y give us facts and ideas. They constitute the
literature of knowledge. They teach us. There are books to which we go for
inspiration; to which we turn for joy and pleasure, for strength and
courage, for patience and endurance, for purity and peace. They constitute
the literature of power. They move us. Herbert Spencer's books belong to
the literature of knowledge The "Imitation of Christ" belongs to the
literature of power.

The literature of knowledge needs to be reissued every century or
generation or decade, corrected up to date. The literature of power is
immortal; fresh to-day though born milleniums ago. The problems of
character and conduct face us much as they faced the Romans and Greeks,
the Egyptians and Hindus. The invisible in nature and in man touches us
with the same feelings that it stirred in Persians, Chaldeans and
Akkadians Even though the Spirit's voice spake once in a language of the
intellect which has now become obsolete, its utterances are not therefore
obsolete. How archaic is much of the thought of the "Imitation of Christ;"
shot through and through as it is with the tissue of mediaeval Catholicism!
But we forget these archaisms in the spell of a holy soul, in love with
wisdom, "intoxicated with God." No archaisms in Biblical thought destroy
its spiritual power over us. Nay, rather do they strengthen that power: as
in our devotions we naturally seek old and quaint forms, buildings unlike
other structures, music which sounds from out the past, words that are
mellow with the rich hues of age; as the archaisms of the language of our
English Bible hold a power that is lost in the raw correctness of the
revised version.

* * * * *

In the literature of power the Bible ranks first. Whatever in Christian
literature has most searching ethical and spiritual energy radiates the
reflected light of the Bible. Augustine's Confessions, The Imitation of
Christ, Fenelon's Spiritual Letters, The Saints' Rest, The Pilgrim's
Progress, in their most appealing tones echo the voices of the Bible. The
hymns that feed the inner life are aromatic with the rich thoughts and
feelings of this holy book. Our poets betray, in the passages which are
the favorites of earnest minds, the influence of these Scriptures. From
Paradise Lost to In Memoriam, from The Temple to the Christian Year, the
poems which the devout delight in are either Biblical paraphrases or
Biblical distillations. Our master