other hand, naturalists can not refuse to acknowledge the surpassing
majesty of the views of nature presented in the Bible. No one has
expressed this better than Humboldt: "It is characteristic of the
poetry of the Hebrews that, as a reflex of monotheism, it always
embraces the universe in its unity, comprising both terrestrial life
and the luminous realms of space; it dwells but rarely on the
individuality of phenomena, preferring the contemplation of great
masses. The Hebrew poet does not depict nature as a self-dependent
object, glorious in its individual beauty, but always as in relation
or subjection to a higher spiritual power. Nature is to him a work of
creation and order--the living expression of the omnipresence of the
Divinity in the visible world." In reference to the 104th Psalm, which
may be viewed as a poetical version of the narrative of creation in
Genesis, the same great writer remarks: "We are astonished to find in
a lyrical poem of such a limited compass, the whole universe--the
heavens and the earth--sketched with a few bold touches. The calm and
toilsome life of man, from the rising of the sun to the setting of the
same, when his daily work is done, is here contrasted with the moving
life of the elements of nature. This contrast and generalization in
the conception of the mutual action of natural phenomena, and the
retrospection of an omnipresent invisible Power, which can renew the
earth or crumble it to dust, constitute a solemn and exalted rather
than a gentle form of poetic creation."[8]

If we admit the source of inspiration claimed by the Hebrew poets, we
shall not be surprised that they should thus write of nature. We shall
only lament that so many pious and learned interpreters of Scripture
have been too little acquainted with nature to appreciate the natural
history of the Book of God, or adequately to illustrate it to those
who depend on their teaching; and that so many naturalists have
contented themselves with wondering at the large general views of the
Hebrew poets, without considering that they are based on a revelation
of the nature and order of the creative work which supplied to the
Hebrew mind the place of those geological wonders which have
astonished and enlarged the minds of modern nations. A modern divine,
himself well read in nature, truly says: "If men of piety were also
men of science, and if men of science were to read the Scriptures,
there would be more faith on the earth