THE BOOK OF BOOKS

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1930, Page 3

THE BOOK OF BOOKS

v <. 1 . t f Gur literary. punditsQnpt imliy accuse us of failing .to appreciate the best when we read it, they go l on to . say thiijt 'we have i it : very definite taste-for something which closely approachesßhe wqrst. Yet if we. ask-.these .iself-appoin-ted critics of our reading what is . tlip finest prose work in the English language they,will, reply: “The Authorised Version of the Bible.”- That, they will say, quoting Saintsbury, is ‘‘the school and training ground of every man and woman of English speech in the no Test uses of the English tongue.” And that, we reply, is easily the world’s “best seller.”

To-day many people are ceasing to regard! the. Bible as the j nspired Word olf God. All the more reason ,then, why they .should admire it as a marvellous work of man. Our Authorised Version in particular stands supreme as a model- of what, can be done. with the English language. In ringing words the story is told, in phrases simple and direct yet loaded with meaning, phrases shining with the freshness of morning among language now dry and dusty and all overworn with platitudes. No wonder that the gre.atest writers of English prose, indifferent and even hostile to religion though some of them may be, have modelled their style on this perfect work, their most eloquent Ipaswages 're-echoing the words, arid' sometimes the very form of the'Bible •nisei. ' • ’ • ;■ \

In one of his short stories Kipling (whose finest style is pure Old; j Testament) shows how the long hours spent on', the classics-.' in' ourv publicschools bear fruit in due season. Dej spite the natural coldness .of youth towards Greek and Latin literature j “some of it sticks”. . : . .here a well- ! worn tag, there a particularly forceful L phrase. When difficulties and problems arise iit after life these spring ' to the mind with all the compulsion of an inspired command, pointing the way to the successful solution . This 1 can be said with even greater ..truth, of the Bible. It contains the condensed wisdom of many men, and many ages, i Here is something of every mood ; here is drama, tense and thrilling, epi ics of suflering and endurance, pathos and tragedy, triumph and .defeat; here is not a little worldly- wisdom, and even humour dry as old Ecclesiastes l himself : , , • . ■ ' ’ ‘ “Lb, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they liave sought out many inventions.” . . ~ t*i' • Here is advice for all our perplcxitj ies, and here, for time of . sorrow, when no human help avails, is.consolation, calm and infinitely gentleT, • “Let not your heart be troubled.”/