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verbs “to understand men” (cf. Prov. 14:12, 13; 17:22; 24:30-34; 28:13; 29:25). TV. SONG OF SOLOMON. The dialogue of this poem needs to be studied with a spiritual understanding of Christ* love for His church. A Phil osopher’s 1 Love for Christ, a devotional book by W. H. Wrighton, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Georgia, is helpful for this study (Eerdmans Pub. Co. Paper. Price 66 cents). V. LAMENTATIONS. " The Scofield Reference Bible makes this comment: “Lamentations is . . . an acrostic dirge, the« lines, arranged in couplets or triplets, each of which be gins with a letter of the Hebrew alpha bet.” Note the personal, present-day appli cation of Lamentations 3:22-27, 31-36, 40, 41. For the Leader If you wish to make some allusions to classical poetry, you might refer the group to portions of the climax of John Masefield’s “The Everlasting Mercy,” when Saul Kane- comes to understand Christ’s death for him; Francis Thomp son’s “The Hound of Heaven” ; Henry Vaughan’s "The World”, (at the end of the poem the author printed 1 John 2:16, 17); Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1, Lines 34-57, showing Lady Macbeth’s mad remorse as contrasted with the true repentance of Psalm 32:1-5 and Psalm 51; and Hamlet, Act in , closing two lines of Scene 3, with Psalm 66:18; Lamentations 3:41. It is important to remember that in the field of secular writers, not all “re ligious” poetry is “Christian” poetry. Some of the most praised poets in the English language have never accepted the deity or Saviourhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. While the Christian may still respect the lines of these poets for their great art, he will do well to guard against accepting the i d e a s whenever they are contrary to the Word of God. Even though they probably w o u 1d rank as “verse” rather than as “poetry,” the writings of Annie Johnson Flint, Frances Ridley Havergal, and others have^g, real value for Christians, for they reveal a deep understanding of spiritual truth. MAY 11, 1941 AN EVEN ING OF RELIGIOUS MUSIC P salm 100 By Lyman A. Wendt Introduction God has ordained music for the praise of Himself. It is possible to trace the holy use of joyful music down through the ages of world history. It is true that people who do not have love or re spect for God have their music also, but
NOTES on Christian Endeavor
The Writers
May 4—IDELLA SIEBEN.
Miss Sieben (Biola ’29) is an editorial assistant on the staff of THE KING’S BUSINESS and has been serving as a leader in Sunday-school, Christian youth groups, and Bible conferences. Mr. Wendt (Biola ’34) is pastor of Calvary Church, Santa Ana, Calif., and frequently conducts or addresses young people’s rallies and Bible conferences. Mr. Bautrian is paStor of the Second Brethren Church, Los Angeles, Calif., and is Professor of Apologetics at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. • Because of her association with the Old-Fashioned Revival Hour through follow-up evangelistic wor4t which she and her husband (Cutler B. Whitwell, Biola ’25) are doing under its auspices, Mrs. Whitwell (Biola ’26) has been asked to provide the material for this week’s “Notes” on the subject of the radio. The lesson is supplemented by a comment by Percy B. Crawford (Biola ’26), Pastor of the Young People’s Church of the Air. MAY 4, 1941
May 11—LYMAN A. WENDT.
May 18—PAUL BAUMAN.
May 25—FLORENCE NYE WHITWELL.
Answers of Jesus to Job, G. Campbell Morgan calls attention to several great cries from the heart of Job, and shows that each one of these longings finds its answer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The nine sayings, linked with the New Testa ment answers, are as follows: Job 9:33 with 1 Tim. 2:5; 14:14a with John 11:25; 16:19 with Heb. 9:24; 10:25 with Heb. 7:25; 23:3 with John 14:9; 31:35 with Heb. 12:22-24; 40:4a with Matt. 16,:26 and John 3:16; 42:5, 6 with Matt. .4:17; 23:10 with Jas. 1:12. After the climax found in chapters 38 to 41, Job’s ques tions are still unanswered, but he is humbled by the majesty of God (42:1-6) and is Willing to trust Him. II. PSALMS. Used by the Hebrew people as a hymn book for many special feasts as well as in the regular temple services where certain Psalms were often antiphonally chanted, the Book of Psalms is also the favorite portion of the Old Testament for most Christians today. Note 'the, power of the poetic images in Psalm 107, in Psalm 139,’ and many others, and in the majestic opening of such poems as \ Have you “discovered” the Book of Proverbs ? Has it seemed to you merely a mass of unrelated maxims? Or have you found that as God’s revelation it. gives insight into human hearts—as God sees man? D. L. Moody advised those who had found Christ ds Saviour to read the Psalms devotionally for fellowship with God, and to read the Book of Pro- Psalms 90 and 91. in. PROVERBS.
AN EVEN ING OF RELIGIOUS POETRY P salm 107 :l-8 By ¡della Sieben Introduction Try to bring your group something fresh and new from the poetry of the Bible. It is really there! Because poetry always suffers from translation, we cannot judge Biblical poetry by many of the standards of lit erary criticism, for the form and pat terns of alliteration cannot be trans ferred from the Hebrew to English. But there is still the powerful appeal to the emotions and to the imagination that re minds us of John Livingston Lowes’ defi nition of poetry: “The business of words in prose is primarily to state; in poetry, not only to state, but also—and some-, times primarily—to suggest.” ' Several boqks in the Bible consist al most entirely of poetry in the original Hebrew, as has “been indicated by the Wanner of type-setting in the Ameri tan Standard Version. It may be profit able to ask different persons to give brief reports on these poetical books, indicating the poetic form and quoting ■ few high spots that show the style and the message of each book. . For Those Who Have Topics I. JOB. The Book of Job is a dramatic poem dealing with the problem, Why do the godly suffer ? In his volume on The
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