is all prose. Nearly one third of it, indeed, is poetry. Yet there it lies, cut up into false divisions, as falsely called "verses," and marred by figures as a work correlative to the Concordance-a book of texts; a quiver of equal arrows for the preacher's bow; and by some regarded as a Homœopathic medicine box, with doses duly numbered, and each for best effect, to be taken carefully by itself. How unlike the manner in which the word of God was received by the Hebrews! It came to the mass of that people most often, through the poetic sensibilities of men, kindled by the Holy Spirit. It touched men's hearts as poetry; and it was used as such to inspire the nation with heroic sentiment, and lift it up in devotional ardor. The people heard the prophet as the bard also, and caught up his strains as their national anthems. Not the temple only, but the valleys and hill-sides of Judea, harvest fields and battle fields, home and the exile's prison, rang with the songs of Zion. In the same manner ought the same strains to come to us. Read as doctrinal formulas, as the careful utterances of moral philosophy, as the deliberate statements of men learned in all the controversies of the schools, the Psalms are lifeless to us, compared with what they once were to the Hebrews. Yet, as inspired poetry, they were intended for us also. As God's dealing with that chosen people fitly represents to us his dealing with the individual soul, so those national odes, with lawful accommodation of the language to Christian conceptions, become the heart-songs of his people in all ages.

There are a multitude of facts, and interesting associations, connected with the sacred Lyrics, which do not appear to the popular mind, and which in the customary use of the Bible are rendered of little avail to any. We think it cannot prove otherwise than refreshing to theologians, as well as to Bible readers in general, to bring the Lyrical Poetry of the Bible under review in respect to its original use, and its influence on the character and fortunes of the chosen people of God. At the same time, we hope, by the facts and principles adduced, to commend to all Christian worshippers that use of the sacred Lyrics which does justice to them as poetry, and most effectually moves a congregation with their devotional sentiment.

Those who have attentively studied Lowth, Michaelis, Herder, and De Wette, and verified their statements by reference to their own Hebrew Bibles, are doubtless satisfied, and justly so, that these scholars have exhausted the subject, so far as the characteristics and genius of Hebrew Poetry are concerned. But after all, the highest praise of these men is, that they have elegantly reproduced the ideas of the Bible; and inasmuch as the same ideas glow upon the sacred page for every mind gifted with poetic perceptions, and rightly instructed as to what is Hebrew, it is apology enough for any one who is moved to write upon the subject

now, that he gives forth these ideas again, through original convictions, and in some new harmonies of coloring caught from his own imagination.

As the different styles of poetry correspond to certain great mental phenomena, it is no disparagement to the simplicity of the Bible, to classify its poems as Epic, Dramatic, Didactic, and Lyric. The latter form may embody the peculiarities of all the rest; but it is distinguishable for its correspondence to the individual feelings of the poet. It is the style of poetry in which the heart abandons itself to its emotions, unfettered by rule, unconscious of display. Yet in these outgivings of the heart we recognise the highest method of beauty, and distinctive forms which are models for artistic effort. But, born of spontaneity, they take shape for themselves, like snow wreaths in the wind. The lyric is, therefore, the poetry for music; and in its subdivisions, corresponding to various moods of soul, it taxes all the resources of the musician to give it just expression. For example, in lyrical poetry we have the Ode, through which one rises into the sublimities of devotion, or patriotism, or heroism, or strong popular feeling of any kind. It usually implies an audience, and aims to impress them definitely. An ode must always have purpose in it. It should also bear us forward to the highest conception of the subject in hand, by a series of images or thoughts adapted to prepare us for it; and in the closing idea the mind should rest satisfied, as is the ear upon a finely wrought cadence. That final thought, too, should suddenly illuminate the whole ode, and show the connexion of its every part. Of this, the song of Moses at the Red Sea is a model. There is also, the Elegy, in whose prolonged strains, and fitful changes, the wailing, sobbing heart pours itself forth, by utterance, to find relief. Its close is usually placid; as the tumultuous rill that sinks at last into still waters. David's song on the death of Saul and Jonathan, and the forty-second Psalm, are fine examples of this. We have too the Idyl, which gently elevates the common things of life into poetic associations, and flows on in an easy, uniform style, without prescribed direction or necessary close. 'Tis the brook in the meadow; come to its brink anywhere, and you see it all. A model of this form of the lyric may be seen in the 107th Psalm. Then there are mixed lyrics, which take name from their subjects; as Pastorals, Nuptial songs, Hymns, Jubilee songs, and Acrostics, of varied spirit and object; of which abundant examples might be adduced from the Bible. But thus to systematize the sacred lyrics, and to comment upon each kind in order, were to write a volume. Our object now is to enter the subject of the lyrical poetry of the Bible as one enters a garden, to see its various productions of beauty just as they grow in their native soil. The flower, indeed, may be studied in a herbarium; but to enjoy it, one must see it alive, stalk and all. Where springs an ode, or an elegy, or idyl, or pas

