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THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.

IN tracing the connection of poetry with subjects most frequently and naturally presented to our contemplation, we observe how it may be associated with our pursuits, so as to give interest to what is familiar, to refine what is material, and to heighten what is sublime. We now open the Bible, and find that poetry as a principle of intellectual enjoyment derived from association, is also diffused through every page of the sacred volume, and so diffused, that the simplest child, as well as the profoundest sage, may feel its presence. This in fact, is the great merit of poetry, (a merit which in no other volume but the Bible, can be found in perfection,) that it addresses itself so immediately to the principles of feeling inherent in our nature, as to be intelligible to

those who have made but little progress in the paths of learning, at the same time that it presents a source of the highest gratification to the scholar and the philosopher. Let us refer as an example, to the first chapter of Genesis :

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

A child but just grown familiar with the words contained in these verses, not only understands their meaning here, but feels something of their sublimity-something of the power and the majesty of the God who could create this wonderful world, whose Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, and who said, Let there be light: and there was light! While learned men of all ages, have agreed, that no possible combination of words, could express more clearly and powerfully than these, the potency of the first operations of almighty power of which mankind have any record.

We have more than once observed that poetry must have some reference, either uniformly or partially, to our own circumstances, situation, or experience, as well as to the

more remote and varied conceptions of the imagination; and in the Scriptures, we find this fact fully illustrated. Witness the frequent recurrence of these simple words-and God said. We are not told that the mandates of almighty power issued forth from the heavens, but simply, that God said; a mode of speech familiar to the least cultivated understanding, yet in no danger of losing its sublimity as used here, because immediately after, follow those manifestations of universal subordination, which give us the most forcible idea of the omnipotence of Divine will.

Again, after the transgression of our first parents, when

they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

What description of shame and abasement can be more true to human nature than this?

But the character of Cain affords the earliest, the most consistent, and perhaps, the most powerful exemplification of affections and

desires perverted from their original purity and singleness of purpose. Cain, the second man who breathed upon the newly-created earth, felt all the stirrings of envy and jealousy, precisely as we feel them at this day,

and he

talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? and he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper?

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.

Am I my brother's keeper? is a question with which we are too apt to answer the reproaches of conscience, when we have violated the most

important trust or neglected the duties which ought to be the dearest in life. And what sufferer under the first infliction of chastisement, consequent upon his own transgressions, has not given utterance to the expressive language -my punishment is greater than I can bear? Thus far this striking passage contains what is familiar and natural to every human being, but beyond this, yet at the same time connected with it, it has great power and even sublimity, in no instance more so, than where it is said, that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.

The peculiarly emphatic manner in which the Lord promises to bless Abraham, saying—

I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. As well as afterwards when

the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward

is comprehensive, and full of meaning beyond what more elaborate language could possibly convey. And also after the separation from Lot, where the Lord said unto Abraham,

Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward and westward: