INTRODUCTION. 



Extol him that rideth upon the heavens. 1 

 Him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens 

 that were of old? Every one knows that, in 

 Holy Scripture, God is also perpetually de- 

 scribed as he who sitteth upon the heavens ; 3 

 that the heaven is God's throne, and the 

 earth his footstool;* that The Lord hath 

 prepared his throne in the heavens ; 5 that 

 he dwelleth in the heavens, though they can- 

 not contain him; 6 that he filleth heaven and 

 earth. 7 



With regard to Blessings and Curses, that 

 the Heavens are the primary instruments by 

 which God bestows the one and inflicts the 

 other, is evident from many passages of Holy 

 Writ. Thus it is said in Deuteronomy, 8 The 

 Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure 

 the heavens, 9 to give the rain unto thy land 

 in his season, and to bless all the work of 

 thine hand. The prophet Hosea has a pas- 

 sage, in which the hands by which blessings 

 and fertility are transmitted to man step by 



i Ps. Ixviii. 4. 2 Ibid. 33. 



3 Ibid. ii. 4. * Matth. v. 34, 35. 



5 Ps. ciii. 19. 



6 Ibid, cxxiii. 1. 1 Kings, viii. 27. 



7 Jerem. xxiii. 24. 8 Dent, xxviii. 12. 

 9 Heb. D'Dtrm n nton nyi n 



