THE KING-RICHARDSON COMPANY SPRINGFIELD, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS

CHICAGO CLEVELAND

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COPYRIGHT, 1906, COPYRIGHT, 1917,

BY THE KING-RICHARDSON COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, Ma.s.s.

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PREFACE

In this volume are gathered up selections of the most inspiring literature which the Bible contains. The Psalms are given nearly entire, but with fresh t.i.tles and a new typographical arrangement. The book of Job is presented in a way to interest the modern reader. The material found in the "Prophets," usually entirely unintelligible to young readers, is given in a form which should prove interesting and inspiring. In addition to the sublime poetry of the Old Testament inspiring pa.s.sages from the New Testament not elsewhere used are given here. These are not in poetic form, but the sublimity of thought and lofty style of utterance ent.i.tle them to a place beside the splendid poetry of the Old Testament. The contents of this volume ought to become perfectly familiar to older children by frequent reading and study.

We hope that it may be found extremely useful also for devotional reading; for family and public devotions and for private reading. Here, in one volume, are those portions of the Holy Scriptures which, in a peculiar sense, grew out of a deep spiritual feeling. To these portions particularly, the best minds of the ages have turned for spiritual uplift, for inspiration and consolation. The editors can hope for no higher reward than that this book should contribute to the growth of personal spiritual life.

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CONTENTS.

THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE. 11

SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS. 15

SELECTIONS FROM JOB. 177

SELECTIONS FROM THE SONG OF SONGS. 233

SELECTIONS FROM ECCLESIASTES. 241

SELECTIONS FROM THE PROVERBS. 247

SELECTIONS FROM THE PROPHETS. 259

1 Isaiah. 264 2 Jeremiah. 297 3 Ezekiel. 344 4 Amos. 354 5 Hosea. 363 6 Micah. 367 7 Obadiah. 370 8 Joel. 374 9 Zephaniah. 380 10 Nahum. 385 11 Habakkuk. 392 12 Haggai. 397 13 Zechariah. 401 14 Malachi. 408

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SELECTIONS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 411 1 The Christian Life and Service. 413 2 The Greatest Thing in the World 425 3 Following in the Footsteps of Jesus (from the book of James) 426

4 The Gospel of Love and Sonship. 435 5 The Christian Athlete. 438 6 The Christian Temple. 440 7 The Christian Warrior. 447 8 The Hope of Immortality. 449 9 Selections from the Apocalypse. 456

HYMNS OF THE AGES 479

NOTES 495

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THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE

The first poetry was made to be sung. It almost made itself. It had two qualities--the expression of strong feeling of some kind, and some sort of rhythm that could be put into song. Ever since the days when all men were savages, and told simple stories and sang rude songs as they gathered about the campfires, those two things have marked the difference between poetry and prose. Poetry must have feeling and rhythm. In most languages the rhythm is one of sound. The words flow along so easily that they run themselves into a sort of tune. That is what is called measure. Measure cannot be easily translated from one language to another. Even if it could, it would not always be so beautiful as it is in the language in which it is first written. So it comes about that we do not often try to get the rhythm of the words in the poetry of the Bible. Indeed, scholars have puzzled themselves greatly over just what sort of rhythm the words of Hebrew poetry have.

The Hebrews who wrote the poetry did not think it worth while to say anything about that, and later men forgot that there was any rhythm at all; so now it has to be all discovered over again. But Hebrew poetry has also another kind of rhythm beside that of words--a kind which English poetry does not have. It is the rhythm of thought. In Hebrew poetry a thought is expressed in the first line, {12} then either repeated with some slight change, its opposite expressed, or something added to it, in the second. The following are ill.u.s.trations:--

The thought repeated:--

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

The opposite expressed:--

A wise son maketh a glad father, But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Additions made to the thought:--

All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth Unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

This rhythm of thought is called parallelism; and parallelism is the one thing that makes Hebrew poetry differ from prose.

In most Eastern languages the line between poetry and prose is not so sharply drawn as in our Western languages. When a man made a speech, it often fell quite naturally into poetry. So a good deal of the talk of Jesus, even, seems to have been in the form of Hebrew poetry; as when he said:--

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Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, Nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.

Is not the life more than the food And the body than the raiment?

In the same way the New Testament writers also, being mostly Hebrews in thought, although they wrote in Greek, often fell into poetry, when some strong feeling moved them.

The study of the form of the poetry of the Bible is very fascinating, the form is so rich in variety and often so remarkably well fitted to express the thought of the poetry.

Yet after all the richest part of the Biblical poetry is the strong feeling that it shows. For example, in that little song of the shepherd, the twenty-third Psalm, the form is very beautiful with its rhythm of thought, but much more beautiful is the strong feeling of perfect trust in the loving care of the Good Shepherd.

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SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

The Book of Psalms is the Hebrew hymn book. The Psalms were gathered to sing at the services in the temple at Jerusalem. Here there was no sermon, as there is in our churches, and as there often was in the synagogues which were scattered all over the land, but there was a large choir which sung these Psalms of praise, while the people stood below and listened. Some of the Psalms were written for this choir. Others, written for other purposes, were put into this hymn book, sometimes with more or less change from their first form, as is the case with many hymns in our own hymn books. Praise to G.o.d is the most common thought of these poems, but many other thoughts are found in them--sorrow for sin and trust in G.o.d's goodness and hope for the future and thanksgiving for G.o.d's care in the past. Hardly a thought about G.o.d's relation to man but finds its expression in these songs. They were the work of many men through many years. They express the joy and the sorrow of many minds in many different situations. That is why they still fit so many different lives in all parts of the world. They are very simple and very beautiful, and they have always been, and doubtless always will be, dear to the hearts of all those who try to find G.o.d. Mr. Gilmour, the missionary to the Mongols, once wrote: "When I find I cannot make headway in {18} devotion, I open in the Psalms, and push out in my canoe, and let myself be carried along in the stream of devotion which flows through the whole book. The current always sets toward G.o.d, and in most places is strong and deep." So many men have found that the broad river of the Psalms bore them toward G.o.d.