be best understood by a study of the 
 languages from which it was derived. With 
 the exception that brief portions of the Old 
 Testament have come to us in Chaldee, the 
 Hebrew and Greek tongues are the moulds of 
 biblical thought. The Hebrew, if generally 
 unspoken by Hebrews, is not a dead tongue. 
 If in any forms of speech there are "thoughts 
 
8 OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 that breathe," they are in this old Semitic 
 tongue, whose dateless origin conducts us far 
 backward toward the youth of the world. It 
 was probably brought by that childlike man 
 Abraham, from Ur of the Chaldees, across the 
 desert to Canaan. The Euphrates, the Tigris 
 and the Nile valleys, are linked with its his- 
 tory. On the banks of the Nile it was spoken 
 by slaves, under the lash of task-masters. On 
 the banks of the Euphrates by captives, under 
 the eye of imperious sovereigns. Between 
 these vicissitudes of its career it had been 
 moulded into marvelous strength and beauty, 
 as an instrument for the expression of Divine 
 truth by statesmen and poets, by prophets and 
 psalmists. It has been said that Moses was 
 the father of the Hebrew language and litera- 
 ture, as Homer was of the Greek, and Luther 
 of the German. A great company followed 
 the lawgiver of the desert, who wrought with 
 the same simple, direct, transparent speech, 
 and who ' ' spoke in it as they were moved by 
 the Holy Spirit." Because it was the speech 
 chosen by the Spirit, for the conveyance of 
 His thoughts, we may properly conclude it 
 was providentially fitted for its. wonderful 
 office. It has been said, "the forms and 
 actions of nature are the vernacular, both of 
 man and God, and so man and God meet at 
 that point and understand each other." The 
 Hebrew is pre-eminently the language of 
 
O UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 9 
 
 nature. Its deepest conceptions are simply 
 vestured in natural objects nearest at hand. 
 The mountains, for instance, are employed over 
 three hundred times in the Old Testament; 
 the sea two hundred times. ' ' The strength of 
 the hills is His also;" and on its pages, the 
 "trees of the field clap their hands." A dis- 
 criminating critic has said, ' ' In the Hebrew 
 tongue the emotions overpower the thoughts, 
 and carry them on in the rushing stream of 
 expression. Hence the literature has a power 
 over the souls of mankind. The language is 
 expressive of emotion, as the face of a modest 
 and untutored child ; and the literature is but 
 the speaking face of the heart of the Hebrew 
 people." 
 
 Its emphasis is acquired by repetitions and 
 sharp antitheses, as when sheer perpendicular 
 cliffs stand out of a level plain. In its poetical 
 portions, the parallelism of members is quite 
 conspicuous, furnishing an easy and felicitous 
 elaboration and re-statement of thought, which 
 fixes the impression without monotonous repe- 
 tition. The favorite nineteenth Psalm is a fine 
 example of this duplication of idea, without 
 detriment to its freshness, vigor and glow. 
 The antitheses of Hebrew poetry are among 
 its most intense and graphic productions. 
 Here the dualistic structure sets the true and 
 the false in most effective contrast, and re- 
 quires for its proper interpretation by the 
 voice great flexibility of tone. 
 
10 OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 The Greek language was perfected in ' ' the 
 fullness of times." It is a pliant, elastic 
 tongue, the instrument of the reflective, 
 analytical and reasoning mind. Long after 
 Homer had given it the flowing measures of 
 the Iliad, Plato, "the robed scholar," used 
 it in the keen dialectics of his immortal 
 dialogues, and moulded it to express the 
 most delicate shades of thought. The Heb- 
 rew, it has been said, is the language of real- 
 ism ; the Greek is an ideal speech, changeful 
 as the sea, and yet like the sea, capable of 
 revealing depths and abysses. The Sermon 
 on the Mount, the Gospel of John, and the 
 Epistles of Paul, find an appropriate clothing 
 in this affluent tongue. It was no dishonor to 
 the Hebrew that it was not employed as the 
 mould of New Testament thought. The great 
 things of His Person who has been called 
 "the Emperor of the Scriptures," could not 
 be uttered in the tongue of the oriental sheik 
 and the Bethlehem shepherd. Humanity 
 passes on now to a grander stage, and shares 
 in more significant events. Incarnation, re- 
 demption, the cross mystery, the resurrection, 
 the mediatorial session, and the constellation 
 of truths which gather about these events, 
 were too great for the old Hebraic vessel, and 
 a catholic, cosmical tongue, took its place. It 
 is well that we become saturated with the im- 
 ports of the Greek speech, if we would inter- 
 pret the ideas which it enshrines. 
 
UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 11 
 
 Other things being equal, in the reading of 
 our English Bible, the highest success will be 
 reached by the man who has caught most 
 accurately the peculiar genius and spirit of 
 both the Hebrew and Greek languages. It 
 ■has been said ' ' the idioms of a language be- 
 long to its very structure," and he who can 
 not only read between, but also below the 
 lines of our best English version, and who can 
 thus recognize idioms and roots, will be able 
 to color his utterance at times with meanings 
 which must escape the thought of others less 
 thoroughly furnished. We may all congratu- 
 late ourselves upon a revival of interest 
 recently in the study of words. " Words," it 
 has been said, ' ' have their ground-flavors 
 and primeval undertone, and it is the privilege 
 of every man to enter the secret of primary 
 significances, and when he uses a word, to use 
 it with a relish of its origin." If this implies 
 labor, it is labor of the most fascinating and 
 rewardful kind. As the wool takes its tinge 
 from the dye, so has our best literature been 
 penetrated by the version of King James. 
 Prof. Austin Phelps, in "Men and Books," 
 makes the following comprehensive statement 
 of the influence which the matter and form 
 of the English Scriptures have had upon the 
 foremost writers of the English tongue : — 
 
 ' ' Our own language owes, in part, the very 
 structure it has received to our English Bible. 
 
13 O UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 No Englishman or American knows well his 
 mother-tongue till he has learned it in the 
 vocabulary and the idioms of King James' 
 translation. The language first crystallized 
 around this translation as the German lan- 
 guage did in less degree around Luther's 
 Bible. In English form, the Bible stands at 
 the head of the streams of English conquests, 
 and of English and American colonization and 
 commerce. It must control, to a great extent, 
 the institutions which are to spring up on the 
 banks of those streams the world over. 
 
 " It is interesting to observe how the influence 
 of the Bible trickles down into crevices in all 
 other literature, and shows itself at length in 
 golden veins and precious gems of thought, 
 which are the admiration of all observers. 
 The late Professor B. B. Edwards, in illustra- 
 tion of this fact, notices the following details, 
 viz., ' An essay has been written to prove how 
 much Shakespeare is indebted to the Scrip- 
 tures. The Red Cross Knight in the ' Faerie 
 Queene ' of Spenser is the Christian of the last 
 chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. The 
 ' Messiah ' of Pope is only a paraphrase of 
 some passages in Isaiah. The highest strains 
 of Cowper in the ' Task ' are an expansion of 
 a chapter of the same prophet. The ' Thana- 
 topsis ' of Bryant is indebted to a passage 
 from the Book of Job. Lord Byron's cele- 
 brated poem on ' Darkness ' was founded on a 
 passage in Jeremiah.' 
 
O UR ENGLISH BIBLE. 13 
 
 "Wordsworth's criticism of Milton, that, 
 ' however imbued the surface might be with 
 classical literature, he was a Hebrew in soul,' 
 is true of very much that is most inspiring and 
 most durable in our modem poetry. Words- 
 worth's ' Ode on Immortality ' could never 
 have been written but for the creative effect 
 upon the poet's imagination of such Scriptures 
 as the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians and the eighth chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Romans. Pantheism has a cool 
 way of appropriating a great deal of Christian 
 poetry. Thus it claims Wordsworth. But the 
 most autobiographic passages in ' The Excur- 
 sion,' descriptive of the communion of his soul 
 with nature, could never have been conceived 
 but by a mind which was permeated by the 
 inspiration of the one hundred and forty- 
 eighth Psalm. 
 
 ' In such access of mind, in such high hour 
 Of visitation from the living God,' 
 
 is the language in which he himself describes 
 that communion." 
 
" For if the trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall 
 prepare himself for war ?" i Cor. xiv. 8. 
 
 " When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw. 
 The line, too, labors and the words move slow ; 
 Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, 
 Flies over the unbending com and skims along the main." 
 
 Pope. 
 
 ' ' That which doth moderate the force and power, that 
 which doth appoint the form and measure of working, the 
 same we term a law." Hooker. 
 
 " God has employed certain colors in His creation as the 
 unvarying accompaniment of all that is purest, most inno- 
 cent, and most precious ; while for things precious only in 
 material uses, or dangerous, common colors are reserved." 
 
 Ruskin. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND THE HUMAN VOICE. 
 
 Luther said the Bible had hands and feet. 
 It is like Briareus, hundred-handed, so mani- 
 fold are its outreachings .and ingatherings. It 
 can be made powerfully vocal, because it is 
 thoroughly vital, pervaded from beginning to 
 end by a circulating thought-life requiring 
 many modulations for its expression. The 
 Creation Epic has vast intervals of time be- 
 tween single verses. Its inclusive brevity and 
 majestic simplicity must be recognized and 
 pondered before any just interpretation of it 
 can be made in reading. The initial verse of 
 Genesis, without preface or preamble, breaks 
 the silence of the mystery of origins, and in 
 one luminous sentence discloses a personal 
 Creator. A distinguished statesman has spoken 
 of this opening sentence of the sacred canon 
 as not exceeded in sublimity by any other 
 declaration, inspired or uninspired. 
 
 What measured emphasis and reading be- 
 tween the words is necessary to a proper vocal 
 rendering of the sentence, ' ' In the beginning 
 God created the heavens and the earth ! " 
 The brevity and compactness of statement 
 which characterize certain historical portions 
 
16 THE BIBLE AND 
 
 of the Bible have no parallel in literature. 
 Noah's vision of the future of his three sons, 
 Shem, Ham and Japheth, is expressed in 
 three short verses, but in these are folded up 
 the germinal ideas of all history. Daniel's 
 vision of the great monarchies of the world, 
 from the Babylonian head of gold down to the 
 end, is another instance of the vast outlook, 
 reduced to most comprehensive terms of ex- 
 pression. Like the master strokes of the 
 pencil or brush of a great artist, are the con- 
 densed statements of prophets, putting upon 
 their sacred scroll the perspective which closes 
 a long conflict scene in triumph. There are 
 not lacking elaborations, revealing skill rarer 
 than that which drew the figures wrought by 
 Vulcan upon the shield of Achilles. The 
 graphic scenes in the history of Joseph are 
 drawn to the finest shades of human emotion, 
 with touches of nature so genuine that they 
 rank among the highest undesigned evidences 
 of inspiration. To interpret by human tones 
 the petulance of old Jacob when, just before 
 the second journey into Egypt, he said to his 
 sons : "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as 
 to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" 
 one must sound "the depths and shoals" of 
 human nature, as they are contained in the 
 entire story of which this incident forms a 
 single episode. 
 
 A professor of Hebrew has uttered his pro- 
 
THE HUMAN VOICE. 17 
 
 test against the designation of it as "a dead 
 language." It is a most living and flexible 
 tongue. To read it without variations of tone, 
 and careful discrimination of emphasis, is to 
 bind about it the bands of death. In the 
 record of Joseph's dream one sees his bundle 
 rising, and remaining upright, while the 
 bundles of his brethren, as if instinct with 
 life, come and bow themselves down to it. 
 
 In the poetry of the Old Testament, hospit- 
 ality is given to every force and aspect of 
 nature, as furnishing vesture and vehicle for 
 the many-sided truths of revelation. The 
 singers and players upon instruments who 
 -serve in this temple of truth, employ the 
 mountains and the sea, the sun in bridegroom 
 array, and the stars with their matin song and 
 vesper hymn, to join in the chorus of praise to 
 Jehovah, ' ' who makes the clouds the dust of 
 His feet," and whose "voice is upon many 
 waters." 
 
 In the reading of dramatic compositions like 
 the book of Job, intelligible vocal interpreta- 
 tion is ijnpossible, without assigning to each 
 one of the dramatis personce their moral stand- 
 point. The fact that so little has yet been 
 done in the formal part of the translation .of 
 this book, to indicate the latter point sharply, 
 imposes a burden all the heavier upon the 
 reader who aims to disclose to his hearers the 
 import of this ancient dialogue. Because the 
 
18 - THE BIBLE AND 
 
 personality of each speaker is more clear in 
 the dialogues of Plato, it is easier to read them 
 than to read the book of Job. Other reasons 
 always exist to enhance the difficulty of inter- 
 preting Divine thought with the human voice. 
 The inherent magnitude of the thought as 
 being itself Divine, presents the first obstacle. 
 Plato matches trained intellectual athletes in 
 trials of dialectical fence. Job and his friends 
 discuss the deepest problems of human suffer- 
 ing and destiny, emerging in the issue into 
 the clear-toned utterances of Jehovah upon the 
 disputed themes. Eschylus feels in the dark- 
 ness for what David has found in the light. 
 
 Isaiah, from the fortieth chapter to the 
 forty-ninth of his prophecy, enters into the 
 soundless depths of the personality of Jehovah. 
 He labors in the " mid-sea" of the attributes, 
 not without success as the recorder of definite 
 and crystalline conceptions of them. These 
 astonishing pages forever refute the assertion 
 that God is "unknowable," even while the 
 light they shed makes the unfathomable dark- 
 ness beyond visible, and thus sets a boundary 
 to our thought. But to read these chapters up 
 to the level of what is revealed in them, " hoc 
 opus, hie labor est." 
 
 In the New Testament the task of reading 
 is complicated- by the unique personality of 
 Christ. 
 
 The evangelists intimate that there were 
 
THE HUMAN VOICE. 19 
 
 unreportable aspects of the look and manner 
 of our Lord. The apostle John, in the open- 
 ing verses of the thirteenth chapter of his 
 gospel, suggests something in the chastened 
 glory of His face, when He girded Himself 
 with the towel, which no limner could transfer 
 to canvas. It would be equally impossibe to 
 reproduce His tones in the farewell interview 
 which followed. He did not strive nor cry. 
 His voice was in the minor key of lowly- 
 hearted service. He did not need to lift it up. 
 It created silence wherever it fell. Of course 
 His reading was always interpretation. The 
 Old Testament was not to Him ' ' an unfathom- 
 able page." He could sound its depths, and 
 give its thought expression in vocal utterance. 
 What subtle power of modulation, inflection 
 and emphasis were revealed in His speech ! He 
 read from within. He said " the words that I 
 have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life." 
 The great Tone Master saw into the hidden 
 import of words, traced their origin at a 
 glance, and filled His utterance with the 
 secrets they bore. Sometimes by doubling a 
 word He raises a sentence into importance and 
 dignity. In the fourth gospel He frequently 
 makes "Verily, verily,'' the two- fold portal 
 to significant truth. More than once He sum- 
 mons His hearers to pause; and to deep, 
 thoughtful study of single texts : " But go ye 
 and learn what this meaneth ; I desire mercy 
 
 2 
 
20 THE BIBLE AND 
 
 and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the 
 righteous but sinners." On another occasion 
 He gathers up the symptoms of spiritual 
 blessedness into the searching question : "Is 
 it not for this cause that ye err, that ye know 
 not the Scriptures nor the power of God ? " 
 
 The representative Rabbi of Christ's time 
 did not know the Scriptures. He could repeat 
 the letter, but his speech did not represent its 
 power. The blind led the blind. The dead 
 spoke to the dead. The crew of the skeleton 
 ship "raised their limbs like lifeless tools." 
 So there was a perfunctory mouthing of the 
 terms of Scripture by the scribes, whose 
 natural result was ' ' a famine of hearing the 
 words of the Lord." No reading can interpret 
 the Creator's word, unless there be insight of 
 its content. True in-reading will bring us into 
 sympathy with the men of the Bible. 
 
 We shall share their passion. When the 
 apostle Peter interprets the prophet Joel on 
 the day of Pentecost, he puts the old word and 
 the present scene side by side, and says, ' ' this 
 is that." He saw what Joel had spoken actu- 
 ally transpiring before his eyes. A living 
 writer has said : ' ' Having faithfully listened 
 to the great teachers, that you may enter into 
 their thoughts, you have yet this higher ad- 
 vance to make, you have to enter into their 
 heart. As you go to them first, for clear 
 sight, so you must stay with them that you 
 
THE HUMAN VOICE. 21 
 
 may share at last their just and mighty 
 passion. Passion or sensation ; I am not 
 afraid of the word, still less of the thing. 
 You have heard many outcries against sensa- 
 tion lately ; but I tell you it is not less sensa- 
 tion we want, but more. The ennobling 
 difference between one man and another, 
 between one animal and another, is precisely 
 in this, that one feels more than another. We 
 Gome to the great concourse of the dead, not 
 merely to know from them what is true, but 
 chiefly to feel with them what is righteous. 
 Now, to feel with them, we must be like 
 them, and none of us can become like them 
 without pains. As true kncjwledge is discip- 
 lined and tested knowledge, not the first 
 thought that comes, so the true passion is dis- 
 ciplined and tested passion, not the first pas- 
 sion that comes." 
 
 These words apply in their deepest intent to 
 communion with the "concourse" of divinely- 
 inspired men. We must be, "baptized for 
 the dead" by such an investiture with their 
 spirit that we shall know them in measure as 
 Elisha knew Elijah, or as John the Baptist 
 knew his great Proto-type. Anteus was invin- 
 cible as long as he kept in contact with the 
 earth. The Master's open secret for our ad- 
 mission to His thought first, and then to His 
 fervor, is that we "abide in Him." The 
 emotions do not obey the direct behests of the 
 
23 THE BIBLE AND 
 
 will. They require intermediate processes of 
 thought. While we muse the fire burns. The 
 "tongue of fire" is the symbol of the dis- 
 pensation of the Spirit ; and utterance of 
 divine thought, when the proper conditions 
 are met, is the highest ministry which man 
 exercises toward his fellow-men. 
 
 Manifestly character is a fundamental factor 
 in vocal interpretation. The Bible, above all 
 other books, must be read from within. It 
 has heights and depths untraversed even by 
 angelic natures. The professional elocutionist 
 cannot teach us how to bridge the chasm be- 
 tween the seventh and the eighth chapters of the 
 epistle to the Romans. The seventh chapter 
 records a conflict whose double background is 
 heaven and hell. The shock and encounter of 
 the soul, now awakened by the Holy Spirit, 
 and now falling back under the bondage of 
 the flesh, is like the contact and recoil of the 
 contending- forces at Waterloo. The eighth 
 chapter is the^ sunburst of spiritual victory. 
 Conviction of sin, followed by a surrender of 
 the will, and the inevitable insight of faith, 
 joy and love, raised to high degrees by the 
 Holy Spirit, these are essential conditions of 
 the just rendering of these marvelous chapters. 
 Without these, all mere drill and vocal gym- 
 nastics must result in conspicuous failure. 
 With these, however, proper training of the 
 voice nobly facilitates the expression of in- 
 
THE HUMAN VOICE. 23 
 
 Spired thought. In the highest vocal expres- 
 sion, the culture of the voice and the culture 
 of the heart must each receive conscientious 
 attention. 
 
 The conversations of Christ, when read with 
 proper tone, emphasis and inflection, are re- 
 vealed to an audience in their wonderfully 
 realistic features. Take, for example, the 
 Coin scene in Matthew xxii. 15-23. A group 
 of the Pharisees had been plotting to draw 
 out from Christ a committal of Himself against 
 Caesar. They approach Him with a patroniz- 
 ing air, and, after some flattering words, in- 
 quire whether it is lawful to give tribute to 
 Caesar or not. The Master quietly asks them 
 for a penny. The current Roman coin is 
 handed Him. Taking it probably between 
 His fingers, or laying it on His extended 
 palm. He holds it up to the light, and after 
 asking whose is the image and superscription, 
 and eliciting their reply, He says : ' ' Render 
 therefore, unto Caesar the things that are 
 Caesar's, and unto God the things that are 
 God's." The evangelist adds that "when 
 they heard these things they marveled, and 
 went their way." The preacher who will take 
 the pains to study such passages as these 
 thoroughly, so as to be able to raise them 
 from the printed page, and cause them to 
 stand out in living relief before his hearers, 
 will be amply repaid for his outlay by the 
 
34 THE BIBLE AND 
 
 intense interest he will be able to excite in the 
 Scriptures. New and surprising proofs of the 
 genuineness and integrity of the sacred record 
 will emerge unbidden as a result of such study 
 and reading. The conviction will arise that 
 scenes so natural, delineated by writers so art- 
 less and unaffected, could not have been 
 forged. An expert, accustomed to compare 
 genuine with forged documents, would decide 
 upon such evidence as proper reading fur- 
 nishes, that the events recorded in the Bible 
 must have actually taken place. The epistles 
 of Paul are hardly less stimulating and sug- 
 gestive along this same line of evidence, pro- 
 vided only they have proper vocal interpreta- 
 tion, in connection with true spiritual insight. 
 After much careful study of the epistle to the 
 Romans, with reference to public reading, I 
 venture the opinion that several of these chap- 
 ters are Paul's reported addresses. They are 
 forensic in their characteristic features. There 
 are in them the heat and glow of argument 
 with living objectors. He anticipates cavils, 
 and replies with the warmth of personal debate. 
 It has been thought that Bishop Butler's 
 "Analogy of Religion" was suggested by 
 conversations heard at court, in which he 
 doubtless engaged, while he was preacher at 
 the Rolls Chapel. So we believe the apostle, 
 writing to his Roman brethren in the intervals 
 of laborious teaching, gathered up his own 
 
THE HUMAN VOICE. 25 
 
 discourses, struck off in the loving ardor of 
 Christ's service, and these we have bound 
 together for our learning in the imperial 
 epistle to Christians in the imperial city. The 
 best exposition of this epistle is the right 
 reading of it. 
 
 The messages of the Bible are addressed to 
 the human consciousness, and these find their 
 surest path to that consciousness when the 
 insight which comes of prayer and experience 
 is voiced in the speech which comes through 
 knowledge of the natural laws of sound. 
 There is a profound and exquisite art in read- 
 ing. The man who reads between the lines 
 will discover, sometimes, a hidden import of 
 which the original writer may have been at 
 the time ignorant. Peter declares that the 
 prophets did not minister unto themselves, but 
 unto us, the mysteries of the holy Gospel. 
 These mysteries the angels still desire to look 
 into. 
 
" I went by the field of the slothful, 
 
 And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding ; 
 
 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns. 
 
 The face thereof was covered with nettles, 
 
 And the stone wall thereof was broken down. 
 
 Then I beheld and considered, well : 
 
 I saw, and received instruction. 
 
 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, 
 
 A little folding of the hands to sleep : 
 
 So shall thy poverty come as a robber ; 
 
 And thy want as an armed man.'' 
 — Prov. xxiv. 30-34. 
 
 " Truth in the Scriptures seems to have been lived, not 
 said only. A soul breathes in it which speaks as never man 
 spake." Prof. Austin Phelps. 
 
 "An' I hallus coomed to's choorch afoor my Sally wur dead. 
 An' 'eerd un a bummin' awaay loike a buzzard-clock ower 
 
 my yead. 
 An' I niver knaw'd whot a mean'd but I thowt a 'ad sum- 
 
 mut to saay, 
 An' I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said an' I corned 
 awaay." 
 
 Tennyson's " Northern Farmer." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 READING \tHICH DOES NOT INTERPRET. 
 
 In his first epistle to the Corinthians, the 
 apostle Paul reminds those whom he was 
 addressing, of the fact that he did not come to 
 them simply in the character of a rhetorician. 
 The art of the latter never could have wrought 
 the transformation of character which had fol- 
 lowed his prfeaching in the corrupt metropolis 
 of Greece. His message had been in the 
 demonstration of the Spirit, and had illustrated 
 what power could flow through the intonations 
 of human speech. He adds in the sixth verse 
 of the second chapter of the epistle we have 
 quoted, these words : 
 
 " Howbeit we speak wisdom among the 
 perfect' : yet a wisdom not of this world, nor 
 of the rulers of this world, which are coming 
 to nought : but we speak God's wisdom in a 
 mystery, even the wisdom that hath been 
 hidden, which God foreordained before the 
 worlds unto our glory." 
 
 It is hardly possible that one who measured 
 so justly the magnitude of his themes, could 
 have been indifferent to the manner in which 
 they were spoken. To Timothy, his "beloved 
 child," he says : 
 
28 READING WHICH 
 
 ' ' Give diligence to present thyself approved 
 unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 
 ashamed, handling aright the word of truth;" 
 and again, what hints of manner are there in 
 his injunctions in the same chapter : ' ' And 
 the Lord's servant must not strive, but be 
 gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing, in 
 meekness correcting them that oppose them- 
 selves." 
 
 In the chapter following, where he enumer- 
 ates the manifold uses of Scripture, for teach- 
 ing, reproof, correction and instruction, that 
 the man of God might be completely equipped 
 for every exigency of service, there are im- 
 plied the most versatile uses of speech in the 
 application of the Word to the souls it is 
 designed to save. The simple advice to "be 
 natural," given a young student about to go 
 out to address his fellow-men, to secure their 
 obedience to Christ, does not meet his case. 
 The question recurs, " What is natural ? " Of 
 Archbishop Whately himself, the most distin- 
 guished advocate of the "natural" theory, it 
 was said : 
 
 ' ' He goes through his addresses in so 
 clumsy and inanimate a way that noble lords 
 at once come to the conclusion that nothing so 
 befits him as unbroken silence. He speaks in 
 so low a tone as to be inaudible to those who 
 are any distance from him. And not only is 
 his voice low in its tones, but it is unpleasant 
 
DOES NOT INTERPRET. 29 
 
 from its monotony. In his manner there is 
 not a particle of life or spirit. You would 
 fancy his grace to be half asleep while speak- 
 ing. You see so little appearance of conscious- 
 ness about him that you can hardly help 
 doubting whether his legs will support him 
 until he has finished his address." 
 
 What is properly natural for a given indivi- 
 dual, is only in rare instances easily acquired. 
 More frequently it is the result of stringent 
 self-inspection and rigid self -correction. At 
 least the sacred gift of individuality is to be 
 respected and guarded. We may not 
 
 " Merge in form and gloss 
 The picturesque of man and man." 
 
 Let each man make the best of himself in 
 reading, rather than to seek imitation of any 
 other. The indifference of the hearer is far 
 more frequently than we dream, due to the 
 indifference of the speaker. He is unaware 
 of the fact that certain tones blunt the edge of 
 utterance, and by an inevitable law bring on 
 an unalert drowsy condition of the faculties. 
 Whole congregations are thus brought into a 
 state of coma, to borrow a term from the 
 physicians, and kept there during the hours of 
 service. In the slovenly, monotonous form of 
 address, every thought is reduced to the same 
 level ; no order of rank in ideas, or variation 
 of emotion is revealed from the pages of the 
 Scripture by the reader who is thus handi- 
 capped. 
 
