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guage after the Bible. Its phrases, its name, its
matter, are either directly or indirectly taken
from the Bible. Along with Shakespeare, Milton
and Bunyan one author mentions three more,
Dry den, Addison and Tope under the power of
the Bibie. The intiuence of the Bible on Byron
was marked, liis nurse trained him in the Bible.
He did not live by it. But he never lost his love
for it nor his knowledge of it. Much of his work
reveals a passion for the beauty of it as well as
jus iruui.
We see a long list of great writers who were
indebted to the Bible for style, thought, material
and inspiration. Coleridge tells of long
and careful re-readings of tlie Bible. When
you read his "Hymn Before Sunrise in the Vale
of Chainounix," you tind yourself reading the
XIX Psalin. If you read Wordsworth's "Intimation
of Immortality" you lind yourself under
the scriptural intluence.
Walter Scott said "there is but otfe book?the
Bible." The finest poem of its kind in the
English language is Browning's "Saul." Browning
was raised in the Church by a father who delighted
to surround him with books, notably old
and rare Bibles. "When 1 was reading Oarlyle's
"Historical Sketches" on a railway
journey I found a direct Biblical reference for
every five pages and almost numberless allusions
beside." "A Christmas season without
Dickens' Carol would be incomplete. He is
a New Testament prophet. George Eliot was
under the .spell of Scripture. Her characters
are always quoting the Bible. All of Charles
Kingsley's work felt the power of the Book lie
studied.
In three sentences of Macaulay's essay on Milton
there are six allusions to Scripture. John
Ruskin's style is called the smartest, easiest in
our literature. He and his mother read from
Genesis to Revelation?names and all. Daily he
committed vanses of [Scripture. His mother
taught him twenty-six chapters. Over the
shoulders of beloved Robert Louis Stevenson you
can see the great characters of Scripture pressing
him forward to his best work. No one can
get Tennyson's style without the English Bible
and no one can read Tennyson intelligently
without a fairly accurate knowledge of the Bible.
Thackery got his training in the English Bible
from his mother and the time would fail us to
tell of Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Emerson
and Whittier.
In the lecture on the influence of the King
James version on English and American history
the author cites Cromwell, Gen. Wm. Booth,
Wesley, Stonewall Jackson, R. E. Lee, Lincoln
and others. In his second inaugural address
which lasted but four minutes Mr. Lincoln quoted
in full three Bible verses and makes references
to two others. "There is iron in this Book
and it has entered the blood of the human race.
Where it has entered most freely, the red has
deepened, and nowhere has it deepened more
than in our English speaking races. The iron
of our blood is from the King James version."
Students, scholars, teachers, preachers and
patriots owe to Dr. McAfee a lasting debt of
gratitude for this finished production.
You can never be enthusiastic till .Teana f!hri*t
is real to you. When he becomes a reality to you
and not some mystic personage, then and not
till then your work for Lim will be successful.
Jesus Christ can only become real to you through
deliberate, reverent and continuous study. Enthusiasm
overcomes all fear. It is fear that often
keeps us from speaking to men abortt salvation.
God's grace will enable us to overcome
this spirit of fear.?New York Observer.
PBIIBf Vlt 1 AD ? F fix 81
Beyond
BY MAROARFfl
V Alen
have striven, long and earnestly, to lift
the veil which hangs between this earth-life and
tliat future life, '' whose portals we call death.''
'they have called, and have listened, with
strained attention, for an answering voice, out
of that ' infinite silence which girds our life
around. ' Uut their eitox^U have been in vain.
The only source of reliable information, concerning
the future life, is the Bible. Ail else
is mere speculation. It tells us, with no uncertainty,
that there is a life beyond the grave,
and assures us of the future blessedness of those
who have made prtper preparation here. Beyond
this, it has but little to say.
There are a few instances given in the Bible,
of the return of the departed, to this world,
from the spirit world; but it is not recorded
that they said aught of the world whence they
came. Moses and Elijah were seen and recognized
by Eeier and James and John, on the
Mount of Transtiguration. They talked with
Christ; but they spoke not of the glory of the
life beyond, but of "His decease which he
should accomplish at Jerusalem." In His recorded
teachings, Christ has much to say of
this life aud its duties; but of the future life
He says only, "I go to prepare a place for you;
and- if 1 go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself," and
in His last prayer for them, "I will that they
nlso, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am, that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me." After His resurrection
all His recorded teachings concern this
present life and its duties, He charged Peter
to shepherd His hock; He commissioned all his
followers lO "On in In nil tho on,rl
? ? ? MM. VMV ??IUJ ooiu
the gospel to every creature;" but He said
nothing of the Paradise, where he had promised
that the penitent thief should be with Him
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "But 1
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope."
