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BIBLE TRUTHS

WITH

SHAKSPEAREAN PARALLELS.

I.

MAN'S REDEMPTION.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.1

ROM. V. 8.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.2 — JOHN iii. 16.

All the souls, that were, were forfeit once;
And He, that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy.*

MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Act II. Scene 2.

1 1 Peter iii. 18. 1 John iii. 16; iv. 9, 10. John xv. 13. 2 Eph. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7. Titus iii. 4, 5, 6, 7. 2 Cor. v. 19. Luke xix. 10. 2 Peter iii. 9.

Shakspeare's faith in this fundamental doctrine is also manifest, in the following extract from his will, preserved in the

B

II.

THE COMPENSATIONS OF ADVERSITY.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.1-Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6.

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble.-JER. xxxi. 9.

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.2-Is. xxv. 8.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.-MATT. v. 4.

Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be *turned into joy.3—John xvi. 20.

The liquid drops of tears, that you have shed,
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl;

office of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury :-" First, I Comend
my Soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping, and assured-
lie beleeving, through thonelie merites of Jesus Christe my
Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, And my bodye
to the Earth whereof yt ys made."
1 Ps. xxx. 5.

2 Rev. xxi. 4.

3 Rom. v. 3. Ps. xxx. 11.

Advantaging their loan, with interest

Of ten-times-double gain of happiness.

KING RICHARD III. Act iv. Scene 4.

Wipe thine eyes:

Some falls are means the happier to arise.*

CYMBELINE, Act IV. Scene 2.

How mightily, sometimes, we make us comforts of our losses!

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. Act IV. Scene 3.

III.

THE BLESSED USES AND LESSONS

OF AFFLICTION.

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.1-JOB v. 17.

As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.2-DEUT. viii. 5.

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity.3—Ps. xciv. 12, 13.

*MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.-Act 1. Scene 1.

There are no faces truer than those, that are so washed (i.e., with tears).

1 Rev. iii. 19. 2 Prov. iii. 12.

31 Cor. xi. 32. Heb. iv. 9.

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.1

Is. xlviii. 10.

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: * For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit. of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. HEB. xii. 5, 6, 11.

Every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.-JOHN xv. 2.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.-Ps. cxix. 71.

This sorrow's heavenly,

It strikes where it doth love.

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Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which like a toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

AS YOU LIKE IT. Act II. Scene 1.

Whom best I love, I cross; to make my gift

The more delayed, delighted.

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In the reproof of chance

Lies the true proof of men.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. Act 1. Scene 3.

You were used

To say, extremity was the trier of spirits.

CORIOLANUS. Act IV. Scene 1.

Why then, you princes,

Do you with cheeks abashed behold our works;

And think them shames, which are, indeed, naught else

But the protractive trials of great Jove,

To find persistive constancy in men ?

The fineness of which metal is not found

In fortune's love for then, the bold and coward,

The wise and fool, the artist and unread,

The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin :
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;

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