44 DESCRIPTIONS OP NATURAL SCENERY 



of the prophets and seers, whose high inspiration, almost 

 estranged from the past, is wrapped in futurity. 



Besides its own inherent greatness and sublimity, Hebrew 

 poetry presents to Jews, to Christians, and even to Maho- 

 metans, local reminiscences more or less closely entwined 

 with religious feelings. Through missions, favoured by the 

 spirit of commerce, and the territorial acquisitions of mari- 

 time nations, names and descriptions belonging to oriental 

 localities, preserved to us in the writings of the Old Testa- 

 ment, have penetrated far into the recesses of the forests of 

 the new continent, and into the islands of the Pacific. 



It is characteristic of Hebrew poetry in reference 

 to nature, that, as u reflex of monotheism, it always 

 embraces the whole world in its unity, comprehending the 

 life of the terrestrial globe as well as the shining regions of 

 space. It dwells less on details of phsenomena, and loves 

 to contemplate great masses. Nature is pourtrayed, not as 

 self-subsisting, or glorious in her own beauty, but ever in 

 relation to a higher, an over-ruling, a spiritual power. The 

 Hebrew bard ever sees in her the living expression of the 

 omnipresence of God in the works of the visible creation. 

 Thus, the lyrical poetry of the Hebrews in its descriptions 

 of nature is essentially, in its very subject, grand and solemn, 

 and, when touching on the earthly condition of man, full of 

 a yearning pensiveness. It is deserving of notice, that 

 notwithstanding its grand character, and even in its highest 

 lyrical nights elevated by the charm of music, the Hebrew 

 poetry, unlike that of the Hindoos, scarcely ever appears 

 unrestrained by law and measure. Devoted to the pure 

 contemplation of the Divinity, figurative in language, but 

 clear and simple in thought, it delights in comparisons, which 

 recur continually and almost rhythmically. 



