Or as in another place, "The King eternal, immortal, invisible,—the only wise God."
In the above specimens, there is a grandeur and simplicity not to be found in any merely human composition.
The following is very fine, from Habakkuk:
"God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens,
And his praise filled the earth.
His brightness was like the sun,
Out of his hand [or side] came flashes of lightning,
And there was only the veil of his might.
Before him walked the pestilence,
And burning coals went forth at his feet.
He stood, and the earth was moved;
He looked, and caused the nations to quake.
And the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces,
And the perpetual hills did bow.
His goings are from everlasting."
We scarcely know which to admire most, the above or the following from the same author:
"The mountains saw THEE and trembled,
The overflowing waters passed away.
The deep uttered his voice,
And lifted up his hands on high.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitations.
At the shining of thine arrows, (i. e. the lightnings,) they disappeared—
At the brightness of thy glittering spear!"
The following paraphrastic reference may be regarded as barren in some respects, compared with others that might be selected from the same living fountain.
The Eye of the Supreme Being is regarded as so piercing as to pervade heaven, earth and hell, and the awful depths of eternity. His countenance is as the sun shining in his strength. The wind, in its endless whirl, is but his breath or breathing. His hand is represented so immense, that even its "hollow" will "contain the waters of the great deep,"—and, when "spanned," he "measures with it the whole heavens." While "sitting in the circle of the heavens," the earth is represented as the place where his feet rest. So rapid in his motion, that "He walks upon the wings of the wind." Of such awful strength, "that the earth," with its countless inhabitants, are "less than the dust" that accumulates "upon the balance." At one time "He covereth himself with light as with a garment,"—and at another, "He maketh darkness his pavilion, and the thick clouds of the skies."
These however are images all borrowed from sensible objects, and, magnificent as they may be, they fail of throwing upon the mind a full image of Him who hath "no likeness in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath." And, besides, these glowing pictures present to the mind none of his moral attributes. For a description of these, we must look either to the events of his providence, or a more particular disclosure in the bible. And it may well astonish us, that, after the lapse of more than three thousand years, we may look in vain for a fuller or more perfect description of the Divine Being, in words, than is given by Moses in that memorable moment upon Mount Sinai—
"Whose grey tops did tremble, when God ordained their laws."