had read the despairing words with curiosity and dissent, added very sensibly: This is the conclusion of the whole matter; fear God and keep His commandments. Or, as Tennyson says, Hold thou the good; define it well For fear divine Philosophy Should push beyond her mark, and be Variety of Literary Forms in the Book of Job-The Opening Scene-Problem of Evil-Character of Job-Bad News— Satan's Technique-Effect of Bodily Pain on the Mind-The Boils-The Three Friends-Their Speeches and Job's Replies-His Exasperation-Job's Remarks on Death-The Question in Job, and the Answer in John-Job's Appeal to Posterity-Job's Long Apology for His Life-An Outbreak from the Younger Generation-Conceit, Assurance, and Verbosity of Elihu-God's Patience Exhausted-The Voice Out of the Whirlwind-Sublime Figures-Humility of Job-His Final Prosperity-Passionate Love in Solomon's Song-The Lyrics in the Psalms-The Twenty-third Psalm and Its InfluenceHunger and Thirst for Righteousness-Security in God-The Imprecatory Psalms and the Sermons Preached During the Great War-Solemn Grandeur of the Ninetieth Psalm-Length of Life-Philosophy of Life-The Modern Attitude-Hotspur and Roosevelt-God's Search for Man-Patriotic Psalms— Isaiah's Passion for Right Conduct-His Attack on the Leaders of the Church-His Prophecy of Ultimate Triumph Through the Coming of Jesus Christ. XII HUMAN NATURE REVEALED IN POETRY The Book of Job is a work of pure literature; it is a pastoral, it is a novel, it is a philosophical treatise in the form of a dialogue, it is a drama, and above all it is a poem. It is animated throughout by the very spirit of poetry-it is indeed one of the greatest poems of the world. As a pastoral, it deals with the land and possessions of a rich stock farmer; as a novel, it contains incidents so interesting that, once read, they are never forgotten; as philosophy, it deals with one of the most important problems, the significance of pain, and leaves us where all other treatises on this subject have left us, in the dark; as a drama, it has action and talk, both so appealing that when it was presented on the New York stage it had a long run; as poetry, it reaches the highest elevations known to the human spirit, and loses itself in the stars. It has everything except one thing-love o' women. Curious, that a narrative-pastoral-philosophical-dramatic-poem can be so thrilling without making any use of the chief material for all these forms of literature. |