30 READING WHICH 
 
 An expert horseman, who drove on the road 
 much, said he relieved his horses by changing 
 their gait, thus bringing new muscles into 
 play, and giving rest to those which had be- 
 come weary. Monotony of tone is disastrous 
 in its physical effects, by reason of the unre- 
 lieved strain it brings upon certain parts of 
 the vocal organism. The professional orator 
 who, under favorable conditions, might thrill 
 an audience for one evening, would find him- 
 self bankrupt in resources to instruct a con- 
 gregation twice a Sunday for a year. There 
 are alert and industrious pastors who preach 
 with sustained and accumulating interest to 
 the people for decades of years. But their 
 success is not accidental. They have that 
 quality of genius and that degree of grace 
 which plods, and which does not ignore any of 
 the conditions of power. They have learned 
 the double secret of discovering truth and "of 
 bringing on susceptibility for it in human 
 hearts. There are tones which open the closed 
 doors of the spirit, and summon to wakeful 
 activity all the latent capacity for attention of 
 which that spirit is capable. The reader 
 should recognize and cultivate this ' ' open 
 secret" of power. 
 
 The style prevalent upon the stage has some- 
 times found its way into the pulpit. There 
 is no proper necessity for any critical estimate 
 of the elocution of the theatre in the studies 
 
DOES NOT INTERPRET. 31 
 
 herewith presented. Doubtless there are no- 
 table examples of true and felicitous interpreta- 
 tion of human emotions upon the stage. The 
 current stagey tones are none the less execra- 
 ble for this fact. Applied to the heights and 
 depths of biblical truth, this truth perishes as 
 by asphyxia in the process. 
 
 The words of the late Professor Nathan 
 Sheppard upon this and kindred points are so 
 clear and just that they deserve most deliberate 
 study. 
 
 " It is a mischievous assumption of the elo- 
 cutionists that the art of the actor and the art 
 of the speaker are one and the same art, and 
 are to be taught in the same way, and 
 governed by the same fixed rules. Preachers 
 will join in the odious comparison designed to 
 exalt the seriousness and earnestness, not to 
 say reverence and piety, of the dramatic pro- 
 fession at the expense of their own. 
 
 ' ' To suppose that the preacher must neces- 
 sarily be theatrical or dramatic in manner or 
 delivery, in order to insure the success of his 
 ' discourses from the pulpit upon subjects of 
 highest importance,' is another of the flagrant 
 errors that come of confounding the art of the 
 actor with the. art of the speaker. Some of the 
 most effective speaking has been done by 
 speakers who stuck to the colloquial element 
 in both the manner and the matter of their 
 discourses, whether scientific lectures, regula- 
 
32 READING WHICH 
 
 tion sermons, or reformatory speeches. They 
 were, and are, in earnest, physically, mentally 
 and morally, but not theatrically or histrioni- 
 cally in earnest. President Finney, one of the 
 best reasoners the pulpit of this country has 
 ever known, spoke uniformly in a conversa- 
 tional style, but he was in earnest, oppres- 
 sively so sometimes. Never was there a more 
 self-reliant speaker, or one that had a more 
 complete control of himself, or who knew 
 better what he and his audience were about. 
 His elocution was in keeping with his argu- 
 mentative style. The dramatic element would 
 have been ridiculously out of keeping with it. 
 
 " It is worthy of note that ' the golden age ' 
 of the French pulpit was what is popularly 
 understood as an age of earnestness in the 
 pulpit. It was dramatic earnestness, physical 
 earnestness, and had no more permanent effect 
 upon the vices of society than the undemon- 
 strative sermons of the preceding age. Kings 
 and their mistresses listened with equal uncon- 
 cern to the theatrical anathemas of the pulpit. 
 Louis said they ' made him feel uncomfortable, 
 but not long.' Indeed, the toleration of the 
 clergy was owing to their ineffectiveness, 
 whether they spoke with Massillon's persua- 
 sive eloquence or Bossuet's impressive gestures. 
 
 ' ' Now, this dramatic element in public 
 speaking seems to be the only element which 
 the elocutionists recognize, whereas it is 
 
DOES NO T INTERPRET. 33 
 
 neither the only nor the most important 
 element. The colloquial is the more import- 
 ant, more in use, more to be depended upon 
 in the long run." 
 
 The <'churchly" tone is, equally with that 
 of the stage, a travesty of truthful utterance. 
 Like the effect of overtraining in any other 
 direction, it breaks down just where it should 
 be strong. Alas, the tones one hears in the 
 English Cathedral are not like the gothic arch 
 which springs above him, taken from nature ! 
 They are stilted, dull, soporific. i 
 
 It remains to characterize briefly the ' ' holy 
 tone," once common on our American fron- 
 tiers, but happily vanishing with the buffalo 
 and the bear. The memory of certain cantil- 
 lations heard' in school-houses on the prairie's 
 edge, or, in some instances, in the well-ap- 
 pointed church on Sunday, is associated with 
 certain men of exceptional gifts of power in other 
 respects. Were these men in the current of 
 our present life, we dare to believe they would 
 be among the first to avail themselves of the 
 facilities to speak and read to true edification. 
 In his able treatise upon Elocution, Professor 
 J. H. Mcllvaine says : 
 
 ' ' The example of Socrates, in that he wrote 
 nothing, but confined himself to oral discourse, 
 shows his appreciation of the power with 
 which thought is clothed by delivery. 
 
 ' ' It may not be at once apparent how the 
 
34 READING WHICH 
 
 example of Socrates, who was not an orator in 
 the common acceptation of the word, can be 
 adduced in illustration of the importance of 
 good delivery. But we must remember that 
 he was eminently a talker, and perhaps the 
 greatest master of the art of discourse in 
 Athens, during the flourish and bloom of 
 Athenian eloquence and culture. Also, he 
 was the most successful educator, with a single 
 exception, the world has ever seen. He edu- 
 cated a greater number of world-renowned 
 men than ever before or since came forth from 
 the school of any one teacher. His success ap- 
 pears so wonderful to those who have looked 
 into it, that an eminent philosopher of modem 
 times, Condillac, himself a practical educator, 
 hazards the assertion that ' since the time of 
 Socrates the secret of education has been lost. * 
 Now, that all-moulding influence, which this 
 man exerted, had for its sole instrumentality 
 oral speaking ; he wrote nothing. All that 
 we know of the doctrines he inculcated, or of 
 the methods he employed, is derived from the 
 writings of his disciples ; among whom such 
 men as Plato and Xenophon could find no 
 better way of commending their philosophical 
 speculations to the world than by professing to 
 report the conversations of their great master. 
 So deeply was he impressed with the convic- 
 tion that the great work which he had under- 
 taken could be accomplished by no instrumen- 
 
DOES NOT INTERPRET. 35 
 
 tality except oral speaking, that he deliberately 
 rejected every other. For when they asked 
 why he did not write out his teaching in a 
 permanent form, he is said to have replied: 
 ' I would rather write upon the hearts of living 
 men than upon the skins of dead sheep.' The 
 significance of such words from such a man 
 can hardly be over-estimated. 
 
 ' ' A similar but stronger argument may be 
 drawn from the example of a greater than 
 Socrates, our Lord Jesus Christ. He, being 
 the incarnate Word of God, was the only per- 
 fect master of human eloquence that ever 
 lived, — ' never man spake like this man.' He 
 also was an educator, who sought to impress 
 Himself upon His disciples, and to mould 
 them into His own likeness ; and his success 
 was such that they all became celebrated 
 throughout the world, and their influence upon 
 its history has been immeasurably greater than 
 that of any other men the world has ever seen. 
 He also wrote nothing ; He confined Himself 
 to the sole instrument of oral speech. Now, 
 when we consider how desirable it seems to us 
 that He should have written out in precise 
 form, and in minute detail, those divine truths 
 by the faith of which the world was to be re- 
 generated and purified, instead of leaving 
 them to be reported from His lips by those 
 who heard Him, we cannot fail to see that it 
 must have been with deliberate design that He 
 3 
 
36 READING WHICH DOES NOT INTERPRET. 
 
 confined Himself to oral speech. He also evi- 
 dently would write His doctrines upon the 
 hearts of living men rather than upon the 
 skins of dead sheep. 
 
 From this striking argument between the 
 two greatest men (if it be lawful so to speak) 
 and most successful educators the world has 
 ever known, and whose vitalizing influence 
 upon human nature has been so much deeper 
 and wider and more permanent than that of 
 any others, it may perhaps be inferred that 
 Condillac's lost secret of education is to be 
 found in that all-moulding, personal influence 
 of the teacher, which can be exerted through 
 no other instrumentality but that of the truth 
 orally delivered. If this were so, it would 
 teach us a lesson of transcendent value with 
 respect to the importance of such a delivery as 
 shall be adequate to express, and to impress 
 upon others, the truth which we have to com- 
 municate." 
 
"Speaking one to another in psalms, and hymns, and 
 spiritual songs : singing and making melody with your 
 heart to the Lord." Ephesians v. 19. 
 
 "What advantage then hath the Jew? or of what profit is 
 the circumcision ? 
 
 Much every way : first of all, that they were entrusted 
 with the oracles of God." Romans iii. i, 2. 
 
 " I was jealous of myself lest I should say anything to 
 make my testimony look agreeable to that mind in the 
 people which is not in pure obedience to the cross of 
 Christ." John Woolman. 
 
 "The rod of Moses was worth more than a thousand 
 spears of Pharaoh." Martin Luther. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 Between ordinary human speech and sing- 
 ing there is an ample sphere for cultivating 
 modulation of tone and rhythmic melody of 
 utterance, in which it is possible to reach the 
 level of high and exquisite art. Original gifts 
 of insight and aptitudes for expression have, 
 in exceptional instances, enabled their posses- 
 sors to interpret the thought of others, and 
 express their own with a felicity which af- 
 forded rare enjoyment and help to their 
 hearers. One of the most precious heirlooms 
 in the memory of the writer is the hushed and 
 rapt interest with which, when a lad, he lis- 
 tened to the reading and addresses given some- 
 times in a voice scarcely above a whisper of 
 the late Bishop Mcllvaine of Ohio. His read- 
 ing was interpretation in the highest degree. 
 Inflection, emphasis and chastened tone, 
 " rightly divided the word of truth," illumin- 
 ated obscure passages, and brought to light 
 the hidden riches of secret places. Degrees of 
 excellence in this direction worth striving 
 after, are within the reach of every pastor who 
 is called upon, as a part of his routine of ser- 
 vice , to read publi cly the Word .of God . In non- 
 
40 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 liturgical churches a large liberty as to the 
 amount and character of Scripture employed in 
 public worship is allowable. This fact has been 
 the occasion of indifference to the value of this 
 part of Divine service, and a consequent neg- 
 lect of preparation for it. In a previous chap- 
 ter we have already expressed thoughts upon 
 "Reading which does not Interpret." It is 
 sufificient for the present to say that deficien- 
 cies in the capacity to read well, are con- 
 spicuous not only in the graduate fresh from 
 the seminary, but the experienced pastor fre- 
 qently fails to interest his hearers in what 
 should be a most edifying and stimulating 
 division of the service. The vigor of the Law- 
 giver, the fire of the Prophet, the praiseful joy 
 of the Psalmist, the solicitude of the ancient 
 Shepherd of the people, die upon the lips of the 
 indifferent reader. The preacher is called to 
 utter God's thoughts to men, and these 
 thoughts exist for him in the moulds of written 
 language. With due care to ascertain the fact 
 that the words he utters are the equivalent of 
 those in which Divine thought was originally 
 cast, his next solicitude should be to speak 
 them exploratively, that is, truly. 
 
 Commentaries upon the text of Shakes- 
 peare are rare, as compared with those 
 which have been written to elucidate the 
 sacred text; for the reason, in part at least, 
 that so much careful and painstaking labor 
 
READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 41 
 
 has been applied to the vocal rendering of 
 the former. There are copies of the stand- 
 ard dramas of Shakespeare, with annota- 
 tions to mark emphasis, which in some in- 
 stances are the result of most patient and 
 prolonged study. It is said the elder Mrs. 
 Siddons changed a single intonation three 
 times, after most painstaking study. Mrs. 
 Jameson says : "In her impersonation of Lady 
 Macbeth, Mrs. Siddons adopted three different 
 intonations in giving the words, 'We fail.' 
 (Scene VII. Act I.) At first, a quick, con- 
 temptuous interrogation, ' We fail ? ' After- 
 ward, with a note of admiration, and 
 an accent of indignant astonishment, lay- 
 ing the principal emphasis on the word we, 
 ' We fail ! ' Lastly, she fixed on what I am 
 convinced is the true reading, 'We fail.' 
 With the simple period, modulating her voice 
 to deep, low, resolute tone, which settled the 
 issue at once ; as though she had said, ' If we 
 fail, why then we fail, and all is over.' " 
 
 The side lights of geography, philosophy, 
 topography and history, are of course not to be 
 ignored in the study of Scripture with a view 
 to vocal rendering.. But the core and center 
 of the Word, that soul of it which is alive, and 
 which quickens us, finds best expression in 
 tones which are the product of insight and the 
 offspring of law. The diiference between 
 skilled labor and unskilled is notably con- 
 
43 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 spicuous in reading. The outlay, which is for 
 the modern musician the price of excellence 
 and preferment, is very suggestive to the man 
 who sets himself to the task of interpreting 
 Divine thought to his fellows. The pianist 
 requires of himself not simply incessant prac- 
 tice, but alertness of faculty, subtlety of touch, 
 and crowning all, passionate enthusiasm, if he 
 would rise above the mediocre grade of 
 players. Madame Malibran, the distinguished 
 vocalist, when complimented at the close of a 
 concert upon her success in a certain trill, re- 
 plied, " Oh, I have sought for it long enough ! 
 For three months I have been running after it. 
 I have pursued it everywhere, while arranging 
 my hair, while dressing, and I found it one 
 morning in the bottom of my shoes as I was 
 putting them on ! " 
 
 These thoughts are designed to apply primar- 
 ily to the reading of Scripture selections before 
 or after the sermon. Why should not Bible 
 reading sometimes follow the discourse, as 
 well as precede it ? They start, however, the 
 question of reading the Bible as a stated ser- 
 vice, giving an evening or a morning, as the 
 circumstances would justify, to the careful 
 rendering, with due emphasis and expression, 
 to notable Scriptures which had become iiex- 
 ible to the mind and voice of the reader. 
 
 The epistle to the Colossians was written 
 while Paul was in prison at Rome. Onesimus, 
 
READING WITHO UT COMMENT. 43 
 
 a penitent runaway slave, about to return to 
 Colosse, and Tychicus, a companion of the 
 apostle in former journeys, are in waiting to 
 bear the priceless treasure over the old Roman 
 roads to the Church to which it was addressed. 
 As the captive apostle nears its close, he writes 
 thus : ' ' And when this epistle is read among- 
 you, cause that it be read also in the church of 
 the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the 
 epistle from Laodicea." 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine what took place 
 at Colosse upon the arrival of these brethren. 
 The news spread abroad, as good tidings 
 always do, that a letter had been received by 
 the pastor or deacon from the beloved apostle 
 at Rome. Did not the church, moved by a 
 spontaneous impulse, assemble to listen with 
 eager interest to its contents ? Then it was 
 sent to Laodicea, and exchanged with the 
 message sent to that assembly, which the 
 Colossian Christians heard in turn. Do our 
 modern churches need less to hear such epistles 
 publicly read than did the primitive assem- 
 blies ? It is quite true that copies of the 
 Scriptures are now abundant and cheap ; then 
 they were rare and costly. But a new impres- 
 sion of the Word is given by passing it through 
 human lips which have been taught to voice it 
 with the clearness, dignity and beauty which 
 it deserves. There are several reasons in 
 favor of reading selected portions of the Bible 
 
44 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 as a stated service, whicli I wish to adduce in 
 this chapter upon reading without comment : 
 
 I. It would restore a noble, but neglected usage. 
 The special direction of God to Moses was, 
 that the Pentateuch should be publicly read 
 once in seven years at the feast of Tabernacles. 
 The account given in the eighth chapter of 
 Nehemiah is very impressive. 
 
 ' ' During the captivity it had been impos- 
 sible to secure the observance of the injunction 
 as to reading, and this was the first occasion 
 on which the returned exiles had attempted to 
 carry it out. We can readily understand, 
 therefore, the peculiar emotion with which 
 they sent back their responsive ' Amen ' to the 
 blessing pronounced by Ezra after he had un- 
 rolled the sacred parchment. But when he 
 began to read, scarcely any of them compre- 
 hended what he said, for during their captivity 
 they had grown up from childhood, hearing 
 and using the Chaldee language, and so the 
 pure Hebrew had become unknown save to 
 the learned among them. To meet this diffi- 
 culty, therefore, the friends on the platform 
 beside Ezra took each his turn in interpreting 
 to the multitude, ' reading distinctly and 
 giving the sense and causing the people to 
 understand the reading.' The effect of this 
 upon the hearers was very great, ' for the 
 people wept when they heard the words of the 
 law."' 
 
READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 45 
 
 There is a touching importunity in the ex- 
 hortation which is connected with the com- 
 mand : ' ' Gather the people together, men 
 and women and children, and thy stranger 
 that is within thy gates, that they may hear, 
 and that they may learn, and fear the Lord 
 your God, and observe to do all the words of 
 this law. 
 
 ' ' And that their children, which have not 
 known anything, may hear, and learn to fear 
 the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the 
 land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it." 
 
 The conspicuous feature of the synagogue 
 service, even in Christ's day, was the reading 
 of the law and the prophets. Geikie, who 
 speaks of the synagogue as ' ' the seed-bed of 
 Judaism, its inspiring soul and abiding na- 
 ture," is authority for the declaration that, 
 ' ' though a rabbi or other person, if present, 
 might be asked to speak, this w4s in addition 
 to the prescribed forms." Then the early 
 Christian Church had its lectores, or readers, 
 appointed for this special service. We hazard 
 the opinion that ecclesiastical history will 
 justify the statement that, generally, the 
 Church has been sustained at its highest level 
 of spiritual power, when the reading of the 
 Bible in the tongue of the common people has 
 formed a chief feature of worship. It is a 
 curious fact, in this connection, that when Dr. 
 Samuel Hopkins began, in 1755, while pastor 
 
46 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 at Great Barrington, Mass., to read a chapter 
 of the Bible before the morning and afternoon 
 sermons, the practice was denounced and 
 shunned as "episcopal." (See Park's "Me- 
 moir of Hopkins," page 39.) If, in the Puri- 
 tan period, this usage fell into decay, it must 
 be attributed to a violent reaction from an 
 offensive ritualism established by the state. 
 
 II. A service of select readings would supple- 
 ment, in a profitable manner, the preaching of the 
 sermon. It would sustain to the preaching a 
 relation like that which the reading of the law 
 does to the advocate's plea before the jury. 
 The sermon of the morning, for instance, 
 might be planned as an argument for some 
 vital Christian doctrine ; while the evening 
 could be given to selected proofs of the same, 
 dra,wn from different portions of the Bible. 
 As an example, I introduce here the order of 
 a Bible-reading for Sunday evening, to follow 
 a sermon on the Atonement : — 
 
 1. The Atonement in type. (Ex. xii. 1-31. ) 
 
 2. The Atonement in the Psalms. (Ps. xxii.) 
 
 3. The Atonement in prophecy. (Isa. Uii.) 
 
 4. The Atonement in its historical accomplishment. 
 (John xix.) 
 
 5. Doctrinal summary. (Heb. ix.) 
 
 Of course, the presence of the Holy Spirit, 
 recognized as alike the vital energy of the 
 Word itself, and the unction upon the reader, 
 is an essential condition of success in such a 
 service. The selected portions must also be 
 
READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 47 
 
 thoroughly mastered. The appropriation of 
 Sunday evenings for Bible-reading, after this 
 manner, might solve some of the difficulties 
 which many pastors experience respecting a 
 second service. 
 
 III. This use of the Word of God would con- 
 tribute powerfully to the education of the people in 
 Bible truth. We live in an era of books. 
 Books, good, bad and indifferent, are pub- 
 lished at a merely nominal cost. Our Divine 
 book can be crowned, above all others, in the 
 hearts of our people, if we magnify and make 
 it honorable in public worship. M. Taine, in 
 writing of the Christian renaissance, says : 
 ' ' Hence (from the Bible) have sprung much of 
 the English language, and half of the English 
 manners. To this day half of the country is 
 biblical." The battle fought by the fathers to 
 lift the Scriptures into this prominence must 
 be fought over again by this generation. The 
 surest path to victory is to read it and cause it 
 to be read more extensively. If read in the 
 manner we suggest, our congregations would 
 receive some just impression of its comprehen- 
 sive scope and marvelous unity. Much of 
 Bible reading is too fragmentary to allow such 
 an impression to be formed. The continuity 
 and sweep of Divine thought is broken. Let a 
 pastor, for instance, take the epistle of Paul to 
 the Colossians and make it a subject of intense 
 and loving study ; let it be memorized in part. 
 
48 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 if you choose, and then given to his people. 
 What a solid and priceless treasure he would 
 thus commit to them ! What a self-evidencing 
 power, respecting its divine inspiration, would 
 be manifested ! For, ' ' faith comes by hear- 
 ing, and hearing by the Word of God." A 
 great statesman of the present century, who 
 was a devoted student of "Paradise Lost," 
 used to say, when his friends spoke of the 
 great epic as dull, ' ' Let me read you a few 
 lines." This process was always a convincing 
 one. So will the public reading of the Scrip- 
 tures, if properly done, demonstrate their 
 beauty and power. At a time when vital re- 
 ligion was dying out in Sweden, says Professor 
 Phelps : 
 
 ' ' There sprang up an obscure sect of ' Las- 
 cari,' as they were termed ; that is, 'readers,' 
 as I understand the title. They resembled in 
 spirit the Methodists of England. They 
 derived their name from the fact that their 
 religious teachers, with no ecclesiastical status 
 recognized by either Church or state, were 
 simply readers of the Bible. They erected plain 
 meeting-houses, like barns, to evade the laws 
 of the realm against the unlicensed erection of 
 churches. The people forsook the old temples 
 of their fathers and flocked in thousands to the 
 cheerless barns of the Lascari, to hear the 
 Bible read. The clergy stood upon their 
 dignity. They scolded the people from their 
 
READING WITHO UT COMMENT. 49 
 
 pulpits. The entire respectability of the king- 
 dom frowned upon the innovation. But still 
 the people thronged the meetings of the 
 ' Readers. ' Again they repeated the old story 
 of Christian reform, that, as Dr. Chalmers 
 said, Christianity is not a power of respect- 
 ability only, but a power of regeneration. 
 Awakened men and women from far and near 
 came together to hear the voice which had 
 raised them as from the dead. Some of them 
 journeyed from ten to sixty miles for the pur- 
 pose. Many gave evidence of spiritual con- 
 version. The traveler who published the 
 account in this country expressed the opinion 
 that the hope of Protestantism in Sweden was 
 no longer in the old church of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus: it was in the despised Lascari." 
 
 Thomas Cartwright, who has been called 
 the "chief of the English Puritans," has ad- 
 duced in quaint, old English, the following 
 considerations by which the books of the Bible 
 may be discerned to be the Word of God, all 
 of which can be made more conspicuously 
 evident, by careful reading aloud : 
 
 ' ' First, they are perfectly holy in them- 
 selves, and' by themselves : whereas all other 
 writings are prophane, further than they draw 
 holinesse from these ; which yet is never such, 
 but that their holinesse is imperfect and de- 
 fective. 
 
 "Secondly, they are perfectly profitable in 
 
50 READING WITHOUT COMMENT. 
 
 themselves, to instruct to salvation, and all 
 other are utterly unprofitable thereunto, any 
 further than they draw from them. 
 
 ' ' Thirdly, there is a perfect concord and 
 harmonie in all these Bookes, notwithstanding 
 the diversity of persons by whom, places 
 where, and time when, and matters whereof, 
 they have been written. 
 
 ' ' Fourthly, there is an admirable force in 
 them, to incline men's hearts from vice to 
 vertue. 
 
 ' ' Fifthly, in great plainenesse and easinesse 
 of stile, there shineth a great Majesty and 
 authority. 
 
 ' ' Sixthly, there is such a gracious simplicity 
 in the writers of these Bookes, that they 
 neither spare their friends, nor themselves, 
 but most freely, and impartially, set downe 
 their owne faults and infirmities as well as 
 others. 
 
 " Lastly, God's owne Spirit working in the 
 harts of his children doth assure them that 
 these Scriptures are the Word of God." 
 
" And the Lord said unto Mm (Moses), Who hath made 
 man's mouth ? or maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, 
 or blind? have not I the Lord?" Ex. iv. ii. 
 
 ' ' A man is more than a soul. A man is a soul and body 
 with all that it implies. And Jesus did not come to save 
 souls any more than He came to save bodies, with all their 
 belongings, conditions and inferences." 
 
 " It may be truly said that the position of any animal in 
 the scale of life is trnly dependent on the degree of develop- 
 ment of its nervous system." 
 
 John W. Draper, M. D. 
 
 " The living body is a datural rhythmic machine, beating 
 time to its arterial pulsations, its respiratory motions, and its 
 executive actions as in working and walking." 
 
 Geo. H. Taylor, M. D. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE STATUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 Nature furnishes not only the idea of 
 emphasis, but suggests laws under which it is 
 to be applied. The statutes of sound are 
 revealed with scientific accuracy in the world 
 of life about us. Those who come nearest to 
 the heartbeats of this living scene, have ob- 
 served and recorded facts like the following : 
 ' ' A dead, dry branch breaks with a crackling 
 noise ; a living one more softly." "We get 
 also gradations in the dignity of sound, from 
 what we hear in the mewing of a cat, up to the 
 surging of the sea." " The movement of the 
 wind upon the trees in spring, produces sounds 
 different from those which result from the 
 same cause either in the full bloom of summer, 
 or in autumn." "Under favorable circum- 
 stances, sailors, on board a vessel one hundred 
 miles from shore, have heard the ringing of 
 church bells, on placing their ears in the focus 
 of the mainsail. " The roar of the lion, the 
 cooing of the dove, and the hiss of the serpent, 
 express the nature peculiar to each of these 
 creatures. In Shelley's exquisitively beautiful 
 poem, "To the Skylark," he has caught in 
 
54 THE STA TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 the first verse, the subtle connection between 
 nature and sound: — 
 
 " Hail to thee, blitlie spirit ! 
 Bird thou never wert, 
 That from heaven, or near it, 
 Pourest thy full heart 
 In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." 
 
