The English Bible—a book which if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.

Macaulay’s remark treats the English Bible (implicitly the King James Bible) as a summit of English prose: even if all other English writing vanished, this single book would still demonstrate the language’s full expressive range. The claim is both aesthetic and cultural. It credits the Bible’s diction, rhythm, and imagery with preserving a standard of eloquence, and it also gestures to the Bible’s formative role in shaping English idiom and literary tradition. The hyperbole underscores how deeply scriptural language had permeated education, public speech, and literature in Macaulay’s Britain, making the Bible not only a religious text but a foundational monument of national letters.