meaning they either enforce or reflect? If when Moses came down from Sinai, his face radiant with heavenly glory, the gazing Hebrews were dazzled and awed, as never before, with a sense of Jehovah's dreadful majesty, is there not a power in poetic genius, especially when in close sympathy with the inspired Oracles, to quicken in the reader a more deep and lively sense of what they utter? Then, too, the presence of such variety will not only please, but render the mind wakeful and alert. Men judge of the importance of persons and things by their discovered relations. If a numerous and imposing retinue fixes the gaze of men on a travelling monarch, and if the company of attached disciples and followers of the Saviour drew attention to Himself, will not such gems of poetry thus inserted alternately with passages from the Bible, and shining mostly by its light, help, by their varied contrasts and affinities, to beget wakeful and discriminating thought, while the eyes of increasing numbers shall be eagerly and admiringly turned to that great moral sun? And since the value of the sacred volume to the world is enhanced by its weighty utterances bearing the peculiar styles of its numerous authors, it may be hoped that the devoted ministries of such a galaxy of poetic geniuses will win and wed the thoughts of men full lovingly to that one great source of religious light, hardly more than of mental life and energy. Few well-informed and thoughtful persons will deny that there is both in the rhythm and rhyme of poetry that which is peculiarly pleasing, especially to youthful minds. The power of poetry to call forth the finer feelings of men is well and widely known. Poetic genius not only shapes the utterance of the highest devotional sentiments, but of such as are patriotic and convivial. While it should be dreaded and denounced as a mighty worker of evil, it may well be wooed and welcomed, when its mission is to ennoble thought and inflame love, by high and holy themes. May we not believe that the heathen poet recognized a grand and vital principle as underlying his fable, when he represented Orpheus, the poetmusician, as drawing and swaying trees, rivers, and stones, by the wondrous power of his lyre? Through that beautiful myth we see mankind sluggish and grovelling, and needing to be roused and quickened, and impelled to high and worthy aims by alluring appeals to their susceptibilities for refined pleasures. This is better than a wild fancy, it is a thought well founded,

whose truthfulness has been duly avowed. It must suffice, however, by way of confirmation, to quote what Sir Philip Sidney has well and profoundly said of the most degraded and barbarous tribes: "That if ever learning come among them, it must be by having their hard, chill wits softened and sharpened with the sweet delights of poetry; for until they find a pleasure in the exercise of the mind, great promises of much knowledge will little persuade them that know not the fruits of knowledge.”

Although there be many, not among the least wise, who find their choicest pleasures in studying the Bible, it must be owned that the millions of Christendom have too little relish for its truths. Will it, then, be a reliance altogether vain and fanciful, to trust to the "sweet delights" of such a handmaid as Religious Poetry, to allure reluctant minds to a profitable acquaintance with the Word of God? If Milton's blindness did not hinder the lofty flights of his soaring genius, may it not reasonably be hoped that thousands, should they here be

and learn to

"Smit with the love of sacred song,"

"Feed on thoughts that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers"

inspired by true devotion, will also derive moral health from the life-giving streams beside them?

While genuine religious poetry deserves to be highly prized, there is much pious rhyming that is unworthy of the name. Such chaff failing to touch and sway the feelings, and to satisfy a correct taste, quickly flies before the critic's besom, or perishes through sheer neglect. But the wheat abides ever fresh and beautiful, and the world is blessed with many rich and cherished treasures, though not of equal value, which have long braved the winnowing process. Whether they be recognized as the loved melodies of the nursery, as the devotional lyrics of the sanctuary, or as the more stately poems of Christian literature, words cannot duly set forth how precious they are to sympathetic minds. They are living and most welcome guests in the soul, cheering the chambers of the memory when the outside world frowns with clouds of adversity and sorrow, or when the ebbing life throbs faintly in death's shadowy vale.

"And when the stream
Which overflowed the soul was passed away,
A consciousness remained that it had left,
Deposited upon the silent shore

Of memory, images, and precious thoughts,
That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed."