 As evening comes on, everything animate 
 and inanimate takes on the spirit of repose. 
 In the second verse of the Elegy, Gray has 
 thus described the soothing and tranquilizing 
 approach of the period allotted to sleep : — 
 
 " Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 
 And all the air a solemn stillness holds. 
 Save where the bettle wheels his droning flight, 
 And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds." 
 
 The simple repetition of the last two lines 
 would be in some measure an antidote for 
 insomnia. The sounds of returning daylight 
 are all-awakening. The morning comes' with 
 a peal of trumpets. Nature is in a state of 
 expectancy, and ushers in the miracle of the 
 npw day with a chorus of enkindling praise. 
 In the fifth verse of the Elegy we have a 
 graphic delineation of the phenomena of day- 
 break. The poet says of "the rude forefathers 
 of the hamlet," 
 
 " The breezy call of incense-breathing mom, 
 
 The swallow twittering from his straw-built shed ; 
 The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn. 
 No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed." 
 
 Nature makes no mistakes. Her call to rest, 
 
THE ST A TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 55 
 
 and her summons to activity, are both given at 
 their appropriate time. Health and sickness 
 reveal themselves in vocal utterances. Cassius 
 says when Caesar had a fever in Spain, his 
 tongue cried, " 'Give me some drink, Titinius,' 
 like a sick girl." A clear induction from these, 
 and a great variety of kindred facts, furnishes 
 several definite laws of expression which have 
 upon them the seal of unquestionable au- 
 thority. 
 
 1 . In nature, sound corresponds to sense. 
 It is the true utterance of the various condi- 
 tions with which it is associated. 
 
 2. Nature abhors monotony. Everywhere 
 there are variety, flexibility and modulation. 
 
 3. . From the same source we have the idea 
 of emphasis. Hence the law of the relative 
 importance of different objects and events. 
 
 4. Sound in the living world is nearly 
 always associated with action. There is a 
 comprehensive system of gesture disclosed to 
 us from this source. 
 
 5 . Melody, which is ' ' the rhythmical suc- 
 cession of single tones," will travel much 
 farther than noise. 
 
 Humboldt has said ' ' that in no other book 
 of antiquity was there such a faithful and lov- 
 ing observation of nature as in the Bible." It 
 takes cognizance of a wider circle of relations 
 than other literature, and hence requires for 
 its interpretation, the development of a more 
 
56 THE ST A TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 varied range of emotions than any other book. 
 But it will be found always obedient to the 
 canons of just and natural expression. Each 
 single portion of Scripture, to be well read, 
 should be studied in connection with these 
 statutes of speech, until the latter can be 
 applied. If Garrick said of his master, 
 
 " 'Tis my chief wish, my joy, my only plan, 
 To lose no drop of that immortal man," 
 
 the disciple of Christ may have his mind and 
 heart fused into an eagerness and glow, which 
 will count no outlay too great, if he may but 
 catch His tones, and reproduce His emphasis. 
 There are several definite results of vocal 
 interpretation, which loving and protracted 
 study of select portions of the Bible, under the 
 laws of expression, given above, will yield up 
 to us. 
 
 I. We shall discriminate the dominant tone 
 and spirit of the passage brought under the focus 
 of the mind and heart. If we be spiritual 
 men, and, at the period of study, flexible to 
 the movement of the Holy Spirit, we shall not 
 miss His meaning. This is the goal of all 
 reading, viz., to be able to answer, by proper 
 tones and emphasis, the question. What is the 
 mind of the Spirit in the Scripture read? 
 Thus Ezra and his companions, on the return 
 from the captivity, ' ' read in the book of the 
 law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and 
 caused them to understand the reading." If 
 
THE STA TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 57 
 
 the office of the Levites, in this instance, was 
 to translate the pure Hebrew into Chaldee, the 
 vernacular of the exiles in Babylon, it may 
 suggest the question, Whether the unnatural 
 reading one hears at times, does not equally 
 need a translation into the vernacular tones of 
 daily life ? A very latent and subtle bibliolatry 
 frequently presents a natural and really im- 
 pressive reading of the Word. The fifteenth 
 chapter of First Corinthians, read in the 
 sonorous, sepulchral tones which are heard so 
 often on funeral occasions, is absolutely sub- 
 merged as to its living and varied meaning. 
 This chapter is a masterly argument, conduct- 
 ■ ing the mind along the current of its progress 
 with steady and powerful impetus, until it 
 breaks out into a hallelujah chorus at its cul- 
 mination. What the prevailing color is in a 
 painting, what the air is in a strain of music, 
 the ruling spirit of a chapter is to itself, pro- 
 viJe5!°lEg~' efe g pt er"tLas been so divided as to 
 have unity in its subject-matter. 
 
 II. While every new subject is emphatic, 
 we must assign to each its proper importance 
 and dignity. Hence there is a profound doc- 
 trinal import in rightly applied tone and 
 emphasis. Take the first verse of the first 
 chapter of the Gospel by John : "In the be- 
 ginning was the Word, and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word was God." The verb 
 was, in the last clause, frequently carries a 
 
58 THE STA TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 misplaced emphasis, which belongs to the 
 name of the Deity with which the verse closes. 
 As another illustration, take the passage in 
 Matthew xix. 17. After the young ruler had 
 asked what good thing he should do to have 
 eternal life, "Jesus said unto him, Why 
 callest thou me good? There is none good 
 but one : that is God." , First let the emphasis 
 rest upon ?«f. "Why callest ^honme good?" 
 Read again, emphasizing the first word of the 
 sentence, " Why callest thou me good?" A 
 discriminating friend has suggested that the 
 first reading fails to recognize the Deity of 
 Christ. In the second reading the Master 
 seems to say, ' ' Do you call me good, because 
 you see in me marks of the Godhead, or 
 simply to patronize me?" We may, by use or 
 misuse of emphasis, read up or down the 
 Deity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 III. The vast significance of the pause, will 
 be recognised by all who investigate the Scrip- 
 tures with a view to public reading. Almost 
 no one reads them with the deliberation, which 
 the gravity of their ineffable themes would 
 seem to require. 
 
 IV. Chastened and appropriate gesture must 
 be employed, at times, to give complete expres- 
 sion to the living, breathing words of Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 The appropriateness of action in any degree 
 in Bible reading has been questioned. Nothing 
 
THE STA TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 59 
 
 indeed could be more offensive than an excess 
 in this direction. No devout believer would 
 welcome even a tendency toward a revival of 
 the " Passion Play," an example of which still 
 lingers at Ober-Ammergau iii Bavaria, where, 
 once in ten years, the mysteries of Christ's 
 suffering and death, are represented by several 
 hundred performers after the mediasval style. 
 The Bible, however, is an oriental book, 
 and in some of its scenes full of activity. 
 Where it is possible to represent this feature 
 justly, by the varied tones of the human voice, 
 and the facial lines of the human face, other 
 actions may be unnecessary. This result in 
 many cases will be found to be practicable, 
 where the spirit of the most vigorous passages 
 has come, by conscientious study, to interfuse 
 itself through the mental conceptions of the 
 reader, and thus to possess his soul. Of 
 Whitefield it was said ' ' his face was like a 
 canvas, upon it he painted every passion that 
 stirs the human breast. It was at one moment 
 terrific, as if all the furies were enthroned on 
 that dark brow, and next, as by a dissolving 
 view, there would come forth an angelic 
 sweetness that savored of heaven." But 
 Whitefield used abundant action in his impas- 
 sioned oratory. Paul stretched forth the 
 hand, an index gesture which affords warrant 
 for the opinion that he employed other physi- 
 cal movements to assist his utterances. Read- 
 
60 THE ST A TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 ing is Speaking the thoughts of others, and 
 while less freedom of action is expected than 
 in the utterance of our own ideas, a judicious 
 measure of it may be used at times, even in 
 reading the Bible. In this, however, there 
 will be necessary the exercise of a severely 
 just spiritual taste, to avoid excess, and realize 
 the highest standard of excellence. Professor 
 Mcllvaine, quoted in a previous chapter, makes 
 the following discrimination between reading 
 and speaking : — 
 
 ' ' Reading is a more subdued and quiet, 
 speaking a more full, and demonstrative form 
 of elocution. 
 
 ' ' This difference will be evident at once to 
 any one who will compare the signs which 
 each employs. For in reading the tones are 
 naturally less full and strong, the range of 
 pitch and inflection is less extended, there is 
 less variation in time and force, the articula- 
 tion is less hard and sharp, the emphasis is less 
 decided, and the gesture, if any be allowed, is 
 less marked and striking than in speaking. A 
 reader in whom this quiet and subdued- 
 mariner is wanting, who runs his reading into 
 declamation, exhibits a want of taste, culture 
 and refinement ; whilst a speaker who simply 
 reads his discourse, can exert but little power 
 to impress his sentiments, or to inflame the 
 audience with the emotions and passions which 
 his words may be intended to express. 
 
THE ST A TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 61 
 
 ' ' Good reading is a more difficult form of 
 elocution than good speaking. We should 
 anticipate that this would be the case, from the 
 nature of the distinction between reading and 
 speaking; and this anticipation is confirmed 
 by all experience and observation. To read 
 well any passage or author with which we are 
 wholly unacquainted, is confessedly a very 
 difficult thing. Hence we find many good 
 speakers, for one good reader. The reason of 
 this is the direct opposition and incompatibility, 
 between the mental operations of taking in the 
 sense, and those of giving it out, at the same 
 time. For although the former in reading do 
 legitimately affect and modify the elocution, 
 yet even in this case, if they become predomi- 
 nant in the consciousness of the reader, so as 
 to overshadow and enfeeble the latter, the 
 elocution is necessarily marred, or spoiled. 
 The tendency to this is obviated, in some 
 degree, by the great familiarity we attain with 
 the forms, meanings and sounds of printed 
 words, and by the wondrous perspicuity of the 
 printed page, from which we are enabled to 
 take in /the sense as the eye passes over it, 
 with but little conscious attention or effort. 
 In this way, the leading mental operations in 
 good reading, continue to be those of giving 
 out, rather than those of taking in the sense. 
 A good reader, however, never undertakes to 
 read in public, a passage with which he is 
 
62 THE STA TUTES OF EXPRESSION. 
 
 ■wholly unacquainted, except from necessity ; 
 nor then does he ever expect to do justice to 
 himself, or his author. He always tries to 
 familiarize his mind before with the senti- 
 ments and words, in order to relieve himself 
 as much as possible from the operations of 
 taking in the sense, that he may be enabled to 
 carry on these operations, in so far as they are 
 indispensable, mostly as sub-processes, whilst 
 his faculties are chiefly employed in the 
 proper work of expression." 
 
" The people of Verona, when they saw Dante on the 
 streets, used to say : ' See, there is the man that was in 
 hell !' " 
 
 " In Dante's purgatorio the whole mountain shakes with 
 joy, and a psalm of praise rises, when one soul has perfected 
 repentance, and got its misery left behind ! I call this a 
 noble embodiment of a true noble thought." 
 
 Thojnas Carlyle. 
 
 ' ' Thy voice is on the rolling air, 
 
 I hear thee where the waters run ; 
 Thou standest in the rising sun. 
 And in the setting thou art fair." 
 
 Alfred Tennyson. 
 
 " Stay near me, do not take thy flight, 
 A little longer stay in sight : 
 Much converse do I find in thee, 
 Historian of my infancy : 
 Float near me ; do not yet depart ; 
 Dead times revive in thee ; 
 Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art, 
 A solemn image to my heart. " 
 
 Wordsworth {To a Butterfly). 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IMAGINATION IN READING. 
 
 The image-making faculty, which is a part 
 of our mental endowment, may render most 
 efficient service in private and public uses of 
 the Bible. The scenes it portrays are remote, 
 both geographically and in their time periods. 
 The experiences it discloses, carry us into 
 realities of spiritual life still more remote from 
 our own. Imagination, both in its construc- 
 tive and creative forms, must be called in to 
 assist faith in its essay, to realize the facts 
 thus given. Christian thinkers have been too 
 shy and jealous in their treatment of this 
 subtle and architectural faculty, which, when 
 properly restricted, is always the fellow-helper 
 of reason. Ever is it the advance courier of 
 the latter, crossing with its cleaving wing the 
 abyss first with its single thread, and thus 
 making it possible for reason to follow later 
 on with its cables, and finally with its solid 
 bridge. "Surmise and aspiration" have led 
 the way to the most startling discoveries in 
 the field of modern investigation. In morals 
 and science, as well as in poetry and art, the 
 imagination is a co-worker with faith. Says a 
 high modern authority in mental physiology : 
 
66 IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 
 
 ' ' Even in the strictest of sciences, that of 
 mathematics, it can be easily shown that no 
 really great advance, such as the invention of 
 Fluxions by Newton, and of the Differential 
 Calculus by Leibnitz, can be made without the 
 exercise of the imagination." 
 
 A fine example of the use of the imagina- 
 tive faculty, in preparing the materials for a 
 true inreading of some portions of Old Testa- 
 ment history, is furnished in Robert Brown- 
 ing's poem, " Saul." It is a profound psycho- 
 logical study of the experiences of the moody, 
 irascible, heaven-deserted king of Israel, and 
 of the conditions in the shepherd boy of Beth- 
 lehem, which enabled him to cast the spell of 
 his harp-songs over the soul of his royal 
 master. See with what consummate skill the 
 constructive imagination works, in the concep- 
 tion of the themes which David recalls and 
 gives to Saul, over the trembling chords of his 
 harp. The whole extract is so excellent of its 
 kind, that my page will be honored by giving 
 it in full: — 
 
 " And I first played the tune all our sheep know, as, one 
 
 after one, 
 So docile they come to the pen-door till folding be done. 
 They are white, and untorn by the bushes, for lo, they 
 
 have fed 
 Where the long grasses stifle the water within the 
 
 stream's bed ; 
 And now one after one seeks its lodging, as star follows 
 
 star 
 Into eve and the blue far above us, — so blue and so far ! 
 
IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 67 
 
 Then the tune, for whicli quails on the cornland would 
 
 each leave his mate 
 To fly after the player ; then, what makes the crickets 
 
 elate 
 Till for boldness they fight one another : and then, what 
 
 has weight 
 To set the quick jerboa a-musing outside his sand house — 
 There are none such as he for a wonder, half bird and 
 
 half mouse ! 
 God made all the creatures, and gave them our love and 
 
 our fear, 
 To give sign, we and they are His children, one family 
 
 here. 
 
 Then 1 played the help-tune of our reapers, their wine- 
 song, when hand 
 
 Grasps at hand, eye lights eye in good friendship, and 
 great hearts expand 
 
 And grow one in the sense of this world's life. And then, 
 the last song. 
 
 When the dead man is praised on his journey — ' Bear, 
 bear him along, 
 
 With his few faults shut up like dead flowerets ! Are 
 balm seeds not here 
 
 To console us ? The land has none left such as he on the 
 bier. 
 
 Oh, would we might keep thee, my brother !' And then, 
 
 the glad chant 
 Of the marriage, — first go to the young maidens, next, 
 
 she whom we vaunt 
 As the beauty, the pride of our dwelling. And then, the 
 
 great march 
 Wherein man runs to man to assist him, and buttress an 
 
 arch 
 Naught can break ; who shall harm them, our friends ? 
 
 Then, the chorus intoned 
 As the Levites go up to the altar in glory enthroned. 
 But I stopped here : for here in the darkness Saul 
 
 groaned." 
 
 The masterly delineation which follows, as 
 
 5 
 
68 IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 
 
 the processes of the mind of David, while 
 gathering material to raise and calm the per- 
 turbed spirit of the king, are revealed, is an 
 example of rare insight, clothed with equally- 
 rare felicity of expression. The culmination 
 on Saul's part is when " he slowly resumes his 
 old motions and habitudes kingly." On 
 David's part, the poem reaches the summit of 
 faith and longing, when through the mists of 
 years he sees the truth of the incarnation, and 
 says: — 
 
 " 'Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh, 
 
 that I seek 
 In the Godhead ! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be 
 A Face like my face that receives thee ; a Man like to me, 
 Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever : a Hand like 
 
 this hand 
 Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee ! See the 
 
 Christ stand !" 
 
 If, at first flush, there seems to be in the 
 closing portion of the piece an anachronism in 
 conceiving David's mental difficulties respect- 
 ing Saul's destiny, under modes of thought so 
 modem, we may on reflection justify the poet's 
 introduction of this conflict at this time, by 
 sounding as best we are able, the depths of 
 such Psalms as the eighth and fortieth, both 
 ascribed to the sweet singer of Israel, the 
 eighth written perhaps not far from the period 
 of the incident elaborated by Browning. At 
 any rate, the words of a late preacher, whose 
 prose rose at times into the rhythmic measures 
 of poetry, are true : — 
 
IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 69 
 
 "As to exactitudes, while the reason has 
 hers, the imagation has hers, the only differ- 
 ence between them being this, that the exacti- 
 tudes of the reason are formal, while the 
 exactitudes of the imagination reach back to 
 the spirit of things, and are the more pro- 
 foundly exact on that account." The same 
 affluent thinker has spoken in another place of 
 the office of imagination in the preacher in 
 these terms: — 
 
 ' ' The imaginative man, and he only, is able 
 to handle and draw out biblical doctrines his- 
 torically ; to take the Word, that is, in its entire 
 historical setting. For the Word of God on 
 theology is not an absolute utterance straight 
 down from the skies, and direct from His lips, 
 but it comes to us very circuitously through 
 human lips, and many human lips, and through 
 all sorts of human and earthly intermediates ; 
 and a fuU-visioned and creative grasp of those 
 numerous intermediates is an essential part of 
 good theologizing. When God would make 
 Himself known in His fullness, He chose to 
 be incarnated in the person of His eternal 
 Son ; that pre-existent and infinite Personage 
 took upon Himself the conditions of time and 
 sense ; He dropped into an order of things 
 historically prepared for Him by a long and 
 laborious process. He became a vital factor in 
 that order of things, He accepted all the rela- 
 tions prepared to His hand, spoke in a certain 
 
70 IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 
 
 language, for example, was of a certain 
 country, dwelt on a certain spot, in a certain 
 home, was nursed and cultured in a certain 
 religion ; and, in short, made His whole mani- 
 festation on earth a relational and conditional 
 one, so that He cannot be fully understood in 
 the least word He spoke, or in the least act 
 He performed, except that He is interpreted 
 by those conditions or relations in which He 
 stood. We must resurrect His era, not only 
 in its outline, but in all its essentials." 
 
 The Bible has arrived in our century like a 
 ship richly-freighted from remote shores. 
 Whatever criticism, conservative or destruc- 
 tive, may propose as to the Old Testament, 
 history, psalm and prophecy are here with 
 their "majesty and authority." The New 
 Testament is in literature, and has been 
 adopted by the incisive intellect and troubled 
 heart of our time. We can but reverence the 
 fact of the presence of such a book put into 
 our hands, and requiring an explanation of 
 itself from us. How did the men of the Bible 
 get wing for those flights which leave us in 
 the valley, with vision dimmed as we watch 
 their eagle path, until they vanish behind the 
 veil? How can we get the measure of the 
 causes which wrought within the spirit of 
 Moses, and which left their after-glow upon 
 his face, as he came down from the mount? 
 The Psalms of David^ — did they grow from 
 
IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 71 
 
 the seed of human reflection? Out of what 
 mental and spiritual antecedents did the rapt 
 visions of Isaiah come? 
 
 Coming again to the New Testament, we 
 find its pages suffused with the presence of 
 the Son of Man, as the sunset cloud is suf- 
 fused with the glory of the natural sun. The 
 witnesses to His life and work who bear 
 testimony in this book are few, but selected 
 from a wide range of temperament, avoca- 
 tion and individuality. They are, however, 
 alike, mastered by the imperial, yet lowly, 
 personality of the Lord. They are themselves 
 transformed within by this personality. There 
 are latent, unsaid and necessarily reserved 
 things, which they suggest by peculiar turns 
 of expression, hinting of an infinite back- 
 ground which they cannot bring into view, 
 and must leave unexplored. An example of 
 this is given by the evangelist John, in the 
 thirteenth chapter of his gospel : — 
 
 ' ' Now before the feast of the passover, 
 Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he 
 should depart out of this world unto the 
 Father, having loved his own which were in 
 the world, he loved them unto the end. And 
 during supper, the devil having already put 
 into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 
 to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father 
 had given all things into his hands, and that 
 he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, 
 
73 IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 
 
 riseth from supper and layeth aside his gar- 
 ments ; and he took a towel and girded 
 himself." 
 
 What deep reaches of insight are revealed 
 here, as in the hush of that eventide the be- 
 loved disciple, with long and loving gaze, fol- 
 lowed His every movement, until the consum- 
 mate deed of humility broke into his heart! 
 Notice the large remainder of the unreport- 
 able in these words : ' ' Jesus knowing that the 
 Father had given all things into his hands, 
 and that he was come from God and went to 
 God." What softened light of holy trust, 
 shedding a calm which was the seal of a 
 Presence so near as to be awe-inspiring, was 
 in the face which fixed the eyes of the 
 apostle ! Professor William Mathews says : 
 ' ' William Wirt, himself an orator, tells us 
 that when the ' Blind Preacher of Virginia ' 
 drew a picture of the trial, crucifixion and 
 death of our Saviour, there was such force 
 and pathos in the description, that the orig- 
 inal scene appeared to be, at that moment, 
 acting before the hearers' eyes. ' We saw 
 the very faces of the Jews : the staring, 
 frightful distortions of malice and rage. We 
 saw the buffet ; my soul kindled with a flame 
 of indignation, and my hands were involun- 
 tarily and convulsively clinched.' But when, 
 with faltering voice, he came to touch on 
 the patience, the forgiving meekness of the 
 
IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 73 
 
 Saviour, His prayer for the pardon of His 
 enemies, ' the effect was inconceivable. The 
 whole house resounded with the mingled 
 groans and sobs and shrieks of the congre- 
 gation.' " 
 
 In the popular historical fiction, " Ben Hur," 
 there is a fine imaginative sketch of the 
 effect of the death of Christ upon the mul- 
 titude who were witnesses of the crucifixion. 
 ' ' Ben Hur went back to his friends saying, 
 simply, ' It is over ; He is dead.' In a space 
 incredibly short thg multitude was informed 
 of the circumstance. No one repeated it 
 aloud ; there was a murmur which spread from 
 the knoll in every direction ; a murmur that 
 was, little more than a whispering, - He is 
 dead ! He is dead ! ' and that was all. The 
 ^people had their wish ; the Nazarene was 
 dead; yet they stared at each other aghast. 
 His blood was upon them ! 
 
 ' ' And while they stood staring at each other 
 the ground commenced to shake ; each man 
 took hold of his neighbor to support himself ; 
 in a twinkling the darkness disappeared, and 
 the sun came out ; and everybody, as with the 
 same glance, beheld the crosses upon the hill 
 all reeling drunken-like in the earthquake. 
 They beheld all three of them; but the one. 
 in the center was arbitrary ; it alone would be 
 seen ; and for that it seemed to extend itself 
 upwards, and lift its burden, and swing it to 
 
74 IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 
 
 and fro higher and higher in the blue of the 
 sky. And every man among them who had 
 jeered at the Nazarene ; every one who had 
 struck Him ; every one who had voted to 
 crucify Him; every one who had marched 
 in the procession from the city ; every one 
 who had in his heart wished Him dead, and 
 they were as ten to one, felt that he was in 
 some way individually singled out from the 
 many, and that if he would live he must get 
 away quickly as possible from that menace 
 in the sky. They started to run ; they ran 
 with all their might ; on horseback, and cam- 
 els, and in chariots they ran, as well as on 
 foot ; but then, as if it were mad at them for 
 what they had done, and had taken up the 
 cause of the unoffending and friendless dead, 
 the earthquake pursued them and tossed them 
 about, and flung them down, and terrified 
 them yet more by the horrible noise of great 
 rocks grinding and rending beneath them. 
 They beat their breasts and shrieked with 
 fear. His blood was upon them ! The home- 
 bred and the foreign, priest and layman, beg- 
 gar, Sadducee, Pharisee, were overtaken in the 
 race, and tumbled about indiscriminately. If 
 they called on the Lord, the outraged earth 
 answered for Him in fury, and dealt with 
 them all alike. It did not even know 
 wherein the high-priest was better than his 
 guilty brethren; overtaking him, it tripped 
 
IMA GIN A TION IN RE A DING. 75 
 
 him up also, and smirched the fringing of his 
 robe, and filled the golden bells with sand, 
 and his mouth with dust. He and his people 
 were alike in the one thing at least — the blood 
 of the Nazarene was upon them all!" 
 
"In the usual growth of plants, growing by leaves and 
 buds on an ascending axis, it will be manifest that light 
 from the Zenith will be most valuable." 
 
 Pres. Thos. Hill. 
 
 " If the sermons preached in our land during a single 
 year, were all printed they would fill a hundred and twenty 
 millions of octavo pages." 
 
 "Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speak- 
 ing in the spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema ; and no 
 man can say Jesus is Lord,. but in the Holy Spirit." i Cor. 
 xii. 3. 
 
 " The man that looks on glass. 
 On it may stay his eye. 
 Or he may through it pass 
 And then the Heavens espy." 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington was once requested 
 to give his personal impressions of the move- 
 ments at the battle of Waterloo. He replied : 
 ' ' By reading the histories which have since 
 been written, you will obtain a clearer idea of 
 the battle than I had at the time." Our back- 
 ward look upon the great movements of the 
 kingdom, may give us more satisfactory ideas 
 than it was possible for those who were the 
 chief human actors in them to have. This, I 
 take it, is especially true of the Pentecost. 
 The interval between the day of resurrection 
 and the day of the inauguration of the Dispen- 
 sation of the Spirit, was a period of unusual 
 bewilderment and doubt. The victorious com- 
 ing out of the sepulchre was indeed a sunburst, 
 following the gloomy eclipse of the crucifixion. 
 
 The total character of His relation to the 
 disciples, during the forty days between the 
 resurrection and ascension was unique, unpre- 
 cedented. They were days of the tarrying of 
 the Conqueror upon the field he had won. No 
 sinners were warned from His lips during this 
 period. He does not remain constantly with 
 His disciples. His visits were excursive, occa- 
 
78 THE D ISP ENS A TION 
 
 sional. About five hundred assembled on the 
 mount to receive His blessing. Obedient to 
 His direction, one hundred and twenty of the 
 number gathered together in an upper room in 
 Jerusalem, in a condition of expectancy, such 
 as has no parallel in human history. There 
 was a significant waiting when the children of 
 Israel watched for *the return of Moses from 
 the mount, or when they looked for the return 
 of the spies from Canaan, or when they paused 
 at the Jordan's side to see its waters part. 
 
