LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. 389 CLXXXI.— LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. 1. In no respect does the Hebrew nation appear to greater advantage than when viewed in the light of their sublime compositions. Nor is this remark confined simply to the style or mechanism of their writings, which is nevertheless allowed by the best judges to possess many merits; it may be extended more especially to the exalted nature of their subjects, the works, the attributes, and the purposes of Jehovah. The poets of pagan antiquity, on the other hand, excite by their descriptions of divine things our ridicule or disgust. - 54 2. Even the most approved of their order exhibit repulsive images of their deities, and suggest the grossest ideas in connection with the principles and enjoyments which prevail among the inhabitants of Olympus. But the contemporaries of David, inferior in many things to the ingenious people who listened to the strains of Homer and of Virgil, are remarkable for their elevated conceptions of the Supreme Being as the Creator and Governor of the world, not less than for the suitable terms in which they give utterance to their exalted thoughts. 3. In no other country but Ju-de'a, at that early period, were such sentiments as the following either expressed or felt: "O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens! When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Bless Jehovah, .O my soul! O Lord, my God, thou art very great, and art clothed with honor and majesty! Thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment, and stretchest out the heavens like a curtain who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind! 4. "Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forgět not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, neither rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." 5. "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me: thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts long before. Thou art about my bed and about my path, and art acquainted with all my ways. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I go down to the dwelling of the departed, thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning and abide in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be turned into day. Yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are bōth alike to thee." 6. A similar train of lofty conception pervades the writings of the prophets. "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, who bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding." 7. But it is not only in such sublimity of language and exalted imagery that the literature of the Hebrews surpasses the writings of the most learned and ingenious portion of the heathen world. A distinction not less remarkable is to be found in the humane and compassionate spirit which animates even the earliest parts of the sacred volume, composed at a time when the manners of all nations were still unrefined, and the softer emotions were not held in honor. "Blessed is he who considereth the poor and needy; the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive: he shall be blessed upon earth, and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." 8. We shall in vain seek for instances of such a benign and liberal feeling in the volumes of the most enlightened of pagan writers, whether poets or orators. How beautifully does the following observation made by Solomon contrast with the contempt expressed by Horace for the great body of his countrymen: "He PASSAGES FROM SHAKSPEARE. 391 that despiseth his neighbor sinneth; but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker." RUSSELL. نے THE quality of Mercy is not strained; Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings: It is an attribute to God himself: And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 2. A GOOD CONSCIENCE. روئی 2 What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted ? 3. A MOTHER'S BLESSING. Be thou blest, Bertram! and succeed thy father 4. EXHORTATION TO COURAGE. But wherefore do you droop? Why look you sad? Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; And fright him there, and make him tremble there?— To meet displeasure further from the doors, 5. GRIEF NOT TO BE JUDGED BY EXTERNALS. Seems, madam!—nay, it is; I know not seems. 6. THE MIND MAKES THE BODY RICH. Or is the adder better than the eel 7. VALUE OF REPUTATION. Good name in man, and woman, dear 156 my lord, + Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing, NAPOLEON. 23 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; Robs me of that which not enriches him, 8. SUSPICION. Let me have men about me that are fat; I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort, 9. THE CHARACTER OF BRUTUS. This was the noblest Roman of them all: So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 3 393 CLXXXIII. - NAPOLEON. 1. NAPOLEON's reign was nothing but a campaign; his empire, a field of battle as extensive as all Europe. He concen'trated the rights of people and of kings in his sword; all morality in the number and strength of his armies. Nothing which threatened him was innocent; nothing which placed an obstacle in his way was sacred; nothing which preceded him in date was |