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are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. · 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood. 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17. And the way of peace have they not known. 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

19. "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24. Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth

in Jesus.

27. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29. Is he the God of the

Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

Additional Examples. — Justification by Faith, Rom. v.; The carnal State and the spiritual, Rom. viii.; Charity, 1 Cor. xiii.; The Resurrection, 1 Cor. xv.

PASSAGES FROM THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS.

The prophets are distinguished, among the sacred writers, for poetic beauty and grandeur of thought, and for graphic and dramatic effect of style. The prophetic books embody more descriptive power and vivid expression, than any other writings whatever. They require, accordingly, more intensity and variety of tone, in reading, a nobler majesty of utterance, a fuller, deeper, stronger, character of voice,—a perfect "orotund quality."

The oriental fervor of emotion, and the poetic and imaginative language which characterize the prophets, taken in connection with their sublime force of thought, naturally call for a higher degree of energy in the voice, than is required for ordinary reading, or even for the style of the other writers of the sacred volume. The appropriate reading of most portions of the prophetic books, requires, likewise, a more marked and peculiar “stress,” than occurs in forms of writing less expressive and peculiar. The style of prophetic language, in the Sacred Scriptures, is not less striking in regard to its effect on the pitch of the voice. It abounds in the solemn and majestic tones of the epic, in the transports of joy and the bursts of grief peculiar to the lyric ode, and in the abrupt conversational turns of dramatic dialogue. Its variety and range of pitch, therefore, are remarkable; and to the same causes are owing its frequent use of special "inflections," as the "wave,” the monotone," the bold 'downward slide" of

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exclamation and command, and the acute "rising inflection" of eager and stern interrogation. The "movement” of the voice, too, in the appropriate reading of passages from the prophets, is strikingly marked in every degree required by intense and varied emotion, from the slowest style of awe, gloom, and horror; to the rapid rate of haste, joy, and triumph. The whole style of elocution, in this department of Scripture reading, is marked by the peculiar force of its emphasis, the occasional brevity, and the occasional impressive length, of its pauses, the intensity of its "expression," and the abruptness and extent of its "variation."

The Doom of Babylon.— Isaiah XIII.

V. 1. " The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. 2. Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. 4. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 5. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

6. " Howl ye: for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun

shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13. Therefore I will shake the heavens; and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 18. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

19. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged."

Additional Examples. — Israel's Triumph over Babylon, Isaiah xiv.; the Restoration of Jerusalem, Isaiah xl.; the Restoration of the Holy City and Temple, Isaiah xliv.; the Exaltation of Cyrus,

dna the Restoration of Israel, Isaiah xlv. 1-23; the Promise of a Redeemer, Isaiah liii.; Assurance of the Return of Divine Favor to Israel, Isaiah liv. Iv.; the Debasement and Self-reproach of Israel, Isaiah lix. 1—15; Assurances of Divine Favor to Israel, Isaiah lx. lxi.; Earnest Entreaty, Isaiah lxiv.; Divine Retribution, Isaiah lxv.; Denunciations against Israel, Jeremiah iv., vi., vii., viii.; Grief and Prostration of Judah, Jeremiah xiv.; Denunciation against the King of Judah, Jeremiah xxii.; Denunciations against False Prophets, Jeremiah xxiii. 9-40; the Restoration of Israel, Jeremiah xxxi., xxxiii.; Denunciation against Babylon, Jeremiah l., li.; Calamities of Judah and Jerusalem, Lamentations i., ii., iv. 1—20.

LYRIC PASSAGES.

The Book of Psalms, and the devotional strains interspersed with the narratives of the sacred volume, may be conveniently classified for the purposes of elocution, according to the character of their predominant emotions, as indicating their prevalent tones of expression in reading, in the following manner.

1. Examples of Solemnity, Sublimity, and Awe.

*Psalm lxxvii. 11-20; lxxxix. 2-14; xc., civ., cxxxix. 1-18.

2. Grandeur, Majesty, and Power.

Psalm xviii., xix., xxix., lxv., xcvii.

3. Tranquility and Serenity.

Psalm viii., xxiii.

4. Joy, Praise, and Triumph.

Psalm xxx., lxiii., lxv., lxvi., lxvii., lxviii., xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., c., ciii., civ., cvii., cxiii., cxiv., cxlv., cxlvi., cxlvii., cxlviii., cl.

5. Pathos, Entreaty, and Supplication.

Psalm vi., xxxviii., xxxix., lxxxviii., exlii., cxliii.

* Examples extracted from the above and similar passages, have been presented as exercises under various emotions, and need not, therefore, be repeated here. They may be repeated orally if necessary, by referring to the pages in which they occur.

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