 This waiting is separated from all these. It 
 was a waiting with upturned faces for the 
 coming upon them, and into them, of an abid- 
 ing essential power. Ten days intervened be- 
 tween the ascension and the Pentecost. What 
 days they were ! There was apparently a 
 pause in Heaven and on earth. His disciples 
 were commanded not to work, but to wait ; 
 not to teach, but to tarry until they were im- 
 bued with power. Just how long they should 
 pray, before the mighty answer should come, 
 they could not tell. They waited and watched 
 until, on the morning of the fiftieth day from 
 the Great Day of Atonement, when ' ' they 
 were all with one accord in one place, suddenly 
 there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rush- 
 ing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
 where they were sitting." 
 
 As a matter of fact there was no such in- 
 sight into Christ's character and work before 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 79 
 
 the Pentecost, as subsequent to it. The calm 
 after-look under the illumination of the Spirit, 
 gave the disciples the key to the spiritual na- 
 ture of His kingdom. Studied under this light, 
 His words were understood in their proper 
 meaning. To-day, words treasured in mem- 
 ory in childhood, on some occasion of special 
 fervor, glow and burn, with meanings new and 
 wondrously strange. The Spirit thus makes 
 the Word a kaleidescope. It has a many-sided 
 beauty and power ; whichever way it is turned 
 some new import breaks forth, some hidden 
 feature of Christly grace and power is dis- 
 closed. Peter has definite ideas of the new 
 kingdom after the outpouring of the Spirit. 
 He beholds it as a kingdom of righteousness, 
 and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The 
 church is crystalized into clear outlines now. 
 Somebody has said that Christmas was the 
 birthday of Christ, but the Pentecost was the 
 birthday of the Church. This birth was simply 
 an investiture of each individual disciple with 
 the affluence of the same Spirit which rested 
 upon Christ Himself. Now there comes out 
 the meaning of His own prayer, that the be- 
 liever might be one with Himself. The glory 
 given to Himself, even now He bestows upon 
 those who follow Him. The Church thus be- 
 came ■ a visible body of Christ, Himself the 
 head, His spiritual followers the members. 
 The highest dignities conferred in the old dis- 
 
80 THE D ISP ENS A TION 
 
 pensation upon the priesthood, became the 
 heritage of every believer, and remain to-day 
 to be appropriated by each. Now the lowliest 
 soul is an anointed King and Priest unto God. 
 Privileges of access denied in the old dispen- 
 sation to all, save an authorized few, are now 
 made universal as the believer's wants. The 
 rending of the temple veil, is seen now in its 
 proper significance. To the Priest officiating 
 during the last scene of the tragedy of the 
 cross, the event must have been one of start- 
 ling interest. The sacred curtain which hid 
 the most holy place from common gaze, quiv- 
 ers for a moment, and then rends from the top 
 to the bottom. The mercy-seat lies open. Lo ! 
 a highway, clear and unobstructed, is disclosed 
 for every believer. The words and acts of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ even yet take on new mean- 
 ings, under the perpetual dispensation of the 
 Spirit. Who can tell whether we have yet the 
 true import of all His wonderful life ? In the 
 fierce alembic of modern criticism, that life 
 grows greater, grander every day. The hearts 
 of men yearn toward it, as never before. Its 
 power to satisfy and fill the soul, is to set soci- 
 ety into a movement of inquiry unparalleled in 
 interest. This movement will be conducted 
 by the Holy Spirit. To work towards Christ, 
 to handle His grace and glory before the eyes 
 of men, — this is His exclusive work. And this 
 furnishes an infallible test of His presence 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 81 
 
 within us. When we are drawn more to 
 Christ's career, when His words are brought 
 to us with increasing sweetness, when His life 
 rises as a vision of entrancing joy before us, 
 moving us to imitation, then the Spirit is with 
 us. The Spirit is silent upon those themes 
 which might divert us from Christ, ^e pours 
 day upon whatever is vital, essential to us here 
 and now. Other and transcendent subjects 
 are held in the circle of the Spirit's infinite 
 knowledge. His very silence upon these is 
 suggestive. The marvel of the great truth- 
 realms which border on us here, we shall have 
 ample leisure to study hereafter. Now a vital 
 crisis impends. We are sore, broken and 
 needy. Christ is the physician, and the 
 church the hospital for all souls. To these 
 the Spirit directs, gathering with exclusive 
 constancy and perseverance, the thought and 
 feeling of man to the help he needs. It has 
 been justly said, while the scientific researches 
 of Sir Humphrey Davy put him in the front 
 rank of scientific men, a single invention for 
 the saving of life, placed him among the great- 
 est benefactors of the race. The safety-lamp 
 has preserved thousands of lives. The great 
 facts of science he developed, have delighted 
 thousands of minds. So the glorious utilities 
 of the Spirit's truth-showing, commend Him 
 to our gratitude and love. All Heaven moves 
 toward us, for the saving of our imperilled lives. 
 
82 THE DISPENSA TION 
 
 The day of Pentecost marks the introduction 
 of the era of declaration by the human tongue. 
 In the temple there was properly no pulpit. 
 The Priest was indeed a teacher of the law, 
 but this was not his conspicuous work. His 
 was the trained eye and the skilled hand, to 
 " rightly divide" the slain-offering. He must 
 be vigilant over the altar fire, that it be kept 
 ever burning, — above all he was the typical 
 mediator between God and man. The Prophet 
 was an instructor and reprover of the people. 
 Standing out apart from all castes, and inde- 
 pendent alike of tribes and priests, he was the 
 protestant of his time, raised up to be the 
 immediate organ of Jehovah in the exigencies 
 of the history of the chosen people. The com- 
 pletion of the Atonement by the Lamb of God, 
 was the hinge of dispensation, — "the turn of 
 the morning," in our race history. On this 
 account the Babylonian veil, which hung be- 
 tween the compartments of the temple proper, 
 was rent from the top to the bottom by an in- 
 visible hand; and the Holy Spirit came in 
 person to abide in the church to the end of 
 the age. We do well to emphasize the import 
 of the chosen symbol of the Paraclete. ' ' There 
 appeared unto the disciples, tongues parting 
 asunder like as of fire ; and it sat upon each of 
 them." The period of declaration, of speaking, 
 witnessing, teaching, had come, because the 
 content of redemption was now made known. 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 83 
 
 Along with the unfolding of the new, varied, 
 and surprising subject-matter of Christ's per- 
 son and deeds, came an irrepressible impulse 
 to make it known. The disciples descended 
 from the upper room at Jerusalem, to put 
 themselves in immediate contact with the mul- 
 titude, by witnessing to the fact of a risen and 
 glorified Lord. The Sanhedrim saw that their 
 policy must be to suppress speech, if they would 
 arrest the propagation of the new faith. With 
 the circle of Christian truth completed, and 
 with the record of it in our hands, the church 
 is summoned to her declarative office until the 
 Lord comes. She must declare, in order to or- 
 ganize, and then she must organize, that she 
 may again declare. In just the measure that 
 she has failed in public uses of the Bible, in 
 connection with ' ' the bread of holy preach- 
 ing," in just that measure has she failed in her 
 specific mission to men. 
 
 A new energy in speech was imparted by 
 the advent of the Holy Spirit. Incomes of 
 original truth were made known, through the 
 inworking of a searching and interpreting Per- 
 son dwelling in believers, so that they spoke 
 out of depths into depths. They were men- 
 tally and spiritually in a mighty ' ' stream of 
 tendency," proceeding from the Father and the 
 Son, and were carried by it into modes of 
 speech, which differed from both Jewish 
 prophet and Greek philosopher. They were 
 6 
 
84 THE D ISP ENS A TION 
 
 unlike the old prophets in the amplitude, and 
 after the first shock of Pentecost, the calmness 
 of their testimony. They differed from the 
 Greek orator in that they passed behind the 
 art of the rhetorician, into life theories, which 
 would in due time appropriate all that was 
 true in this art from within, — and thus the 
 faith of the listener would stand in the power 
 of God, and not in the wisdom of men. The 
 temporary charisms were to disappear, as the 
 scaffolding is removed when the structure is 
 completed. But the union of the Spirit and 
 the Word in the utterances of human speech, 
 was to continue. The reader of the Bible 
 who knows the Divine investiture which is 
 peculiar to the present dispensation, occupies 
 a position quite above that of the orator or 
 lecturer, while he uses leverages common to 
 both. He will instruct and move, but he will 
 penetrate and quicken; he will change and 
 elevate, but he will lodge in human minds, 
 forces which will reverse the motives, and 
 qualify for a new life before men. The con- 
 vert in turn, thus becomes a living epistle 
 clothed with flesh and blood, written not with 
 ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. 
 
 The new capacity for declaration comes now 
 upon all souls. Both sons and daughters 
 prophesy. Young men see visions, and old 
 men dream dreams, — ^the living tide flows over 
 all flesh, and servants and handmaidens share 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 85 
 
 in the largess of the ascension gift. Woman 
 is included in the call to read the Word. Since 
 Elizabeth Fry, "the female Howard," whose 
 maxim was, "charity to the soul is the soul of 
 charity," stood in Newgate prison with her 
 open Bible, and with the loving tones of her 
 voice, interpreted its promises to the prisoner, 
 this call has not been widely questioned. 
 Christian women to-day are reading the old 
 messages of the Word to the poor and desolate, 
 in our large Eastern cities, and in the cities of 
 Great Britain. Is not this new dispensation 
 especially favorable in the opportunity it 
 brings to woman, to read the Word at home, 
 in social gatherings, and to the destitute ? 
 
 Woman, as a theologian, is yet to interpret 
 the heart of God, as man has never done. No 
 worship of the virgin had been possible, if wo- 
 man had with trained powers studied our 
 Divine Christ, to find what was there to be 
 found, motherhood, as well as the strength 
 and robustness of man. The contributions of 
 her thought, to this and other subjects we may 
 wait for with the most hopeful interest. 
 
 We have too much panegyric of the Bible, a 
 kind of irrational glorification, which over- 
 looks the merit which has given it its prestige. 
 Not because councils have approved it, but 
 because it deserves to endure is its high place 
 maintained. 
 
 It has latent, undiscovered resources which keep 
 
86 THE D ISP ENS A TION 
 
 it not simply abreast of the time, but in its possible 
 disclosures, in advance of it. The course of 
 thouglit through the Bible, has been like the 
 movement of discovery and emigration, over 
 the natural world. Man has not yet discovered 
 the world, much less occupied it. He has only 
 seen its superficies, outlined its bolder, salient 
 features. So in God's word, there are prob- 
 ably truth-realms, unvisited by human thought. 
 There are chapters in the Book of Revelation 
 which seem like rocky fastnesses, which no hu- 
 man foot has ever pressed. The best students 
 of it, have been most modest in their estimates 
 of the extent of their knowledge of it. 
 
 Before John Robinson and his flock left 
 Ley den to plant Bible-seed in the New World, 
 he said : ' ' The Lord has more truth to break 
 yet out of His Holy Word." You say this re- 
 quired no prophetic insight. It was simply to 
 accept our Master's teaching, respecting the 
 of&ce work of the Holy Spirit. He, the Spirit 
 of God, was to ' ' take of the things of Christ, 
 and show them unto us." But these " things" 
 are in the written Word. They are to be 
 brought out as we receive the Spirit, to stimu- 
 late thought, and put us upon search for them. 
 We know of few things more vitiating in our 
 common instruction, than the idea that the 
 truth of the Word of God may be got with no 
 effort. Truth enough to save the soul, we ad- 
 mit, lies upon its surface. But that which 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 87 
 
 enlarges and exalts us, that whicli we would 
 build into tlie new institutions of a compre- 
 hensive world-influencing civilization, conies 
 by pains-taking study. We are to investigate 
 it as men do the heavens, waiting out the 
 vigils of the night, to witness the coming of 
 some remote star. So will new seals be broken, 
 as the ripening needs of men require them. 
 So will new sense, new uses issue forth from 
 the words which are alreadj'- familiar to us. 
 We are ushered into strangely new experi- 
 ences, at times, when favorable conditions let 
 us into new interpretations of old texts, which 
 we have kept in the chambers of memory 
 since childhood. 
 
 You may examine under a powerful' mi- 
 croscope cell-germs, which are hidden in all 
 their beauty and suggestiveness, from the 
 natural eye. So the soul gets helps to its 
 natural vision, in studying the Word of God, 
 and new wonders stand disclosed before it. 
 Next to the Spirit of God and the moral nature 
 of man, we take it, science is to be the chief 
 auxiliary in interpreting the Bible. There is a 
 grim old worker abroad in the earth. Some- 
 times he delves among the rocks, spelling out 
 the handwriting on the stony page. Again he 
 sits over the crucible to detect the affinities of 
 matter. Then he studies with wondering in- 
 terest, the structure of the human body, 
 bringing the secrets of its mechanism to light. 
 
88 THE D ISP ENS A TION 
 
 Despite all the attempts to make him the an- 
 tagonist of the Bible, he will be found to have 
 worked always for it. Take, to drop the 
 figure, the influence which science is now 
 having -upon the doctrine of the personality of 
 God. The keenest analysis into causes, finds a 
 point beyond which it cannot go. It demands 
 a cause no less than God, and the Bible lays 
 open His character as a person. He makes 
 our need. His care, numbering the hairs of our 
 head, and comforting us in all our sorrow. A 
 true science will never drive God out of the 
 world He has made. It will rather connect 
 Him in all that He exhibits Himself to be in 
 nature, with what He declares Himself to be 
 in His Word. So we believe science will con- 
 firm the conscious need we have, of a Divine 
 Helper and Saviour. It cannot ignore the 
 dis-harmonies of nature. It must interpret the 
 groaning of the whole creation as an outcry for 
 Christ. 
 
 But, lastly,, the Bible must remain our text- 
 book, because its law of love can never be 
 superseded. It is a finality. The golden rule 
 executed, would bring in the brotherhood of 
 all men. Our hope for it, is in the Bible ; not 
 the Bible on the shelf, but in the best trans- 
 lation of it ever made. We mean, that which 
 is made in human hearts and lives. Thus 
 translated, its mightiest victories are yet to be 
 won. Going forth to distribute it, with hearts 
 
OF THE SPIRIT. 89 
 
 surcharged with its spirit, may God help us to 
 inaugurate the day of its complete triumph, 
 when ' ' the light of the moon shall be as the 
 light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall 
 be seven-fold, as the light of seven days." 
 
" Nay all speech, even the commonest speech, has some- 
 thing of song in it : not a parish in the world but has its 
 parish accent ; — the rhythm or tune to which the people 
 there sing what they have to say ! Accent is a kind of 
 chaunting ; all men have accent of their own, though they 
 only notice that of others. Observe, too, how all passionate 
 language does of itself become musical, with a finer music 
 than the mere accent ; the speech of a man even in zealous 
 anger becomes a chaunt, a song." 
 
 Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 " Many of the supposed inconsistencies of the Bible, arise 
 from a different method of logic and rhetoric in the Oriental 
 writers, and the attempts of modem scholars to measure 
 them by Occidental methods. Many of the inconsistencies 
 result from the neglect to appreciate the poetic and imagin- 
 ative element in the Bible, and a lack of aesthetic sense on 
 the part of the interpreters." 
 
 Chas. A. Briggs, D. D. 
 
 "All these things Jesus spake in parables unto the mul- 
 titudes ; and without a parable spake he nothing unto 
 them.'' Matt. xiii. 34. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LITERARY STRUCTURE OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 The breaking up of the subject-matter of 
 the Bible into chapters and verses, has in 
 many instances the effect of a commentary 
 upon it. Conceding its value for easy refer- 
 ence and quotation, it must be said that the 
 continuity of thought is abruptly broken by it 
 in some cases, and that the illogical divisions 
 made, tax and confuse the mind of the com- 
 mon reader. 
 
 The Canterbury version has in some meas- 
 ure, obviated this obnoxious feature by restor- 
 ing the paragraph arrangement, and inserting 
 the chapter and verse divisions in the margin. 
 Historically, the separation into chapter^ dates 
 back to the thirteenth century, and is attributed 
 to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 The present verse- divisions differ in origin 
 in the Old and New Testaments. In the 
 Canonical Old Testament they go back to 
 the obscurity of the Masoretic division of 
 the Hebrew Bible. They are as old as 
 the ninth century, though not used gener- 
 ally for citation until the thirteenth century. 
 The verses of the New Testament now in use, 
 were introduced by Robert Stephens in his 
 
93 LITERARY STRUCTURE 
 
 Greek Latin Testament of 155 1. His son 
 Henry, in the preface to his Greek Concord- 
 ance published in 1594, relates that this 
 division was made by his father in a jour- 
 ney from Paris to Lyons, and a great part 
 of it on horse-back. The work of un- 
 authorized individuals must have had some 
 merits, to have gained so ready and so 
 wide acceptance. It facilitates citation, and 
 assists in the comparison of Scripture with 
 Scripture. It is thus helpful in the building 
 of the sermon, which is a methodically-ar- 
 ranged comment upon the subordinate unities 
 of statement, which make up the total body of 
 revealed truth. 
 
 In its internal structure as a literary produc- 
 tion, the Bible presents more diversified forms 
 of composition than any other book. It is 
 divided generally into prose and poetry, but 
 under this latter classification are many sub- 
 divisions not yet fully recognized, much less 
 analyzed. Out of its prose portions, like 
 springs by the wayside, there bubble up single 
 poems which refresh and delight the student. 
 The first specimen of these, perhaps the oldest 
 little poem in the world, is found in the fourth 
 chapter of Genesis, from the twenty- third to 
 the twenty- fifth verses inclusive. The revised 
 version renders it as follows: — 
 
 " Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; 
 Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech : 
 For I have slain a man for wounding me, 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 93 
 
 And a young man for bruising me : 
 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, 
 Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." 
 
 What has been called the ' ' Song of the 
 
 Well," in the book of Numbers, xxi. chapter, 
 
 17, 18 verses, is another illustration of the 
 
 wayside springs of the Scripture. 
 
 " Spring up, O well ; sing ye unto it : 
 The well, which the princes digged. 
 Which the nobles of the people delved. 
 With the sceptre, and with their staves." 
 
 A skillful translation of some of the Psalms, 
 revealing the different relations of the mem- 
 bers of the piece, affords great help in the 
 understanding of their import. By designat- 
 ing the different speakers in the second Psalm, 
 as given in the revised version, it takes on 
 new meanings and fresh interest. 
 
 Why do the nations rage. 
 And the peoples meditate a vain thing ? 
 The Icings of the earth set themselves, 
 And the rulers take counsel together. 
 Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, 
 saying, 
 ™, , ( Let us break their bonds asunder, 
 
 1 ne people -j ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^j^ zor&& from us. 
 
 ( He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : 
 
 TT, -De 1 ■,.+ J The Lord shall have them in derision. 
 
 1 ne I'saimist ^ ^j^^^ ^j^^jj ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^^^ j^ j^l^ ^^ath, 
 
 And vex them in his sore displeasure : 
 
 The Psalmist 
 
 T . . j Yet I have set my king 
 jenovan -j ^pon my holy hill of Zion. 
 
 The Son 
 
 I will tell of the decree : 
 
 Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son ; 
 
 This day have I begotten thee. 
 
 Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations 
 for thine inheritance. 
 
 And the uttermost parts of the earth for 
 thy possession. 
 
 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; 
 
 Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a pot- 
 ter's vessel. 
 
94 
 
 LITERARY STRUCTURE 
 
 "Now therefore be wise, O ye kings : 
 
 Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
 
 Serve Jehovah with fear. 
 
 And rejoice with trembling. 
 The Psalmist -| Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye per- 
 ish in the way, 
 
 For his wrath will soon be kindled. 
 
 Blessed are all they that take refuge in 
 him. 
 
 Prof. Charles A. Briggs, in his "Biblical 
 
 Study," introduces a translation of the first act 
 
 of the "Song of Songs" in dramatic form. 
 
 The first and second scenes are as follows : — 
 
 Solo. 
 
 Solo. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Solo. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Shulamite. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Shulamite. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Sh. 
 
 " Scene I. 
 
 Let him kiss me with some kisses of his 
 mouth. 
 
 For thy caresses are better than wine ; 
 
 For scent thine ointments are excellent ; 
 
 O thou sweet ointment, poured forth as to thy 
 name ! 
 
 Therefore the virgins love thee. 
 
 Oh ! Draw me ! 
 
 After thee we wiU run ! 
 
 O that the king had brought me to his apart- 
 ment ! 
 
 We will rejoice and we will be glad with thee. 
 
 We will celebrate thy caresses more than wine. 
 
 Rightly they love thee. 
 Scene II. 
 
 Dark am I — 
 
 — but lovely — 
 
 — daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of 
 Kedar. 
 
 — as the curtains of Solomon. 
 
 Gaze not upon me because I am swarthy. 
 
 Because the sun scanned me : 
 
 My mother's sons were angry with me. 
 
 They set me as keeper of the vineyards ; 
 
 My vineyard, which is my own, have I not 
 kept. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 95 
 
 O tell me, thou whom my soul loveth : 
 Where feedest thou thy flock ? 
 Where dost thou let them couch at noon ? 
 Why should I be, as one straying 
 After the flocks of thy companions ? 
 Ch. If thou knowest not of thyself, thou fairest 
 
 among women , 
 Go forth for thyself at the heels of the flock, 
 And feed thy kids at the tabernacles of the 
 
 shepherds." 
 
 The same author has added to the original 
 investigations of Bishop Lowth, respecting the 
 fundamental principles of the structure of 
 Hebrew poetry. The three kinds of parallel- 
 ism found in this poetry by Lowth, were first, 
 synonymous, of which the first verses of the 
 nineteenth Psalm furnish an example. 
 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God ; 
 And the firmament showeth his handywork. 
 Day unto day uttereth speech. 
 And night unto night showeth knowledge." 
 
 Second, antithetical, of which the book of 
 Proverbs gives numerous illustrations. Prov- 
 erbs, xiii. chapter, 1-5 verses, contains four 
 definite antithetical propositions. 
 
 " A wise son heareth his father's instruction : 
 But a scorner heareth not rebuke. 
 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth : 
 But the soul of the treacherous shall eat violence. 
 He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life : 
 But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. 
 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing : 
 But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." 
 
 The third form is the synthetic, of which 
 
96 LITERARY STRUCTURE 
 
 Psalm cxlviii., 7, 8, furnishes an illustration. 
 
 " Praise Jehovah from the earth, 
 Ye dragons, and all deeps : 
 Fire and hail, snow and vapor ; 
 Stormy wind, fulfilling his word." 
 
 Professor Briggs' analysis of the strophe in 
 Hebrew poetry is as follows : — 
 
 " The strophe is to the poem, what the lines 
 of verses are, in relation to one another in the 
 system of parallelism. They are composed of 
 a greater or lesser number of lines, sometimes 
 equal, and sometimes unequal. Where there 
 is a uniform flow of the emotion, the strophes 
 will be composed of the same number of lines, 
 and will be as regular in relation to one 
 another, as the lines of which they are com- 
 posed;, but where the emotion is agitated by 
 passion, or broken by figures of speech, or 
 abrupt in transitions, they will be irregular 
 and uneven. The strophes are subject to the 
 same principles of parallelism, as the lines 
 themselves, and are thus either synonymous 
 to one another, antithetical, or progressive, in 
 those several varieties of parallelism already 
 mentioned." 
 
 He presents, as the finest specimen of 
 poetry in the Old Testament, the section 
 beginning with the thirteenth verse of the 
 fifty-seeond chapter of Isaiah, and embracing 
 all the following chapter ; the whole constitut- 
 ing a prophetic delineation of Messiah's sacri- 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 97 
 
 ficial work. The arrangement of the strophes 
 is so clear, and the cumulative effect of read- 
 ing aloud, made so conspicuous by reason of it, 
 that it is reproduced as a whole here. 
 
 (i) " Behold my servant shall prosper, 
 
 He shall be lifted up and be exalted and be very high. 
 According as many were astonished at thee — 
 So disfigured more than a man was his appearance, 
 And his form than the sons of men ; — 
 So shall he startle many nations ; 
 Because of him kings will stop their mouths ; 
 For what had not been told them they shall see, 
 And what they had not heard they shall attentively 
 consider. 
 
 (2) " Who believed our message, 
 
 And the arm of Jehovah, unto whom was it revealed? 
 When he grew up as a suckling plant before us. 
 And as a root out of a dry ground ; 
 He had no form and no majesty that we should see 
 
 him, 
 And no appearance that we should take pleasure in 
 
 him ; 
 Despised and forsaken of men ! 
 A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ! 
 And as one before whom there is a hiding of the face ! 
 Despised, and we regarded him not ! 
 
 (3) "Verily our griefs he bore. 
 
 And our sorrows — he carried them. 
 But we regarded him as stricken, 
 Smitten of God, and humbled. 
 
 But he was one pierced because of our transgressions. 
 Crushed because of our iniquities ; 
 The chastisement for our peace was upon him ; 
 And by his stripes there is healing for us. 
 We all like sheep strayed away ; 
 Each one turned to his own way. 
 While Jehovah caused to light on him the iniquity of 
 us all. 
 
98 LITER A RY STR UCTURE 
 
 (4) " He was harassed while he was humbling himself, 
 
 And he opens not his mouth ; 
 
 Like a sheep that is being led to the slaughter, 
 
 And as an ewe that before her shearers is dumb ; — 
 
 And he opens not his mouth. 
 
 From oppression and from judgment he was taken 
 
 away. 
 And among his cotemporaries who was considering. 
 That he was cut off from the land of the living. 
 Because of the transgression of my people, one smit- 
 ten for them ? 
 With the wicked his grave was assigned, 
 But he was with the rich in his martyr death ; 
 Because that he had done no violence. 
 And there was no deceit in his mouth. , 
 
 (5) " But Jehovah was pleased to crush him with grief ! 
 
 When he himself offers a trespass offering. 
 He shall see a seed, he shall prolong days ; 
 And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in his 
 
 hands : 
 On account of his own travail he shall see ; 
 He shall be satisfied with his knowledge ; 
 My righteous servant shall justify many, 
 And their iniquities he shall carry. 
 Therefore will I give him a portion consisting of the 
 
 many ; 
 And with the strong shall he divide spoil, 
 Because that he exposed himself to death. 
 And he was numbered with transgressors. 
 And he did bear the sin of many ; 
 And for transgressors was suffering infliction." 
 
 The literary form of the New Testament 
 presents less variety than the Old. It has 
 nevertheless considerable variety of structure. 
 It has been said ' ' the songs of Elizabeth and 
 Zacharias breathe the spirit of the Hebrew 
 poets, and are largely expressed in language 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 99 
 
 derived from them." Attention has also been 
 directed to various quotations in the New 
 Testament of poetical portions of the Old. 
 Mr. Joseph B. Rotherham, author of the 
 emphasized version of the New Testament, 
 makes the following claim respecting the 
 structure of the fourth gospel, incidentally 
 alluding to the Epistle to the Hebrews in the 
 same connection. 
 