toral, there we may pause a moment to regard its beauties; but in our course we shall wind through the natural openings in this garden of the Lord, and come upon these things as we may. In other words, we shall be guided by the interest of historic associations.

The Song of Moses at the Red Sea is the first divine song on record; and it is, of all others, the most imposing. As to its scholarship, it is the production of one learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians its spirit was breathed of God. Yet, for its utterances of joy and triumph; for its heroic courage, and that sweet faith which takes the outstretched hand of God, to begin with gladness a march into the terrible wilderness; for its free-born soul, and sublime antiphonies of thought, and passion, there was such preparation, through the providence of God, as never before or since stirred within the hearts of a people "the feeling infinite." Its key-note is a holy, religious heroism; and we must rise to an elevated devotional feeling before we can glide in unison through its changes. Imagination must bring before us in their order, those terrible plagues needed to relax the hand of Pharaoh from the throat of the Hebrew. We must share with the poor bondslaves of Egypt their wonder and awe at the divine power aroused thus for their deliverance; we must join them in their hurried flight from this land of horrors and death; feel their despair, when with the sea in front, and their merciless enemies behind, they saw no way of escape; their joy also, when "the sea stood up like walls," and the people passed over; we must stand with Moses, and the awe-struck multitude, whence we behold the waves returning, and Pharaoh and his host swallowed up in the depths of the sea; the eye must sweep over that great and terrible wilderness, amid whose wastes the stoutest hearts do languish, and see suddenly, as by the enchantment of faith, its parched sands turned to pools of water, and looming above the clear mirage, the hill tops of the promised land, the mount of God, and the "tabernacle which his own hands had prepared." Then, when every sensibility of the soul is roused from carnal torpor; when, conscious of a divine relation, our God appears as he is in truth, and the thunders of his power are pealing, and his holy purposes flashing around us, then may we join with Moses and all the children of Israel in singing this song unto the Lord..

SONG OF MOSES.

Moses. I will sing unto Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
Horses and chariots hath he hurled into the sea.

Cho. of Women.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-Be JAH my strength and my song;
For he hath become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will glorify him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.
Jehovah is a hero of war;
Jehovah is his name.

Pharaoh's chariots and host hath he hurled into the sea,
The choicest of his war chariots are sunk in the Red Sea.

Ch. of Men.-The waves covered them;

They sank into the depths like stones.

Ch. of W.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hast thou exalted in power;
Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
In thine exaltation hast thou destroyed thine opposers,

Thou sentest forth thy wrath-it consumed them like stubble.
Ch. of M.-At the blast of thy nostrils, the waters heaped themselves up;
The floods stood up like banks.

The waves were congealed in the midst of the sea.

Ch. of W.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-The enemy said, I will pursue, overtake, divide the spoil;
My lust shall be satisfied upon them.

My sword will I draw out,

My hand shall utterly destroy them.