And then he goes on to speak of the resurrection
of the dead, and concludes, "And so shall
we ever De witn the JLord;" and lie bids them
"comfort one another with these words."
In the Revelation, we are given vivid pictures
of the beauty and glory of the heavenly land,
but they are given in figures and symbols. We
read of a city whose streets are of gold, whose
gates are of pearl, whose walls are garnished
with all manner of precious stones. But the
happiness of the inhabitants is described negatively,
rather than positively. We are told,
more plainly, what heaven has not, than what
it has?no sin, no sorrow, no sickness, no pain,
no tears, no death?tViinrro "rUUU ? ?
j ?? ?v t?xtu n uiuii WC WC
sadly familiar here. We can understand and
appreciate such a description. These references
give the principal teachings of the Bible in
regard to the future life.
Several reasons may be suggested, as to why
the Bible is silent, comparatively, as to the details
of the life to come. For the present, all
oyr duties are in this world, and it is here that
we are to make preparation for the future life.
The Bible is a practical book, and it tells us,
with unmistakable clearness, how we may obtain
that "inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away," which is
promised in the future. Tt gives very definite
directions, also, as to our duties here, our duties
to God, and our duties to our fellow men in
all the relations of life.
A fuller knowledge of the future life is evi
? f & [March 5, 1918
the Veil
? H. BABNETT.
dently not needed here. If it were necessary,
the knowledge would have been given. He who
gave us a revelation for our guidance, told us
all that it was necessary for us to know. It is
sometimes said that no one has ever come back
to tell us aught of the life beyond the grave,
and there are some who doubt even the fact of
such a life. But if we have God's word that
there is a future life, and a future life of bless
edness, could the testimony of one of our fellow
men give us greater assurance?
A further reason for the silence of the Bible
is, that in all probability, we are not prepared
for a fuller revelation of the mysteries of the
future life. Truth is given as men are prepared
for it. Christ, on one occasion, said to his disciples,
"I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now." The Beloved
Disciple in his Epistle, says, "It doth not
yet appear what we shall be," and leaves the
matter there. Is it not best to leave the question
of the future life where God has left it?
New Bloomfield, Pa.
IDEALS.
Id^ls is a word much used by religious
teachers to-day, and in such a loose manuer
as to fortify many in the belief that no two
people need have the same ideal, but each have
his own. It is interesting to note that the
word is not of Scriptural usage, and therefore
grave doubt is cast upon its ability to express
correctly Scriptural truth, "which things,"
as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:13, "We speak, not
ill t llO UTAr/lo wllinK *0
vuv vr uiuo nuiv/u man a WIOUULU LCttCiit'Uly
but which the Holy Qhost teacheth."
The primary meaning of ideal is, existing
only in the imagination, visionary; and the
meaning of the noun ideal, a mental conception,
an individual regarded as a standard of
perfection. These smack too much of being
' wise in one's own conceit" to be of spiritual
value. Who of us have right standards of our
own make* May not our ideals easily become
our idols?
Using ideal in its best sense, we find the
ideal life set before us in Scripture, not as
one to be pictured by us in our own minds, but
in concrete examples. For instance Acts 33:
22, "I have found David, the Son of Jesse, a
man after mine own heart, who shall fulfill alt
my will." All the Scriptures give us probably
a clearer insight into David's inner life than
into that of any other man whose example is
set before us.
The object of life, as we so often hear, is to
iry 10 uciain 10 our iaeai, or ro Denent tiie race,
to make the world better, etc., when as a matter
of fact it is set before us in few words in
Heb. 10:7, 9; "Lo, I come to do thy will, 0
God."
If we are "born again." our first need is,
not ideals, but food. First as babes, the sincere
milk of the word that we may grow thereby?1
Pet. 2:2. Secondly, as fullgrown, meat
that we may have strength, and we find that
our Lord's meat was to do his Father's Will,
Jno. 4:34.
After food, our next need is probably congenial
society?some who may share with us
our joys, and sympathize in our sorrows, and
this society we find in doing God's will?
" Whosoever shall do the will of my Father
which is in heaven, the Same is my brother,
and Sister, and Mother;" Matt. 12:50.
"We need education also. Much is made of
this to-day along the lines of the wisdom of
this world, and so often, so very often, to the
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