Bible Stories and Religious Classics - Philip P. Wells
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BIBLE STORIES AND RELIGIOUS CLASSICS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANSON PHELPS STOKES, JR.
_ILLUSTRATED BY_ BEATRICE STEVENS
1903
INTRODUCTION
There never was a time when the demand for books for young people was so
great as it is to-day or when so much was being done to meet the demand.
"Children's Counter," "Boys' Books," are signs which, especially at the
Christmas season, attract the eye in every large book shop. Tales of
adventure, manuals about various branches of nature study, historical
romances, lives of heroes--in fact, almost every kind of book--is to be
found in abundance, beautifully illustrated, attractively bound, well
printed, all designed and written especially for the youth of our land.
It is indeed an encouraging sign. It means that the child of to-day is
being introduced to the world's best in literature and science and
history and art in simple and gradual ways.
In the Middle Ages stories of the martyrs and legends of the Church,
along with some simple form of catechetical instruction, formed the
basis of a child's mental and religious training. Later, during and
after the Crusades, the stories of war and the mysteries of the East
increased the stock in trade for the homes of Europe; but still the
horizon remained a narrow one. Even the invention of printing did not
bring to the young as many direct advantages as would naturally be
expected. To-day, when Christian missionaries set up a printing press in
some distant island of the sea, the first books which they print in the
vernacular are almost invariably those parts of the Bible, such as the
Gospels and the stories of Genesis, which most appeal to the young, and,
what is of special importance, they have the young directly and mainly
in mind in their publishing work. This was not true a few centuries ago.
The presses were, perhaps naturally and inevitably, almost exclusively
occupied with books for the learned world. To be sure, the Legenda
Aurea, of which I shall speak later, although not intended primarily for
children, proved a great boon to them. So did the Chap Books of England.
But it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, when John
Newbery set up his book shop at St. Paul's Churchyard, London, that any
special attention was given by printers to the publication, in
attractive form, of juvenile books. Newbery's children's books made him
famous in his day, but the world seems to have forgotten him. Yet he
deserves a monument along with AEsop, and La Fontaine, and Kate
Greenaway, and Andersen, and Scott and Henty, and all the other greater
and lesser lights who have done so much to gladden the heart and enlarge
the mind of childhood and youth.
But from Newbery's day to this year of our Lord nineteen hundred and
three is a very long jump in what we may call the evolution of juvenile
literature, for the preparation of reading matter for young people seems
now almost to have reached its climax. There is one field, however, and
that the one which this volume tries to cover, which strangely enough
seems to have been almost neglected. Of "goody-goody" Sunday School
library books of an old-fashioned type, which are insipid and lacking
both in virility of thought and literary form, there are, alas, already
too many. What we need is something to take their place, something which
will furnish real literature, and yet which from subject matter and
manner of handling is specially adapted to what I still like to call
Sunday reading, a phrase which unfortunately seems to mean little to
most people to-day. Bearing this in mind, it is the purpose of this book
to gather together, in attractive form, such religious classics as are
specially fitted to interest and uplift young people.
There is a wide variety in so far as _subject matter_, _source_ and
_form_ are concerned, but a certain unity is given to the contents of
the volume by the religious note, which, whether brought prominently
forward or not, is found alike in all the selections.
The Bible has furnished directly or indirectly most of the _subject
matter_ here used. The biographies of various Scripture characters
appear in large numbers. Adam and Noah head the list, and Peter and
Paul bring up the end of a procession of worthies whose heroic deeds as
the servants of Jehovah will always appeal to the imagination of
youthful minds. But it is not with Bible characters only that this book
deals. The lives of Christian saints who entered upon their inheritance,
such as Christopher and Sylvester and Francis of Assisi, also have their
place, while yet more prominent are stories and poems based on some
Bible incidents. Even selections such as Hawthorne's Great Stone Face or
Wordsworth's Ode to Duty have their roots deep in the Bible, for they
can be understood and explained only by those who know the Revelation it
contains. In so far, then, as the subject matter of the volume is
concerned, either it or its inspiration can always be traced back to the
Bible.
