poetry is not grandeur, but beauty. Sometimes it expresses a single
thought or sentiment, as that (Psalm cxxxiii.) describing the beauty of
brotherly union, or as that (Psalm xxiii.) which paints trust in God like
that of a sheep in his shepherd. Of the same sort is the fifteenth Psalm,
"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?" the twenty-ninth, a description
of a thunderstorm; the sixty-seventh, "O God, be merciful to us and bless
us"; the eighty-fourth, "How lovely are thy tabernacles"; and the last
Psalm, calling on mankind to praise God in all ways.

It is a striking fact that these Hebrew lyrics, written long before the
foundation of Rome, and before the time of Homer, should be used to-day in
Christian worship and for private devotion all over the world.

In speaking of the Vedas and the Avesta we said that in such hymns and
liturgies the truest belief of a nation can be found. What men say to God
in their prayers may be assumed to express their practical convictions.
The Jewish religion is not to be found so surely in its Levitical code as
in these national lyrics, which were the liturgy of the people.[358]

What then do they say concerning God? They teach his universal dominion.
They declare that none in the heaven can be compared to him (Psalm
lxxxix.); that he is to be feared above all gods (Psalm xcvi.). They teach
his eternity; declaring that he is God from everlasting to everlasting;
that a thousand years in his sight are as yesterday; that he laid the
foundations of the earth and made the heavens, and that when these perish
he will endure; that at some period they shall be changed like a garment,
but that God will always be the same (Psalm xc., cii.). They teach in
numerous places that God is the Creator of all things. They adore and
bless his fatherly love and kindness, which heals all our diseases and
redeems our life, crowning us with loving-kindness, pitying us, and
forgiving our sins (Psalm ciii.). They teach that he is in all nature
(Psalm civ.), that he searches and knows all our thoughts, and that we can
go nowhere from his presence (Psalm cxxxix.). They declare that he
protects all who trust in him (Psalm xci., cxxi.), and that he purifies
the heart and life (Psalm cxix.), creating in us a clean heart, and not
asking for sacrifice, but for a broken spirit (Psalm li.).

These Psalms express the highest and best moments of Jewish life, and rise
in certain points to the level of Christianity. They