Rudyard Kipling's very last story was called "Proofs of Holy Writ". You can find it here. It was completed too late for inclusion in Limits and Renewals, his last collection, published in London in April 1932 but was published in The Strand magazine in April 1934, and reprinted there in 1947 with an introduction by Hilton Brown. It is also in volume 30 of the Sussex Edition.
It was said to have arisen from a dinner table conversation between Kipling and John Buchan about the process by which the splendidly poetic language of the KJV miraculously emerged from a committee of 47 learned men. Might they, Buchan wondered, have consulted the great creative writers of the day, like Will Shakespeare or Ben Jonson ? 'That's an idea', said Kipling, and went away to turn it into a tale. The story is prefaced by these words from Isaiah 60
ARISE, shine: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ...
19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
2 comments:
Whenever I have moments of doubt, and let's face it we all do from time to time, this verse appears and my doubts vanish.
I missed your comment on this old piece but curiously the same day you sent your comment I was preaching on the very same text! Glad I've noticed your comment now. Hope you see this.
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