When we turn from the Bible material which, as we have seen, supplies
both subject and inspiration, to the _source_ from which the selections
in their literary form as here given are derived, we find that the old
foundations have sufficed for many kinds of structure. Probably the
source from which the editor has drawn most largely is the Golden
Legend. This work, which was translated into English and printed by
Caxton in 1483, although little heard of now, was for several centuries
a household word in Christendom. It was the creation of a Genoese
Archbishop, Jacobus de Voragine, and dates from about the middle of the
thirteenth century. The good Archbishop, using the Bible and the Lives
of the Saints as a basis, and as a sharer of the superstitions of the
time having unbounded faith in every legend of the Church, put together
in simple form for the edification of his flock the various stories
about Jewish and Christian worthies which compose the original Legenda
Aurea. This was translated into French by one Jean de Vignay in the
fourteenth century, and the English version was in turn mainly made from
this translation. In the simple, sturdy language of Caxton the book
became a most popular one, being often read aloud in the Parish Churches
of England, where it helped to familiarize the people, especially the
young, with sacred story as represented by the heroes of the Old
Testament and the saints of the Church. In Caxton's introduction there
is a quaint sentence regarding the name of the book. After mentioning
the Latin title, he adds "that is to say in Englyshe the golden legende
for lyke as passeth golde in vallwe al other metallys, soo thys legende
exedeth all other bokes." Whether the good printer's judgment be
justified or no, it is not for us to say. It is true, however, that
after the passing of over six centuries since its original production,
the editor of this volume in looking for religious classics for young
people has made more use of it than of any other collection. All honor,
then, to the old Archbishop of Genoa and to William Caxton, who made
his work accessible to the youth of England.
The only other work which deserves any special mention as a source for
the contents of this volume, is the Stories and Tales of Hans Christian
Andersen. If ever there was any one who deserved the title of the
Children's Friend, surely this son of a poor Danish shoemaker is the
man. His Tales have been translated into many languages, and because of
their true imagination and their simplicity of expression they have
appealed to all children. Ten or more of them appear in this volume.
They are charming and wholesome reading, and their continued popularity
makes us realize the truth of these closing lines in Andersen's The Old
Grave Stones: "The good and the beautiful perish never; they live
eternally in tale and song."
The other sources from which this collection has been made up are so
varied as to require no mention aside from that given with each title.
The Master Poets of English Literature have been freely drawn upon:
Byron to tell of the Destruction of Sennacherib, Milton to sing of
Christ's Nativity, Wordsworth to meditate aloud on Duty, and other great
writers to emphasize various deep truths of life.
* * * * *
As we turn from subject matter and source to _form_, we again find great
variety. Almost every kind of literature is represented. The early
lengends of the Jewish people, told by the author of the Legenda Aurea
almost in the words of Scripture, bring to young and old alike the same
lessons about God and Duty. The fact that they are legends, rather than
exact history, does not in any way lessen their religious value. Then,
too, the book contains allegories, such as that of the Pilgrim's
Progress, Christendom's greatest religious classic next to the Bible
itself, and those of some of Andersen's Tales. Poetry also is well
represented, the selections being in large part suggested by Scripture.
There are in addition many stories in the ordinary sense of the
word--tales which are entirely the fabric of the imagination, but which,
like the selections from Hawthorne, have some great lesson to teach. In
fact, the literary forms represented in this volume are almost as
numerous as those of the Bible itself. The latter used to be looked upon
merely as a storehouse of historic facts and devotional songs; now we
see in it Legend, Oratory, Poetry, Allegory, History, Proverb and
Prophecy; and we find that all of these forms are used by God's servants
to teach His truth to men.
* * * * *
Sufficient has been said, I think, to show the purpose and scope of this
volume and to introduce the reader to its contents. It is my hope and
belief that the effort of my friend, Mr. Philip P. Wells, to make this a
collection of religious classics in the full meaning of these words may
prove successful. My highest wish, however, is that those who read
these selections, with their great variety of source and form, may mark
the inspiration of thought or incident common to them all, and may find
an interest in refreshing what may be an old acquaintance with that Book
of Books which gives with classic truth the fundamental subject matter
for all deep thought and high aspiration.
ANSON PHELPS STOKES, JR.