Ch. of M.-Thou didst blow with thy breath, the sea covered them:
They sank as lead into the mighty waters.

Ch. of W.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the Gods?
Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness;

Fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Ch. of M.-Thou stretchedst out thine hand,

The earth swallowed them up.

Ch. of W.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-In thy mercy thou didst lead forth the people whom thou hast

redeemed;

In thy strength thou guidest them to thy holy habitation.

The nations heard thereof and trembled;

Terror took hold of the dwellers in Philistia;

The princes of Edom were amazed;

The heroes of Moab were seized with dread;

The inhabitants of Canaan melted away.

Let fear and dread fall upon them;

2

At the greatness of thy arm let them be motionles as stones.

Ch. of M.-Till the people, O Jehovah, pass through,

Till thy people pass through, whom thou hast redeemed.

Ch. of W. Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

M.-Thou bringest and plantest them upon thine own mountain, The place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thy habitation.

The sanctuary, O Lord, which thine hands have prepared.

Ch. of M.-Jehovah is king for ever and ever!

Ch. of W.-Sing unto Jehovah, &c.

It will be seen that the Ode, after the introductory verse, divides itself naturally into six passages, through each of which, and on from one to the other, is a progression of sublime thought, rising in the closing passages to a divine foresight. It will be observed also that from each of these passages, with the exception of the last, there flashes a recognition of the awful event by which the Hebrews were delivered and the Egyptians destroyed; and that immediately upon this, there follows a concise description of the It is recorded that Miriam and all the women, coming out "with timbrels and dances, answered them ;" and that too in the

scene.

words of the first verse of the song itself. It is incredible that the mass of the people, amid all the confusion of the first entrance upon the wilderness, were taught to repeat its magnificent passages verbatim, and rise with Moses into its sublime conceptions of the character and purposes of God. Yet did the whole people, in some manner, have part in the great song. Look now at the arrangement given. First come Moses and the few capable of sustaining the elevated tone and prophetic spirit of the Ode; the people whose minds naturally revolve about one idea (the simple phenomenon of the destruction of Pharaoh), break in with an impressive description of the scene, as often as the song glances at the event; and this massive and solemn chorus of the men is answered exultingly by Miriam and all the women. The arrangement lies upon the very face of the Ode, and nowhere is there a national song combining so many elements of sublimity, with such fine adaptation of structure, to meet the wants of an impassioned people at a national jubilee.

An interesting field of inquiry is opened to us by the artistic structure and accompaniments of this Ôde. We have before us, in the first divine song, a composition unrivalled for sublimity, and matchless in its beauty of form. We may call it a polished composition, as though it were slowly worked down to symmetry and smoothness; but we may safely say, that it could spring from none other than a mind instructed and self-disciplined in the laws of poetic beauty. We have before us a vast assembly ready upon sudden call, to celebrate the praises of their God in the chant; and with them a responsive chorus of women with timbrels and dances. These people have just escaped out of the land of Egypt, a land at this time first in civilization, learning, and the fine arts. Their leader, and the author of the triumphal ode, is learned in all the wisdom of Egypt; and Miriam, his sister, leader of the female chorus and dance, was with him educated in the court of Pharaoh. It is written that the people "spoiled the Egyptians." Did these leaders bring out no spoil from the schools of Egypt; no ceremony from its temples; no custom of beauty from its court? From the Egyptians the people had learned the arts, and taken the ornaments requisite to the building of the tabernacle; from the Egyptians they had learned to worship the works of their own hands, as verified in the event of their falling back en masse to the worship of the golden calf, in imitation of the Egyptian worship of Apis; and from them they had also taken whatever musical instruments were produced at this festival of triumph. Doubtless, then, from the Egyptians they had derived their preparation for this most orderly and beautiful celebration of the praises of their God in responsive song, with chorus and with timbrels and dances. This consideration is important for the subject. It follows of course that in order to appreciate the relation of music and song to the education and government of the He