The Cherubs' Song

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH

ROYAL ACADEMY, DIED 1792.

+

"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad."Psalm 96, 11.

T

HE little group of psalms beginning with the ninetysixth rises to such ecstasy of joy and praise as perhaps is equalled by no other writings in the world. With the voices of men we seem to hear mingling the purer melody from cherub lips. "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

"Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."

The next song tells of the splendor in which this judge will appear. "Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

"A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

"His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled.

"The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.”

10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.

12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.

13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Chapter 8

1 The love of the church to Christ. 6 The vehemency of love. 8 The calling of the Gentiles. 14 The church prayeth for Christ's coming.

THAT thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

8 ¶ We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if

she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhomon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

T

HE biblical books from Isaiah to the end of the Old Testament are united under the general name of the Prophets. The Jews called these books, with the exception of Daniel and Lamentations, the Later Prophets, to distinguish them from those earlier prophetic or historic books of Joshua, Samuel and Kings, in which we hear mention of the prophets Samuel, Elijah and others. There is a wide distinction between the books of the two periods. The earlier prophets have come down to us chiefly as doers of deeds, and utterers of prophecies which were afterward recorded by other men. The later prophets, though some like Isaiah and Jeremiah are mentioned in the historic books, are known to us by their prophecies. Their books, written by them or in their names, give little thought to their own lives or to general history. Their writings are devoted mainly, sometimes solely, to prophetic utterances and religious teachings.

The

These Later Prophets are usually divided into two groups. Major Prophets, known to the Hebrews as "the Three," Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, are usually reckoned in the Christian Church as four, including Daniel. The Minor Prophets, "the Twelve," are those that follow, their twelve books closing the Old Testament in the Christian version. The main distinction between the two groups lies in the amount of their writings, those of the Minor Prophets being comparatively brief. This difference of length does not in every case reflect a difference of religious importance; but while the Major Prophets are commonly reckoned among the great literary figures of the world, none of the Minor Prophets are usually so included.

The prophetic books are written mainly, though not entirely, in metrical form. Neither the King James text nor the Revised Version, however, attempts to reproduce the rhythm and metre of the Hebrew. The "Lamentations of Jeremiah" is all poetry and is so given in the Revised Version. But this book and also the apocalyptic book of Daniel, were grouped by the Hebrews in that other division of their canon, known as the Hagiographa or miscellaneous sacred writings.

1124