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; MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Act II. Scene 2. 1 1 Peter iii. 18. 1 John iii. 16; iv. 9, 10. 2 Eph. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7. Titus iii. 4, 5, 6, 7. Luke xix. 10. 2 Peter iii. 9. John xv. 13. 2 Cor. v. 19. 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.'-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, office of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury :-" First, I Comend 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 I. 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. 3 1 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. OTHELLO. Act v. Scene 2. Affliction has a taste as sweet As any cordial comfort. WINTER'S TALE. Act v. Scene 3. 1 Ps. cxviii. 18. * ANTONY and CLEOPATRA. Act IV. Scene 2. Bid that welcome Which comes to punish us. Sweet are the uses of adversity; AS YOU LIKE IT. Act II. Scene 1. Whom best I love, I cross; to make my gift The more delayed, delighted. 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. Do Why then, you princes, 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: |