Behold, he spreadeth around himself his light,
And he covereth the bottom of the sea.
By these he punisheth nations,

And by these he giveth food in abundance.
In both hands he holds the lightning;
He commissions it against an enemy;
He makes known his purpose against man,
And the herds and plants of the earth.

At this my heart trembleth,

And is moved out of its place.

Hear, O hear the sound of his voice,

And the noise, which issueth from his mouth.
He sendeth it through the whole heavens,
And his lightning to the ends of the earth.
After it a voice roareth,

He thundereth with the voice of his majesty,

And restraineth not the tempest, when his voice is heard.
God thundereth marvellously with his voice;

Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
For he saith to the snow, "Be thou on the earth;"
Likewise to the rain, even the rains of his might.
He sealeth up the hand of every man,

That all his labourers may acknowledge him.
Then the beasts go into dens,

And abide in their caverns.

Out of the South cometh the whirlwind,
And cold out of the North.

By the breath of God ice is formed,

And the broad waters are made solid.

He causeth the clouds to descend in rain,

And his lightning scattereth the mists.

He leadeth them about by his wisdom,

That they may execute his commands throughout the world;

Whether he cause them to come for punishment,
Or for his earth, or for mercy.

Give ear unto this, O Job!

Stand still, and consider the wond'rous works of God.
Dost thou know when God ordained them,

And caused the lightning of his cloud to flash?
Dost thou understand the balancing of the clouds,

The wondrous works of him that is perfect in wisdom?
How thy garments become warm,

When he maketh the earth sultry by his south wind? Canst thou like him spread out the sky,

Firm like a molten mirror?

Teach us what we shall say to him,

For we cannot address him by reason of darkness.
If I speak, will it be told him?

Verily if a man speak to him, he will be consumed.

Men cannot look upon the light,

When it is bright in the skies,

When the wind hath passed over them, and made them clear,

And a golden splendour cometh from the firmament,— But with God is terrible majesty!

The Almighty, we cannot find him out;

He is excellent in power and justice,

Perfect in righteousness, but he giveth no account of his doings.

Therefore let men fear him,

Whom none of the men of wisdom can behold.

Then spake Jehovah to Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

Who is this, that darkeneth my counsels by words without knowledge?

Gird up thy loins like a man;

I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, since thou hast such knowledge!

Who fixed its dimensions, since thou knowest!

Or who stretched out the line upon it!
Upon what were its foundations fixed?
And who laid its corner stone,

When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Hast thou ever commanded the morning,

Or caused the day-spring to know its place,-
That they should lay hold of the ends of the earth,

And shake the wicked out of it?

It is changed as wax by the seal;

And all things stand forth as in rich apparel.
But from the wicked their light is withheld,
And the high raised arm is broken.

Hast thou penetrated to the springs of the sea,
And walked through the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee,
And hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Hast thou discovered the breadth of the earth?

Declare, since thou knowest it all!

Where is the way to the abode of light? And darkness, where is its dwelling place,

That thou mayest lead each of them to its boundary,

And know the paths to its mansion?

Surely thou knowest! for thou wast then born!

And the number of thy years is great!

Hast thou entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or seen the treasures of the hail?

Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
Against the day of battle and war.

Where is the way, by which light is distributed,
And the east wind let loose upon the earth?
Who hath prepared a channel for the rain,
And a path for the glittering thunderbolt,
To give rain to the land without an inhabitant,
To the wilderness, where is no man ;

To satisfy the desolate and waste ground,

And cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

*

*

*

*

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, Or loosen the bands of Orion?

Canst thou lead forth Mazzaroth in its season,

Or guide Arcturus with his sons?

Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?

Hast thou appointed their dominion over the earth?
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,

So that abundance of waters will cover thee?
Canst thou send forth lightn ngs? Will they go?
Will they say to thee, "Here we are?"
Who hath imparted understanding to clouds,
And given to meteors intelligence?
Who numbereth the clouds in wisdom?
And who poureth out the bottles of heaven,
When the dust is formed into a solid mass,
And the clods cleave fast together?

Canst thou hunt prey for the lioness,
Or satisfy the hunger of the young lions,
When they couch in their dens,
And lie in wait in the thicket?

Who provideth for the raven his food,
When his young ones cry unto God,

While they wander about without food?

