"Saw you not, even now, a blessed troop Henry VIII., Act iv. Sc. 2. "He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Acts x. 3, 4. Having brought the parallel passages between Shakespeare and the Bible to a close, the author deems it necessary to add that they by no means convey to the reader the full extent of Shakespeare's indebtedness to the Bible for the many very beautiful sentences, and moral lessons, that are to be found in his works. There are in his plays upwards of one thousand passages, not alluded to by us, wherein scriptural names of persons, places, rulers, and heavenly objects are introduced as illustrations of his subject, and whichcould not be quoted under the head of "parallel passages." That our readers may more particularly understand the nature of these passages, we annex a few, which, while they show the wonderful and profound knowledge Shakespeare had of the Bible, will also account for our omission of them here. There are several passages wherein the name of "Father Abraham," and "Good old Abraham is used; also allusions to Cain and Abel, in the manner of accusations, as for instance: "Be thou cursed, Cain, to slay thy brother Abel." The name of Adam is frequently used in the same manner. "Heaven-angels - the planets," etc., are in many instances used in the same manner as they are in the Bible. In 2 Henry VI., iii. 3, we find this line: "O thou eternal mover of the heavens, etc." The reader will find the same idea in Ps. xxxiii. In Hamlet, Act v. Scene 1, the word angel is introduced in a line precisely in the same sense as in Heb. 1. In "Love's Labor's Lost," Act v. Scene 1, an allusion is made to Judas Maccabees, and Holofernes, taken from 2 Maccabees v., and Judith 4. The word "commander," in "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Act iv. Scene 1, finds a parallel in its use, Isaiah lx. The word "crown" is frequently used by Shakespeare in a scriptural sense. The word "death" is frequently used by Shakespeare, but in no one instance, at least to our knowledge, is it introduced improperly; words of a solemn and holy meaning are never sacrilegiously used. Speaking of death, he says (King John, Act iv. Scene 2): "We cannot hold mortality's strong hand. Have I commandment on the pulse of Life?" The reader will find that Shakespeare has taken this beautiful idea of death from Job xii. 9: "The hand of the Lord hath wrought this, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." The word "mercy," so frequently used by Shakespeare, is most singularly and strikingly scriptural in its connection with the subject upon which he treats; as for instance: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, etc." Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Sc. I. is evidently taken from a passage in Psalm lvii. 3: "God shall send forth his mercy, etc." The several passages wherein the word is used by Shakespeare, as in "Merchant of Venice," Act iv. Scene 1; "Timon of Athens," Act iii. Scene 5, etc., find their counterpart in Luke vi., Matthew v., Romans xi. We have given these few passages wherein the word mercy is introduced by Shakespeare in a scriptural sense, but are by no means specimens of the numerous instances in which they are similarly used. The word itself is mentioned by Shakespeare, throughout his plays, upwards of one hundred and sixty times, twothirds of them are introduced in golden sentences drawn with a prophetic spirit from the Bible. We have said there are upwards of one thousand passages in Shakespeare, not alluded to by us in the parallel passages given, nor in the biblical texts adopted by him, all of which, although not absolute quotations, are nevertheless borrowed from the sacred volume. The reader F will perceive, from the few extracts we have given, how closely Shakespeare followed the Bible in composing his wonderful plays. The prophets of old were inspired by heaven to write the "Book of Books." Shakespeare was inspired by that Book to compose its counterpart. The one governs the world universally, the other the world in miniature. It has been said of Shakespeare, speaking of his genius, that it is delightful to behold him, while depicting the sublunary scenes of human life in all its various shades, exhorting us, at the same time, to look up with adoration to the Omnipotent Creator of the universe. BIBLICAL TEXTS ADOPTED BY SHAKE THE SPEARE. HE following passages from Shakespeare are given for the purpose of showing how closely he adhered to the spirit of the Bible, by clothing the sublimity of thoughts and ideas contained in that Holy Book, in language and words of his own. Thus it will be seen that many beautiful passages attributed to him can be traced directly to the Scriptures. It is, therefore, very evident that Shakespeare at a very early age must have been strongly imbued with the pure morality of the Bible, and his mind tinctured with Divine truth. He has been termed the text for the moralist and the philosopher; but is he not the exponent of a greater text-book, and not the sole creator of the beauties which make up the "mimic world" of which he is the acknowledged ruler? Even here the might of a higher power is evident. "Shakespeare and the Bible," are so frequently coupled together that the |