By terming them sublime, I do not mean that they are written in pompous language. This, indeed, is the idea which some form of sublimity; but they betray the wretchedness of their taste, and their complete ignorance of the subject. Sublimity lies not in the expression, so much as in the sentiment. It is the elevation of the thoughts; and, in every true example of this kind, it is the subject which raises the style, not the style which gives dignity to the subject. A passage may be sublime, which is composed in the most simple and artless manner. No technical forms of composition are employed in the scriptures; no rhetorical flights are introduced; no attempt is made by the writers to communicate splendour or majesty to their discourses, by means of artificial decorations; and yet they as far transcend the highest efforts of human eloquence, as the sky adorned with millions of stars surpasses the puny imitations of it by the ingenuity

of mortals.

When we cast our eyes over the scriptures, we perceive in them an extent and sublimity of conception, which make the works of the boldest and most comprehensive genius appear mean and grovelling. The ideas, held out by the sacred writers, of God and his perfections, of the dependence of all creatures upon him as the Author of their existence, of his power over all nature, the fiercest elements of which yield unresisting obedience to his will, of his universal government, of the designs of his providence, and of the issue of his administrations, are perfectly original, immediately recommend themselves to our reason, and by their magnificence convince us, that it was from a higher

source than reason that they flowed. The unassisted human mind is not capable of thinking so nobly on divine things. We debase the loftiest of all subjects by the meanness of our sentiments, and the flatness and insipidity of our language. A system, therefore, which displays such elevation of thought, and is so agreeable to our best conceptions of God, may well be supposed to have emanated from himself, who alone can enable the stammering tongues. of mortals to speak of him in a manner worthy of his infinite dignity.

If we turn our attention to particular instances of sublimity, they are so numerous, that it is difficult to make a selection. Can any thing be more sublime than the account of the creation given by Moses? There is no attempt made to astonish the imagination by an elaborate description; but if I may speak so, Omnipotence is exhibited to our view naked and unadorned. The Almighty speaks, and it is done; he commands, and it stands fast. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." A heathen writer hath quoted this passage, as an instance of the sublime; and I will venture to assert, that a more noble example of it could not have been furnished by all the poets, historians, and orators, whose writings he had perused.† What can be compared with the following description of the power of God over the universe? "Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? which removeth the mountains, and they know not? which overturneth them in his anger; which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars

* Gen. i. 3.

† Vid. Longin. de Sublimitate,, Sect. is.

thereof tremble: which commandeth the sun and it shineth not, and sealeth up the stars; which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; which doth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number.”* Nothing can be conceived more calculated to fill our minds with astonishment and awe, than this representation of the greatness of Jehovah: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nation's before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the princes to nought; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." In all these instances the language is

simple; the thoughts are worthy of that Being, whose majesty and glory are described.

But of examples there is no end. They meet the eye every where, especially in the Psalms, Job, and the prophetical writings; and they occur, not only in the compositions of David and Isaiah, men, from whose rank and opportunities we might have expected elevation of mind, the former being a king, and the latter, if not one of the royal family, having free access to the court; but likewise in those of Amos, whose want of education and habits of life promis ed only the most common thoughts expressed in the homely language of the vulgar. There is nothing more sublime in the scriptures themselves, than the following passage in the prophecies of the herdsman of Tekoah; nothing which excels or equals it in any human composition: "For lo! he that form. eth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of Hosts, is his name."*

Examples of the sublime are not so frequent in the New Testament, which is in general written in a plainer style, as it consists, for the most part, of historical narration, in which simplicity is one of the best ornaments; and of epistles composed with a design to instruct those to whom they were addressed, in the doctrines of faith and the duties of the christian life. Yet it would be easy to select a variety of passages describing the glory and perfections of God, and that august and solemn scene which will close all human things, which equal any

* Amos iv. 13.

of those now cited from the Old Testament.* There are three descriptions of the Supreme Being, which, in a few simple words, convey more just and elevated ideas of him, than the most elaborate and splendid compositions of human genius and eloquence. "God is a spirit ;" "God is light;" "God is love." In these short sentences, more is taught concerning him than philosophy had ever learned ; more matter is compressed, than was spread over the pages of all the wise men among the Gentiles. It is only necessary to peruse their writings, to be convinced, that none of them ever entertained equal. ly sublime conceptions of the spirituality, the purity, and the benevolence of the Deity.

The inference from all these particulars will occur to every reader. That sentiments so lofty and dignified should flow from the pens of writers who were, for the most part, illiterate; that they should originate with Jews, who, compared with the polished nations of antiquity, were a rude and barbarous people, is undoubtedly very surprising; and when we observe, that their writings throw those of all other men into the shade, can we avoid the conclusion, that their faculties were elevated by supernatural influence; that their thoughts were the dictates of heavenly wisdom, not the offspring of their own minds; and that the appropriate language, in which they are expressed, was suggested to them by the Spirit of God? I know, indeed, that some men have dared to arraign the Bible as destitute of either sublimity or beauty, and to prefer to it some

1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. Rev. xx. 11-15. &c.

John iv. 24. 1 John i. 5. iv. 8.