THE WAR-HORSE.

CHAPTER XXXIX. VERSES 19-25.

HAST thou given the horse strength?
Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

Hast thou taught him to bound like the locust?
How terrible the noise of his nostrils!

He paweth in the valley; he exulteth in his strength,
And rusheth into the midst of arms.

He laugheth at fear; he trembleth not,
And turneth not back from the sword.

Against him rattleth the quiver,

The glittering spear, and the lance.

With rage and fury he devoureth the ground;
He standeth not still, when the trumpet soundeth.
He saith among the trumpets, Aha! aha!
And snuffeth the battle afar off;

The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE PSALMS.

PERHAPS there is no book in the sacred volume, which is so much read as the Psalms of David. The peculiar characteristics of their poetical merit have been already briefly noticed; their devotional beauty and fervour can never be felt with too much intensity, nor admired with too much veneration. The variety and contrast in the feelings of the Royal Psalmist, at different periods of his eventful life, and in different circumstances of prosperity or trial, render his productions beautifully adapted to every frame of mind, to which the believer can be subject; while the extreme tenderness and pathos of his supplications is often sufficient, one would think, to subdue and soften even the hard heart of the infidel. His compositions are a storehouse from whence almost all characters of men may derive something suitable to their own condition and peculiarities of mind. Their elevated intellectual and contemplative oharacter, and the admiration of the beauty and glory of the created universe, which they express in such inimitable language, inimitable both for its sweetness and sublimity,—will always render them delightful to the man of genius and cultivated taste; but it is their touching adaptation to all the varieties of religious feeling, which gives them such an endurable hold upon the heart.

Here the grateful worshipper will find such irrepressible and ardent strains of thanksgiving, as might elevate his soul even to the holy adoration of the world above; Oh come let us sing unto the Lord! let us heartily rejoice in the Rock of our salvation.-I will sing to Jehovah as long as I live, I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.—Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

For the true penitent they afford the most humble and heartfelt expressions of sorrow for sin, and the most earnest prayers for restoration and forgiveness; Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight.-Cast me not away from thy presence, and lake not thy Holy Spirit from me. For those that mourn in Zion there is consolation in the sympathy of one, whose tears were his food day and night, when God had hidden his face from him. For the bereaved there are the most instructive pictures of calm and submissive affliction; I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Here the desponding may learn that others have been in the com

fortless gloom before them, and that to the upright there ariseth light in darkness.

Here the youthful Christian finds an echo of encouragement to the energy and resolution of his hopes, and the aged and experienced one, a delightful exhibition of sure and confiding trust in the long-tried mercy of Jehovah. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.-The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing.-Thou hast been my support from my youth; now also, when I am old and grayheaded, forsake me not. I have been young, and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.—Happy would it be could we all realize in our own bosoms, the love, the gratitude, the penitential sorrow, the sacred confidence, and the fervent aspirations after holiness and heaven, which here so faithfully and vividly delineate the inward life of the Christian.

PART OF THE 18th PSALM, COMPOSED BY DAVID ON THE OCCASION OF HIS DELIVERANCE 66 FROM THE HAND

OF HIS ENEMIES AND FROM THE HAND OF SAUL."

I WILL love thee, O Jehovah, my strength!

Jehovah is my rock and my fortress,

And my deliverer is my God:

My rock, in Him will I trust;

My shield, and the horn of my salvation: my high tower.
In mine affliction I called upon Jehovah;

Then was I delivered from mine enemies.

The cords of death surrounded me,

And the floods of wickedness made me afraid.
The cords of Hades* compassed me about,
The snares of death preceded me.

In

my distress I called upon Jehovah,

And unto my God did I cry.

He heard from his temple my voice,

And my cry before him came into his ears.

Then the earth shook and trembled:

The foundations also of the mountains trembled ;

And were shaken, because he was wroth.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,

And fire from his mouth devoured:

Burning coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens also and came down ;

* Hades, translated in the English Bible, Hell, signified a vast subterranean kingdom,-immense, dark, and silent; supposed to be the residence of departed spirits, immediately after death. It is not improbable that the sacred writers of the Old Testament understood by it the intermediate state of existence between death and the judgSee their sublime poetical description of it in Isaiah, chapter xiv. the translation of which by Lowth may be found in the American First Class Book.

ment.