where I delight to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the
magnificence of the structure, and to increase my awe and excite my
devotion to the Deity there preached and adored." "There never was
found, in any age of the world," says Bacon, "either religion or law
that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible." "It is the
window in this prison of hope," says Dwight, "through which we look into
eternity." "How admirable and beautiful," says Racine, "is the
simplicity of the Evangelists! They never speak injuriously of the
enemies of Jesus Christ, of his judges, nor of his executioners. They
speak the facts without a single reflection. They comment neither on
their Master's mildness, nor on his constancy in the hour of his
ignominious death, which they thus describe: 'And they crucified
Jesus.'" "Men cannot be well educated without the Bible," says Dr. Nott.
"It ought, therefore, to hold a chief place in every situation of
learning throughout Christendom." "I am of the opinion," says Sir
William Jones, "that the Bible contains more true sublimity, more
exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer
strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other
books, in whatever age or language they have been written." "I will
answer for it," says Romaine,
"THE LONGER YOU READ THE BIBLE
the more you will like it; it will grow sweeter and sweeter; and the
more you get into the spirit of it, the more you will get into the
spirit of Christ." "The greatest pleasures the imagination can be
entertained with," says Sir Richard Steele, "are to be found in the
Bible; and even the style of the Scriptures is more than human."