 ' ' Everywhere throughout this most admira- 
 ble composition a beautiful rhythm prevails; 
 not rolling in ample waves and rising in lofty 
 crests, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but 
 flowing in gentle ripples, or heaving in meas- 
 ured swells; coinciding with the .earlier and 
 bolder strokes of logical priority, but at the 
 end of clauses and sentences, not infrequently 
 counteracting the nicer effects of slight pre- 
 placement, causing thereby a balanced ending, 
 or drawing a perceptible weight to the closing 
 word. The result is, that while the stronger 
 indications of emphasis remain undisturbed, 
 the slighter signs of it are occasionally over- 
 ruled : sometimes the last word but one retains 
 the stress; sometimes the last word wins it; 
 and sometimes, not very seldom perhaps, the 
 result is a tie or balance, a distribution or em- 
 phasis, which comes quite naturally to the 
 living voice, imparting merely a deliberate full- 
 ness to the ending. The perception of this deli- 
 cate feature has grown upon me, in revision." 
 7 
 
100 LITER AR Y STR UCTURE OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 The sixteenth verse closing the third chap- 
 ter of the first Epistle to Timothy, is regarded 
 as the fragment of a hymn. It is given in the 
 ■words of the revised New Testament as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 ' ' And without controversy great is the 
 mystery of godliness ; He who was manifested 
 in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of an- 
 gels, preached among the nations, believed on 
 in the world, received up in glory." 
 
 The article on Hebrew Poetry in Smith's 
 Bible Dictionary, says : ' ' Not a few of Paul's 
 sentences which we are accustomed to read as 
 prose, bring back to the ear the cadence of 
 Hebrew verse. The following is an example 
 of this. 
 
 ^2 Timothy ii. ii.) 
 
 " For if we died with him, 
 We shall also live with him : 
 If we endure, we shall also reign with him : 
 If we shall deny him, 
 He will also deny us : 
 If we are faithless, he remaineth faithful ; 
 For he cannot deny himself." 
 
 It is quite evident that along these lines of 
 exploration, especially in the New Testament 
 literature, there remains very much land to be 
 possessed. 
 
" The lungs are capable of great development. A con- 
 siderable portion of the air-cells of which they are composed, 
 are not commonly, even In perfectly healthy persons, 
 brought into use ; that is, they are not expanded or filled 
 with air in respiration, but they He in a collapsed state ; and 
 those moreover which are utilized are not expanded to their 
 utmost capacity. By proper exercises the former class are 
 brought into use, and the latter increased in size and capa- 
 city." Prof. J. H. Mcllvaine. 
 
 ' ' Take care of the consonants, and the vowels will take 
 care of themselves." J. M. Bellew. 
 
 "The French books on the voice eaU our nasality an 
 infirmity, and classify it with lisping and stammering. 
 They say it is congenital, and is sometimes produced by an 
 injury to the brain or a defect in the organs of speech. 
 Their nasality is the real one. They really do sing through 
 their noses. Our nasal passage is closed while we produce 
 the misnamed nasal sounds." 
 
 Prof. Nathan Sheppard. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 Prof. Mathews, the author of "Orators 
 and Oratory," has said that "■force is partly a 
 physical product, and partly mental. It is the 
 electrical element; that which' smites, pene- 
 trates and thrills." 
 
 Every thoughtful preacher desires to know 
 how to speak forcibly, and how to reach the 
 physical conditions essential in the case. The 
 purpose of the present chapter will be to treat 
 of the physical factor, in the specific work of 
 preaching. The capacity to stand up and de- 
 clare God's Word clearly and effectively, is 
 sometimes a gift, coming unbidden to certain 
 chosen men. It is more frequently the result 
 of severe discipline and wise training, in 
 which, connected with a Divine call, an in- 
 vestiture of the Holy Spirit, and patient in- 
 vestigation of truth, the bodily conditions play 
 an important part. 
 
 The physical training for preaching must, 
 as a matter of course, be special. We do not 
 need the brawn and muscle of prize-fighters, 
 in order to speak with power in the weekly 
 duty of the pulpit. Dio Lewis, M. D., makes 
 a just discrimination between health and 
 
104 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 Strength. A well man may not be strong; 
 and, vice versa, a strong man may not be well. 
 He says : "I have a friend who can lift nine 
 hundred pounds, and yet is an habitual sufferer 
 from torpid liver, rheumatism, and low spirits. 
 The cartmen of our cities, who are our strong- 
 est men, are far from being the healthiest 
 class, as physicians will testify. On the con- 
 trary, I have many friends who would stagger 
 under three hundred pounds, that are in capi- 
 tal trim." 
 
 A delicate, unmuscular man may, by prud- 
 ent use of his vital resources, preach effect- 
 ively. In order to do so he m.ust, as a matter 
 of conscience, reserve physical strength for the 
 time he spends on his feet before the people, 
 sufficient to drive his thoughts home. The 
 preacher who comes into his pulpit physically 
 exhausted, must not complain of the mental 
 torpor of his hearers. As audiences go, they 
 require awakening. They do not, as a rule, 
 come to the sanctuary in a state of quick sus- 
 ceptibility to impression. The preacher, as 
 divinely aided, must bring on this condition ; 
 and if the Spirit works through thought-power, 
 its manifestations will depend, in great meas- 
 ure, upon the condition of the physical organ- 
 ism. It is true we are marvelously helped at 
 times when the body seems weak, but this 
 succor comes through an empowering of the 
 whole man — body, mind and spirit. 
 
THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 105 
 
 As every man is a law to himself, each 
 preacher should decide wisely as to the pro- 
 portion of time, to be given to study and 
 physical exercise. No vigor of bodily state 
 will compensate for commonplace thought in 
 the pulpit. "The lean and flashy" talk is 
 not transmuted into the bread of life by good 
 physical conditions. "The hungry sheep look 
 up, and are not fed." 
 
 On the other hand, how many thoroughly 
 prepared sermons fall dead, because the man 
 forgot he was a preacher as well as a student 
 and a writer! The lawyer is kept up to a 
 condition of physical alertness, by the presence 
 of a vigilant and wary antagonist. The 
 preacher lacks this kind of stimulus, but he 
 should be keenly alive to the necessity of cap- 
 turing the mental capability of his hearers. 
 The sustained vigilance necessary to secure 
 this rfesult will be wanting, if he brings a jaded 
 mind and body into the pulpit. 
 
 We raise no issue here between written and 
 unwritten discourses. Written sermons, de- 
 livered under good bodily conditions, carry 
 weight and conviction, sometimes wanting in 
 freer addresses. Edwards read closely, and 
 so do some of the best modern preachers. 
 The audiences who were entranced under the 
 preaching of Chalmers, never raised any ob- 
 jections to his use of manuscripts. 
 
 This only is required, that the man shall 
 
106 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 divide himself wisely between his study and 
 his pulpit. 
 
 The "kind and degree of physical exercise 
 best adapted to equip the preacher for the 
 pulpit, will also vary in each case. Samuel 
 Hopkins says quaintly of Edwards : "In the 
 winter he was wont, almost daily, to take an 
 axe, and chop wood moderately for the space 
 of half an hour or more." A Boston pastor 
 pleads for a carpenter's bench and tools in a 
 house, as affording at once recreation, and as 
 having practical utility. He inquires, "Is it 
 not a little discreditable to a well-educated 
 man to have to send for a mechanic, when any- 
 thing is out of order in the house ? Ought we 
 not to be able to ease a door, make a shelf, 
 stop a leak in a leaden pipe, milk a cow, har- 
 ness our own horse? An hour spent in such 
 work about the house or stable, every day, 
 would not only exercise the body, but relieve 
 the tension of a student's brain." 
 
 After trying a considerable variety of gym- 
 nastic exercises, the writer must add his 
 testimony from experience, to the superior 
 advantage of simply walking, say five or six 
 miles at a stretch, once or twice a week. 
 This, in connection with the daily exercise of 
 pastoral work, has been found sufficient, with 
 a wise use of Saturday, to keep the body in 
 good condition for Sunday work in the pulpit. 
 
 Montaigne says : ' ' Our work is not to train 
 
THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 107 
 
 a soul by itself alone, nor a body by itself 
 alone, but to train a man; and in man, soul 
 and body can never be divided." 
 
 The prejudice against "Schools of Oratory," 
 and the aversion which is felt with reference 
 to the itinerant elocutionist, are not destitute of 
 justifying reasons. There is, notwithstanding, 
 a legitimate and vastly remunerative culture 
 of the vocal powers. Its benefits are not 
 limited to the organs of speech, but wise 
 voice-building, has in some instances, affected 
 general physical conditions in a most salutary 
 way. It would surprise some people who have 
 never tried it, to discover the effect upon their 
 own ease in speaking, of simply reading aloud 
 for one hour daily. 
 
 The brunt of the difficulty in regard to 
 preaching, in many cases certainly, is the fact 
 of its infrequency. Most of us could speak with 
 greater facility every day, than once or twice a 
 week. The vocal organs are subjected to a 
 heavy tax one day in seven, while they are 
 suffered to remain unused, for the major part 
 of the interval between Sabbaths. Now the 
 vigor, flexibility and volume of .the voice 
 depend upon practice, and that not; spasmodi- 
 cally, but methodically and frequently. Von 
 Bulow, the great pianist, is reported as saying : 
 " If I quit the piano one day, I notice it ; if I 
 quit it two days, my friends notice it ; if I quit 
 it three days, th.& public notice it." 
 
108 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 Daily prolonged reading aloud, would fur- 
 nish that regular exercise of the vocal organs, 
 which would enable many speakers who feel 
 over-fatigued by reason of the Sunday strain, 
 to tide over the day without it. If they 
 were to include in the exercise, the portion of 
 Scripture to be read in worship, together with 
 the hymns to be sung, the congregation could 
 hardly fail to participate in the benefit. 
 
 Skilled work in this particular phase of pul- 
 pit service, is as conspicuously distinguished 
 from unskilled, as in any other place, in or out 
 of the pulpit. Besides the vocal mastery of 
 Scripture lessons, there are other advantages 
 to be gained by the practice mentioned. By 
 reading aloud such noble and stimulating pro- 
 ductions as Milton's " Comus" and " Lycidas," 
 Wordsworth's "Ode to Immortality," Tenny- 
 son's "In Memoriam," and others likely to 
 come to mind, until they become familiar, one 
 would possess a rare store of healthy and vig- 
 orous thoughts, clothed in felicitous and chaste 
 English. 
 
 A late writer on elocution, quotes Lord Stan- 
 hope's reply to the question, as to what he 
 ascribed the two qualities for which his elo- 
 quence was conspicuous — namely, the lucid 
 order of his reasoning, and the ready choice of 
 his words. He said, "he believed he owed 
 the former to an early study of Aristotelian 
 logic, and the latter, to his father's practice of 
 
THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 109 
 
 making him, every day after reading over to 
 himself some passage in the classics^ translate 
 it aloud and continuously into English prose." 
 The vigorous reading of our English classics 
 would enrich the vocabulary of a preacher, to a 
 degree scarcely less than the exercise of trans- 
 lation mentioned above. 
 
 The dreary monotone not only puts the hearer 
 into a non-receptive attitude, in spite of his 
 will, but is a damaging abuse of the voice, be- 
 cause a departure from the law of its structure. 
 The latter renders it capable of great flexibil- 
 ity, range and compass of tone. It has been as- 
 serted (and we think with reason), that " even 
 persons who are unaffected by music, are often 
 subdued by the gentle accents of the voice, or 
 roused by its deep intonations." 
 
 An apostle exhorts believers to "let their 
 moderation be known to all men." Many a 
 public speaker would find his efficiency greatly 
 increased, could he let his modulation be known 
 to all his hearers. All the rich varieties of 
 emphasis, inflection and tone are impossible in 
 monotonous speech. Indeed, it puts an in- 
 junction on the very power of thought itself, 
 by clothing it in a stilted and unnatural same- 
 ness. 
 
 A clergyman now widely known as a 
 preacher of power, told the writer the secret 
 of his own recovery from the monotonous 
 habit of his early life. Once, in the middle of 
 
110 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 a sermon wliich lie was delivering in a high, 
 unbroken key, he had occasion to stop and ask 
 the sexton to close a door. He made the re- 
 quest in a natural, modulated tone, and was 
 struck by the contrast between it and his 
 preaching. He took the hint, and adopted 
 afterwards, little by little as he could master 
 it, a more flexible speech in public discourse. 
 
 There are sources of disability in speaking, 
 in which unnatural breathing is the chief thing 
 to be obviated. Without full chest inspira- 
 tions, the physical effort of speaking, even for 
 a half hour, will be ^ordinarily attended with 
 fatigue. To remove this difficulty one needs 
 the advice of a competent instructor, and 
 sometimes no little training. 
 
 The Master commends vacations when He 
 says to the tired disciples, ' ' Come ye your- 
 selves apart into a desert place and rest 
 awhile." The apostles broke the strain of 
 continuous labor. Sometimes by detention in 
 prisons, or forced absences in perils by sea, it 
 was broken for them. 
 
 In our period, with its mental alertness, 
 with its incalculable spoil of knowledge, won 
 from earth and air and sea, with the strain of 
 its social problems, with its intrepid valor of 
 faith, and its shameless boldness in sin, the 
 man who stands in the arena for Christ, will, 
 if he be wise, withdraw himself betimes, and 
 put himself in sympathy with unwonted scenes 
 
THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. Ill 
 
 and unusual experiences. Reasons, physical 
 and social, mental and spiritual, combine to 
 commend the wisdom of vacations. 
 
 The suggestion in the receipt of Mrs. Glass 
 for "cooking a hare" is, "first catch your 
 hare." We are of the opinion that in the mat- 
 ter of vacations, it is frequently easier to 
 obtain one, than to decide how to utilize it 
 most profitably. There are a few general ideas 
 which we venture to state in regard to their 
 uses. 
 
 The special use of vacations should vary 
 with felt physical and mental needs at the 
 time of its occurrence. The writer remembers 
 a vacation, the first week of which" was spent 
 chiefly in sleep. The requirements of an over- 
 taxed mind were met in this way, and the 
 balance and elasticity of the system restored. 
 In other conditions, a change in activities is 
 better than rest. Some vacations have yielded 
 never-to-be-forgotten benefits in the opportu- 
 nities afforded for reading books, which could 
 not be examined during the pressure of regular 
 pastoral and preaching service. The Concord 
 Philosopher says, ' ' In the common experience 
 of the scholar the weather fits his moods. A 
 thousand tunes the variable wind plays, a 
 thousand spectacles it brings, and each is the 
 frame or dwelling of a new spirit. I used 
 formerly to choose my time with some nicety, 
 for each favorite book. There are days when 
 
113 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 the great are near us, when there is no frown 
 on their brow, no condescension even; when 
 they take us by the hand , and we share their 
 thoughts. There are days which are the carn- 
 ival of the year. The angels assume flesh, and 
 repeatedly become visible." 
 
 Then there are other favored intervals when 
 the purse permits travel, and other circumstan- 
 ces conspire to make it feasible. The writer 
 has twice visited Europe, the first time to see 
 old places, rich in historical 'associations and 
 their venerable structures ; the second time to 
 see living men, trained under disciplines, 
 sharply in contrast with our own. How afflu- 
 ent in enduring results, and how perennially 
 fruitful in material for his work, has he found 
 both these select and happy tours over sea! 
 Another year brought another opportunity. 
 Two weeks were added to the vacation month, 
 and six weeks occupied in a visit to the ' ' Won- 
 derland" of the world, the Yellowstone Nation- 
 al Park. The great wheat-belt of Dakota was 
 traversed, then came the ranch country, with 
 the "cow- boys" and the "Bad Lands," and 
 the Crow Indian reservation, all en route, and 
 each one furnishing interest enough for an 
 ordinary respite from labor. 
 
 Finally came the Park itself, with its lakes 
 of fire, its marvelous geysers, and, crowning 
 all, the unique and majestic cafion of the 
 Yellowstone River, with its miles of rainbows 
 
THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 113 
 
 set in the everlasting rock. Such experiences 
 as were crowded into the six weeks of mid- 
 summer must, we think, last a lifetime in 
 their refreshing and stimulating results. It 
 was simply re-juvenescence, re-creation, in 
 the highest import yielded by these terms. 
 
 And all this in our own country, the scene 
 within easy reach, and not of necessity requir- 
 ing great outlay of money. Besides the 
 uplifting effect of contact with the noblest 
 natural scenery, there were opportunities to 
 study specific phases of our national life, to 
 enter the settler's cabin on the prairie's edge, 
 and to get some just impressions of the extent 
 of our national domain. The breath of those 
 great uplands stretching toward the setting 
 sun, is an inspiration still, and will remain so 
 in years to come. 
 
 If some reader should say this journey is 
 simply impracticable in my case, it remains 
 for him to find new fields for exploration 
 nearer. These notes are being written in the 
 State of Connecticut. A former chief magis- 
 trate has recently called attention, in eloquent 
 words, to the variety and beauty of its natural 
 scenery. The railroads are rendering us oblivi- 
 ous to the rare and frequently unrecognized 
 natural resources of the country nearest to 
 us.' Within a few hours ride of any pastor, 
 living in New England or New York, are the 
 White Mountains, the Adirondacks, and the 
 
114 THE PHYSICAL FACTOR. 
 
 Catskills, not to mention many places of lesser 
 note, full of wild and picturesque interest. 
 Along our extensive coast-line also are how 
 many desirable resting places ' ' down by the 
 sea." 
 
 Whether by reading, or by the noble study 
 of object lessons afforded by travel, the pas- 
 tor's vacation should be a gathering time. He 
 should aim not simply to get rest, but to in- 
 crease his resources i The people give him 
 warmest welcome when he brings to them, 
 with his freshly -bronzed face, new impressions 
 of nature, or new views of men, to be used in 
 his.work of instruction. No better advice has 
 been given on the uses of travel, than is con- 
 tained in Lord Bacon's well chosen words: 
 "When a traveller returneth home, let his 
 travel appear rather in his discourse, than in 
 his apparel or gesture, and in his discourse, 
 let him be rather advised in his answers, than 
 forward to tell stories ; and let it appear that 
 he doth not change his country manners for 
 those, of foreign parts, but only prick in some 
 flowers of that he hath learned abroad, into the 
 customs of his own country." 
 
" He throve equally well upon the dialogues of Plato, and 
 the hymns of Zinzendorf , upon the Monadologie of Leibnitz, 
 and Spener's Faith which makes Happy." 
 
 Translator's Preface to Dorner's System of Christian 
 Doctrine. 
 
 "John Foster, in his profoundly thoughtful and whole- 
 somely suggestive essay, entitled, ' The Aversion of Men 
 of Taste for Evangelical Rehgion,' assigns as one reason for 
 that hostile sentiment, operative in the case of the majority 
 of cultivated men, the influence of early education in schools 
 -where it is presumable, that so large a share of the most im- 
 ;pressible period of youth was devoted to the ancient classic 
 authors, with their pagan ideas of morals and religion. 
 Read Foster's solemnly eloquent words, and consider how 
 much it is incumbent on parents and teachers to do, to 
 counteract the insensible, insidious influence of such an 
 immersion and saturation, of the young mind and conscience 
 and heart, in an atmosphere of thought and representation, 
 so alien and hostile to the spirit of Christianity." 
 
 W. C. Wilkinson, D. D. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 COMPARATIVE READINGS. 
 
 The production of any given author is sub- 
 jected to a severe test by careful reading 
 aloud. Dr. Francis Lieber once said in refer- 
 ence to the speeches of Daniel Webster : ' ' To 
 test Webster's oratory, which has ever been 
 very attractive to me, I read a portion of my 
 favorite speeches of Demosthenes, and then 
 read, always aloud, parts of Webster; then 
 returned to the Athenian ; and Webster stood 
 the test. I have done it several times." 
 
 The remarkable claim of the writers of the 
 Bible, that the thoughts they record are ' ' God- 
 breathed," can be in some measure brought to 
 trial, by reading selections from this Divine 
 book, and following them by selections from 
 the be^ uninspired thought on the same gen- 
 eral themes. It is premised, of course, that the 
 respective portions read, should be studied with 
 equal care, to interpret fairly the thoughts to 
 be thus put in contrast. A neglected line of 
 evidence as to the majestic supremacy of the 
 Word of God, over the best productions of the 
 human mind, would not fail to be disclosed by 
 this competitive trial of them. Isaiah might 
 thus be compared with Homer, Job with 
 
118 COM PA RA TI VE RE A DINGS. 
 
 ^schuylus, and St. John with Plato. These 
 have been designated, because the problems 
 upon which they treat are in some instances 
 similar, and because admirable translations of 
 all are within easy reach. 
 
 The writer has presented to public audiences, 
 the closing passages of Plato's description of 
 the death of Socrates in the ' ' Phaedo, " and then 
 read, for the effect of contrast, the nineteenth 
 chapter of the gospel of St. John. The trans- 
 lation of the Phaedo used for this exercise, 
 was the one included in the selections from 
 Plato, entitled "Socrates," and published by 
 Charles Scribner's Sons. The selection covers 
 passages from page 1 32 to the end. Under skill- 
 ful use of tone, emphasis and inflection, in read- 
 ing these selections, a new import is imparted to 
 the celebrated comment of Rosseau : ' ' So- 
 crates died like a Philosopher; Jesus Christ 
 died like a God." The vividness and masterful 
 force of this contrast is heightened by putting 
 the productions mentioned, in this close juxta- 
 position. Read in immediate succession, one 
 cannot fail to recognize the moral attitude of 
 the Son of God on the cross, as set over 
 against the martyr of the hemlock cup. And 
 this will be only the more impressive, when we 
 recognize the latter as occupying the summit 
 of heathen morality. Its ' ' bright consummate 
 flower," is thus put side by side with our 
 Lord. It may become not an insignificant 
 
COMPARA TIVE READINGS. 119 
 
 means of reenforcing the confidence of a 
 Christian congregation, to enable them, in the 
 way suggested, to bear witness in themselves, 
 to the ability of Christian revelation to abide a 
 rational and practical test. 
 
 Socrates says, — "I cannot persuade Crito, 
 my friends, that this Socrates who is now talk- 
 ing with you, and laying down each one of 
 these propositions, is my very self; for his 
 mind is full of the thought that I am he, whom 
 he is, to see in a little while as a corpse ; and 
 so he asks how he shall bury me. Thus, that 
 long argument of mine, the object of which 
 was to show that after I have drunk the poison, 
 I shall be among you no longer, but shall go 
 away to certain joys prepared for the blessed, 
 seem to him but idle talk, uttered only to keep 
 up your spirits as well as my own. Do you, 
 therefore, be my surety with Crito, though in 
 a very different way from that in which he 
 was surety for me before the judges. For he 
 then pledged himself that I should remain ; 
 but you must now pledge yourselves that I 
 shall not remain here after my death, but de- 
 part straightway. Thus will Crito bear it 
 more easily, and, when he sees my body 
 burned or buried, will not grieve over me as if 
 I had suffered some dreadful thing, nor say 
 at the funeral, that it is Socrates who is laid out 
 on the bier, or carried forth to the grave, or 
 buried. For you must know, dearest Crito, 
 
130 CO MP A RATI VE RE A DINGS. 
 
 that this false way of speaking, not only is 
 wrong in itself, but also does harm to the soul. 
 Rather should you be of good courage, and 
 say that it is my body you are burying ; and 
 this you may do as you please, and in the way 
 which you think most conformable to custom 
 here." 
 
 Thus saying, he got up, and went into 
 another room to bathe, and Crito followed him, 
 but us he requested to stay behind. We re- 
 mained, therefore, talking over with one 
 another, and inquiring into what had been 
 said ; ever and again coming back to the mis- 
 fortune which had befallen us ; for we looked 
 upon ourselves as doomed to go through the 
 rest of life like orphans, bereft of a father. 
 
 After he had bathed, his children were 
 brought to him, — for he had three sons, two 
 very young, and one was older, — and the 
 women of his household also arrived. And 
 having talked with them, in the presence of 
 Crito, and given them all his directions, he 
 bade them depart, and himself returned to us. 
 It was now near sunset, for he had spent a 
 long time in the inner room. He came then 
 and sat down with us, but he did not speak 
 much after this. And the servant of the 
 Eleven came and standing by him said : "I 
 shall not have to reproach you, O Socrates, as 
 I have others, with being enraged and cursing 
 me, when I announce to them by order of the 
 
CO MP A RA TI VE REA DINGS. 121 
 
 magistrates, that they must drink the poison ; 
 but during this time of your imprisonment, I 
 have learned to know you as the noblest, and 
 gentlest, and best man of all that have ever 
 come here, and so I am sure now that you will 
 not be angry with me ; for you know the real 
 authors of this, and will blame them alone. 
 And now — for you know what it is I have 
 to announce— farewell, and try to bear as best 
 you may, the inevitable." And upon this, 
 bursting into tears, he turned and went away ; 
 and Socrates, looking after him, said: — 
 
 ."May it fare well with you also! We will 
 do what you have bidden." And to us he 
 added, ' ' How courteous the man is ! The 
 whole time I have been here, he has been con- 
 stantly coming to see me, and has frequently 
 talked to me, and shown himself to be the 
 kindest of men ; and see how feelingly he 
 weeps for me now ! But come, Crito, we must 
 obey him. So let the poison be brought, if it 
 is already mixed; if not, let the men mix it." 
 
 And Crito said: " But, Socrates, the sun, I 
 think, is still upon the mountains, and has not 
 yet gone down. Others, I know, have not 
 taken the poison till very late, and have 
 feasted and drunk right heartily, some even 
 enjoying the company of their intimates, long 
 after receiving the order. So do not hasten, 
 for there is yet time." 
 
 But Socrates said: "It is very natural, 
 
132 COMPARATIVE READINGS. 
 
 Crito, that those of -whom you speak should do 
 this, for they think to gain thereby ; but it is 
 just as natural that I should not do so, for I do 
 not think that by drinking the poison a little 
 later, I should gain anything more than a 
 laugh at my own expense, for being greedy of 
 life, and ' stingy when nothing is left.' So go 
 and do as I desire." 
 
 At these words, Crito motioned to the 
 servant standing by, who then went out, and, 
 after some time, came back with the man who 
 was to give the poison, which he brought 
 mixed in a cup. And Socrates seeing the man 
 said:- — 
 
 "Well, my friend, I must ask you, since 
 you have had experience in these matters, 
 what I ought to do." 
 
 " Nothing," said he, "but walk about after 
 drinking, until you feel a heaviness in your 
 legs, and then, if you lie down, the poison will 
 take effect of itself." 
 
