First of all, it has had a general effect upon English writing, helping
to preserve it from the opposite faults of vulgarity and affectation.
Coleridge long ago remarked upon the tendency of a close study of the
Bible to elevate a writer’s style. There is a certain naturalness,
inevitableness, propriety of form to substance, in the language of
Scripture which communicates to its readers a feeling for the fitness
of words; and this in itself is the first requisite of good writing.
Sincerity is the best part of dignity.
The English of our Bible is singularly free from the vice of preciosity:
it is not far-sought, overnice, elaborate. Its plainness is a rebuking
contrast to all forms of euphuism. It does not encourage a direct
imitation of itself; for the comparison between the original and the copy
makes the latter look pale and dull. Even in the age which produced the
authorized version, its style was distinct and remarkable. As Hallam has
observed, it was “not the English of Daniel, of Raleigh, or Bacon.” It
was something larger, at once more ancient and more modern, and therefore
well fitted to become not an invariable model, but an enduring standard.
Its words come to it from all sources; they are not chosen according
to the foolish theory that a word of Anglo-Saxon origin is always
stronger and simpler than a Latin derivative. Take the beginning of the
Forty-sixth Psalm:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling
thereof.”
Or take this passage from the Epistle to the Romans:
“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour
preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit;
serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing
instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality.”
Here is a style that adapts itself by instinct to its subject, and
whether it uses Saxon words like “strength” and “help” and “love” and
“hope,” or Latin words like “refuge” and “trouble” and “present” and
“fervent” and “patient” and “prayer” and “hospitality,” weaves them into
a garment worthy of the thought.
The literary influence of a great, popular book written in such a style
is both inspiring and conservative. It survives the passing modes of
prose in each generation, and keeps the present in touch with the past.
It preserves a sense of balance and proportion in a language whose perils
lie in its liberties and in the indiscriminate use of its growing wealth.
And finally it keeps a medium of communication open between the learned
and the simple; for the two places where the effect of the Bible upon the
English language may be most clearly felt are in the natural speech of
the plain people and in the finest passages of great authors.
V
Following this line of the influence of the Bible upon language as the
medium of literature, we find, in the next place, that it has contributed
to our common speech a great number of phrases which are current
everywhere. Sometimes these phrases are used in a merely conventional
way. They serve as counters in a long extemporaneous prayer, or as
padding to a page of dull and pious prose. But at other times they
illuminate the sentence with a new radiance; they clarify its meaning
with a true symbol; they enhance its value with rich associations; they
are “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”
Take for example such phrases as these: “a good old age,” “the wife
of thy bosom,” “the apple of his eye,” “gathered to his fathers,” “a
mother in Israel,” “a land flowing with milk and honey,” “the windows
of heaven,” “the fountains of the great deep,” “living fountains of
waters,” “the valley of decision,” “cometh up as a flower,” “a garden
enclosed,” “one little ewe lamb,” “thou art the man,” “a still, small
voice,” “as the sparks fly upward,” “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,”
“miserable comforters,” “the strife of tongues,” “the tents of Kedar,”
“the cry of the humble,” “the lofty looks of man,” “the pride of life,”
“from strength to strength,” “as a dream when one awaketh,” “the wings
of the morning,” “stolen waters,” “a dinner of herbs,” “apples of gold
in pictures of silver,” “better than rubies,” “a lion in the way,”
“vanity of vanities,” “no discharge in that war,” “the little foxes that
spoil the vines,” “terrible as an army with banners,” “precept upon
precept, line upon line,” “as a drop of a bucket,” “whose merchants are
princes,” “trodden the wine-press alone,” “the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valley,” “the highways and hedges,” “the salt of the earth,”
“the burden and heat of the day,” “the signs of the times,” “a pearl of
great price,” “what God hath joined together,” “the children of light,”
“the powers that be,” “if the trumpet give an uncertain sound,” “the
fashion of this world,” “decently and in order,” “a thorn in the flesh,”
“labour of love,” “a cloud of witnesses,” “to entertain angels unawares,”
“faithful unto death,” “a crown of life.” Consider also those expressions
which carry with them distinctly the memory of some ancient story: “the
fleshpots of Egypt,” “manna in the wilderness,” “a mess of pottage,”
“Joseph’s coat,” “the driving of Jehu,” “the mantle of Elijah,” “the
widow’s mite,” “the elder brother,” “the kiss of Judas,” “the house of
Martha,” “a friend of publicans and sinners,” “many mansions,” “bearing
the cross.” Into such phrases as these, which are familiar to us all, the
Bible has poured a wealth of meaning far beyond the measure of the bare
words. They call up visions and reveal mysteries.