uth, Esther, the Song of
Songs, Proverbs,--and, above all, Job. Job is certainly the grandest book
in the Bible; but all of those which I have named are books that have
inspired poets and writers in all departments of English literature to
such an extent that you can scarcely read a masterpiece in which there is
not some conscious or unconscious reference to them. Another book of
philosophical importance is Ecclesiastes, where, in addition to much
proverbial wisdom, you will find some admirable world-poetry--that is,
poetry which contains universal truth about human life in all times and
all ages. Of the historical books and the law books I do not think that it
is important to read much; the literary element in these is not so
pronounced. It is otherwise with the prophetic books, but here in order to
obtain a few jewels of expression, you have to read a great deal that is
of little value. Of the New Testament there is very little equal to the
Old in literary value; indeed, I should recommend the reading only of the
closing book--the book called the Revelation, or the Apocalypse, from
which we have derived a literary adjective "apocalyptic," to describe
something at once very terrible and very grand. Whether one understands
the meaning of this mysterious text makes very little difference; the
sonority and the beauty of its sentences, together with the tremendous
character of its imagery, can not but powerfully influence mind and ear,
and thus stimulate literary taste. At least two of the great prose writers
of the nineteenth century, Carlyle and Ruskin, have been vividly
influenced by the book of the Revelation. Every period of English
literature shows some influence of Bible study, even from the old
Anglo-Saxon days; and during the present year, the study has so little
slackened that one constantly sees announcements of new works upon the
literary elements of the Bible. Perhaps one of the best is Professor
Moulton's "Modern Reader's Bible," in which the literary side of the
subject receives better consideration than in any other work of the kind
published for general use.

CHAPTER VII

THE "HAVAMAL"

OLD NORTHERN ETHICS OF LIFE

Then from his lips in music rolled
The Havamal of Odin old,
With sounds mysterious as the roar
Of billows on a distant shore.

Perhaps many of you who read this little verse in Longfellow's "Saga of
King Olaf" have wished to know what was this wonderful song that the ghost