The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times | Page 5

whilst before Jehovah, throned above the world, the whole universe
was but dust and ashes. The Hindoo, wrapt in the contemplation of
Nature, described her at great length and for her own sake, the Hebrew
only for the sake of his Creator. She had no independent significance
for him; he looked at her only 'sub specie eterni Dei,' in the mirror of
the eternal God. Hence he took interest in her phases only as

revelations of his God, noting one after another only to group them
synthetically under the idea of Godhead. Hence too, despite his
profound inwardness--'The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked, who can know it?' (_Jeremiah_)--human
individuality was only expressed in its relation to Jehovah.
'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his
handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth
knowledge.'--Psalm 19.
'Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and
the fulness thereof.
'Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of
the wood rejoice.'--Psalm 96.
'Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together.'--Psalm
98.
'The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the
noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.'--Psalm
93.
'The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains
skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.'--Psalm 114.
'The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the
depths also were troubled.'--Psalm 77.
All these lofty personifications of inanimate Nature only characterise
her in her relation to another, and that not man but God. Nothing had
significance by itself, Nature was but a book in which to read of
Jehovah; and for this reason the Hebrew could not be wrapt in her,
could not seek her for her own sake, she was only a revelation of the
Deity.
'Lord, how great are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all: the
earth is full of thy goodness.'
Yet there is a fiery glow of enthusiasm in the songs in praise of
Jehovah's wonders in creation.
'0 Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and
majesty.
'Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out
the heavens like a curtain.
'Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the

clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind.
'Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire; who laid
the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
'Thou coveredst the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the
mountains.
'At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
'They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the
place which thou hast founded for them.
'Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not
again to cover the earth.
'He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
'They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their
thirst.
'By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing
among the branches ...
'He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of
man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth.
'And wine that maketh glad the heart of man ...
'The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he
hath planted.
'Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her
house.
'The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the
conies.
'He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
'Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the
forest do creep forth.
'The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
'The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in
their dens.
'Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening....
'This great and wide sea, wherein are creeping things innumerable, both
small and great beasts....
'He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and
they smoke.
'I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God
as long as I have my being.'--Psalm 104.

And what a lofty point of view is shewn by the overpowering words
which Job puts into