THE BIBLE'S MOST MAGNIFICENT PASSAGES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 490, 24 April 1909, Page 13

THE BIBLE'S MOST MAGNIFICENT PASSAGES.

;;'wA^Tery;: v answers to : the quostion: "Which is'the most magnificent passage, in the BibloP", appears in the '.'Sunday ..at: Home." i: -;;' :

■"'Tho'-writer of;, the', article—Mr. A.\ B. Cooper—was struck, by: a passage in "The Life and Letters of Alfred, Lord Tennyson," ■ iit' which it is ' stated, quite incidentally, .that tho poet considered Rev. x. 1-6 to bo a,, passage possibly unsurpassed for . magnificence,, and his son relates how his father would recito it with great fervour and .spiritual emotion, revelling in its splendid climax, yet always changing the last claiiso, doubtless in. response .to the dictatee of a fine ear for rhythm, to "Till timo shall bo no more." ■'~-'

: ; Mr. . William Watson, the poet, says: "I dissent altogether from Tennyson's opinion as to'the most magnificent passago, but should hesitate to name another as liaviug solitary'pre-eminence. . Whole chapters of Isaiah, such as si. and lx., aro simply clusters of passages that touch the highest levels of grandeur, and every kind of literary nmgniliccnco .is supremely exemplified in tbo Bible. For sustained splendour of the greater part of Ezok. xxvii. and xxviii., is probably unapproachable, though lacking in magnanimity of spirit. "Tho most perfect elegy in all literature is, perhaps, David's 'lament for Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. i. 19-27), and at tho other ond of, tho great gamut of emotion the song of Deborah and Barak (Judg. v. 2-31), with its.savage repetitions and antipbonnl effects, is the most superb expression of tho intoxication of triumph that I know." ■-, Al s"- Arthur. Christopher Benson, eon of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, saye:"l hare always thought lsa. xxxv.—'The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert. shall rejoice and blossom as the roso' —and Job xxviii — 'Surely there is ■ a vein for tho silvor, and a ■ place for gold whero they find it'—two of the most eloquent, impressive, and poetical passages in the Biblo." Dr. Alexander Whyto, for nearly forty years minister of St. George's Free Church, lidinburgu, writes: "I ohooso. the Song of Solomon throughout. ■ Professor Saintsbury says of the Song, chapter viii.', 'Tho sixth and seventh verses are the best examples known to. me of: perfect English prose.' : Among many other, magnificent passages' aro lsa. lx., 'Arise, shine; for thy light is come; and tho glory of the Lord is risen upon thee,' and Rev. vii. 9-17," ■; Professor R. (i. Moulton, Professor of Literary Iheory and Interpretation at the University of Chicago and author of "The Literary Study of the Bible," writes: "I do not think it profitable to seek for the most magnificent passnge in tho Biblo' boeauso _■ there: are many different kinds of inagmhcencD, and dilferent kinds that cannot be ranked -higher or lower. I would say ™»V in my opinion, Jlicah vi. &V-'Hd hath showed thee, 0. man, what is good: and what ;dflth ■ the ; Lord require of theo, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to.walk humbly with thy GodP' may be cited ns tho moral basis of tho wholo Bible, and Key. xi. 15, 'There were great voices in heaven; saying, Tho kingdoms; of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and Ho .shall reign for ever and ever, , as tho climax up to which the dramatio movement of tho whole Biblo leads. ■ •.....:

Isa. xl. is chosen by Mr. William Wat.son, Unnon Driver, ])r. Sayco (1-17). Rev.' /w<m Rev - ¥ - AV - Mncdoneld W-Al), and Dr. Monro Gibson (9-31). ;