 With this, he handed the cup to Socrates, 
 who took it right cheerfully, O Echecrat'es, 
 without tremor, or change of color or counten- 
 ance, and, looking at the man from under his 
 brows with that intense gaze peculiar to him- 
 self, said, "What say you to pouring a liba- 
 tion from this cup to one of the gods? Is it 
 allowed or not?" 
 
 "We prepare, Socrates," answered he, 
 ' ' only just so much as we think is the right 
 quantity to drink." 
 
CO MP A RA TI V£: RE A DINGS. 133 
 
 "I understand," said he; "but prayer to 
 the gods is surely allowed, and must be made, 
 that it may fare well with me on my journey 
 yonder. For this then I pray, and so be it!" 
 
 Thus speaking, he put the cup to his lips, 
 and right easily and blithely drank it off. 
 Now most of us had, until then, been able to 
 keep back our tears; but when we saw him 
 drinking, and then that he had finished the 
 draught, we could do so no longer. In spite 
 of myself, my tears burst forth in floods, so 
 that I covered my face and wept aloud, not for 
 him assuredly, but for my own fate in being 
 deprived of such a friend. Now Crito, even 
 before I gave way, had not been able to re- 
 strain his tears, and so had passed away. But 
 ApoUodorus all along had not ceased to weep ; 
 and now, when he burst into loud sobs, there 
 was not one of those present, who was not 
 overcome by his tears and distress, except 
 Socrates himself . But he asked, "What are 
 you doing, you strange people ? My chief 
 reason for sending away the women, was that 
 we might be spared such discordance as this ; 
 for I have heard that a man ought to die in 
 solemn stillness. So pray be composed, and 
 restrain yourselves." 
 
 On hearing this, we were ashamed, and 
 forced back our tears. And he walked about 
 until he said he began to feel a heaviness in 
 his legs, and then he lay down on his back, as 
 
124 COMPARATIVE READINGS. 
 
 he had been told to do. Thereupon, the man 
 who had given the poison, taking hold of him, 
 examined from time to time his feet and legs, 
 and then, pressing one foot hard, asked if he 
 felt it, to which he answered, "No;" and 
 after that again his legs, and then still higher, 
 showing us the while that he was getting cold 
 and stiff. Then Socrates himself did the same, 
 and said that by the time the poison had 
 reached his heart, he should be gone. And 
 now he was cold nearly up to his middle, 
 when, uncovering his face, for he had covered 
 it up, he said, and these were his last words, 
 " Crito, we owe a cock to -^Esculapius. Pay 
 the debt, and do not neglect it." 
 
 " It shall be done, Socrates," said he. " But 
 think if you have nothing else to say." 
 
 There was no answer to this question ; but 
 after a moment Socrates stirred, and when the 
 man uncovered him, we saw that his face was 
 set. Crito, on seeing this, closed his mouth 
 and eyes. Such was the end, O Echecrates, of 
 our friend, a man whom we may well call, of 
 all men known to us of our day, the best, and, 
 besides, the wisest and most just. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. OF THE GOSPEL BY ST. JOHN. 
 
 ' ' Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and 
 scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a 
 crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and 
 
CO MP A RATIVE REA DINGS. 1 35 
 
 arrayed him in a purple garment; and they 
 came unto him and said, Hail, King of the 
 Jews ! And they struck him with their hands. 
 And Pilate went out again, and saith unto 
 them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye 
 may know that I find no crime in him. Jesus 
 therefore came out, wearing the crown of 
 thorns, and the purple garment. And Pilate 
 saith unto them, Behold, the man ! When 
 therefore the chief priests and the officers saw 
 him, they cried out, saying. Crucify him, 
 crucify him. Pilate saith unto them. Take 
 him yourselves, and crucify him : for I find 
 no crime in him. The Jews answered him. 
 We have a law, and by that law he ought to 
 die, because he made himself the Son of God. 
 ' ' When Pilate therefore heard this saying, 
 he was the more afraid ; and he entered into 
 the palace again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence 
 art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 
 Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou 
 not unto me? knowest thou not that I have 
 power to release thee, and have power to 
 crucify thee ? Jesus answered him. Thou 
 wouldst have no power against me, except it 
 were given thee from above : therefore he that 
 delivered me unto thee hath greater sin. 
 Upon this Pilate sought to release him : but 
 the Jews cried out, saying. If thou release 
 this man, thou art not Caesar's friend ; every 
 one that maketh himself a king speaketh 
 
136 CO MP A RA TI VE RE A DINGS. 
 
 against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard 
 these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat 
 down on the judgment-seat at a place called 
 The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 
 Now it was the Preparation of the passover ; it 
 was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto 
 the Jews, Behold, your King ! They therefore 
 cried out. Away with him, away with him, 
 crucify him. Pilate saith unto them. Shall I 
 crucify your King ? The chief priests answer- 
 ed. We have no king but Caesar. Then there- 
 fore he delivered him unto them to be crucified. 
 
 ' ' They took Jesus therefore : and he went 
 out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the 
 place called The place of a skull, which is 
 called in Hebrew Golgotha : where they cruci- 
 fied him, and with him two others, on either 
 side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate 
 wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. 
 And there was written, JESUS OF NAZAR- 
 ETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This 
 title therefore read many of the Jews : for the 
 place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to 
 the city ; and it was written in Hebrew, and 
 in Latin, and in Greek. The chief priests 
 of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not. 
 The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I 
 am King of the Jews. Pilate answered. What 
 I have written I have written. 
 
 ' ' The soldiers therefore, when they had 
 crucified Jesus, took his garments and made 
 
CO MP A RATIVE RE A DINGS. 127 
 
 four parts, to every soldier a part ; and also 
 the coat; now the coat was without seam, 
 woven from the top throughout. They said 
 therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, 
 but cast lots for it, whose it shall be ; that 
 the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith. 
 
 They parted my garments atnong them, 
 And upon my vesture did they cast lots. 
 
 These things therefore the soldiers did. But 
 there was standing by the cross of Jesus his 
 mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife 
 of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When 
 Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the dis- 
 ciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith 
 unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son ! 
 Then saith he to the disciple. Behold, thy 
 mother! And from that hour the disciple 
 took her unto his own home. 
 
 ' ' After this, Jesus, knowing that all things 
 are now finished, that the scripture might be 
 accomplished, saith, I thirst. There was set 
 there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a 
 sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and 
 brought it to his mouth. When Jesus there- 
 fore had received the vinegar, he said. It is 
 finished: and he bowed his head, and gave 
 up his spirit. 
 
 "The Jews therefore, because it was the 
 Preparation, that the bodies should not remain 
 on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of 
 that sabbath was a high day), asked of Pilate 
 
138 COMPARA TIVE READINGS. 
 
 that their legs might be broken, and that they 
 might be taken away. The soldiers therefore 
 came, and brake the legs of the first, and 
 of the other which was crucified with him: 
 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that 
 he was dead already, they brake not his legs : 
 howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear 
 pierced his side, and straightway there came 
 out blood and water. And he that hath seen 
 hath borne witness, and his witness is true: 
 and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye 
 also may believe. For these things came to 
 pass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, A 
 bone of him shall not be broken. And again 
 another scripture saith. They shall look on 
 him whom they pierced. 
 
 ' ' And after these things Joseph of Arima- 
 thaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly 
 for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he 
 might take away the body of Jesus : and Pilate 
 gave him leave. He came therefore, and took 
 away his body. And there came also Nico- 
 demus, he who at the first came to him by 
 night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
 about a hundred pound weight. So they took 
 the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths 
 with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is 
 to bury. Now in the place where he was 
 crucified there was a garden : and in the gar- 
 den a new tomb wherein was never man yet 
 laid. There then because of the Jews' Pre- 
 
CO MP AHA TI VE RE A DINGS. 129 
 
 paration (for the tomb was nigh at hand) they 
 laid Jesus." 
 
 In the Iliad the destines of the contending 
 armies, hemmed in between the Scean gates 
 and the " high-beaked ships " of the Greeks, 
 turn in every instance upon the favor or dis- 
 favor of the gods. They put courage into the 
 weakening will, and nerve the relaxing arm. 
 There is no wisdom tor device which thwarts 
 the purpose of All-ruling Jove. But Jove and 
 the Synod of Olympian deities were cruel and 
 capricious, and not unfrequently the subject of 
 unseemly jealousies and rivalries among them- 
 selves. The worship paid to them, could not 
 raise those who offered it to a higher moral 
 plane than the character which they conceived 
 and imparted to them. 
 
 The fortieth chapter of Isaiah may be used 
 for the purpose of presenting the contrast of 
 its ideas of God, with those in the record of 
 the council of the gods described in the eighth 
 book of the Iliad, from the first line to the 
 ninety-second. The writer uses Bryant's 
 translation, and the revised Old Testament. 
 After the exordium of comfort in the fortieth 
 chapter, Isaiah breaks out into a prophetic 
 strain, which looks forward to the reconcilia- 
 tion of all the disharmonies of the world : — 
 
 "The voice of one that crieth. Prepare ye 
 in the wilderness the way of the Lord, make 
 straight in the desert a highway for our God. 
 
130 CO MP A RA TI VE RE A DINGS. 
 
 Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low : and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough 
 places plain : and the glory of the Lord shall 
 be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together : 
 for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 Then follows a contrast between the dis- 
 solving scene of human life, and the stability 
 of the spoken Word of God. 
 
 ' ' The voice of one saying. Cry. And one 
 said. What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and 
 all the goodliness thereof is as the. flower of 
 the field : the grass withereth, the flower fad- 
 eth; because the breath of the Lord bloweth 
 upon it : surely the people is grass. The grass 
 withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of 
 our God shall stand for ever." 
 
 The summons to the teller of good things, 
 which comes next in order, includes a declara- 
 tion of Divine tenderness, the effect of which 
 is enhanced by its. position between passages 
 which are conspicuous for outlinings of the 
 " Mighty One." In the twelfth verse, we pass 
 into an analysis of the intellectual attributes of 
 God, which are revealed in the accurate ma- 
 thematical adjustments of His creation. He is 
 a measuring Deity ; counting and weighing 
 with unfailing precision. " Who hath meas- 
 ured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 
 and meted out heaven with the span, and 
 comprehended the dust of the earth in a 
 
COMPARATIVE READINGS. 131 
 
 measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, 
 and the hills in a balance?" 
 
 Of course, such an One needs no counselor. 
 He does not require an adviser. ' ' Who hath 
 directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his 
 counsellor hath taught him ? With whom 
 took he counsel, and who instructed him, and 
 taught him in the path of judgment, and 
 taught him knowledge, and shewed to him 
 the way of understanding? Behold, the na- 
 tions are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted 
 as the small dust of the balance : behold, he 
 taketh up the isles as a very little thing." 
 
 From verse sixteenth to the twenty-seventh 
 is a section of descriptive contrast between this 
 God and the idols made by human hands, 
 "less than nothing, and vanity," together 
 with assertions of his majestic sway over 
 nature and men, closing with an appeal to the 
 starry vault as the witness of his wisdom and 
 might. The verses remaining to the end of 
 the chapter apply this entire series of truths, 
 to the heavy-hearted people of God. 
 
 " Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, 
 O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and 
 my judgment is passed away from my God? 
 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? 
 the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of 
 the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is 
 weary; there is no searching of his under- 
 standing. He giveth power to the faint ; and 
 9 
 
132 CO MP A RA TI VE RIHA DINGS. 
 
 to him that hath no might he increaseth 
 strength. Even the youths shall faint and be 
 weary, and the young men shall utterly fall ; 
 but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength ; they shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles; they shall Tun, and not be 
 weary; they shall walk and hot faint." 
 
 Let the reading of the entire chapter be fol- 
 lowed by that of a selection from the eighth 
 book of the Iliad, in which we have the ac- 
 count of the assembling of the- gods at the call 
 of Jove, to receive his command against inter- 
 ference between the Greeks and Trojans. 
 These taken together present, it is thought, 
 as strong and graphic a description of the 
 "Thunderer," and his Synod of deities, as are 
 to be found in the Iliad. 
 
 ' ' Now mom in saffron robes had shed her light 
 O'er all the earth, when Jove the Thunderer 
 Summoned the gods to council on the heights 
 Of many-peaked Olympus. He addressed 
 The assembly, and all listened as he spake : — 
 
 ' Hear, all y& gods and all ye goddesses ! 
 While I declare the thought within my breast. 
 Let none of either sex presume to break 
 The law I give, but cheerfully obey. 
 That my design may sooner be fulfilled. 
 Whoever, stealing from the rest, shall seek 
 To aid the Grecian cause, or that of Troy, 
 Back to Olympus, scourged and in disgrace. 
 Shall he be brought, or I will seize and hurl 
 The offender down to rayless Tartarus, 
 Deep, deep in the great gulf below the earth. 
 With iron gates and threshold forged of brass. 
 As far beneath the shades as earth from heaven. 
 
COMPARA TIVE READINGS. 133 
 
 Then shall he learn how greatly I surpass 
 
 All other gods in power. Try if ye will, 
 
 Ye gods, that all may know ; suspend from heaven 
 
 A golden chain ; let all the immortal host 
 
 Cling to it from below : ye could not draw. 
 
 Strive as ye might, the all-disposing Jove 
 
 From heaven to earth. And yet, if I should choose 
 
 To draw it upward to me, I should lift, ■ 
 
 With it and you, the earth itself and sea 
 
 Together, and I then would bind the chain 
 
 Around the summit of the Olympian mount. 
 
 And they should hang aloft. So far my power 
 
 Surpasses all the power of gods and men.' 
 
 He spake ; and all the great assembly, hushed 
 In silence, wondered at his threatening words, 
 Until at length the blue-eyed Pallas said : — 
 
 ' Our Father, son of Saturn, mightiest 
 Among the potentates, we know thy power 
 Is not to be withstood, yet are we moved 
 With pity for the warlike Greeks, who bear 
 An evil fate and waste away in war. 
 If such be thy command, we shall refrain 
 From mingling in the combat, yet will aid 
 The Greeks with counsel which may be their guide. 
 Lest by thy wrath they perish uj:terly.' 
 
 The Cloud-compeller Jove replied, and smiled : — 
 ' Tritonia, daughter dear, be comforted. 
 I spake not in the anger of my heart. 
 And I have nought but kind intents for thee.' 
 
 He spake, and to his chariot yoked the steeds, 
 Fleet, brazen-footed, and with flowing manes 
 Of gold, and put his golden armor on. 
 And took the golden scourge, divinely wrought, 
 And, mounting, touched the coursers with the lash 
 To urge them onward. Not unwillingly 
 Flew they between the earth and starry heaven. 
 Until he came to Ida, moist with springs 
 And nurse of savage beasts, and to the height 
 Of Gargarus, where lay his sacred field, 
 And where his fragrant altar fumed. He checked 
 
134 COMPARATIVE READINGS. 
 
 Their course, and there the Father of the gods 
 And men released them from the yoke and caused 
 A cloud to gather round them. Then he sat, 
 Exulting in the fullness of his might. 
 Upon the summit, whence his eye beheld 
 The towers of Ilium and the ships of Greece. 
 
 Now in their tents the long-haired Greeks had shared 
 A hasty meal, and girded on their arms. 
 The Trojans, also, in their city armed 
 Themselves for war, as eager for the fight. 
 Though fewer ; for a hard necessity 
 Forced them to combat for their little ones 
 And wives. They set the city-portals wide. 
 And forth the people issued, foot and horse 
 Together, and a mighty din arose. 
 And now, when host met host, their shields and spears 
 Were mingled in disorder ; men of might 
 Encountered, cased in mail, and bucklers clashed 
 Their bosses ; loud the clamor : cries of pain 
 And boastful shouts arose from those who fell 
 And those who slew, and earth was drenched with blood. 
 
 "While yet 't was morning, and the holy light 
 Of day grew bright, the men of both the hosts 
 Were smitten and were slain ; but when the sun 
 Stood high in middle heaven, the All-Father took 
 His golden scales, and in them laid the fates 
 Which bring the sleep of death, — the fate of those 
 Who tamed the Trojan steeds, and those who warred 
 For Greece in brazen armor. By the midst 
 He held the balance, and, behold, the fate 
 Of Greece in that day's fight sank down imtil 
 It touched the nourishing earth, while that of Troy 
 Rose and flew upward toward the spacious heaven." 
 
 Chapters from the great epic of human sor- 
 row, the book of Job, may be read in connec- 
 tion with selections from the ' ' Promethus 
 Bound " of ^schylus, to make evident not 
 alone points of similarity in the mental diflficul- 
 
CO MP A RA TI VE RE A DINGS. 135 
 
 ties encountered in each case, but also to show- 
 contrast in the clearness with which these 
 difficulties were met and solved. The twenty- 
 eighth chapter of Job, read in connection with 
 the passage in " Promethus Bound," from the 
 address of Promethus, beginning with line ten 
 hundred and twenty-third to the end of the 
 poem, furnishes a good example of the contrast 
 just mentioned. 
 
 The translation of ^schylus by Dr. Plumptre 
 has been used for this reading by the author. 
 
 The following estimate of ^schylus by Prof, 
 W. S. Tyler designates some points of resem- 
 blance between the former and Job : — 
 
 ' ' The great problems which lie at the 
 foundation of religious faith and practice — the 
 same problems which are discussed by Job and 
 his three friends — are the main staple of nearly 
 all his tragedies. With him, these were not 
 idle speculations. They were practical ques- 
 tions, with which his own mind had mani- 
 festly struggled, on which his own destiny 
 was suspended, and into this solution of which 
 he enters with not a little of the earnestness of 
 a personal religious experience. The earlier 
 poets — Homer, Hesiod, the sacred poets, and 
 the authors of the so-called Homeric hymns — 
 had looked at them in their more purely poeti- 
 cal aspects, and believed the myths, perhaps, 
 with a more literal and implicit faith. The 
 subsequent philosophers — Plato, Aristotle, 
 
136 COMPARATIVE READINGS. 
 
 Plutarch — developed them more fully in a 
 system of doctrines. 
 
 ' ' -^schylus stands on the dividing line be- 
 tween them, no less poetical than the former, 
 scarcely less philosophical than the latter, but 
 more intensely practical, personal, and theo- 
 logical than either. The poet who most re- 
 sembles him in modem times is the Puritan 
 poet of Old England. A believer in metemp- 
 sychosis might well maintain that the same 
 soul dwelt in them both. To say nothing of 
 the obvious resemblance between the Prome- 
 thus of the former and the Satan of the latter 
 — which was in part, doubtless, the result of 
 intentional imitation — and not to speak of a 
 similar license in coining, or rather forging, 
 ponderous poetical epithets, both were charac- 
 terized by the same natural sublimity, both 
 possessed by the same strong political and 
 patriotic sympathies, and both fired with the 
 same intense earnestness of religious feeling. 
 Dante was another kindred spirit. The In- 
 ferno, the Paradise Lost, and the Promethus 
 Bound, should be read and studied together. 
 The Agamemnon is often and justly compared 
 with Macbeth. 
 
 ' ' But the English tragedy illustrates more the 
 workings of the human soul, while the Greek 
 leads us to think almost entirely of the provi- 
 dence of God. In this respect, perhaps, the 
 tragedies of ^schylus find their nearest coun- 
 
CO MP A RA TI VE RE A DINGS. 137 
 
 terpart in the book of Job. On the whole, 
 there is no other book of which the reader of 
 -iEschylus will be more frequently reminded : 
 the form of both is dramatic; the scene in 
 both is primitive; the characters are the 
 patriarchs and princes of an early age; the 
 interlocutors discuss the same subjects; the 
 same sublime and awful mystery casts its dark 
 shadow over them ; they grapple with themes 
 too vast for their comprehension ; they wrestle 
 with beings too mighty to be resisted*; they 
 are overwhelmed with the contrast between 
 the littleness and vileness of man, and the 
 majesty and glory of God ; and they cry out : 
 ' What is man, that he should be pure ? How 
 shall man be just with his Maker? Who, by 
 searching, can find out God? Lo, these are 
 parts of his ways; but the thunder of his 
 power who can understand?' It is not, then, 
 a misnomer, to speak of the theology of ^schy- 
 lus ; nor can it fail to be a question of deep 
 interest ; What were the theological opinions 
 of such a mind, so far removed from the light 
 of revelation?" 
 
" Each mind has its own method." Emerson. 
 
 " On his death-bed John Knox asked his wife to read the 
 fifteenth chapter of i Corinthians, the magnificent descrip- 
 tion of the resurrection, and blessed God for the consolation 
 which that chapter had given him. He afterward asked his 
 wife to read, as he phrased it, the part of Scripture ' where 
 he first cast anchor,' or began to cherish strong hope of 
 personal salvation. It was the seventeenth chapter of 
 John's Gospel. Telling his three fingers, he said. Now I 
 commend my soul, spirit and body into thy hands, O Lord." 
 
 Wm. R. Williams, D. D. 
 
 " If a man looks to the law to make him holy, the highest 
 result will be a cry of anguish, ' Wretched man that I am, 
 who shall deliver me ?' But, turning to the gospel, he sees 
 hope of being delivered, and becoming holy, and may say, 
 ' I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' " 
 
 John A. Broadiis, D. D. 
 
 " What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay 
 for an answer." Lord Bacon. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 Before one fixes upon any method of bibli- 
 cal investigation, he must needs have made a 
 spiritual discovery of the Book itself. Only 
 thus can he assign to it its proper rank among 
 books. Prof. Tischendorf has described his 
 joy over the discovery of the Sinaitic MSS. of 
 the complete New Testament in the convent 
 of St. Catherine, at the foot of the Mount of 
 the Law, in these terms : ' ' Not till I reached 
 my chamber, did I give myself up to the over- 
 powering impression of the reality. My wild- 
 est hopes and dreams were more than accom- 
 plished. ... In the presence of the new- 
 found treasure, it was not possible for me to 
 sleep." 
 
 An unknown writer, whose noble acrostic 
 forms the one hundred and nineteenth psalm, 
 itself a hymn of praise for those ' ' statutes ' ' 
 which had become his "songs," says: "I 
 rejoice in thy word as one that findeth great 
 spoil." The original finding of the Bible as 
 God's Word is followed by innumerable sub- 
 ordinate discoveries, which in turn stimulate 
 the zest of search, and thus keep the soul 
 eager and alert in its life-study of the sacred 
 
140 METHODS OF BIBLE STUD V. 
 
 volume. Many of the themes of the Book 
 outreach human comprehension. But its sub- 
 ject-matter may be classified, and by industri- 
 ous application apprehended, as statements, 
 and the connection between the statements 
 recognized. Desultory study should be sup- 
 planted by study according to a plan. It is 
 the declaration of one of our noblest theolo- 
 gians, ' ' that the power of method is closely 
 allied to the power of genius." Says Dr. 
 Shedd, in a paragraph preceding the sentence 
 quoted above, " As in anatomy, the dissection 
 follows the veins, or muscles, or nerves, or 
 limbs in their branchings off, so the natural 
 method, everywhere, never cuts across, but 
 along the inward structure, following it out 
 into its organic divisions. The science of 
 method aids in discovering such a mode of 
 investigation, and tends to produce in the 
 investigator that fine, mental tact, by which 
 he instinctively approaches a subject from the 
 right point, and, like the slate quanyman, 
 lays it open, along the line of its structure, 
 and its fracture." 
 
 In another place, he adds these suggestive 
 words : ' ' What an interest would be thrown 
 around the clerical life of one, who, in the 
 providence of God, is separated from educated 
 men and large libraries, by collecting about 
 him the principal works upon the doctrine of 
 the atonement, e. g., from the patristic, scho- 
 
METHODS OF BIBLE STUD Y. 141 
 
 lastic, reformed, and present methods, and 
 making them his study for a few hours every 
 week. What a varied, yet substantially iden- 
 tical soteriology would pass slowly, but im- 
 pressively, before his continually-expanding 
 and strengthening mind ! Carrying him back 
 continually, as such investigation naturally 
 and spontaneously would, to an examination 
 of the scripture matter out of which this body 
 of dogmatic literature has been expanded, 
 what a determined strength and broad com- 
 prehensiveness of theological character would 
 be gradually and solidly built up, like a coral 
 isle, in that man's mind." 
 
 There is an obvious connection between 
 methods of private study of the Scriptures, 
 and successful uses ot them in public. Differ- 
 ent students of the Word have expressed pref- 
 erence for different plans of searching for its 
 treasure. Not every miner works in precisely 
 the same way. 
 
 I. Study of themes and words has been 
 remunerative, in a high degree, to students, 
 ancient and modern. Dr. James H. Brookes 
 bears emphatic testimony, as follows, to this 
 method : ' ' The whole Bible should be read in 
 regular order from the beginning to the end, 
 and it should be studied by subjects or. words. 
 Take any doctrine, any topic, any word, any 
 name, and follow it through the various books 
 from Genesis to Revelation, and glad sur- 
 
143 METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 prises will attend every step of the investiga- 
 tion. There is not a chapter in the Old Testa- 
 ment that will not become luminous by this 
 method of searching, and there is not a chapter 
 that will fail to open up a rich and interesting 
 field, over which the delighted mind can roam 
 for hours, discovering new beauties at every 
 step, and new and deeper meaning at every 
 successive examination. This assertion may 
 seem extravagant to those who have never 
 tried the plan here suggested, but there are 
 many, thank God, who know the joy of such 
 study. They will declare, with one voice, 
 that the Bible has become a new book to them, 
 that all other books in comparison are tame 
 and insipid, and that ten thousand proofs of 
 its Divine origin, which they find it impossible 
 to put into words, are continually bursting 
 into their view. If asked why they believe 
 God made the Bible, they would be disposed 
 to reply, ' For the same reason that we 
 believe He made the world ; He who made the 
 one made the other.' " 
 
 In an address, delivered at the recent Bible- 
 Inspiration Conference by Dr. Geo. S. Bishop, 
 he argues for the supreme authority of Scrip- 
 ture, because of the character of the investiga- 
 tion challenged for the Word of God. ' ' The 
 Bible courts the closest scrutiny. Its open 
 pages blaze the legend : ' Search the Scrip- 
 tures!' Ereunao — 'Search.' It is a sports- 
 
METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 143 
 
 man's term, and borrowed from the chase. 
 'Trace out '-^' track out' — follow the word 
 in all its usages and windings. Scent it out 
 to its remotest meanings, as a dog the hare. 
 'They searched,' again says St. Luke, in the 
 Acts, of the Bereans. There is another word, 
 anakrino, ' they divided up,' analyzed, sifted, 
 pulverized, as in a mortar, to the last 
 thought. Apply your microscopes, apply 
 your telescopes, to the material of Scripture. 
 They separate, but do not fray, its threads. 
 They broaden out its nebulae, but find them 
 clustered stars. They do not reach the hint of 
 poverty in Scripture. They nowhere touch on 
 coarseness in the fabric, nor on limitations in 
 horizon, as always is the case when tests of 
 such a character are brought to bear on any 
 work of man's. You put a drop of water, or 
 a fly's wing, under a microscope. The 
 stronger the lens, the more that drop of water 
 will expand, till it becomes an ocean filled 
 with sporting animalcules. The higher the 
 power, the more exquisite, the more silken, 
 become the tissues of the fly's wing, until it 
 attenuates almost to the golden and gossamer 
 threads of a seraph's. So is it with the Word 
 of God. The more scrutiny, the more divin- 
 ity ; the more dissection, the more perfection. 
 We cannot bring to it a test too penetrating, 
 nor a light too lancinating, nor a touchstone 
 too exacting." 
 
