OCR Text |
Show rAUb 9 "a . THE .r . .. flpilBLE 1 SPEAKS I By DR. KEKNETH J. FOREMAN SCRIPTURE: I Samuel 2:1-10; n Samuel Sam-uel 1:19-27; Psalms 2324; 103; 130:1-9; Lamentations 3:19-39; HabaUcuk 3:17-19; Luke l:4ff-5S. DEVOTIONAL READING: Psalm 147:112. Truth Set to Music Lesson for November 21, 1918 'TpHE opposite of poetry is not A prose; it is cience." There were poets in the world long before there were scientists, but that does not prove that poets are out of date. f? "-1 Many people In our f v: 4 modern world think a ".. s; .iy'l we could not get KXi along without sci- Ir? f,t$:fy ence but could well I K$4 ?.. Pi i burn all the books I V-f-" of poetry. If we I - v'; 'V I did. it would be a I ;-- 'V:'TV 'I ! dreadful mistake. " IV i.'nul Poet and scientist Dr. Foreman each has his truth to see and to speak. We need them both. Certainly if we tried to burn all the poems we should have to destroy some of the best-loved parts of the Bible. Not All Poets Have Long Hair COME "practical" people sniff at poets for being peculiar. "Long-hairs" "Long-hairs" Is a slang name for them as for other people who know something some-thing besides arithmetic. As a matter of fact, many poets are very practical people themselves: them-selves: engineers, farmers and soldiers sol-diers all have written poetry. The poets of the Bible are of many sorts. If you will look into an edition of the Bible in which the poetic sections sec-tions are printed as poetry is printed print-ed in other books, you will be impressed im-pressed by the very large proportion propor-tion of poetry, especially in the Old Testament. The new Study Bible or the American Revised Version or Moffatt's translation will show this at a glance. These Bible poems are of various va-rious kinds. Some are war-songs war-songs (Judges 5),some,are proverbs prov-erbs (the book of Proverbs), drama (Job), love-songs (the Song of Songs), odes (Isaiah 40), prayers (Psalm 16), hymns for public worship (the Psalms). The writers were never professional profes-sional poets, so far as we know. Of the poems which are this week's lesson Scripture, two were written by housewives, one by a sheep-herder, one or more by a soldier-king, I one by a preacher (Habakkuk), and only one (Lamentations) possibly by a professional poet. The original Hebrew book of Lamentations does not claim Jeremiah for its author; but if he was the writer, then it was written by the most practical man of his time. World's Greatest Hymn Book T ET me write a nation's songs, ''and I care not who writes their laws," said a famous man. The same thing can be said about religion. re-ligion. "Let me write a church's hymnbook, and I care not who writes their theologies." The hymns our mothers loved, the hymns we heard before we heard any other kind of poetry, the hymns that we have learned by heart and that become a part of our minds these mean far more to most people peo-ple than all the printed creeds. Now the Christian religion Is a singing religion. Our very first hymnbook was the Book of Psalms, and all the hymnals since, down to the present day, grew out of this one book In the Bible. It is the greatest hymnbook hymn-book in the world; not the longest long-est nor the oldest, but the greatest great-est in its influence for good upon mankind. , Poetry Was in Jesus Blood CF OUR Lord Jesus himself, it truly can be said, poetry was In his veins. He came of a poetic family. His most famous ancestor, David, was a poet; another royal ancestor. Hezekiah, wrote poetry. The book he knew best, the Old Testament, was full of poetry. His own mother Mary, before he was born, sang a song of her own making, mak-ing, so beautiful that it is still sung in Christian churches and loved the world around. When Jesus died on the cross, two of the last seven sentences that came from his lips were quotations from the Psalms. The poetry of his people was in his blood, for in bis last agony the words that came from his breaking break-ing heart were words first spoken spok-en by the poets of the Bible long ago. So it Is always. "Truth tn song will tarry long." Today and always, al-ways, the parts of the Bible which are most cherished, the parts most often learned by heart, the parts which we curry with us to the val ley of the shadow of death, are the truths set to music, long centuries ago. by Inspired men who knew how to clothe truth with garments of shining and Immortal loveliness. (Copyright by tht Intrrmriontl Council ol Rtlitious Educitioo ea bthtH ol 40 Piottstant drnomiattioa. RiUttd h WNU Ffturts.) |