CONTENTS
THE LIFE OF ADAM
HERE BEGINNETH THE HISTORY OF NOAH
THE RAINBOW
HERE FOLLOWETH THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
HERE BEGINNETH THE LIFE OF ISAAC, WITH THE HISTORY OF ESAU AND OF JACOB
HERE BEGINNETH THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
HERE NEXT FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF MOSES
THE BURIAL OF MOSES
THE HISTORY OF JOSHUA
THE HISTORY OF SAUL
THE HISTORY OF DAVID
THE SONG OF DAVID
THE STORY OF A CUP OF WATER
THE HISTORY OF SOLOMON
THE HISTORY OF REHOBOAM
A LITTLE MAID
HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF JOB
THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB
HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF TOBIT
HERE BEGINNETH THE STORY OF JUDITH
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY
THE BURNING BABE
A CRADLE SONG
EASTER
THE LIFE OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE
THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
THE LIFE OF ST. CHRISTOPHER
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
THE LIFE OF ST. SILVESTER
OF ST. AUSTIN THAT BROUGHT CHRISTENDOM TO ENGLAND
EDWIN AND PAULINUS
THE LIFE OF ST. GEORGE, MARTYR
THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK
OF ST. FRANCIS
SONG OF THE EMIGRANTS IN BERMUDA
LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN NEW ENGLAND
THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
THE PILGRIM
THE GREAT STONE FACE
THE GENTLE BOY
THE ANGEL
THE RED SHOES
THE LOVELIEST ROSE IN THE WORLD
A VISION OF THE LAST DAY
THE OLD GRAVESTONE
GOOD-FOR-NOTHING
IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEA
SOMETHING
THE JEWISH GIRL
THE STORY OF A MOTHER
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
FLOWERS WITHOUT FRUIT
CONTENTMENT
THE SEARCH FOR PEACE
A SONG OF PRAISE
THE TRAVELLER
TRUE GREATNESS
CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE
A THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR HIS HOUSE
FRIENDS DEPARTED
THE LAND OF DREAMS
ADORATION
BIBLE STORIES AND RELIGIOUS CLASSICS
THE LIFE OF ADAM
_The Sunday of Septuagesima beginneth the story of the Bible, in which
is read the legend and story of Adam which followeth_
In the beginning God made and created heaven and earth. The earth was
idle and void and covered with darkness. And the spirit of God was borne
on the waters, and God said: Be made light, and anon light was made. And
God saw that light was good, and divided the light from darkness, and
called the light day and darkness night.
And thus was made light with heaven and earth first, and even and
morning was made one day. The second day he made the firmament, and
divided the waters that were under the firmament from them that were
above, and called the firmament heaven. The third day were made on the
earth herbs and fruits in their kind. The fourth day God made the sun
and moon and stars, etc. The fifth day he made the fishes in the water
and birds in the air. The sixth day God made the beasts on the earth,
every one in his kind and gender. And God saw that all these works were
good and said: Make we man unto our similitude and image. Here spake the
Father to the Son and Holy Ghost, or else as it were the common voice of
three persons, when it was said make we, and to our, in plural number.
Man was made to the image of God in his soul. Here it is to be noted
that he made not only the soul with the body, but he made both body and
soul. As to the body he made male and female. God gave to man the
lordship and power upon living beasts. Thus in six days was heaven and
earth made and all the ornation of them. And then he made the seventh
day on which he rested, not for that he was weary, but ceased his
operation, and showed the seventh day which he blessed. Thus he shortly
showed the generations of heaven and earth, for here he determined the
works of the six days and the seventh day he sanctified and made holy.
God had planted in the beginning Paradise a place of desire and delices.
And man was made in the field of Damascus; he was made of the slime of
the earth. Paradise was made the third day of creation, and was beset
with herbs, plants and trees, and is a place of most mirth and joy. In
the midst whereof be set two trees, that is the tree of life, and that
other the tree of knowing good and evil. And there is a well, which
casteth out water for to water the trees and herbs of Paradise. This
well is the mother of all waters, which well is divided into four parts.
One part is called Phison. This goeth about Inde. The second is called
Gijon, otherwise Nilus, and that runneth about Ethiopia, the other two
be called Tigris and Euphrates. Tigris runneth toward Assyria, and
Euphrates is called fruitful, which runneth in Chaldea. These four
floods come and spring out of the same well, and depart, and yet in some
place some of them meet again.