144 METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 We cannot afford, in this specific method of 
 study, to neglect the illustrations and symbols 
 of the Scripture. The Bible seems to have 
 been largely -written out of doors. Doubtless 
 it was part of the Divine plan to make the 
 forms of external nature the proper vesture of 
 Divine truth. The men of the Bible fitted the 
 truth to its proper symbol. They saw double, 
 in that they saw the body of truth, when they 
 saw its spirit. 
 
 " The swan on still Saint Mary's lake 
 Float double, swan and shadow." 
 
 When Jacob reads out, in prophetic vision, the 
 future of his sons, he finds the history of 
 Judah in the lion ; of Benjamin in the wolf ; 
 and of Joseph in the fruitful bough whose 
 branches run over the wall. In the discourses 
 of our Lord, both parable and figure were 
 drawn from familiar sources. Did not His own 
 trade furnish Him, by natural and easy transi- 
 tions, with suggestive illustrations ? The 
 planning and building of the house, the safe 
 and the insecure foundation, and finally the 
 making ready of mansions in the Father's 
 house, is there not in all these a reminiscence 
 of the carpenter life at Nazareth ? 
 
 n. The Bible may be divided according to 
 authorship, and each writer's production read 
 by itself . In a sermon, entitled "The Won- 
 derful Book," Dr. James E. Gilbert says of 
 
METHODS OF BIBLE STUD V. 145 
 
 the Bible writers : ' ' About thirty different 
 men, residing in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, 
 and Babylon, were employed on the Old 
 Testament, and they were distributed over 
 eleven centuries, beginning with 1500 B. C, 
 very few of them being contemporary. The 
 New Testament was written by eight men, 
 scattered about the Roman empire, having but 
 little association together; and they were oc- 
 cupied, from first to last, about sixty years. 
 What might be expected, under such circum- 
 stances ? Just what always occurs in every 
 department of purely human endeavor, pro- 
 vided these men wrote self -moved. Whatever 
 man does is imperfect. They who come after 
 discover and correct the mistakes of those who 
 went before. Each Testament, therefore, if it 
 was the work of men, ought to present a series 
 of advances from error to truth, from lesser to 
 fuller knowledge. 
 
 ' ' What did occur ? Samuel did not correct 
 Moses : Malachi did not dispute Samuel. The 
 thirty writers of the Old Testament are in full 
 accord throughout. The work of each, perfect 
 in itself, needed no revision. No one assumed 
 superiority over another. Each accepted at its 
 full original value what his predecessors wrote. 
 Each had one and the same great theme, 
 religion — the same religion, always the same 
 religion. No one, however religion fared 
 among the people, whether it was received or 
 
146 METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 rejected, appeared to know any defect in 
 religion, or dream of any change in it. Each 
 taught with boldness the same great funda- 
 mental and saving truths, whether men would 
 hear or forbear. Each had one end in view, 
 to testify of the promised Saviour, who was 
 coming through the seed of Abraham, and to 
 prepare for His advent. 
 
 "And, when the last sentence was writ- 
 ten, that purpose was as successfully ac- 
 complished as if, living in the same city at the 
 same time, they had been permitted to 
 hold frequent conference for the joint per- 
 formance of such a task under specific direc- 
 tions, with the materials carefully collected 
 and placed in their hands. Working apart, 
 they worked together. They were never 
 diverted from their one theme, religion — the 
 same religion taught in the Old Testament, 
 but that religion now a gospel, the promised 
 Saviour having become historic. They never 
 criticise or oppose each other. Each appears 
 to have a definite part. Their completed writ- 
 ings show, in an orderly and beautiful manner, 
 how the Christ came, how He established His 
 kingdom, how He invited all men into it, how 
 He treats those who enter, how finally that 
 kingdom shall become universal." 
 
 HI. The Bible may be read by its great 
 dispensational divisions. There are sharply- 
 defined historical periods, which may be 
 
METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 147 
 
 studied by themselves. These great periods 
 xnay be stated thus : — 
 
 (i) From the creation to the fall. 
 
 (2) From the fall to the flood. 
 
 (3) From the flood to the calling of Abraham. 
 
 (4) From the calling of Abraham to Moses. 
 
 (5) From Moses to David. 
 
 (6) From David to the Babylonian captivity. 
 
 (7) From the Babylonian captivity to the advent of Christ. 
 
 (8) From the advent of Christ to His resurrection. 
 
 (9) From Christ's resurrection to the close of the New 
 Testament canon. 
 
 IV. The study of the Bible by the separate 
 books -which constitute it, has some advantages 
 over any of the preceding methods. While 
 each book is an individual production, each is 
 specially connected with what follows. Indeed 
 one book creates the necessity for another. 
 The family of Abraham, as we find them in 
 Genesis, become a nation, and Exodus follows 
 them into their wider theatre of history. If 
 there had been no advent of the Holy Spirit, 
 the New Testament would have closed with 
 the gospels. It is not difficult to carry on a 
 general line of reading in connection with the 
 study of a particular book. Take, for instance, 
 the gospel of Matthew, and concentrate atten- 
 tion upon it for six months. Settle these 
 questions : How does this gospel differ from 
 the remaining three ? What terms are found 
 in it never found in the others? What is its 
 ground-thought and dominant purpose ? In 
 10 
 
148 METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 time this gospel will leave in the mind its 
 mark of identity, and, as the study is extended 
 to other books, they will every one be found 
 to exhibit peculiar features, like the planets of 
 the solar system, under a powerful telescope. 
 These books have each their well-defined pur- 
 pose. And each supplements the others. The 
 Bible is a mosaic of many-colored stones, each 
 one of which has its own original lustre. Like 
 the jewels on the breastplate of the High 
 Priest, each shines with a glow peculiar to 
 itself. 
 
 The words of Dr. J. A. Broadus are in point 
 here : ' ' You cannot understand any book if 
 you read it only by fragments, I mean the first 
 time you read it. A cultivated gentleman re- 
 marked at dinner to-day that he was reading, 
 for the third time, that beautiful book of piety, 
 ' The Memorials of a Quiet Life,' — reading it 
 for the third time, fifteen minutes of every 
 day he said. That is very well when he is 
 reading it for the third time ; but if he had 
 read it fifteen minutes of every day the first 
 time, he could not have entered so fully into 
 the meaning of the book. The celebrated 
 John Locke says, in the preface to his commen- 
 tary on the Epistles to Paul, that he had found 
 by experience that in order to understand one 
 of those Epistles, it will not do to take it in 
 fragments. Why, suppose (the philosopher 
 goes on) that a man has received a letter 
 
METHODS OF BIBLE STUD Y. 149 
 
 from an absent friend, whom he loves very- 
 much — a letter full of valuable instruction to 
 him — and that he reads a page to-day, and 
 then lays it down ; the next day he begins at 
 the beginning of the second page, and does 
 not notice much what was at the end of the 
 first, and reads the second page ; the third day 
 he begins at the top of the third page, and 
 reads that. How much will he know about 
 the letter when he is done? He tells you, 
 perhaps, I have been reading a letter from 
 so and so, a letter full of valuable instruction, 
 and you ask him what it is about ; he does not 
 quite know what it is about, and no wonder, 
 with such a process of reading." 
 
" As the barley-winnower, holding with pain 
 Aloft in waiting his chaflf and grain, 
 Joyfully welcomes the far-ofE breeze 
 Sounding the pine-tree's slender kfeys, 
 So he who had waited long to hear 
 The sound of the Spirit drawing near. 
 Like that which the son of Iddo heard 
 When the feet of angels the myrtles stirred. 
 Felt the answer of prayer, at last. 
 As over his church the afflatus passed. 
 Breaking its sleep as breezes break 
 To sun-bright ripples a stagnant lake." 
 
 John G. Whittier. 
 
 "No powerful array of logic is recommended for con- 
 vincing an unbelieving world of the Deity of Christ. On 
 the contrary we are admonished that ' no man can say that 
 Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit.' " 
 
 Rev. A. J. Gordon, D. D. 
 
 " The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ; He 
 comes for that purpose. I believe the world would have 
 forgotten Christ's death as soon as they forgot His birth, if 
 it had not been for the Holy Spirit.'' 
 
 D. L. Moody. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BIBLE IN THE PRAYER MEETING. 
 
 The venerated form of a Scotch deacon, 
 who was "mighty in the Scriptures," is 
 always associated in the mind of the writer, 
 with thoughts of the uses of the Bible in the 
 prayer meeting. Deacon S was a gar- 
 dener in a western city, who loved his flowers 
 and his Bible, and who when he came to the 
 meeting would sometimes say, ' ' I have no 
 word of my own to-night, and so I'll repeat a 
 psalm." With his Scotch accent, and deep 
 looking insight into its meanings, what a con- 
 tribution of light and power the recitation of 
 the psalm was to his fellow-worshipers ! The 
 Word has a new interest to us after it has 
 passed through human lips. Carried at the 
 bedside of the dying in the tones of a familiar 
 voice to the ear, it succors the fainting spirit, 
 even as Bunyan quaintly says of the waters of 
 the river of death, "they were deeper or shal- 
 lower as one believed in the King of the 
 place." Twice the apostle Paul, and once 
 the apostle -James exhorts to the use of 
 psalms in the ministry of Christians one to 
 another. 
 
 The memorizing of different portions of 
 
152 THE BIBLE IN THE 
 
 the Bible with special reference to sucli 
 uses would greatly augment the interest 
 of the prayer meeting services. The best 
 memorizing is that which comes from loving 
 interest in the promises of the sacred volume. 
 We learn them by heart, as we are accustomed 
 to say, when they take hold of our affections, 
 as the most cherished words of friends have 
 done. Who could forget his mother's farewell 
 injunction? Who would forget the provisions 
 of a will, which had made him the inheritor 
 of a vast estate, which will was written in 
 thoughtful love for the future of the one 
 named? Love is the best prompter of the 
 memory, and in the assemblies of Christians 
 the repetition of a promise which has helped 
 the one who repeats it, is frequently more 
 grateful to those present than any other por- 
 tion of the service. The results justify a most 
 deliberate preparation for the prayer meeting 
 service. 
 
 The Holy Spirit does not suggest any 
 passage of Scripture which has not been 
 previously lodged in the memory. If the 
 topic for the evening is announced on Sunday 
 for the mid-week prayer meeting, a little time 
 given to it by each member will enable him to 
 select and study some one or more passages 
 appropriate to it. Women and children may 
 come up with their offering of truth, the fruit 
 of their lips. What variety would such general 
 
PRA YER MEETING. 153 
 
 participation in the service give ! Indeed such 
 variety and interest the writer and many 
 others have witnessed in gatherings for prayer 
 and praise. The preparation suggested would 
 store the memory in time with the riches of 
 Divine truth. 
 
 Mr. Ruskin's testimony to the value of 
 Scripture memorized should not be forgot- 
 ten. Writing of his oldest Bible, he says: 
 ' ' My mother's list of the chapters with 
 which, having learned every syllable accu- 
 rately, she established my soul in life, has just 
 fallen out of it. Exodus, chapters 15th and 
 20th. 2 Samuel, chapter ist, from 17th verse 
 to the end. i Kings, chapter 8th, Psalms 
 23rd, 32nd, goth, 91st, 103rd, ii2th, 119th, 
 139th. Proverbs, chapters 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 12th. 
 ■ Isaiah, chapter s8th. Matthew, chapters 5th, 
 6th, 7th. Acts, chapter 26th. i Corinthians, 
 chapters 13th, isth. James, chapter 4th. 
 Revelation, chapters 5th, 6th. And truly, 
 though I have picked up the elements of a 
 little further knowledge, — in mathematics, 
 meteorology, and the like, in after life — and 
 owe not a little to the teaching of many peo- 
 ple, this maternal installation of my mind in 
 that property of chapters, I count very confi- 
 dently the most precious, and, on the whole, 
 the one essential part of all my education." 
 The repetition of Bible promises stimulates 
 prayer and gives it intelligent direction. 
 
154 THE BIBLE IN THE 
 
 All legitimate sources should be drawn from, 
 to make the prayer meeting attractive and pop- 
 ular. The conditions of attractiveness are the 
 same as those of power and effectiveness. The 
 Spirit of God working in human hearts, 
 invests them with a marvelous, though uncon- 
 scious ability to draw others. When the 
 Pentecost effusion took place, it was noised 
 abroad, and the multitude came together. 
 Good men have sometimes a morbid aversion 
 to popularity. In its best sense, it is something 
 to be sought for the prayer meeting. Our 
 early memories of social meetings which were 
 unsocial, and of prayer meetings in which 
 there was no real prayer, are vivid -and 
 conclusive, as to the effect of an unpopular 
 meeting. Says Dr. Cuyler, in a recent tract, 
 entitled "The Model Prayer Meeting:" 
 ' ' What is more pitiful than to see a poor 
 embarrassed elder or deacon sit before a pet- 
 rified company, and after a long, awful pause, 
 in which you can count the clock-ticks, be- 
 seechingly implore ' some brother present to 
 improve the time? ' As if the dreary dribble 
 of dullness that was forced out by such a pro- 
 cess was not a downright misimprovement and 
 murder of the sweet sacred hour of devotion. 
 It is no wonder that so many of us grew up 
 with a loathing for the very name, and next 
 to a taste of the birch that grew behind the 
 school house, we dreaded a sentence to ' go 
 
PRA YER MEETING. 155 
 
 to prayer meeting.' Our only solace was a 
 sound nap, until some one shook our eyes 
 open, and with an admonitory thump informed 
 us that ' meetin's out ; it is time to go home.' " 
 What a libel is a meeting thus characterized, 
 upon that Christianity which kindled holy fer- 
 vors of apostles and martyrs, and which now 
 sustains and satisfies millions of souls amid 
 conflicts and tribulation ! We should bring a 
 sense of Divine things with us to the social 
 meeting, instead of going there to obtain it. 
 The "open reward," which is conferred upon 
 secret prayer, should be waited for here. As in 
 the building of the old temple, the stones were 
 squared and hewn outside, and rose noiselessly 
 to their places, so the work preparatory to suc- 
 cess in supplication, should be done elsewhere. 
 The soul should come like a cloud full of rain. 
 The ends thus indicated can be secured only 
 as we recognize the permanency of the dispen- 
 sation of the Spirit. The Spirit has already 
 come. The prophecy of Joel is fulfilled. As 
 the atmosphere about us presses so many 
 pounds upon the square inch, so does this 
 Spirit press upon our hearts to be received. 
 We are directed to cease our resistance to Him. 
 We are exhorted not to grieve or quench Him. 
 Oh ! for eyes to behold His present and per- 
 petual ministration ! The Word is always 
 nigh us, and when used by us with brevity 
 and appropriateness, we furnish the first essen- 
 
158 THE BIBLE IN THE 
 
 tial conditions of success in the social meeting. 
 An article appeared not long since in a relig- 
 ious journal entitled "Prayer Meeting Killers." 
 There is the brother whose exercises are nearly 
 always too lengthy. How the pastor writhes 
 inwardly when he rises ! We had a member 
 in the old church in New England who, by 
 the clock, prayed one-half hour, and spoke the 
 same length of time in one meeting. For 
 years the exercises of this same brother con- 
 stituted the heaviest affliction through which 
 the church were called to pass. The person 
 who habitually prays and speaks briefly and 
 to the point, is always welcome when he par- 
 ticipates in the meeting. On the other hand, 
 no graces of Christian character make amends 
 for prolixity and tediousness. Few persons 
 who take part in our meetings are aware how 
 much time they occupy. No rule can be given 
 to cover all cases. There is a great diversity 
 in the numbers and gifts of those who compose 
 the social meetings in our churches. But we 
 venture the opinion that a change for better 
 edification would be inaugurated in most of 
 them, if those who are active in them were 
 more brief in their exercises. We live in an 
 age of rapid movement. In every department 
 there is concentration, quickness. Besides, 
 the examples of prayer in Scripture are all 
 brief. The longest prayer reported in the 
 Bible was that offered at the time of the dedi- 
 
PRA YER MEETING. 157 
 
 cation of Solomon's temple, an occasion of 
 national and extraordinary interest. It can be 
 read tlirougli leisurely in seven minutes. The 
 Lords's prayer may be read in the same de- 
 liberate manner, in one minute. Those of 
 the apostles are. concise and comprehensive, 
 never long. 
 
 Careful study of the prayers of the Bible 
 cannot fail to equip us for efficiency in the 
 prayer meeting service. Prayer is both a gift 
 and an acquisition. The original aptitude for 
 voicing our own desires and those of others, 
 can be cultivated and directed. Cultivation 
 comes from devout exercise of the gift at suit- 
 able times ; and direction, from a study of the 
 great lines of Scripture petitions. As the wool 
 takes its tinge from the dye, so our prayers 
 should bear the predominant colors of biblical 
 thought, and only by habitual familiarity with 
 that thought as experienced by psalmists and 
 prophets, by apostles and by our Lord Him- 
 self, who taught His disciples how to pray, can 
 we come into possession of it. ' ' The prayers 
 of David the Son of Jesse," furnish us with 
 moulds of expression for how many and varied 
 spiritual conditions. With him we say, ' ' thy 
 servant hath found in his heart to pray this 
 prayer unto thee." The purposes of God be- 
 come the prayers of His people before they 
 are accomplished in the earth. He who is 
 instructed unto the kingdom knows what 
 
158 THE BIBLE IN THE 
 
 keys to touch, and all who are instructed in 
 like manner respond to His supplication, so 
 that in the assembly for special prayer, the 
 voice of one becomes the mouth-piece of many. 
 Especially does it contribute to true edifica- 
 tion, if our prayers are in the currents of New- 
 Testament revelation. The prayers of the 
 Epistles strike some notes not struck even in 
 the Psalms. In his letter to the Ephesians, 
 the apostle reports a petition of his own, 
 whose breadth and compass make it a model 
 worthy of much explorative study. This peti- 
 tion, embracing verses from the fifteenth of 
 the first chapter to its end, records a succession 
 of desires expressed to God in behalf of those 
 to whom he wrote, which rise in an ascending 
 series, like the terraces of a lofty mountain. 
 Each one of these desires hinges upon the 
 knowledge of certain facts concerning the per- 
 son and work of Christ for us. The great 
 apostle in his Roman prison, was in no region 
 of misty speculation when he bowed there in 
 prayer for distant brethren. The luminous 
 facts of Christ's redemptive service shone out 
 one by one before his clarified vision, and one 
 by one he names them in this wonderful plead- 
 ing. What enlargement and solid footing 
 would be imparted to our prayers if we could, 
 even in a faint degree, imbibe the spirit of 
 this single supplication ! This apostle falls 
 naturally in his Epistles, into the habit of 
 
PR A YER MEETING. 159 
 
 quoting his own prayers. In every Epistle 
 written by him, the windows of his room or 
 cell, as the case might be, opened toward the 
 Heavenly Jerusalem, so that there were inter- 
 vals between the counsels given, in which his 
 heart went out in prayer. Indeed prayer arose 
 spontaneously out of the recognition of certain 
 fundamental facts, so that he says : ' ' For 
 this cause I bow my knees unto the Father." 
 Did he not drop his pen as these high vistas 
 opened to him, that he might bow his knees 
 in adoration and prayer! A similar natural 
 stimulus to prayer comes to every believer 
 from patient looking into the Word; and 
 prayer gets its powerful leverage out of ipivine 
 facts. Thus private study and prayer have 
 their "open reward" in the prayer meeting, 
 even as the same teacher and apostle has said in 
 his first Epistle to the Corinthians: — " How is 
 it then, brethren? when ye come together, 
 every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doc- 
 trine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath 
 an interpretation. Let all things be done unto 
 edifying." 
 
 It is quite true that the prayer meeting held 
 strictly to the New Testament model, is sub- 
 ject to variations of mood, and different 
 degrees and kinds of spiritual interest. In the 
 nature of the case it brings the people, without 
 the intervention of any form, directly before 
 God. Its special character at any given time. 
 
160 THE BIBLE IN THE PR A YER MEETING. 
 
 will of course reflect the characteristic spirit- 
 ual state of those who gather to it. A period 
 of sorrow will naturally voice itself in petitions 
 for comfort ; one of joy will find its outlet in 
 psalms which have been made to voice the 
 emotions appropriate to this condition. And 
 the word of truth, if used with reference to 
 these changing states of the Christian life, 
 will be found to contain resources ample 
 enough and varied enough to meet every case. 
 
" It standeth and will stand, 
 Without or change or age, 
 The word of majesty and light, 
 The Church's heritage." 
 
 " An English antiquarian, who had the curiosity to num- 
 ber the existing commentaries upon the Scriptures, or upon 
 portions of them, found them to exceed sixty thousand." 
 
 " Bible study is not the weighing of text against text, but 
 the estimating of great streams of tendency, the following 
 of great lines of thought, the apprehension of the spirit of 
 great spiritual thinkers, who had the mind of Christ. The 
 single verse is no longer like a jewel set in a wall, which 
 one can pluck out and carry as an independent thing. It is 
 a window by which we may look through the waU, and see 
 the richness it encloses." Phillips Brooks. 
 
 "And he said unto them. Therefore every scribe who 
 hath been made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like 
 unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out 
 of his treasure things new and old." Matt. xiii. 52. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS. (OLD" TESTAMENT.) 
 
 The plan of the present work will not admit 
 of much detail in analysis of words and verses. 
 The aim has rather been to indicate some re- 
 sources of the Bible largely unused in public 
 worship and teaching, and to stimulate inquiry 
 with reference to its ampler and more produc- 
 tive utility in these direct-ions. It is hoped 
 that the present chapter, with that which is to 
 follow, by some general classification of themes 
 to be read in connection, together with a brief 
 analysis of the subject-matter of the passages 
 selected, may furnish definite and practical 
 examples of habitual work in Bible-reading. 
 In making choice, first, of selections from the 
 Old Testament for the practice indicated, one 
 labors under what the French call ' ' the embar- 
 rassment of riches. " There are no waste places 
 in Scripture like the "Great American Desert" 
 put down upon our old maps. Even what 
 were once thought dry tables of genealogy are 
 found to contain hints and suggestions which 
 shed light upon important historical, chrono- 
 logical, and philological questions. The story 
 of Joseph, in which one almost sees, across the 
 tracts of years, the coming and going of 
 II 
 
164 ANAL YSIS OF CHAPTERS : 
 
 Joseph's brethren between Canaan and Egypt ; 
 the history of Ruth, the gentle Moabitess ; the 
 book itself the Old Testament idyl of the 
 fields, in the reading of which one almost 
 hears the rustling of the wheat on the slopes 
 of Bethlehem ; the book of Esther, where we 
 follow the fortunes of a Jewish maiden into 
 the splendors of the Persian Court; — the time 
 would fail us to unfold these. It is well that 
 we individualize these treasure-houses, how- 
 ever, and that other memorable portions be 
 marked by names, which enable us to classify 
 and recall them easily. Others who have 
 wrought in this mine for treasure, have already 
 named some of them. A few of the natural 
 designations of notable Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures are given. 
 
 "The Birth Song of Sarah," Gen. xxi. 6, 7; 
 " The Charge of Joshua," Josh, xxiii. ; "The 
 Oration of Moses on the Plains of Moab, with 
 his song and blessing," Deut. xxix. and xxx. 
 chapters; "Samuel's sentence upon Saul," i 
 Sam. XV. chapter ; ' ' The Swan Song of David," 
 2 Sam. xxiii. chap., 1-7 verses; "The Chal- 
 lenge of Elijah," I Kings, xviii. chap., 21-40 
 verses. 
 
 What throng of battle-triumphs and trum- 
 pet-peals of prophets upon special occasions ! 
 What victorious psalms and proverbs, set 
 before men as warning signals, might be 
 added to these! They are but examples of 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 165 
 
 portions of the body of Old Testament revela- 
 tion, which have been named in view of the 
 conspicuous feature which they bear. 
 
 Under the title, Sin in the Old Testament, 
 several selections have been made, which, 
 together, constitute a historical perspective of 
 the theme, and the whole of which can be 
 made available for an evening reading. 
 
 I. Sin in its Origin. Third chapter of 
 • Genesis. 
 
 Professor Bush has said, "to resolve this 
 chapter into an allegory, creates more diffi- 
 culties than it removes." The severe sim- 
 plicity of the record ; the direct movement of 
 the thought, toward the solution of the ques- 
 tion of the origin of sin ; the unstated, but 
 obviously representative character of the trans- 
 action, are notes of inspiration, which are 
 clearly disclosed in an impressive reading 
 without comment. The chapter taken alone 
 is a complete unity in its subject-matter, one 
 of the " little Bibles" within the greater Book. 
 The record of the temptation, and fall proper, 
 begins with the first verse and closes with the 
 seventh, a sad story soon told ; but carrying 
 the roots of a race-alienation from God. The 
 serpent appears suddenly in paradise, then 
 
 " Another heaven 
 From heaven-gate not far, founded in view 
 On the clear Hyaline, the glassy sea.'' 
 
 The brief colloquy with the woman issues in 
 
166 ANAL YSIS OF CHAPTERS : 
 
 the first sin. This very result brings Jehovah 
 upon the scene, and most of the remaining 
 verses of the chapter are devoted to questions 
 and answers, as between Himself, Adam, and • 
 Eve, followed by the address to the serpent, 
 and the first evangel, a clear sunbeam, shining 
 through the gloom of the sorrow and labor of 
 the primal curse. The last section is the de- 
 liberate and solemn closing up of the scene 
 and period of the first probation. 
 
 " And the Lord God said. Behold, the man 
 is become as one of us, to know good and 
 evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and 
 take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live 
 foreverj therefore the Lord God sent him 
 forth from the garden of Eden, to till the 
 ground from whence he was taken. So he 
 drove out the man; and he placed at the 
 east of the garden of Eden the ,Cherubim, 
 and the flame of a sword which turned every 
 way, to keep the way of the tree of life." 
 
