its freshness. They are always new, and more and more deeply interest a classical mind, the oftener they are read and the better they are known. In reference to the poetical parts, where is there poetry that can be compared with the song of Moses, at his victory over Pharaoh; with the Psalms of David, and with the prophecies of Isaiah, and some others? Where is there an elegiac ode to be compared with the song of David upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, or the Lamentations of Jeremiah? Like the rapid, glowing argumentations of Paul, the poetic parts of the Bible may be read a thousand times, and they have all the glow and freshness of the first perusal. Where, in the compass of human language, is there a paragraph, which, for boldness and variety of metaphor, delicacy and majesty of thought, strength and invention, elegance and refinement, equals the passage in which "God answers Job out of the whirlwind?" I can not but love the poetic associations of the Bible. Now, they are sublime and beautiful, like the mountain torrent, swollen and impetuous by the sudden bursting of the cloud. Now, they are grand and awful as the stormy Galilee, when the tempest beat upon the fearful disciples. And, again, they are placid as that calm lake when the Savior's feet have pressed upon its waters and stilled them into peace. English literature is no common debtor to the Bible. There is not a finer character, nor a finer description in all the works of Walter Scott, than that of Rebekah, in Ivanhoe. And who does not see that it owes its excellence to the Bible? Shakspeare, Milton, Bryant, Young, and Southey, are not a little indebted for some of their best scenes and inspirations to the same source. May it not be doubted, whether scholars have been sufficiently sensible of their obligations to our common English Bible? It is the purest specimen of English, or anglo-Saxon, to be found in the world. As a model of style, “it is," says Cheever, “pure, native, uncorrupted, idiomatic English. It is the best preservation of our language in all our literature. It has most of the old, honest, simple, vigorous, expressive Saxon, which is the main body of the excellence of our language.' Addison has remarked, that "there is a certain coldness in the phrases of European languages, compared with the Oriental forms of speech; that the English tongue has received innumerable improvements from an infusion of Hebraisms, derived from the practical passages in Holy Writ; that these warm and animate our language, giving it force and energy, and conveying our thoughts in ardent and intense phrases, and setting the mind in a flame." I know of no standard by which the character of literary and scientific men may be so safely and successfully formed. The more he reads, the more, I am confident, an accomplished scholar will study the Bible. There are no finer English scholars than the men educated north of the Tweed; and there are none who, from their childhood, are so well acquainted with the Bible. I have heard it said that the characteristic wit of Scotchmen is attributable to their early familiarity with the Proverbs of Solomon. No well-informed man is ignorant of the Bible. We can better afford to part with every other book from our family libraries, our schools and colleges, than this finished production of the Infinite Mind. QUESTIONS ON THIS CHAPTER. 1. What is said of the highest productions of human genius compared with the Bible? 2. What do we learn from the Bible not found in other ancient books? 3. Of what may it be considered the standard? 4. What are the characteristics of its style? 5. What is said of its historical portion? 6. What of its didactic and argumentative ? 7. What of its poetical? 8. What of the indebtedness of English literature to the Bible! 9. What of our obligations to our common English version of it? CHAPTER XVIII. THE FORM OF BIBLE POETRY. AMONG certain portions of the books of the Old Testament, there is such an apparent diversity of style, as sufficiently discovers which of them are to be considered as poetical, and which as prose compositions. In Exodus, chap. xiv., an historical account is given of the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea; in chap. xv., the same event is poetically described. Says the history," Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." Says the same 99.66 writer, as a poet, "With the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright in a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea." The " strong east wind" becomes "the blast of the Almighty's nostrils;" the “divided waters" stand" upright," are congealed." The poet is dramatic. The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw the sword, my hand shall destroy them." This, by-the-way, is also a beautiful example of a poetic climax. The difference is thus clearly seen in the style of the same book; at one time historic, at another poetic. Take another illustration from the same connection. "The waters returned," says the historian," and covered the chariots and the horsemen, and all the hosts of Pharaoh, that came into the sea after them there remained not so much as one of them." The same event is thus described poetically in the song of Moses: "Thou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ?"-(See Bib. Repository for April, 1842.) For another illustration, compare the style of the first and second chapters of the Book of Job, with Job's speech in the beginning of the next chapter. You pass at once from the region of prose to that of poetry. There is an alteration in the cadence of the sentence and in the arrangement of words, as well as the figures of speech, to assure you of this Didactic poetry is found in the Book of Proverbs; elegiac, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and in that of David and Jonathan; pastoral, in the Song of Solomon; lyric, in the whole Book of Psalms, the Song of Moses, and of Deborah; dramatic, as some suppose, in the Book of Job. The Hebrew poetry is singular, and unlike any other in its construction. It consists in dividing every period P into correspondent, for the most part into equal members, which answer to one another both in sense and sound. In the first member of the period a sentiment is expressed; and in the second member, the same sentiment is amplified, or is repeated in different terms, or sometimes contrasted with its opposite; but in such a manner, that the same structure and nearly the same number of words are preserved. This is the general strain of Hebrew poetry. It did not include rhyme the terminations of the lines, when they are most distinct, never manifesting any thing of the kind. Thus, "Sing unto the Lord a new song-sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and bless his name-show forth his salvation from day to day." It is owing, in a great measure, to this form of composition, that our version, though in prose, retains so much of a poetical cast. For the version being strictly word for word after the original, the form and order of the original sentence are preserved; which, by this artificial structure, this regular alternation and correspondence of parts, makes the ear sensible of a departure from the common style and tone of prose. Those who desire to see to great advantage the poetical diction of even our common English version of the Bible, should procure a copy of Dr. Coit's arrange ment. His edition, also, of Townsend's Bible is beautiful, and to be highly recommended to the reader of fine taste, and to one who desires fully to appreciate the sacred writings as it is probable they were at first chronologically given the historic and poetic portions, thus arranged, throwing great light upon each other. QUESTIONS.-1. Are the books of the Old Testament composed in a uniform style? 2. What examples of diversity of style are given? 3. What various kinds of poetry do you find in the Old Testament, and what examples of each? 4. What general view is given of the construction of Hebrew poetry? We can not close this account of the splendid literature of the Bible without quoting from the Methodist Quarterly Review for October, 1842, what follows: The Duke of Buckingham thus eulogizes the prince of Epic poets: Read Homer once, and you can read no more, This is the language of a professed friend of the Puritan reformation and faith. The Bible itself is not excepted. It was once fashionable thus to depreciate the literature of the Scriptures. The fashion still remains, and Christians are sometimes seen to bend the knee at this unholy shrine. The exclusive and fulsome praise bestowed by the ostensible friends of religion, upon the writers of classical paganism, is enough to move the pity of a heathen, or stir the indignation of a seraph. Let us make a brief comparison of Homer with Job, in describing the same objectthe favorite animal of the Greek poet-the horse-that which he most admires (loves) to describe; and it shall be the horse of his hero. "The winged coursers harness'd to the car, Xanthus and Balius, of immortal breed, Sprung from the wind, and like the wind in speed: By Zephyrus upon the breezy shore; Swift Pedasus was added to their side. Who, like in strength, in swiftness, and in grace, A mortal courser watch'd the immortal race." Without emphasis, without italics, without versification even, let us now listen to the majesty of the Hebrew poet⚫ "Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as the grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible! He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength! He goeth out to meet the armed men! He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted. Neither turneth he back from the sword! The quiver rattleth against him; The glittering spear and the shield! He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage |