Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/31

 in style, they affirm that —"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good;" or thus again—"Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off."

The longer we labour, in scientific modes, at the elements of Theism the deeper shall we plunge in an abyss; and we shall learn, perhaps too late, the wisdom of resting in a devout acknowledgment to this effect—"Such knowledge (of God) is too wonderful for me: it is high, I cannot attain unto it." But the Hebrew writers make short work of philosophic stumbling-blocks; and they secure their religious intention, which is their sole intention, in that one mode in which a belief which is indispensable to the religious life presents itself, on what might be called its conceivable side. They affirm the truth in the most absolute and unexceptive style, giving it all the breadth it can have; but in doing so, and in the same breath, they affirm that which serves to lodge it in the spiritual consciousness, as a caution, or as a comfort; they lodge the universal principle as near as may be to the fears, and to the hopes, and to the devout yearnings of the individual man. If we do not relish this style and this method, we should think ourselves bound to bring forward a better style, and to propound a more approvable method. At any rate, we should give a sample of some one style or method other than this, and between which and the Biblical manner we might make a choice.