those sacred truths upon which depend our hopes of eternity, the consideration of poetry loses much of its importance by comparison, and the task of the writer becomes like that of one who culls with adventurous hand, the flowers that grow around the fountain of life. This view of the subject would of itself be sufficient to prevent any near approach to the doctrinal parts of the Scriptures, whose strictly spiritual import, though still couched in language both figurative and poetical in the extreme, places them above the reach of ordinary discussion, in a sphere more exclusively appropriated to considerations of infinitely greater importance.

Some further progress may however be justifiable in the course we hope we have hitherto pursued without profaning what is pure, or violating what is sacred; and we consequently pause at that passage in the book of Kings, in which the prophet Elijah is described as escaping from his enemies into the solitude of the wilderness, where, casting himself upon the ground, he exclaims, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."

Such were the human feelings contending

for the empire of his mind, that he was almost weary of the service of his Divine Master, accompanied as it was with disappointment, hatred, and persecution. How simple, and yet how admirably adapted to his peculiar state, are the means here adopted to bring him again to a sense of the superintending care and love of his heavenly Father.

And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there, and behold, the word of the Lord come unto him, What dost thou here, Elijah ?

And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice.

And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and

said, What dost thou here, Elijah?

Where, through the wide range of modern literature can we find a passage to be compared with this, for the conciseness and simplicity with which ideas the most sublime and elevated are conveyed into the mind? The prophet had been looking, (perhaps impatiently) for some striking exhibition of Almighty power amongst the children of men, forgetful of the secret springs of action, and action itself being alike under the control of Omnipotence; when his faith and his confidence are reanimated by witnessing one of those tremendous and awful convulsions of the elements, by which forests are uprooted, and rocks overthrown, accompanied with the internal conviction that the immediate presence of the Lord was not there. Again, an earthquake shakes the world; but the Lord is not in the earthquake; after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord is not in the fire. No; though such are the open manifestations of his power, by which he makes the nations tremble, yet the prophet was convinced

that the war of the elements might exist, and the destruction of the earth ensue, without that sensible presence of the Almighty, for the want of which his soul was fainting. At last, after the fire, there came a still small voice, and Elijah felt that the Lord was near, that he was not forsaken, and that, independent of the outward symbols of illimitable power, the Creator of the world is able to carry on his operations in the mind of man, by the desire of the heart, the silent thought, or the secret impulse directed towards the accomplishment of his inscrutable designs.

In

A great proportion of the Holy Scriptures is not only poetical, but real poetry. Under this head the song of Moses, and the children of Israel, is the first instance that occurs. this song, the passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea, the overthrow of Pharaoh's host, and the wonderful dealing of the Lord with his chosen people, are commemorated in language highly figurative and

sublime.

The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

And in the greatness of thy excellency hast thou overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the Gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.

When Moses pours forth before the people his last public testimony to the mercy, the might, and the vengeance of the Almighty, it is in the same powerful strain of poetical fer

vour.

Give ear, 0 ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many