Article March 13, 1902 Issue

Frederick Harrison, the English Positivist, says in a recent...

with contributions from Frederick Langbridge

Frederick Harrison, the English Positivist, says in a recent issue of The Nineteenth Century: "I need hardly tell you to read another and greater book. The book which begot English prose still remains its supreme type. The English Bible is the true school of English literature. It possesses every quality of our language in its highest form, except for scientific precision, practical affairs, and philosophic analysis. It would be ridiculous to write an essay on metaphysics, a political article, or a novel, in the language of the Bible. Indeed, it would be ridiculous to write anything at all in the language of the Bible. But if you care to know the best that our literature can give in simple, noble prose, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the holy Scriptures in the English tongue."

Yield thy poor best, and mind not how nor why,
Lest one day, seeing all about thee spread
A mighty crowd, and marvelously fed,
Thy heart break out into a bitter cry,
"I might have furnished, I, yea, even I,
The two small fishes and the barley bread."

Frederick Langbridge

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The Lectures
March 13, 1902
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