11. And the Psalms are not all of equal excellence. Some contain
terrible outpourings of hatred and vengeance. Many contain fierce and
resentful expressions. And though these things were excusable in early
times, and were, in fact, not wicked, but only a lower form of virtue,
we cannot but feel their great inferiority to the teachings and spirit
of Jesus. But taken as a whole, the Psalms are miracles of beauty and
sublimity, of tenderness and majesty, of purity and piety, of wisdom and
righteousness. They are a heaven of bright constellations; a world of
glory and blessedness.
12. The Book of Job too is a mixture, and to some extent a mystery, but
it would be a great loss to the world if it were to perish. The
twenty-ninth and thirty-first chapters are worth the whole literature of
infidel philosophy a hundred times over. And many other portions of the
book are 'gems of purest ray serene,' and treasures of incalculable
value.
13. And even the Book of Ecclesiastes, while it contains many things of
a strange, a dark, and a doubtful character, has many oracles of wisdom
and piety. It contains lessons of wonderful beauty, and of great
solemnity and power.
14. There is a vast amount of wisdom and goodness in the laws of Moses.
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