Not that it makes much difference whether it was written by him or some one else, but it is rather tiresome to have to turn aside from the study of such splendid literature to read the labored pedantry of those whose eyes have become near-sighted through their constant peering through the microscope of verbal criticism, often with very poor light. This we say advisedly; and without disparagement of the excellent work of higher criticism, and in fullest recognition of the debt we owe to the biblical scholarship of our day.

The Book of Lamentations is composed of five short poemscorresponding to the five chapters of our English version.

The subject of all is the same-the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem after it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The literary form of the different poems is somewhat varied, the third being most highly artificial, and the fifth almost entirely

prose.

The following outline may serve as an introduction to the contents of the book:

I. Chapter 1:1-11. The author speaks in his own person, and describes the desolation of the city and mourns her low

estate.

II. Chapter 1:11-22. Jerusalem personified speaks for herself, crying, "See, O Lord, and behold; for I am become vile. "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?

"Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." III. II:1-12. The second song opens, as the first did, with the poet speaking. He ascribes the afflictions of the city of God and wonders at the misery he had brought upon his people.

IV. 11:13-19. The author addresses the desolate city:

"What shall I testify unto thee: What shall I liken unto thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?

"What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?

"Is this the city men called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"

V. 11:20-22. Again the personified city-or wall of the city-speaks in a prayer or cry of greatest anguish:

"See, O Lord, and behold, to whom thou hast done this. "Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in their hands?"

VI. Chapter III:1-18. The author now identifies himself with the afflicted city, saying, "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

"He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness and not in light.

"Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day."

He bemoans his sad condition and seems to sink in despair, saying,

"My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the Lord."

VII. :19-38. Then he turned to God in prayer, and he meditated on God's mercy and justice: "This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."

He reflects on the uses of adversity. "It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth."

His hope brightens with this comforting thought:

"For the Lord will not cast off forever. For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

"For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."

VIII. III:39-66. Again he turns to lamentation over the

misery of his low estate; blending his personal afflictions with the desolation of the city, and gives thanks that God had heard his cry out of the dungeon.

"Thou in the day that I called upon thee. Thou saidst, 'Fear not'."

And this song ends with a prayer for righteous retribution on those who have destroyed them.

IX. IV:1-12. The first section of the fourth poem is a dirge, depicting the misery of the people in highly poetic figures: "How is the gold become dim! and the most fine gold changed!"

"The precious sons of Zion are comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!"

Then he specified in detail the horrors of the time:

"The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children; they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

"The Lord hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger."

X. IV:13-22. He puts the blame upon the prophets and the priests, who failed to teach the way of righteousness, and are therefore guilty of "the blood of the just." Therefore, they were judged of God, and lost the respect of the people.

The false hope which the priests and prophets looked for from Egypt was utterly disappointed, and the vindictive enmity of Edom is gratified. But the poem ends with the note of hope:

"The punishmen of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity; he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins."

V:I-22.

XI. The whole of the last song is a prayer. It is only slightly poetic; being, for the most part, a summing up of all that has been said, and a fervent plea for God's compassion

and restoring grace.

"Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us;
Behold, and see our reproach."

Then, after concrete examples of their misery, closing with this prayer:

"Thou, O Lord, abideth forever;

Thy throne is from generation to generation;
Wherefore dost thou forget us forever,

And forsake us so long time?

"Turn us again unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned."

The chief thoughts of the book may be summed up in these five points:

First; A most pitiful outpouring of grief on account of the desolation of the city and the nation.

Second; A clear recognition of the fact that it was God's act-the second causes are scarecly noticed.

Third; That God is just, and had dealt with them in justice tempered with mercy.

Fourth; That their affliction was for their good, to correct them and call them back from utter moral ruin.

Fifth; The hope of restoration and ultimate peace and glory is never relinquished. Discouraged, distressed, and overwhelmed with grief, yet never despairing, the prophet chants the dirge of a dead past, but comforts his soul in the hope of a better day to dawn, when the fullness of God's time should come.

It is a cry de profundus, a prayer "from the belly of hell", the call of a soul in anguish, but it has the ring of hope and confidence in God.

The form of the poems which compose the book is highly

artificial, but not less artistic.

The first four chapters are acrostic, each verse beginning with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet in their order. Each poem-each chapter, has therefore twenty-two verses, as there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third poem, however, which is the climax of the book, has three parts to each verse-as shown in the printing of our revised version.

The poetic beauty of the book can only be appreciated fully by careful study of it verse by verse; but even ordinary reading of it cannot fail to give impressions of somber but exquisite beauty. It is especially profitable to ponder on the awful realities of human life in an age like ours, so full of sunshine and so intolerant of shadow. There are shadows and darkness, and we do well to lay it to heart, for, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

This is composed of two distinct and separate parts which are so different that they have scarcely anything in common but the name.

The first six chapters are composed of six stories of Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

These young men were of the Jewish nobility, and had been selected out of the captives brought from Jerusalem to Babylon in the first captivity, and, by the king's command, were to be educated in the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

The six stories told of them are:

I. Daniel and the king's meat.

II. Nebuchadnezzar's dream interpreted by Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar's second dream and its fulfillment.

III.

IV.