Then God took man from the place of his creation and brought him into
Paradise, for to work there, not to labor needily, but in delighting and
recreating him, and that he should keep Paradise. For like as Paradise
should refresh him, so should he labor to serve God, and there God gave
him a commandment. Every commandment standeth in two things, in doing or
forbidding, in doing he commanded him to eat of all the trees of
Paradise, in forbidding he commanded that he should not eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. This commandment was given to the
man, and by the man it went to the woman. For when the woman was made it
was commanded to them both, and hereto he set a pain, saying: Whatsoever
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die by death.
God said: It is not good a man to be alone, make we to him an helper
like to himself for to bring forth children. Adam supposed that some
helper to him had been among the beasts which had been like to him.
Therefore God brought to Adam all living beasts of the earth and air, in
which he understood them of the water also, which with one commandment
all came tofore him. They were brought for two causes, one was because
man should give to each of them a name, by which they should know that
he should dominate over them, and the second cause was because Adam
should know that there was none of them like to him. And he named them
in the Hebrew tongue, which was only the language and none other at the
beginning. And so none being found like unto him, God sent in Adam a
lust to sleep, which was no dream, but as is supposed in an extasy or in
a trance; in which was showed to him the celestial court. Wherefore when
he awoke he prophesied of the conjunction of Christ to his church, and
of the flood that was to come, and of the doom and destruction of the
world by fire he knew, which afterward he told to his children.
Whiles that Adam slept, God took one of his ribs, both flesh and bone,
and made that a woman, and set her tofore Adam. Which then said: This is
now a bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; and Adam gave her a name
like as her lord, and said she should be called virago, which is as much
as to say as made of a man, and is a name taken of a man. And anon, the
name giving, he prophesied, saying: Because she is taken of the side of
a man, therefore a man shall forsake and leave father and mother and
abide and be adherent unto his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh;
and though they be two persons, yet in matrimony and wedlock they be but
one flesh, and in other things twain. For why, neither of them had power
of his own flesh. They were both naked and were not ashamed, for they
stood both in the state of innocence. Then the serpent which was hotter
than any beast of the earth and naturally deceivable, for he was full
of the devil Lucifer, which was deject and cast out of heaven, had great
envy to man that was bodily in Paradise, and knew well, if he might make
him to trespass and break God's commandments, that he should be cast out
also.
Yet he was afeard to be taken or espied of the man, he went to the
woman, not so prudent and more prone to slide and bow. And in the form
of the serpent, for then the serpent was erect as a man. Bede saith that
he chose a serpent having a maiden's cheer [face], for like oft apply to
like, and spake by the tongue of the serpent to Eve, and said: Why
commanded you God that ye should not eat of all the trees of Paradise?
This he said to find occasion to say that he was come for. Then the
woman answered and said: Ne forte moriamur, lest haply we die, which she
said doubting, for lightly she was flexible to every part. Whereunto
anon he answered: Nay in no wise ye shall die, but God would not that ye
should be like him in science, and knowing that when ye eat of this tree
ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil, he as envious forbade you.
And anon the woman, elate in pride and willing to be like to God,
accorded thereto and believed him. The woman saw that the tree was fair
to look on, and clean and sweet of savor, took and ate thereof, and gave
unto Adam of the same, happily desiring him by fair words. But Adam anon
agreed, for when he saw the woman not dead he supposed that God had said
that they should die to fear them with, and then ate of the fruit
forbidden. And anon their sight was opened that they saw their
nakedness, and then anon they understood that they had trespassed. And
thus they knew that they were naked, and they took fig leaves and sewed
them together for to cover their members in manner of breeches.
And anon after, they heard the voice of our Lord God walking, and anon
they hied him. Our Lord called the man and said: Adam, where art thou?
Calling him in blaming him and not as knowing where he was, but as who
said: Adam, see in what misery thou art. Which answered: I have hid me,
Lord, for I am naked. Our Lord said: Who told thee that thou wert naked,
but that thou hast eaten of the tree forbidden? He then not meekly
confessing his trespass, but laid the fault on his wife, and on him as
giver of the woman to him, and said: The woman that thou gavest to me as
a fellow, gave to me of the tree, and I ate thereof. And then our Lord
said to the woman: Why didst thou so? Neither she accused herself, but
laid the sin on the serpent, and privily she laid the fault on the maker
of him. The serpent was not demanded, for he did it not of himself, but
the devil by him.