If the work which the poets have achieved has neither been
perfect nor all that was desirable, they have not wrought in
vain. In their efforts to unfold the mysteries of Providence,
and to "justify the ways of God to men," they may often have
marred the beautiful proportions of truth. But the fallibility of the
poets need not disqualify them to help us in understanding the
Scriptures. As consistently may we decline the aid of sermons
and commentaries, because preachers and writers are imperfect.
No reflector can convey the sun's light to our eyes so well as
the sun himself. Yet mirrors are indispensable! And the truly
Christian poet may be the most luminous and convincing of
commentators. True it is that philology and logic are invaluable
aids to the interpreter of the Scriptures, and modern scholarship
owes much to such appliances. Without hermeneutical skill,
indeed, revealed truth cannot be well and duly explained. Yet
the Christian poet, by his peculiar gifts and temperament, may
often surpass the logical and learned but dry exegete. This
advantage comes chiefly, however, through his loyal and loving
sympathy with spiritual truths. Mere words and modes of speech
are inadequate to express his thoughts and feelings. He may be
delighted and improved by the literary beauties of the Bible, and
far more by the divine fragrance which its teachings convey
to his soul. But while the merely scientific interpreter may
be expert in wielding the instruments of critical research and
analysis, he may live and die a novice in regard to the vital
beauty and meaning of the sacred volume, because the power
of sight, of hearing, and of reasoning, cannot grasp them.
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned."

"The

In a book where poetry renders such homage to the Bible, it may not be amiss to remind the reader how much the geniuses in other departments of art are indebted to the sacred volume for many of their most valued themes. If the Scriptures are not

wholly unmatched in this regard, the themes which they furnish are suggestive of truths and ideas most significant and sublime. Thus the Ark of Noah, and especially the Tabernacle and the Temple, built according to divine dictation, symbolized spiritual mysteries and heavenly realities thereafter to be more fully revealed. Thus, too, the massive and graceful beauties of Grecian and Roman architecture were first typified in the works of nature, and were thence derived and appropriated by the mercurial sagacity and imitative genius of man. One has only to glance at the chief incidents of Sacred History, to be reminded of names which have been immortalized by the genius displayed in Painting and Music, on the part of those who bore them. Such world-renowned pictures as "Moses Found," "The Transfiguration," and "The Last Supper," herald the fame of the Rembrandts, the Raphaels, and the Da Vincis; while such oratorios as "The Creation," "Israel in Egypt," "The Messiah," and "Elijah," and such chants as the "Miserere," and the "Dixit Dominus," will, through all the ages, enshrine the Haydens, the Handels, the Mendelssohns, and the Palestrinas in the memories of all true lovers of Christian art.

While these passages from the Bible and the poets would have great worth if printed separately, it is believed that this marriage of poetry to Scripture will largely enhance the value of both to the reader. In the reading of the sacred volume it has often been found that a word uttered, or a query raised, has so roused the mind, that it has seen the truth in a new light, and clothed with fresh beauty. Can it be doubted that these appositely set gems of poetry, sometimes tenderly pathetic, now grandly solemn, then devotional, sublime, or severe, will greatly stir thought and enkindle feeling? And should the poetry, in some instances, seem to have been unfitly arranged, even thus it will beget an alertness of mind helpful to a clear understanding of what is read. Nor will the advantage of eminent and sympathetic companionship be wanting, if there be aught inspiring in that. The best utterances of hundreds of gifted minds, representing every age and phase of the Church catholic and visible, will here greet the reader, helping him to feel that its true life is one, throbbing in each member through his vital union with the common Lord of all. What has been true of every age is also true of this: it has its peculiar advantages, needs, and dangers. More than any

civilized people, we are confronted by perils arising from the wonderful material prosperity and progress of the last fifty years. Within that time men have learned to travel with the fleetness of the wind, and to speed their behests from continent to continent as quickly as they can be uttered or written. And the rush of events is hardly less rapid. Fortunes are gathered from the soil, from beneath the soil, and from trade, in a day. Every thing is done with a rush, and the eager strife and outcry are for things perishable. Only the few take time for reflection and research. Deafened by the din of business, dazzled by hopes of wealth and preferment, made dizzy by the whirl of fashionable pursuits, or debauched by low pleasures, never did a people more need the spurs and checks of moral and spiritual forces than they are needed to-day by the people of this land.

Many on every hand loudly profess a regard for wisdom, though they are as far as were the ancient Hebrews from believing that true wisdom begins with the fear of Jehovah. Indeed, there is a growing school of philosophy heartily at one with our materialism, in the effort to ignore the fact that every man is responsible to Him. This statement is not made to be proved, though it may seem harsh and dogmatic. It is made in the firm belief that our literature, in many ways, is doing much to obscure in the minds of the people that greatest of thoughts, the thought that every man is personally responsible to God! While it will do little good to characterize or denounce what is objectionable in our popular literature, its blemishes and faults will not here be contrasted with what is commendable and good. To overcome evil with good was a maxim worthy of the great apostle, as it is of being adopted by all. It is the property of truth to displace and banish error; and the great truths of the Bible are mighty to correct errors of thought and life. Thousands are pygmies as to their purposes for right doing, who are giants as to their passions for worldly aggrandizements and pleasures. Their true freedom and peace can only come through a loving reception of the weighty truths of God's Word, which is the best and safe guide of the child, the man, and the sage.