que in its character.

The wonderful _freshness and simplicity of thought_ in Hebrew poetry is
inseparably connected with its originality. A thought is fresh when it
bursts forth directly from the inner fountain of the soul just as it was
conceived there. But the moment the man pauses to remould it and shape
it to some artificial standard of propriety, it loses its originality
and its freshness together. It is no longer the living, glowing
conception as it existed in his bosom, but rather what he thinks it
ought to have been. In the process of working it over he has killed, if
not its life, at least its power. But the Hebrew poet opens, so to
speak, the floodgates of his heart, and pours forth the stream of his
thoughts and emotions just as they have sprung into being there. Because
he is under the sanctifying and illuminating influence of the divine
Spirit, they are high and holy thoughts. Because they come forth in
their primitive form, they are natural and fresh; and for this reason
the lapse of ages does not diminish their power over the human spirit.

Intimately connected also with the originality of Hebrew poetry is its
charming _variety_. The Hebrew poets are exceedingly unlike each other
in native character, in training, in surrounding circumstances, and in
the nature of the work laid upon them by the Spirit of inspiration. And
as they all write in a natural and appropriate way, it follows that
their writings must exhibit great diversities. No two writers can well
be more unlike each other than Isaiah and the author of the book of Job.
With Isaiah the central object of thought is always _Zion_, in whose
interest he sees God governing the world, and whose future glory is
revealed to him in prophetic vision. But Zion is not an individual. She
is a divine organization which God has destined to universal victory,
and around which revolve, under his almighty guidance, the great
movements of the heathen nations. The prophet, accordingly, has to do
not so much with particular persons, as with the destiny of society,
which is involved in that of Zion. He describes her present conflicts
and her future triumphs in his own peculiar and gorgeous imagery. But
the problem before the author of the book of Job is _God's providence
towards individuals_, as viewed from the position of the Old Testament
before the fuller revelations of the New. He is occupied with the
destiny of particular persons, rather than of nations or of hum