Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/41

 do they do this. Poets as they were in soul, and in phrase too, they are strictly mindful of their function as teachers of spiritual and ethical principles. David says—as our version has it—"The Lord is in His holy temple: the Lord's throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men." Four affirmations meet us within the compass of these few words, and each of them has a specific meaning—inviting the religious teacher to open it out, and bring it to bear with effect upon the religious life; and in the third and the fourth of these clauses a meaning of peculiar significance is conveyed, which, instead of a vague averment of the Divine omniscience, turns this doctrine in upon the conscience with a burning intensity. No phrases could more vividly than do these, give force to the conception of this critical observation of the characters and conduct of men—singly; for in relation to a process of moral discipline, He who is the Father of spirits "beholds the children of men, and His eyelids try them." It is true of the Creator, that He "knoweth all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the forest, and that the cattle upon a thousand hills are His;" but it is a truth of another order that is affirmed—it is a truth penetrative of the conscience—it is a truth, not metaphysic or poetic, but sternly ethical, that is here presented in metaphor. A keen scrutiny of the concealed motives and of the undeveloped tendencies of the heart on the part of One who is firmly-purposed, and who is severely exact