And our Lord, cursing them, began at the serpent, keeping an order and
congruous number of curses. The serpent was the first and sinned most,
for he sinned in three things. The woman next and sinned less than he,
but more than the man, for she sinned in two things. The man sinned last
and least, for he sinned but in one. The serpent had envy, he lied, and
deceived, for these three he had three curses. Because he had envy at
the excellence of man, it was said to him: Thou shalt go and creep on
thy breast; because he lied he is punished in his mouth, when it was
said: Thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life. Also he took away
his voice and put venom in his mouth. And because he deceived, it was
said: I shall put enmity between thee and woman, and thy seed and her
seed. She shall break thy head, etc. In two things the woman sinned, in
pride and eating the fruit. Because she sinned in pride, he meeked her,
saying: Thou shalt be under the power of man, and he shall have lordship
over thee, and he shall put thee to affliction. Now is she subject to a
man by condition and dread, which before was but subject by love; and
because she sinned in the fruit, she is punished in her fruit, when it
was said to her: Thou shalt bring forth children in sorrow; in the pain
of sorrow standeth the curse, but in bringing forth of children is a
blessing. And so, in punishing, God forgat not to have mercy. And
because Adam sinned but only in eating of the fruit, therefore he was
punished in seeking his meat, as it is said to him: Accursed be the
earth in thy work, that is to say for thy work of thy sin, for which is
made that the earth that brought forth good and wholesome fruits
plenteously, from henceforth shall bring forth but seldom, and also none
without man's labor, and also sometime weeds, briars, and thorns shall
grow. And he added: Thereto shalt thou eat herbs of the earth, as who
saith thou shalt be like a beast or jument. He cursed the earth because
the trespass was of the fruit of the earth and not of the water. He
added thereto to him of labor: In the sweat of thy cheer [face] thou
shalt eat thy bread unto the time thou return again into the earth; that
is to say till thou die, for thou art earth, and into earth thou shalt
go again.
Then Adam, wailing and sorrowing the misery that was to come of his
posterity, named his wife Eve, which is to say, mother of all living
folk. Then God made to Adam and Eve two leathern coats of the skins of
dead beasts, to the end that they bare with them the sign of mortality,
and said: Lo, Adam is made as one of us, knowing good and evil, now lest
he put his hand and take of the tree of life and live ever, as who
saith: beware and cast him out, lest he take and eat of the tree of
life. And so he was cast out of Paradise, and set in the field of
Damascus where as he was made and taken from, for to work and labor
there. And our Lord set Cherubim to keep Paradise of delight with a
burning sword and pliant, to the end that none should enter there ne
come to the tree of life.
After then that Adam was cast out of Paradise and set in the world, he
engendered Cain, the fifteenth year after he was made, and his sister
Calmana; but after another fifteen years was Abel born, and his sister
Delbora.
When Adam was an hundred and thirty years of age, Cain slew Abel his
brother. Truth it is, after many days Cain and Abel offered sacrifice
and gifts unto God. It is to be believed that Adam taught his sons to
offer to God their tithes and first fruits. Cain offered fruits, for he
was a ploughman and tiller of earth, and Abel offered milk and the first
of the lambs, Moses saith, of the fattest of the flock. And God beheld
the gifts of Abel, for he and his sacrifices were acceptable to our
Lord; and as to Cain his sacrifices, God beheld them not, for they were
not to him acceptable, he offered withies and thorns. And as some
doctors say, fire came from heaven and lighted the sacrifice of Abel,
and the gifts of Cain pleased not our Lord, for the sacrifice would not
belight nor burn clear in the light of God. Whereof Cain had great envy
unto his brother Abel, which arose against him and slew him. And our
Lord said to him: Where is Abel thy brother? He answered and said: I wot
never, am I keeper of my brother? Then our Lord said: What hast thou
done? The voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to thee from the
earth, wherefore thou art cursed, and accursed be the earth that
received the blood of thy brother by his mouth of thy hands. When thou
shalt work and labor the earth it shall bring forth no fruit, but thou
shalt be fugitive, vagabond, and void on the earth. This Cain deserved
well to be cursed, knowing the pain of the first trespass of Adam, yet
he added thereto murder and slaughter of his brother.