 The reach and compass of the interrogations 
 in this selection deserve special study. The 
 first insinuation of the tempter was by a ques- 
 tion, and the penetrating inquisition of Jeho- 
 vah which follows the deed of transgression, 
 suggests the magnitude of the issues involved, 
 as no other form of the statement could do. 
 The passage is to be studied as a whole, with 
 a view to recognition of its different elements ; 
 and then read with special deliberation and 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 167 
 
 use of pause between the scenes described. 
 This may be followed by a picture of 
 
 II. Sin as rebellion. 2 Samuel xviii. chapter. 
 
 The last scene of the life of David's ill- 
 starred son, is given with unusual dramatic 
 skill in this chapter, which may be divided as 
 follows: — 
 
 First. David's charge to the commanders 
 before the battle of the forest of Ephraim. 
 
 Second. Absalom's tragic end under the 
 oak, at the hand of Joab. 
 
 Third. The departure and running of the 
 Cushite and Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, with 
 the tidings of the day, to David at Mahanaim. 
 
 Fourth. David's passionate grief over the 
 death of Absalom. 
 
 Few descriptions of the inspired Word equal 
 this in pathos, life-like delineation, and sug- 
 gestive interest. The partial fondness for his 
 son which prompted David's earnest request, 
 ' ' Deal gently for my sake with the young 
 man, even with Absalom," is an instance of 
 that forgetfulness of the close connection be- 
 tween sin and penalty, which, alas ! the broken- 
 hearted father had so much occasion after- 
 wards to remember. Judgment cannot deal 
 gently. Joab's sharp arrows were the mes- 
 sengers it would properly use. War cannot 
 be a gentle game : — 
 
 " Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams from far, 
 The Angel, Pity, shuns the walks of war." 
 
168 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS: 
 
 In the second part of the chapter Absalom's 
 pride becomes his snare, and Joab, the Hot- 
 spur of the time, is only too eager to use his 
 opportunity. The division following gives the 
 choice and race of the messengers with the 
 news of the issue of the battle. Joab's reluct- 
 ance to allow Ahimaaz to go in this instance 
 was justified by the fact that he had not the 
 courage, after reaching the king's presence, to 
 inform him of the death of his son. The clos- 
 ing scene has been admirably portrayed by 
 Dr. Wm. M. Taylor in his "David, King of 
 Israel." 
 
 ' ' But how was the news to be broken to his 
 father? Ahimaaz offered to be the bearer of 
 the tidings. But Joab would not intrust him 
 with the commission, and preferred to send 
 one Cushi, most probably an Ethiopian ser- 
 vant, with the message. This, however, did 
 not satisfy the high-priest's son ; so, extorting 
 a permission from the captain of the host, the 
 fleet courier ran, and arrived first at the gate 
 of Mahanaim, where a scene occurred which 
 lets us far into the unfathomed depths of a 
 true parent's heart. Fastened, and almost 
 fascinated to the spot, the king is still in the 
 same place in which he had parted from his 
 troops in the early morning. All day long he 
 has been waiting for intelligence ; and as he 
 has sat watching there, his throne, his crown, 
 his kingdom, all have been forgotten in his 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 169 
 
 eager concern for Absalom. He is not now 
 the king, so much is he the father. "When the 
 swift-footed Ahimaaz comes with tidings of 
 the victory, they are all unheeded as the ques- 
 tion rises, ' Is the young man Absalom 
 safe?' And when Cushi makes his appear- 
 ance, the inquiry still is, ' Is the young man 
 Absalom safe ? ' Then, as the full truth 
 comes out, everything else is swallowed up in 
 that emotion which, sweeping gratitude, and 
 submission, and even faith in God, before it 
 for the time, bears him up to the chamber 
 over the gate, where he cries, with a great 
 and exceeding bitter cry, ' O my son Absa- 
 lom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I 
 had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my 
 son!' There are griefs, as well as joys, with 
 which a stranger may not intermeddle ; let us 
 shut the chamber door and withdraw, leaving 
 the royal mourner a while in the sanctity of 
 his sore sorrow, while we seek to glean from 
 the narrative the solemn lessons which it 
 teaches." 
 
 III. Sin as Personal Guilt and Defilement. 
 Fifty- first Psalm. 
 
 Robertson of Brighton says of this psalm, 
 " It is not the trembling of a craven spirit in 
 anticipation of torture, but the agonies of a 
 nobler one, in the horror of being evil." The 
 historical background of these confessions of a 
 penitent soul, which have formed the liturgy 
 
170 ANAL YSIS OF CHA P TERS : 
 
 of the sin-burdened ever since, is, of course, 
 the sin of David in the double crime which 
 involved woman and man, and which was laid 
 upon his conscience by the bold charge of the 
 prophet Nathan. The translation by Dr. John 
 De Witt, in the "Praise Songs of Israel," 
 separates the different members of this psalm 
 by simply spacing the page ; but this arrange- 
 ment assists so much to an intelligible reading 
 of it, that it is introduced here : — 
 
 Be gracious unto me, O God ! according to Thy loving 
 kindness ; 
 
 According to Thy great compassion, blot out my transgres- 
 sions. 
 
 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity ; 
 Yea, cleanse me from my sin. 
 
 For my transgressions I know, 
 
 And my sin is ever before me. 
 Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned. 
 
 And have done this evil in Thy sight ; 
 That Thou mayest be just when Thou speakest. 
 
 And be clear when Thou judgest. 
 Lo, in iniquity was I born. 
 
 And in sin my mother conceived me. 
 Lo, truth Thou desirest in the inmost parts. 
 
 And deep within Thou instructest me in wisdom. 
 
 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; 
 
 Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
 Proclaim unto me joy and gladness. 
 
 That the bones Thou hast crushed may rejoice. 
 O hide Thou Thy face from my sins 
 
 And blot out all mine iniquities. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 171 
 
 A pure heart create for me, O God ! 
 
 A steadfast spirit renew within me. 
 Cast me not away from Thy presence, 
 
 And Thy Holy Spirit take not from me. 
 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation. 
 
 And with a willing spirit uphold me. 
 
 Then will I teach transgressors Thy way, 
 
 And sinners shall return unto Thee. 
 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, 
 
 Thou God of my salvation ! 
 That my tongue may exult in Thy righteousness. 
 O Lord ! open Thou my lips, 
 
 And my tongue shall declare Thy praise. 
 For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, 
 Else would I give it ; 
 
 In oiferings by fire Thou hast no pleasure. 
 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; 
 
 A heart broken and contrite, O God ! Thou wilt not 
 despise. 
 
 Do good in Thy pleasure unto Zion ; 
 
 Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. 
 Then wilt Thou delight in sacrifices of righteousness. 
 
 In burnt offering and whole burnt offering ; 
 Then shall they oflEer bullocks upon Thine altar. 
 
 Mark how tlie cry for mercy alternates witli 
 the sobbed-forth confession of guilt, in the 
 first and second divisions. The royal penitent 
 rises, in the third and fourth, into inspired 
 and eager longing for cleansing and purity ; in 
 the fifth he looks onward to that work for 
 others which would be fitting a restored 
 sinner. Finally he breaks out in prayer for 
 Zion and Jerusalem, as if the awful eclipse 
 were over, and light had dawned again. 
 
172 ANAL YSIS OF CHAPTERS : 
 
 IV. Sin as Vanity and Disappointment. 
 Second chapter of Ecclesiastes. 
 
 This is the refrain of a human spirit, which 
 had traversed the whole round of earthly- 
 honor and pleasure, only to find an ' ' aching 
 void" within. The expression, "under the 
 sun," which is employed no less than twenty- 
 eight times in the book of Ecclesiastes, is the 
 key to its moral standpoint. The skepticism 
 and fatalism, which certain passages seem to 
 contain, are in keeping with the circumscribed 
 position. The second chapter is the record of 
 a series of experiments of the writer, to satisfy 
 himself with whatever this present life, at its 
 highest and best, could yield. The lust of the 
 flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of 
 life, each bestow all they have to give, and the 
 writer leaves us his conclusion when the round 
 has been fulfilled. Mirth and hilarity become 
 his guests. All, or nearly all, of Milton's 
 L' Allegro, is between verses first and twelfth. 
 He woos "Jest and youthful jollity," 
 
 " Sport that wrinkled care derides, 
 And laughter holding both his sides." 
 
 The quest of earthly wisdom yields no better 
 result. The level of the philosopher was 
 indeed higher than that of the sensualist, but 
 the heart was left without a spring of satis- 
 faction. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 173 
 
 This is the conclusion reached in the verses 
 which follow to the end. The chapter, read 
 according to its original design, which was to 
 lead the heart to seek its center beyond the 
 sun, will be found to possess unique adaptation 
 to impress and convict sincere inquirers after 
 light. 
 
 V. Sin as Idolatry and Blasphemy. Daniel, 
 V. chapter. 
 
 This delineation, in the last scene in the his- 
 tory of the empire of. Babylon, should be read 
 in connection with its historical antecedents 
 and surroundings. We have the authority of 
 Herodotus for the statement that Babylon was 
 taken "amid revelries." On this very night, 
 whose banqueting and blasphemy Daniel has 
 so vividly described, the enemy was before the 
 city. The handwriting on the wall was the 
 awful shadow of doom, and thus interpreted 
 by the Hebrew Seer. The account of this 
 startling apparition, breaking into the carnival 
 of that last night, together with the failure of 
 the wise men to read it, and the counsel of the 
 queen to summon Daniel, occupies the first 
 division of the chapter from verses first to 
 thirteenth. The remaining portion to the end 
 of the chapter records the interview between 
 Daniel and Belshazzar, and the disclosure of 
 the meaning of the mystic inscription. With 
 what poised deliberation and solemn emphasis 
 ■ did this alien ' ' of the children of the captivity 
 
174 ANAL YSIS OF CHA P TERS : 
 
 of Judah " tell out the destiny now at tlie very- 
 doors of this guilty city, held, from the palace 
 to the lowest dwelling, in the deceitful spell of 
 drunkenness and riot ! 
 
 ' ' And this is the writing that was inscribed, 
 MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This 
 is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; 
 God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought 
 it to an end. TEKEL ; thou art weighed in 
 the balances, and art found wanting. PERES ; 
 thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the 
 Medes and Persians. Then commanded Bel- 
 shazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, 
 and put a chain of gold about his neck, and 
 made proclamation concerning him, that he 
 should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In 
 that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was 
 slain. And Darius the Mede received the 
 kingdom, being about threescore and two 
 years old." 
 
 Prof. Briggs' critical estimate of Hebrew 
 poetry suggests its value for public reading: — 
 
 ' ' We find the climax of Hebrew poetic art, 
 where the dramatic and heroic elements com- 
 bine to produce in a larger whole, ethical and 
 religious results with wonderful power. Whi|e 
 these do not present us epic, or dramatic, or 
 pastoral poems in the classic sense, they yet 
 use the epic, dramatic, and pastoral elements 
 in perfect freedom, combining them in a 
 simple and comprehensive manner for the 
 
OLD TESTAMENT. 175 
 
 highest and grandest purposes of the prophet 
 and sage inspired of God, giving us produc- 
 tions of poetic art that are unique in the 
 world's literature. The dramatic,' epic, and 
 pastoral elements are means used freely and 
 fully, but not ends. These forms of beauty 
 and grace are simply forms which do not 
 retard the imagination in admiration of them- 
 selves, but direct it to the grandest themes and 
 images of piety and devotion. The wise 
 men of Israel present us in the ideals of 
 the Shulamite, Job, and Koheleth, types of 
 noble character, moral heroism, and purity, 
 that transcend the heroic types of the Iliad 
 or .^neid, wrestling, as they do, with foes 
 to their souls far more terrible than the 
 spears, and javelins, and warring gods of 
 Greek and Trojan, advancing, step by step, 
 through scene after scene, and act after act, 
 to holy victory in the fear of God ; victories 
 that will serve for the support and comfort of 
 the human race in all time, which has ever to 
 meet the same inconsistencies of evil, the 
 same assaults on virtue, the same struggle 
 with doubt and error, therein so vividly and 
 faithfully portrayed to us. The prophets of 
 Israel play upon the great heart of the Hebrew 
 people as upon a thousand-stringed lyre, strik- 
 ing the tones with divinely-guided touch, so 
 that from the dirge of rapidly succeeding dis- 
 aster and ruin, they rise, through penitence 
 
176 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS {Old Testamenf). 
 
 and petition, to faith, assurance, exultation, 
 and hallelujali, laying hold of the deep 
 thoughts and everlasting faithfulness of God, 
 binding the past and present as by a chain of 
 light to the impending Messianic future ; 
 seeing and rejoicing in the glory of God, 
 which, though now for a season shrouded 
 behind the clouds of disaster, is soon to burst 
 forth in a unique day." 
 
" Dead or tmconscious sin is still sin. The fire in a cave 
 discovers reptiles and stirs them, but they were there be- 
 fore ; the light does not create them. Let a beam of Ught, 
 says Jean Paul Richter, through your window shutters into 
 a darkened room,' and you reveal a thousand motes floating 
 in the air, whose existence was before unsuspected. So the 
 law of God reveals our hidden faults, infirmities, imperfec- 
 tions, evil tendencies and desires, which cannot all be classed 
 as acts of transgressions." 
 
 Rev. A. H. Strong, D. D. 
 
 " We preach more on the love of God, than on his holy 
 rigor, (how natural that in this day !) on sins against the 
 social state like theft, l)ring and adultery, more than on the 
 sins that are purely spiritual, and an injury against God." 
 
 Rev. N. J. Burton, D. D. 
 
 "We might go freezing, ages, give us fire. 
 Thereafter we judge fire at its full worth. 
 And guard it safe through every chance, ye know !" 
 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 " So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the Word 
 of Christ." Rom. x. 17. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS. (NEW TESTAMENT.) 
 
 The difficulties of Bible reading increase as 
 we come into the hallowed precincts of New 
 Testament revelation. The conversations of 
 the Son of Man, the pictorial beauty and rap- 
 idly changing scenes of the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, as the planting and training of the Chris- 
 tian Church is unfolded; the comprehensive 
 and varied themes treated in the epistolary 
 portions, each require most thoughtful and 
 loving study, and in the last analysis will leave 
 us in an attitude of wonder and worship at the 
 unexplored tracts which stretch beyond our 
 ken. 
 
 The first verse of the first Epistle of the 
 beloved disciple, suggests more than it reveals : 
 
 "That which was from the beginning, that 
 which we beheld, and our hands handled, con- 
 cerning the Word of life." 
 
 We can only give expression in human 
 tones concerning Him. The deep sea-sound- 
 ings of the fourth gospel : the abysses and alti- 
 tudes of the veil-removing book which closes 
 the sacred canon, we can utter but in part, and 
 that a small part. Our Lord was a man of 
 infinities. Ever and anon His words carry us 
 
 12 
 
180 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS: 
 
 over into the vastness and uncircumscribed 
 fullness of the invisible world. Says a Chris- 
 tian pastor, who recently passed away to his 
 reward, from the city where these lines are 
 written, " In many a word of Jesus given us, 
 especially by St. John, it has sometimes seem- 
 ed to me for the moment, that I could scarcely 
 endure them, they are so fraught with serious- 
 ness, and tenderness, and foreboding, and 
 moral firmness and majesty and I know not 
 what besides; as a man speaking out of an 
 infinite meditativeness ; and out of infinite 
 agitations of sensibility." Elsewhere he 
 speaks of the conversations of Christ in this 
 wise : — " My convictions of the Divinity of the 
 Scriptures have been gained by these realistic 
 touches, these imaginative reproductions of 
 scenes and conversations in Jesus' life, more I 
 think than in any other way. I shall never be 
 able to describe the impression I have some- 
 times received of the depth, tenderness, and 
 grandeur of Christ as a spiritual teacher, and 
 a more than man, when I have been simply 
 reading and listening to Him in His frequent 
 dialogues with the people He happened to 
 meet." 
 
 Our problem is to get out these effects in 
 tone, to enrich others with their affluent, meas- 
 ureless freight of meaning. Let us not de- 
 spair, at least until we have looked well and 
 deeply into the possible adaptations of the 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 181 
 
 human voice, supplemented by the color-giv- 
 ing property of other portions of the human 
 organism. What memories come to us of ca- 
 dences now hushed forever here ! "It was like 
 .my mother's voice," said a friend, as a stran- 
 ger's word touched a chord in his heart, which 
 brought a dear but vanished personality back 
 to him. 
 
 As in the selections from the Old Testament, 
 we have given a series of readings upon Sin, in 
 those which are added from the New, we shall 
 arrange a similar number of passages upon 
 Redemption, the conspicuous theme of this 
 portion of the Bible. 
 
 I. Redemption as the Father's joy. Luke xv. 
 chapter. 
 
 The two-leaved portal to the main parable 
 of this chapter, is made up of the smaller par- 
 ables on the lost sheep and the lost piece of 
 money, both uttered in connection with the 
 one on the prodigal son, by our Lord, as His 
 answer to the charge of the Pharisees and 
 Scribes that He was receiving sinners and eat- 
 ing with them. ' ' The first two, " says Trench, 
 ' ' set forth the seeking love of God, the last His 
 receiving love." What depths of love in both 
 these aspects are revealed in the brief compass 
 of these heavenly gospels! For gbspels in 
 brief they are. The title " Evangelium in 
 Evangelio" which has been applied to the 
 parable of the prodigal son, might with pro- 
 
183 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS: 
 
 priety be given to those which immediately 
 precede it, and which, like the "porch of the 
 throne" in Solomon's house, lead up to the 
 height and summit of Divine love in the heart 
 of God. The parabolic form of instruction 
 reaches its culmination here. 
 
 Tennyson, in verses cast in the mould of 
 perfect rhythm, has written of Christ's gift to 
 us in this mode of teaching : — 
 
 Though truths in manhood darkly join, 
 
 Deep-seated in our mystic frame, 
 
 We yield all blessing to the name 
 Of Him that made them current coin; 
 
 For wisdom dealt with mortal powers, 
 
 Where truth in closest words shall fail. 
 When truth embodied in a tale 
 
 Shall enter in at lowly doors. 
 
 And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
 With human hands the creed of creeds 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds. 
 
 More strong than all poetic thought; 
 
 Which he may read that binds the sheaf. 
 Or builds the house, or digs the grave. 
 And those wild eyes that watch the wave 
 
 In roarings round the coral reef. 
 
 The eye of the Son is glancing deeply into 
 the Father's heart in each of these parables. 
 When the sheep is brought home, and the 
 piece of money found, in both cases there is a 
 calling together of friends and neighbors 
 to share in the festival of rejoicing, but 
 here the Father is in the background, as 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 183 
 
 thougli the infinite deep of His nature was 
 moved over the event. In the last parable He 
 emerges into full sight bringing to mind the 
 prophet's words, "He will rejoice over thee 
 with joy, He will rest in His love. He will joy 
 over thee with singing." The famine and 
 degradation away from home, the return, and 
 the reception, together with the churlish com- 
 plaint of the elder son and the Father's answer, 
 these are the diamond-like facets of the crown 
 jewel of all the parables. The apostle Peter 
 with his tear-dimmed eye, at the cock crowing 
 on the last morning of his earthly life, or the 
 beloved disciple in the waning days at Ephesus, 
 might be able to read out the hidden love of 
 this parable. But for us — ? 
 
 II. Redemption as the Sons Felicity. John 
 ix. chapter. 
 
 Nowhere else in the New Testament have 
 we presented to us with such definiteness, the 
 successive stages of the soul's apprehension of 
 Christ, from blindness to full recognition, as 
 in this monograph of the apostle John. The 
 physical organs of this man, blind from his 
 birth, were restored almost immediately ; the 
 slower process of opening ' ' the eye and pros- 
 pect of the soul " to the person and work of 
 Christ is disclosed step by step with such 
 insight and skill as to render the chapter, 
 when well read, one of the most impressive 
 and powerful in Scripture. Note the very low 
 
184 ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS : 
 
 starting point of his estimate of Christ. After 
 the astonishment of the neighbors and others, 
 who had known him as a blind beggar, and 
 the doubts as to his identity had been ex- 
 pressed: — "They said therefore unto him. 
 How then were thine eyes opened? He 
 answered. The man that is called Jesus made 
 clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto 
 me, Go to Siloam and wash : so I went away 
 and washed, and I received sight. And they 
 said unto him. Where is he? He saith, I 
 know not." Then the Pharisees take him in 
 hand, and they in their perplexity and deter- 
 mination not to admit the miracle, turn to him 
 with the question: — "What sayest thou of 
 him, in that he opened thine eyes? And he 
 said. He is a prophet." Next the parents are 
 called to assist in deciding the case, and they 
 find a safe way out of possible complication by 
 saying, " He is of age, ask him." Now these 
 Pharisees are seized with a pseudo-holy zeal, 
 and say to the man before them, " Give glory 
 to God, we know that this man is a sinner. 
 He therefore answered, Whether he be a 
 sinner I know not: one thing I know, that, 
 whereas I was blind, now I see." 
 
 But in the following colloquy, as he is under 
 fire in the presence of the Pharisees, reflection 
 works, and he advances beyond this conclusion. 
 "The man answered and said unto them. 
 Why, herein is the marvel, that ye know not 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 185 
 
 whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. 
 We know that God heareth not sinners ; but 
 if any man be a worshipper of God, and do- his 
 will, him he heareth. Since the world began 
 it was never heard that any one opened the 
 eyes of a man bom blind." 
 
 Soon after the Lord finds him and discerns 
 in him ripeness for the last stage, the full rev- 
 elation of Himself. ' ' Jesus heard that they 
 had cast him out ; and finding him he said, 
 Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He 
 answered and said. And who is he. Lord, that 
 I may believe on him? Jesus said unto him. 
 Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that 
 speaketh with thee. And he said. Lord I 
 believe. And he worshipped him." The as- 
 cending series of this man's visions of Christ 
 is clearly marked. First, Christ is seen as a 
 man simply, then a prophet, then as a sinner 
 possibly ; next that possibility vanishes. He is 
 of God; finally the man is prostrate at His 
 feet, worshiping Him as the Son of God. 
 
 UL Providential Co-operation in Redemption. 
 Acts X. chapter. 
 
 Cassarea and Joppa, towns on the Mediter- 
 ranean coast, thirty-five miles apart, are the 
 local points of this natural and graphic narra- 
 tive. Cornelius, the centurion, wearing the 
 Roman armor, and Peter the apostle, the 
 saint "who by the ocean prayed," are brought 
 face to face, and by singular providences, the 
 
186 ANAL YSIS OF CHA P TERS : 
 
 ■web of their destinies is woven together. The 
 tableaux which are grouped in the chapter to 
 form a great historic presentation of the 
 transition period of the Christian history are 
 Cornelius' vision, the embassy to Peter, the 
 house-top dream of the latter, his presence, 
 reception and preaching at Csesarea followed 
 by the descent of the Spirit upon the Gentile 
 company assembled. The age-worn wall of 
 separation fell that day, and the apostle him- 
 self in astonishment at what his own eyes 
 beheld, said : ' ' Can any man forbid the water, 
 that these should not be baptized, who have 
 received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" 
 
 IV. Personal Redemption from the power of 
 sin. Romans vi. chapter. 
 
 The argument of the apostle in this Epistle 
 to the Romans, advances, without a break in 
 its masterly continuity, from the first to the 
 triumphant summing up at the close of the 
 eighth chapter. The sixth chapter constitutes, 
 however, an answer conaplete in itself, to the 
 objection that grace might lead to license. 
 One feels the nervous vigor, and suppressed 
 emotion with which this objection is met and 
 overthrown. From the first verse to the 
 twelfth he shows how grace puts us in new 
 relations to Christ, by virtue of which a new 
 nature which is averse to sin, becomes our 
 second nature. The Christian life is thus no 
 weak, nebulous affair, but a union of the spirit 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 187 
 
 witli Christ by reason of -whicli, what has 
 transpired in Him transpires in us also, as 
 being members of His body. ' ' For if we have 
 become united with him by the likeness of his 
 death, we shall be also by the likeness of his 
 resurrection ; knowing this, that our old man 
 was crucified with him, that the body of sin 
 might be done away, that so we should no 
 longer be in bondage to sin." From the 
 twelfth to the fifteenth verses we have an ex- 
 hortation to present ourselves unto God as 
 those that are alive from the dead: and our 
 members as instruments of righteousness unto 
 God. In the closing section, he raises and 
 answers in 'another form the question of the 
 first verse of the chapter : — 
 
 "What then? shall we sin, because we are 
 not under law, but under grace? God forbid." 
 What a clean sweep of all complicity with the 
 old nature, does he make in the verses which 
 remain ! Every capacity goes over to Christ ; 
 no laggard faculty remains behind. All passes 
 on to take its place in the new man in Christ 
 Jesus. The issue is thus stated: — "But now 
 being made free from sin, and become servants 
 of God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, 
 and the end eternal life. For the wages of sin 
 is death ; but the free gift of God is eternal 
 life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 V. Redemption in its triumph on Earth. 
 Revelation xix. chapter. 
 
188 ANAL YSIS OF CHAPTERS : 
 
 It is a noble statement, that of Dorner, that, 
 ' ' there is a consummation of individuals and of 
 the whole, especially of the church, which is 
 not realized through a purely immanent unin- 
 terrupted process, but through crises and 
 Christ's Second Advent." Believers holding 
 most diverse views of the order of events, 
 which usher in this consummation, are 
 agreed in recognizing the sublimity of the 
 descriptions of the Apocalypse. Randolph 
 of Roanoke, it is said, was fascinated by 
 simply hearing its chapters read. Macaulay 
 says of the prose writings of Milton : 
 ' ' They are a perfect field of cloth of 
 gold. The style is stiff with gorgeous em- 
 broidery." All sublime images of previous 
 revelations gather in this book of the last 
 things, making its style "stiff" with treasured 
 sign and symbol. The beginning of the nine- 
 teenth chapter is a seven-fold chorus of praise. 
 No celebration of joy like it, says a late 
 commentator, is to be found in Revelation. 
 From the eleventh to the seventeenth verses 
 we have a vision of the majestic pageant of 
 which the central figure is one, ' ' called Faith- 
 ful and True; and in righteousness he doth 
 judge and raake war. And his eyes are a 
 flame of fire, and upon his head are many 
 diadems ; and he hath a name written, which 
 no one knoweth but he himself. And he is 
 arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood; 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. ISU 
 
 and his name is called 'the Word of God." 
 The passages following present the last con- 
 flict and victory preceding the binding of 
 Satan. 
 
 The imperfect exegeses of these and similar 
 passages should form no objection to their use 
 in public reading. We are awed and calmed 
 by looking upon the Alpine summit which we 
 cannot scale. ■ So from these fastnesses of the 
 book of God, there come impressions to the 
 soul, which breathe holy calm, and inspire 
 worship. We may with Augustine, say : 
 ' ' Wonderful are the depths of thine oracles ! 
 Behold how their surface charms little ones ; 
 but wonderful dept|i, O my God, what 
 wonderful depth ! One shudders at the con- 
 templation of it, — a thrill of reverence and 
 trembling of love ! " 
 
; V>^